Last week I attempted to chase a head cold away using everything in my sickness warding arsenal: water, green tea, Emergen-C, sweating at the gym (in hindsight, this is not the best idea from a public health standpoint) and a delicious eggplant stew!

First I diced about a pound of eggplant, sprinkled it with a little bit of salt and let it sit out for about 20 minutes to pull out some of the moisture so the eggplant would not be mushy.

Then I sauteed the eggplant with a sweet onion and a bunch of garlic.  I removed the mixture and set it aside.

I threw some freshly diced ginger and jalapeno into the base of my family heirloom dutch oven and I added some cumin, turmeric, and freshly pounded cardamon.

Once this mixture looked smoky and divine I added some shallots and tomato paste and stirred the whole pot for about four minutes. Here is a picture of the former stage.

I added a can of roasted diced tomatoes, 5 cups of vegetable broth, the eggplant/onion mixture, and two handfuls of green beans.  I let the content come to a boil and the I reduced the heat to medium-low.

In a separate bowl I stirred a 1/4 of a cup of all natural peanut butter until the oils were combined, then I added a ladle of the hot soup and stirred the hot mess until the consistency was uniform and silky looking.  I added the peanut starter to the stew and mixed to combine all of the ingredients.  I let the stew hang out on a warm burner for about 15 more minutes then I added the juice of half a lime and about two cups of chopped cilantro because I love cilantro.

 This was so good.  It did not prevent me from acquiring a head cold but it did provide me with delicious sustenance for the duration of my illness and I am pleased to report that I made a speedy recovery! Also, the leftovers are delicious spooned over a warm ball of brown rice!

My mother (Sue) is the proud planter and tender of a very exstensive garden.   Sue left the state last week and asked if I would stop by her house on a daily basis to tend and water the plants in the backyard, the plants on the deck, the herb garden by the driveway, the flowers next to the chimney, the vegetable garden and it’s surrounding flowers, the natural area, the rose garden, the flowers planted along the front of the house and the potted plant on the front porch.  I am not exaggerating.  I tended and watered the yard and garden because I like flowers/vegetables and I love my mother.  For the record I hate yard work.  I HATE YARD WORK.  I’m so happy to live in an apartment where small gnomes come in the night to cut the grass and trim the hedges.   Here in the South some of the leaves are experiencing a premature autumn due to drought and I harbor a wicked elation when I watch the falling leaves and dodge responsibility for raking any of them. 

 Anyway,  I’ve helped my mother in her yard for as long as I can remember so one more week was no big deal.  Besides I made delicious, tasty, mouth-watering vegetable tacos with the excess bounty from her vegetable garden.

Zucchini, squash, green peppers, purple peppers, and garlic in the skillet.  All vegetables from my mother’s garden. . .except the garlic.

Note: Please pardon the absolutely horrid camera pictures.  It’s almost unforgiveable but I promise that my posts will be accompanied by real pictures in the near future.  Well, I guess I can’t promise that but I certainly hope it’s true.

While tending my mother’s NUMEROUS tomato plants I could not stop thinking about that scene in Steel Magnolia’s when “Weeza” gives away bags and bags full of tomatoes and explains, “Well I suppose that is what old Southern women are supposed to do!  Wear funny hats and grow tomatoes!”  However, the similarities between Weeza and my mother stop at “southern” and “tomatoes”.  My mother has a great attitude and she is not old and I don’t think she owns any funny hats.  I could say a lot more about the South, women, hats and tomatoes but this is a food blog not a journal or memoir.

Here is an awful picture of limes, copped homegrown tomatoes, onion, and a little pile of freshly grated parmesan origiano.  My idea for this meal came from reading about elote – a Mexican street food of corn, mayo, chayanne, lime and a chees called “cotija”.  I could not find any cotija for this endeavor but I read that it is similar to parmesan origiano so that is what I bought.  For elote, some people eat the toppings on the cob or you can eat the loose corn from a cup with the toppings mashed around it.  Who knows?  I’ve never even tried it!  I decided to make “elote” tacos with fresh veggies and then I forgot to cook the corn.  Anyway, here is the final product and a recipe.  Oh and by the way, parmesean is not just for Italian food anymore it brought an awesome nutiness to this dish.  Really!

 Homegrown Tacos

 Raid your mothers vegetable garden. Grab everything you can including the tomatoes.

Chop the vegetable (excluding the tomatoes) and heat them up in a skillet with some garlic and maybe a pinch of pepper.

 While the veggies heat through chop the tomatoes, cut up a lime, grate some parmesan.

Scoop the veggies on to a tortilla (I prefer Pepitos)

Garnish with a pinch of cheese, a dash of your favorite hot sauce, a smattering of chopped tomatoes, a wedge of lime and a some fresh cilantro.

 Delish!