Fresh Today From Wellspring Charitable Gardens - August 15, 2024

Garden Fresh Today… Green & Purple Beans, Swiss Chard, Tomatoes, Squash, Cucumbers, Red & Green Onions, Garlic, Peppers, Eggplant, Parsley, Basil, Melons, Pluots & Nectarines, Zinnias

Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno

Eggplant comes in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, including the familiar Italian purple globe eggplant and slender Japanese eggplant. The plants will produce a bountiful harvest from mid-summer to October. Asian style eggplant recipes showcase the versatility of this vegetable with savory and aromatic ingredients. Look for classic recipes, from Japanese Nasu Dengaku (grilled eggplant with sweet miso sauce) to Chinese Szechuan Eggplant in Garlic Sauce, and Thai Eggplant Stir-Fry with chilies and basil. These recipes combine eggplant with bold flavors from soy sauce, ginger, and sesame oil, highlighting its meaty texture and mild flavor. I like this simple recipe using sesame seeds to create a flavorful crust and baking it in the oven, so it is easier to cook. Try this Sesame Crusted Eggplant with steamed rice and grilled chicken.

Sesame Crusted Eggplant

(adapted from momfoodie.com)

¼ cup raw sesame seeds

1 large eggplant or 2-3 small eggplant

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

2 tablespoons olive oil or melted coconut oil

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon white miso paste

2 teaspoons lemon juice

½ teaspoon salt

* Preheat the oven to 400° F. On a parchment lined baking sheet, spread out the sesame seeds and cook in the oven for 10 minutes until lightly toasted. Remove from the oven and set the pan aside to cool. Cut off the ends of the eggplant, and slice ½ inch thick. In a small bowl, whisk together the garlic, olive and sesame oils, miso paste, lemon juice, and salt. Brush all  the garlic-oil mixture on the eggplant slices. Pour the toasted sesame seeds carefully onto a plate or shallow pan. Replace the parchment on the baking sheet to reuse for the eggplant. Dip the eggplant slices into the sesame seeds on both sides and press gently, then place the eggplant slice on the parchment lined baking sheet. After dipping each slice, sprinkle the eggplant with any remaining seeds. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes, then flip each eggplant slice and roast for about 20 more, until the eggplant is soft. 

Meet, Greet, and Eat

As Cindi Reads from Choosing Intimacy

Join us at Barnes and Noble on McHenry in Modesto this Saturday at 3 PM to celebrate Cindi’s labor of love Choosing Intimacy.  She will read aloud select portions and sign copies for your personal library. There will be refreshments – Tea, Kaffee und Kuchen (scones and coffee cake, I think) for you to enjoy. Following the reading, there will be a Q & A time for you to encourage Cindi to candidly share the most intimate thoughts and experiences that inspired her to write Choosing Intimacy. We look forward to seeing you there, and we are so proud of you, Cindi, and your life-changing writings about intimacy and mutuality!

Melon Recipes…

Melon salads are a refreshing and light way to enjoy the sweetness of summer melons. Combining juicy melons with crisp vegetables creates a delightful harmony of flavors and textures. These colorful salads are a perfect choice on a hot day.

Melon Salad

1 small melon, diced

1 cup finely diced cucumber

¼ cup finely diced red onion

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or cilantro

1 hot pepper, minced

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

¼ teaspoon salt

* Mix everything and eat immediately as a snack, side dish, dessert, or salsa with savory tortilla chips.

Metaphors of Soil and Soul…

Reaching Toward the Light

Ronday May Melendez & Keith F Martin

I recall a science experiment my children and I did when they were young. We selected two beans, “planted” each in a damp paper towel, and then tucked them into separate jars to germinate. One jar we placed in an area filled with light, and the other we placed in utter darkness. We left them undisturbed for the prescribed length of time but daily checked their progress. What did we find? The bean enveloped in light had unfurled into a vigorous, well-proportioned green seedling, while the bean beset by darkness produced a pallid, spindly seedling. Such a marked difference! But why?

The seedlings sprouted equally well, nourished by the reserve energy stored in their seed, but the seed growing in darkness was soon starving. Plants need light to convert carbon dioxide and water into energy (food, fuel), so it is natural for them to grow toward life-sustaining light. Without light, a plant’s cells distort unnaturally as they reach desperately to seek light to provide nourishment. If it fails to find life sustaining light, it will never thrive, never mature to produce fruit, and not long survive.

Do you find yourself over-extended and drained of energy? I do, at times!  Like the seedling, we are influenced by the surrounding darkness, so let’s reflect on our situation. Is the present darkness that surrounds us within or beyond our control? Are we prolonging its distorting influence by resisting the truth about ourselves and others or by placing ourselves in situations that intensify the shadows of darkness? Are we truly as hopeless and helpless as that seedling set in the darkness?

When we turn from or resist the light, we, like the plant in darkness, will desperately reach toward something, anything else to nurture our being, but to no avail. We must choose our placement wisely, with its influence and outcome forefront in mind - a terminally distorted life or a robust, fruitful life. Without light, we cannot mature and flourish. Without light, our being distorts and cannot bear fruit as the LORD designed.

In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind. And Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp (overcome) it. John1:4-5