We're delighted to share our Aunt Nettie with you. She's agreed to answer any questions you might ask about food, its preparation, and even clean-up tips. But we have to prepare you. She just might want to come right over to your house and help you fix dinner.
To send any questions to Ask Aunt Nettie an/or get her cooking advice, .
Editor's Note: Instead of Aunt Nettie answering individual questions, she has decided to address a number of requests from people who want to save money on the food budget and still enjoy healthy dining. This is one of a series of money-saving tips and recipes designed to stretch those slim dollars.
As an example of Aunt Nettie's impressive, penny-pinching ability to save, she still has some depression glass dishes and bowls in the cupboard--they're the real thing and she still treasures them.
In future issues of Vegetarians in Paradise, Aunt Nettie and her niece Zel will offer more money-saving recipes for the most extreme skinflints along with suggestions to help bargain-hunter foodies seek out cheap fare that still brings good cheer to the table.
Howdy there Darlin's,
Well now, I simply could not take my country eyes off them mighty purty Chinese eggplants I saw at the grocery this week past. Why, they was gleamin' purple--not that dark purple that makes me wonder if it's black or blue. No, siree, I guess them eggplants could be called light purple, and they was shiny as gold.
You guess right, I done bought 'em an' decided ta cook 'em up nice an' easy. Now, why did I buy them eggplants, yer askin'? Well, darlin's, y'all knows I like a good sale as well as any folk, an' them eggplants was cheap an' fresh--now that's a mighty good combination if I do say so myself.
There was not a lot o' time fer fussin' in the kitchen today 'cause I was mighty busy gittin' ready ta plant my tomaters. If''n y'all take a look-see at the recipe, why you'll see in a wink them fixin's don't take hardly any time at all! An' them fixin's cooked up mighty quick. Now there's a tasty dish ready ta serve up when supper time comes 'round.
An' I tell ya true--it was mighty tasty eats, it was. I surely hope you enjoy it as much as my family did.
Yer ever lovin' Aunt Nettie
Yield: 5 to 6 servings
1 to 2 tablespoons minced parsley
EGGPLANT IN TAHINI SAUCE
2 pounds (1 kilo) Chinese eggplant, with skin, cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 orange bell pepper, diced
3/4 cup (180 ml) tahini
1/2 cup (120 ml) plus 2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup (60 ml) plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon salt
Our Aunt Nettie has a head like a hard disk. It's filled with gigabytes of information about food and cooking. And she's just itchin' to share her learnin' with city folk who live in mortal fear of the stovetop.
Aunt Nettie grew up on the farm. She did not eat out of a can or reach into the freezer. There was no microwave to pop her food into. Everything she made was from scratch. All the food she ate was natural, without pesticides. It was grown right there on the family farm, and she had to cook to survive. At eighty-three years young she still leaps and bounds around the kitchen and can shake, rattle, and roll those pots and pans with the best of them.
Nowadays, Aunt Nettie just shakes her head and complains, "Nobody cooks anymore. They have no idea about puttin' a meal together." She's on a mission. She wants to help those younguns eat better so they can grow up healthy like her own eight kids.