Eggplant Creole

I harvested another eggplant from the garden, so it was time to make eggplant creole.  This is my favorite eggplant dish.  My husband and I both grew up not really eating eggplant.  When we were dating, we went out for a Valentine's Day dinner where eggplant parmigiana was served and we both realized that we liked eggplant.  A few years after we got married and bought a house, I started growing eggplant and we started eating quite a bit of it.  I can honestly say that home-grown eggplant is much better than store bought.  When you eat the eggplant 2 hours after you pick it, there isn't any time for the eggplant to get soft or bitter.  I only had one recipe for eggplant and wanted to expand my meatless menu, so I asked my Grandma for this recipe, since I'd heard her talk about it for years.  I know that it is one of her favorite recipes!  I hope to have some nice eggplants in the garden the next time she visits so that I can make this for her. 
I used green and yellow pepper in the eggplant creole pictured.  I had a yellow pepper that I needed to use.   I like to serve this with fresh fruit and warm bread.

Eggplant Creole
1 medium  eggplant, cut into 1 inch pieces.
4 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons flour
1 can diced tomatoes, do not drain
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 medium onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
Croutons
4 - 6 slices cheddar cheese

Cook the eggplant in boiling water for 8 minutes, drain and set aside. In a skillet, melt the butter over medium heat and add the four. Mix well and add the tomatoes, brown sugar, and salt. Add the diced onion and pepper and cook 5 minutes over medium-low heat. Cut the eggplant into smaller pieces and combine with tomato mixture in a glass baking dish (2qt casserole or 8 x 8). Top with croutons. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, then add cheddar cheese slices to the top and bake 5 minutes more.

Harvest Bread

I went to a wonderful farmers market last weekend and ended up with quite a few sweet potatoes.   The King Arthur Flour website is my favorite place to look online for bread recipes.  I typed sweet potato into the search box and ended up finding a recipe for this...

The original recipe was written for a bread machine.  If you have a bread machine, follow the King Arthur Flour instructions.  The KAF recipe calls for nuts, I only used raisins.
Harvest Bread
Adapted from King Arthur Flour Website
One sweet potato or yam baked, peeled and mashed (1/2 cup mashed)
2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 cup King Arthur Traditional Whole Wheat Flour
1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup water
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
2/3 cup raisins
1) Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and stir well to work the yeast into the dough.
2) Let rise, covered, in a warm place for 1 hour.
3) Place dough in a greased 9-inch loaf pan and let it rise, covered, for another hour
4) Bake at 375 for 25 - 35 minutes.  If the bread starts to get too brown, tent it with foil.
5) Allow bread to cool for 5 minutes before taking it out of the pan.
Makes one large 1 1/2 pound loaf.

Black Bean Burgers

I am not usually a big fan of meat substitutes.  I don't like tofu, I'm not big on Boca Burgers, and I think that most veggie patties taste like salted cardboard.  If I want something with the texture and taste of meat, I eat meat.  When I have a meatless meal, I usually focus on beans, grains, and veggies, not meat substitutes.  I do have a few exceptions to this.  One exception is the veggie burgers at Disney.  They are usually grilled and you can see and taste all of the veggies in them.  The other exception is Morningstar Farms products.  I love their veggie sausage patties (but NOT the "bacon"), meal starters, Asian burgers, and their black bean burgers.  I think that my favorite thing about the black bean burgers is that they aren't trying to be a hamburger.  You can taste the black beans and corn.  My favorite way to eat them is with a little bit of ranch dressing, a pickle slice, lettuce, and tomato.  I've also found that pepper jack cheese and avocado slices are wonderful additions to this burger.

Quick Thanksgiving Dinner Rolls

The Bread Bag is Full of Assorted Rolls

This year Thanksgiving is at my house!  I have a small family, but we seem to have quite a bit of food on the table every year.  I thought about posting some of our traditional Thanksgiving recipes, but everyone has their own traditions.  I've also noticed that most people aren't looking to change their Thanksgiving menu...even if the Food Network claims that traditional food are boring.  So, I decided to write about an easy way to do bread for Thanksgiving.  I am in love with "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day."  I have the book and I follow the blog.  I also read posts that others have done with variations on the recipes.  Most of the recipes make three or four pounds of dough, which is quite a bit.  I decided to start making rolls with the leftover dough and then I freeze the rolls.  I have a nice bag of the master recipe, peasant bread, and pumpernickel rolls.  I hope to add some buttermilk rolls before Thanksgiving since I am making buttermilk bread for our turkey sandwiches.   On Thanksgiving day, I will pull an assortment of rolls out of the freezer and place them in a 425 degree oven for 5 - 7 minutes.  If my family didn't read the blog, they would think I spent all week making bread!

Chicken Vegetable Lasagna

This is probably the classiest thing I make.  It is definitely more work than just about every other recipe I have, so I only make it once or twice a year...but it's always worth it.  The picture is of an 8 x 8 pan, but the recipe is for a 9 x 13.  I made a large one for a recipe contest and made a smaller one for us to have at home.  If you don't have the patience for layering, make it with ziti, it still tastes great. 


Chicken Vegetable Lasagna

2 chicken breasts with bone and skin

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 bag fresh spinach

½ cup sun dried tomatoes

1 red pepper, julienned

1 yellow pepper, julienned

1 cup shredded carrots

1 pint ricotta cheese

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 egg

8 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded

¼ cup parmesan cheese

2 jars alfredo sauce

1 package no boil lasagna noodles

1) Brush chicken breasts with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Roast at 350 for 45 minutes.  When chicken has cooled, cut into cubes, set aside. Note: Save the drippings, bones, and skin and use them to make broth.

2) Add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a large skillet. Heat over medium heat and add garlic.  Saute garlic for about 2 minutes and then add peppers and carrots.  Add spinach and sun dried tomatoes and cook until spinach is wilted.

3) In a large bowl, mix ricotta, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and egg.

4) Grease a 9 x 13 pan with butter or oil.  Pour about ¼ cup alfredo sauce into the bottom and spread evenly.

5) Line the bottom of the pan with lasagna noodles. Top with half of the ricotta, vegetables, and chicken. Add one-third of the remaining alfredo sauce and one-third of the mozzarella and parmesan.  Repeat for second layer. For third layer, top lasagna noodles with remaining alfredo sauce and cheese

6) Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. 

Panini Fresh from the Garden

I had a really nice harvest of eggplant, bell pepper, basil, and kale from the garden last week!

I turned it into a roasted vegetable sandwich with sun dried tomato pesto.

After cutting and salting the eggplant, I  roasted it in olive oil and cooked it over medium heat for about 3 minutes on each side.  I split a sub roll in half and put a ton of pesto (made from the basil above) on each side.  I added the eggplant to the bottom and put large pieces of peppers on top.  I placed sliced tomatoes on the other slice of bread.  I set everything under the broiler for 2 minutes and then I added a few slices of cheese to the tomatoes and broiled for 2 minutes more. 
I used the kale to make a side of kale chips. I'll post those soon!

Pesto

I am not really a fan of traditional pesto because I find that it is a little bit overpowering and usually has too much olive oil in it.  A few years ago, we were at a party where sun dried tomato pesto was served.  Both my husband and I really enjoyed it, so I decided to learn how to make it. My recipe doesn't use pine nuts.  In my opinion, pine nuts do nothing, but make this recipe expensive.

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto
1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

1) Combine basil, sun dried tomatoes, garlic, salt, and pepper in a food processor,  Pulse until well blended.
2) Add olive oil and run the food processor until it is well blended.
3) Stir in parmesan cheese.