Eggplant Parmesean

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/eggplant-parmesan-ii/

• 3 eggplant, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 4 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 6 cups spaghetti sauce, divided
• 1 (16 ounce) package mozzarella cheese, shredded and divided
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Dip eggplant slices in egg, then in bread crumbs. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 5 minutes on each side.
3. In a 9x13 inch baking dish spread spaghetti sauce to cover the bottom. Place a layer of eggplant slices in the sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Repeat with remaining ingredients, ending with the cheeses. Sprinkle basil on top.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes, or until golden brown. 

This works great. I love this recipe. There is a recommendation we follow to salt it prior to baking. 

 Sweat the 1/4" slices by sprinkling with sea salt and letting sit for 30 min. Rinse, pat dry w/paper towel (get good & dry)  

 

I am going to try and make my own sauce this week for this. We have ~3lbs of tomatoes in the fridge and 23 cans in the basement so I think it will work well :) 

Pasta Salad

http://www.momswhothink.com/salad-recipes/pasta-salad-recipe.html

This is a tasty, easy, Italian/American pasta salad recipe. The spiral shaped pasta holds the flavor of the dressing in all those little rings. The dressing is loaded with zesty flavor that mixes perfectly with the vegetables.
Sure to be a hit with any meal, this pasta salad is expecially perfect for picnics and barbecues.

Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
Salad Ingredients:

2 cups cooked rotini pasta, drained (about 1 cup uncooked)
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup cubed provolone cheese
1 carrot, cut into julienne strips
1/4 cup minced red onion
1 (2 1/4 oz.) can sliced pitted black olives
1/4 pound salami, chopped
2 Quorn chicken breasts

Dressing Ingredients:

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
3 to 4 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil, or to taste

Directions:
1. Combine pasta, red pepper, green pepper, cheese, carrot, onion, olives and salami chicken in a large bowl.
2. Thoroughly mix the olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar, mustard and basil in a small bowl.
3. Pour dressing mixture over pasta. Toss to coat.
4. Cover and refrigerate at leat 3 hours before serving.

It smells horrible when it's mixed together hot but my goodness this stuff is AWESOME when it's cold.
This is a great meal or side dish. The provolone is awesome cubed. You can't find regular provolone in the regular cheese section, there is only sliced. You have to go to the fancy cheese section or deli to get chunks.

TOMATOES and canning

Hey Again!

So tomato season has SPRUNG! Last week we got 20lbs of tomatoes from our CSA, plus the 7lbs from the previous week, plus my mom and in-laws brought food from their garden/their friends garden. So, 30lbs+ of tomatoes later we have 20 pints of canned tomatoes, and from previous weeks and our neighbors garden we have made 14 cans of salsa, gave two back to the neighbors, and actually ran out of cans so we have 2 cans worth of salsa in the fridge for dinner this week.

Let me tell you - we made home made tomato soup from our canned tomatoes (I've never had anything besides campbell's) and DANG is it delicious with a fraction of the sodium and way more vegetables (we also used previously frozen carrots and swiss chard stems instead of celery).

It's awesome. We love it. We recommend it. Is it hard work? Yes. Does it take time? Yes. But is learning how to preserve your own food and make it from scratch totally worth it? HELL YES!

Couscous of our own

So, the other night my mom visits. She says "what are we having for dinner"
I decided we were having coucous with red pepper (roasted and frozen by yours truly several months ago when they were on sale at the grocery store) tofu, and summer squash (blanched and frozen by me from our CSA).
My mom basicly eats 1 head of cauliflower, broccoli, and a bag of carrots a week with very little variation in her diet. Yes, healthy foods - but variety is key in getting nutrients!
So she thinks... hmm... is this going to be any good? She was very skeptical.

However, Bryan spends a long 20 minutes at the stove and VWUALA dinner. (I love how quick cousous cooks). He had added a wonderful aray of spices (which will vary every time we cook like this) to make the food fantabulous. Mom went back for seconds.

I think this shows a great  thing about how this blog has helped us. We had some food that needed used and just used it up! We didn't look up a recipe or anything and it turned out great - something we never would have tried this time last year!

I hope this blog is helping out whomever may be reading it as well :)

Feel free to post any random-leftovers-made-this recipes here!