Eggplant Rollatini

My Mom's specialty:

Eggplant Rollatini

Eggplant, peeled & sliced 1/4" long 

Salt & pepper

Egg, split

Flour

Breadcrumbs

Oil for frying (vegetable, peanut, canola)

Ricotta

Frozen chopped spinach

Parmesan

Marinara

Mozzarella

Fried Eggplant:

After slicing the eggplant lightly dust with salt and lay them out on paper towels to sweat for about 15 minutes. In the meantime prepare your dredging bowls. One bowl with a well beaten egg, one with flour and another with breadcrumbs. Blot the moisture off the eggplant and preheat grease in wok (if available). Dredge eggplant slices in the following order: egg, flour, egg, breadcrumbs. Then, deep fry until golden brown and cool on a rack (with paper towels underneath). Dust the fried eggplant with salt and pepper while they are still hot. 

Filling:

Defrost the chopped spinach in the microwave for 3 minutes, flip over and heat an additional 3 minutes. Drain by squeezing handfuls of spinach over the sink. Mix spinach with ricotta, 1 egg and Parmesan. 

Build:

Preheat oven to 375*. Grease a glass baking dish and lightly cover the bottom with marinara. Spread ricotta filling over each slice of fried eggplant and roll up tightly. Place in a baking pan pretty close together. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and pour marinara over each roll. Sprinkle with mozzarella and bake an additional 20 minutes. They are truly heavenly!

Whole Grain Pasta With Fresh Tomatoes, Basil, Olive Oil and Parmesan. 

While the pasta is draining heat some olive oil in the pot you boiled your pasta. Throw your tomatoes in and cook for about 5 minutes over high heat, stirring a couple of times. Add salt, fresh ground pepper and freshly chopped basil in with the tomatoes. Stir once and add pasta. Mix well and top with Parmesan. This was a nice simple accompaniment to the very hardy and flavorful Eggplant Rollatini 

Amazing Fresh French Green Beans (from Sam's)

Bring salted water to a boil and cook for 13 minutes. Drizzle with 1-2 Tablespoons of butter and dust with salt & pepper. 

The men were gone so we vegged out with a homemade Italian feast. 

Fish Tacos With Sautéed Veggies

Fish Tacos:

Whole wheat or whole grain tortillas

Olive oil

Tilapia

Salt & pepper

Cabbage, thinly sliced

Cilantro mayo (below)

Mix cabbage and cilantro mayo together and refrigerate until ready to serve. Season tilapia with salt & pepper. Heat cast iron over medium-high heat and add a tablespoon of olive oil. Sear each side 1-2 minutes. This should cook it through since its so thin. I use my spatula to cut the filet in half at its natural seam. There is usually a fat side and a thin side. The fat piece is a nice portion for the taco and two thin sides together work well. After all your fish is cooked add another tablespoon of olive oil and heat each tortilla on both sides until it starts to bubble. Plate the tortillas with the seared tilapia and top with chilled cilantro slaw. Eat immediately to preserve the hot fish/tortilla and cold slaw combo. 

Cilantro Mayo

South Beach recipe

Mayo

Cilantro, freshly chopped

Soy sauce

Minced garlic

Salt & pepper

Mix well and serve on burgers, sandwiches, as dressing, etc. 

Sautéed Veggies

Maybe a South Beach recipe

Squash, sliced 1/4"

Zucchini, sliced 1/4"

Onion, thinly sliced

Grape tomatoes

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

Heat cast iron over medium-high heat. Add olive oil then squash, zucchini and onions.  Cook down and dust with salt and pepper. About 5 minutes before you are ready to remove them from the heat add your grape tomatoes. Season again as needed. 

Creamed Brussels Sprouts

I got this recipe from a Healthy Cooking Magazine and LOVE it. 

Trim brussles sprouts and boil in salted water until tender. Drain. Sprinkle a little salt & pepper, splash of cream or Half & Half, small squeeze of Dijon mustard, generous sprinkle of grated Parmesan. Mix well and serve. 

New Take on Mac & Cheese

1/2 lb Whole grain/wheat pasta (I used bowties ALA Farfalle but you can use anything you'd like)

1 1/2 cups Half & Half

1 1/2 cups Cheddar cheese

Salt & Pepper (Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper preferred)

Use a small deep pot/ pan so that the cream builds up on the noodles and doesn't spread out. Preheat oven to 400*  Boil pasta in salted water as directed on the package. Drain. Grease a 8x8 baking pan or small, deep oven safe pot. Spread  just enough pasta to cover the bottom of the pot. Pour 1/2 cup cream over the pasta.  Take a small pinch of salt and  sprinkle over pasta and grind pepper over the layer. Then, top the layer with  1/4 cup of cheese. Repeat until all of the ingredients have been used. You may have to slightly adjust the measurements to make everything come out evenly on the layers, reserving about 1/2 cup of cheese at the end to top off the dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is golden and bubbly. Let set for about 20 minutes before serving. 

Variations:  

Use thinly sliced potatoes instead of pasta for Potatoes Au Gratin. Still pre-boil potatoes in salted water until tender. Then, follow the rest of the recipe. 

Use other cheeses to change it up such as Gruyere, Munster, Monterey Jack,etc. 

My Original Favorite Salmon

Baked Salmon

Salmon large filet

Italian dressing

Dill (fresh preferably)

Place the salmon in a ziplock with 1/2 - 1 cup Italian dressing.  Marinate 20 minutes - 2 hours, turning every once and a while.  Preheat oven to 400*. Make a foil packet by taking two x-large piece of foil one and a half times the length of the filet. Lay the foil pieces flat on top of each other and fold one of the long edges over about 3/4". Fold it over again sealing that side. Fold it one or two more times (depends on how much foil you have to spare) securing the seal. Open the two pieces up so that it is now one large piece with a seam down the middle. Place your salmon filet down the middle and spread dill evenly over it. Pull the foil up over the salmon and fold the two long sides together just as you did to seal the other side. Once the top is sealed roll the ends up and crunch them to seal it completely. Bake for 20-25 minutes depending on how thick your salmon filet is. (Think about if you got the biggest filet there was or the smallest to judge the size). Remove from oven and let it rest for about 5 minutes before tearing into the foil. Be careful of the hot steam that will be very eager to escape. 

Side salad made with Romaine, grape tomatoes, tiny tender cucumbers, homemade buttermilk ranch dressing and lightly dusted with salt & pepper. 

My Attempt At Bacon Bowls

Not too bad for an upsidedown muffin tin. 

Preheat oven to 375* Place a muffin tin upsidedown on a foil lined baking pan with a lip to catch the grease. Thin bacon works better for me because its playable and sticks in place better, but you may have to do a couple of layers to get complete coverage. Mine pictured could have used more layers. Also, make extra incase there are casualties when you remove them after they bake. Cut half of the bacon into 1/3's and the other half is used in whole slices. Drape 3 cut pieces over the flat part of the tin letting it hang down over the cup. Then, wrap the whole slices around the cup several times pulling tight at the end to make it stick. Bake for about 45 minutes until bacon appears to be thoroughly cooked. Remove them from the oven and let them sit for 5-10 minutes before removing them from the muffin tin. Don't wait too long before they start to dry out. Use a firm but gentle twisting motion to remove them. 

They looked delightful but we weren't sure what to put in them. We tried twice baked potatoes that were pretty outstanding. I think quinoa with feta and cranberries or corn dip/salad would be nice in them also. Next time I think I'll try wrapping the bacon around a bigger dish and make it as a serving bowl for dip. 

Extra Good For You Chili

Nice snowy day chili

Chili

Adapted from Healthy Cooking magazine

Ground meat (beef, turkey, pork, deer)

Onion (purple, yellow or both), diced

Red bell pepper, diced finely

Zucchini, diced finely

Tomatoes (fresh, peeled or canned)

Garlic, minced

I'm listing these in order by amount used:

Chili powder

Beef base/bullion

Kitchen bouquet (optional for dark color)

Cumin

Paprika

Salt 

Pepper

Garlic powder

Red pepper flakes

Cayanne pepper

Preheat your crock pot to high. Add meat and let sit in hot crock pot covered for about 5 minutes. Start to break the meat up.  Next, add tomatoes with juice. Continue stiring to break up the meat and tomatoes (if needed). Add spices and mix well. Then, add onions, bell peppers and zucchini and mix well. Let cook in crock pot on high for 5-6 hours or on low for 8+ hours.