While preparing our Honey Oatmeal bread for our bread maker last night, I noticed a recipe for Garlic Bread.  Knowing we were having Eggplant Parmigiana for dinner, we agreed to try the garlic bread recipe as well.

Matt made the Eggplant Parmigiana Saturday night and we just cooked the entire pan tonight.  Following a similar recipe from the last time, he made a few modifications including:

• adding garlic powder and parmesan cheese to the egg white mix – enough that you can smell them both
• only using white flower in the dredging process
• reducing the amount of mozzarella cheese in the assembly process and adding more parmesan cheese

The result – delicious.

The garlic bread was not quite as good as the Honey Oatmeal bread we made this morning – surprisingly it was very dense – even though both recipes used bread flour.  I will say, even with the white bread flour, this was definitely better then something you would get from the freezer – this was perfectly garlic-y and only needed a small bit of butter…I know everything that went in it!

Thankfully the eggplant parmigiana made enough to feed a small army.  Matt has it in 3 containers to take to work this week for lunch plus we have 3 more meals of it going in the freezer.  I love meals like that – especially since Matt did most of the work!

Matt and I got home from the BBQ we went to this afternoon around 5 pm (thanks Maribeth and John – we had a great time).

We weren’t really hungry so we declared it a “dinner on your own” evening.  Matt had a grilled cheese and I decided on a smoothie made with skim milk, 1 vanilla Carnation Instant Breakfast packet, frozen blueberries and raspberries.

On the side, I had a new muffin recipe I made yesterday – I will post the recipe later this week!

Time to get organized – school starts on Tuesday…

I spent the afternoon baking away – once again, two large zucchinis found their way into my CSA this week.  I made a new muffin recipe and Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies for a BBQ we are going to tomorrow afternoon. 

Also in my CSA this week was an Acorn Squash – I love stuffed acorn squash but decided to try making “fries” tonight.  I attempted to peel the squash and then I sliced it in half.  After scooping out the seeds, I sliced each 1/2 into slices.  Mixed with some olive oil and kosher salt and on a baking sheet the fries went into a 425 degree oven for 40 minutes. 

With the fries, we had Gardenburger veggie burgers with lettuce, swiss cheese and ketchup on a Thomas’s Whole Wheat Bagel Thin and grilled zucchini (the remainder of the zucchini that was not baked – I had to do something with it!)

The acorn squash fries were tasty – both Matt and I agreed this was a good and different use of the squash.  I wish they were a little crisper but the flavor was great. 

I also have a soft spot in my heart for grilled zucchini.  One day, I will have an actual grill and it will taste even better.  For now, my grill pan works well for this.

I’ve had a spaghetti squash from my CSA sitting on my counter for over a week now and figured it was time to use it. 

Last night I cooked it in the microwave to make tonight’s dinner prep a snap.  First I microwaved the entire squash for 2 minutes to make it soft enough to get my knife through it.  Next I microwaved each 1/2 for 7 minutes; remove the seeds then run your fork through the squash and make “spaghetti” – simple!

I found a recipe for Greek-Style Salad with Spaghetti Squash from the Cooking Light website and changed it just slightly:

Ingredients

• 3  tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2  teaspoons  extra-virgin olive oil
• 1  teaspoon  dried oregano
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
• 2  garlic cloves, minced shredded on my microplane
• 3  cups  cooked spaghetti squash
• 2  cups  1 pint chopped cherry tomato
• 1  cup  diced cucumber mine was bad
• 1/2  cup  (2 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4  cup  diced green red bell pepper
• 1/4  cup  diced red onion
• 2  tablespoons  chopped pitted kalamata olives
• 1  (15.5-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained

Preparation

Combine first 6 ingredients in a bowl; stir well with a whisk.

Combine squash and remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Add vinegar mixture; toss well. Cover and chill.

This was a great recipe.  I wish the cucumber hadn’t been bad – I think it would have added a lot to the dish.  My only complaint was the dressing covered up the flavor of the spaghetti squash.  I love spaghetti squash dearly and was disappointed that I didn’t get to taste it that much. 

That being said, if you have a family member who does not like the flavor of spaghetti squash, this would be a great recipe for them.

With my salad, I had a small bowl of Three Sisters Graham Crackerz cereal

What a delicious dessert/rest of dinner!  Sweet and crunchy – and look at those milk bubbles…

I am pooped.  Hoping to make it to bed early tonight…!  

In the CSA this week, there was a 2 pound eggplant.  I don’t think I have ever seen an eggplant this big.  Matt was supposed to make eggplant parmigiana yesterday but ended up being caught at work.  Thinking back a few months, we made a recipe by Hungry Girl – Supremely Stuffed Pizza-fied Eggplant.  Very loosely following that recipe, I made my “Ode to a 2 pound Eggplant”

Ingredients:

• 2 pound eggplant
• 3 bell peppers (1 red, 1 orange, 1 yellow)
• 4 small onions (1 red, 3 yellow)
• 1 can diced tomatoes (drained)
• 3 teaspoons dried basil
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic (the kind from a jar)
• 1 cup dried lentils (cook according to package directions)
• 3 teaspoons dried oregano
• leftover pizza sauce (about 1/2 a jar)
• Parmesan cheese (good handful)
• 1/2 a lb of shredded mozzarella cheese
• 4 tablespoons tomato paste

Directions: 

Peel and cube the eggplant into 1/2 inch cubes.  Dice peppers and onions.  Cook in large non-stick skillet for about 10 minutes or until soft. 

Add cooked vegetables to a large bowl.  Mix in lentils, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, oregano, garlic, parmesan cheese, pizza sauce and garlic.  Stir until combined.  Taste and season accordingly – I added a little salt. 

Pour into 9×13 baking dish and top with mozzarella cheese. 

Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until hot and cheese is melted.  

Because I snacked my afternoon away wasn’t too hungry, I didn’t need anything else with it

This was a great dish – and use of my 2 lb eggplant.  The flavors blended really well together – Matt said to use Soy Crumbles next time for a better texture, but otherwise he was pleased with the dish. 

I was also really pleased with this dish because it cleared out some items in my fridge – and made enough for probably close to 2 more meals!

Matt and I are attempting to catch up on some Real Housewives of NJ – a guilty pleasure of ours…

Matt had to stay at work late to get some things done so instead of making our planned dinner, I realized I was a party of 1 tonight. 

I scoured the fridge for something to make – debated mac and cheese, tuna sandwich, grilled cheese.  Instead I found a whole wheat pita bread, some pizza sauce and leftover shredded mozzarella cheese from Sunday’s pizzas.  Pizza time!

The pita went under the broiler for a few minutes on both sides to toast it up.  Next pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese and back under the broiler until the cheese was completely melted. 

Next refrigerator find was the remainder of the Summer Squash Gratin I made on Saturday. 

A meal that cleaned out some leftover items – one of my favorite kinds of meals. 

I’m sad the gratin is gone – that may be the last of the summer squash I see.  There was none in our CSA share this week!

Moving into fall, which fruits are vegetables are you most looking forward to?  Me – spaghetti squash!

I neglected to mention, but last week Matt and I probably had close to 10 tomatoes on our counter.  His mom gave us a bunch from her garden plus we got a few in our CSA share last week.  Result: lots of tomato recipes.  On Saturday, I made Summer Squash Gratin which I have been nibbling on all week (used two tomatoes). 

On Sunday, Matt made Tomato Pie – a recipe his mom raved about.

Ingredients:

• 1 – 9" Frozen Pie Shell
• 4 – Medium Ripe Tomatoes, sliced and sliced again
• 1/4 Cup Chopped Chives or Scallion Stalks
• 3/4 tsp Fresh Chopped Basil or 1/4 tsp Dried Basil
• 1/4 tsp Dried Oregano Crumbled
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup gruyere cheese

Preheat oven to 425*.  Bake pie crust 5 minutes. Remove from oven and reduce heat to 400*.  Place tomato pieces on bottom and up sides.  Sprinkle chives or scallions (I use scallions), basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Combine cheese and mayo and carefully spread mixture evenly over tomatoes making sure it reaches edge of pie crust to seal in tomatoes completely.  Bake for 35 minutes or until hot and bubbly.,  Allow to sit for 5 – 10 minutes before serving. 

Sadly neither Matt nor I was that impressed with this recipe.  We talked about trying it again with an Asiago cheese and some fresh basil inside. 

Interestingly, as the week has gone on, the dish has developed a better flavor.  We have also found it tastes better cold as opposed to warm…

Tomatoes are pretty much all gone now…

Have you tried any less then stellar recipes lately?

Tonight we made a good effort to clean out the fridge – with a simple quinoa dish Quinoa, Corn and Tomato Salad with Chive-Infused Oil.  This is a simple dish that helped us clean out the remaining ears of corn and most of our cherry tomatoes! 

I served my salad over a bed of Olivia’s Organics Spring Mix leftover from Saturday’s dinner. 

I love this recipe – I forgot about it until I was thumbing through my massive recipe book.  I made it once or twice last summer and was glad I still had some summer produce to make it again. 

The possibilities are endless – add some feta, scallions or shredded cheddar cheese. 

Did you celebrate Meatless Monday tonight?

Matt and I decided on pizza for dinner tonight – we typically make homemade dough and then divide it in half.  His and Hers pizzas as we can’t agree on the best way to make pizza.  I typically take my pizza dough and further divide it in half and make two meals out of my dough – one for dinner and another for lunch. 

Tonight, I made two different pizzas. 

The first, included grilled zucchini (grilled on my grill pan on the stove), sliced tomato, mozzarella and parmesan cheese, and mushrooms.

I loved the grilled zucchini on the last pizza I made and wanted to add it again. 

The second, was inspired by Jenna’s pie – Cheesy Zucchini Pizza.  I followed her recipe exactly (well minus the dough – we made our normal recipe using 1/2 whole wheat flour, 1/2 white) but added some dried basil and oregano to the top.

Unlike Jenna, I did use part skim mozzarella and ricotta cheese – unfortunately full fat cheese and I do not get a long.

This pizza was excellent – I wish I had put the dried basil and oregano in the ricotta – but I forgot.  The zucchini flavor was simple yet summery. 

I have to admit.  I am now zucchini-ed out.  I had 4 of them in the fridge (one was ginormous) and this afternoon I made Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Zucchini muffins and Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies.  This is after I made Kath’s Summer Squash Gratin yesterday to have with dinner tomorrow. 

Thankfully I have finished the zucchini – I’m sure we will get more on Tuesday though. 

I hope to get some work done tonight – it is unusual that we are done with dinner so early!

Are you familiar with the Wheel of Fortune Before and After.  That was the thought process of our dinner tonight.

I wanted to enter the Olivia’s Organics Summer Harvest Recipe Contest so I have been thinking of interesting combos the last few weeks. 

After some deep thinking I decided I wanted to use scallops (because I love them so) – what goes best with scallops – bacon of course.  Then my mind wandered to one of my favorite sandwiches – a BLT.  My salad was born. 

First I sliced 2 tomatoes and roasted them in a baking dish at 400 degrees for close to 30 minutes.  Before baking, I sprinkled the tomatoes with dried oregano and basil and drizzled with olive oil.  The tomatoes were from our CSA last week! 

While those were in the oven, I cooked some bacon on a baking sheet fitted with a cooling rack. 

After the tomatoes and bacon were done, we set out to make a salad dressing.  Here is what we mixed together:

• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon milk (plus more to thin dressing to your desired consistency)
• 1 clove of garlic grated on the microplane
• 2 leaves fresh basil
• 2 small stalks of fresh oregano
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Lastly we seared the fresh scallops in a hot skilled with a little olive oil just until they were cooked.  You don’t want to overcook them! 

I found an avocado on the counter so I added that as well to the Olivia’s Organics Mixed Greens.

How could you go wrong with this combination?  The sweetness of the tomatoes and scallops were a great contrast to the salty bacon and tang of the garlic. 

Wish me luck with the contest!