Eggplant, Zucchini, Squash, and Orange Pepper Parmesan Torte

We have this amazing produce market a few miles away from us that sells super cheap produce.  The only catch is, the produce can be on their way out so you need to use it quickly. 
Whenever we have a chance to go there, I tend to go a little buckwild.   I can't help it, I get so excited when I have the chance to buy so many fresh veggies for a good price!   
Since I went a little overboard, I knew I needed a recipe that called for a lot of veggies.  So I found this recipe!

Here is my version of how I made this recipe.  Here is the link to the original version if you would like!

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Eggplant-Zucchini-Red-Pepper-and-Parmesan-Torte-101664

• 1 large onion
• 2 garlic clove, minced
• about 1/2 cup olive oil
• one can (14oz) diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage leaves
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
• 1 large eggplants
• 1 large zucchini
• 3 large orange bell peppers
• 1.5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup half and half
• 3 large eggs
• 1 and 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Preheat oven to 450°F. 

The recipe called to roast each veggie separately but I roasted all of the veggies together to save time.  

Cut up the eggplant first (into rounds) and sprinkle each piece with a little bit of salt to draw out the bitterness.  

 Arrange eggplant in one layer in baking pans. Brush eggplant slices with some remaining oil.

Cut zucchini and squash widthwise into 1/3-inch-thick slice.

Quarter bell peppers lengthwise and discard stems, seeds, and ribs. 

Arrange zucchini, squash and peppers oiled baking pans and brush with some remaining oil. Roast veggies until tender and lightly browned, about 20-30 minutes.

 

Halve onions through root end and thinly slice. Finely chop garlic. In a large heavy skillet cook onions with salt to taste in 2 tablespoons oil, covered, over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 15 minutes. 

Add garlic and cook mixture, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until any liquid onions give off is evaporated. 

Add tomatoes with juice, sage, and thyme and simmer, stirring occasionally, until excess liquid is evaporated and mixture is very thick. Season mixture with salt and pepper and cool. 

In a 1 1/2- to 2-quart heavy saucepan melt butter over moderately low heat and whisk in flour. Cook roux, whisking, 3 minutes and whisk in milk and cream. Bring mixture to a boil, whisking, and simmer, whisking occasionally, 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat and cool sauce 5 minutes. Whisk in eggs, two thirds Parmigiano-Reggiano, and salt and pepper to taste. 

Preheat oven to 400°F. and lightly oil a 14- x 10- x 2 1/2-inch or other 3 1/2-quart shallow baking dish. In baking dish arrange half of eggplant, overlapping slices to form an even layer, and season with salt and pepper. Top eggplant with half of tomato mixture, spreading evenly, and pour about one third Parmigiano-Reggiano custard over it. Nestle half of zucchini in custard and season with salt and pepper. Top zucchini with half of peppers. Repeat layering, reserving half of remaining custard for topping. Pour reserved custard over final layer of peppers and sprinkle with remaining grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. 

Bake torte in middle of oven until custard is puffed and golden brown, about 35 minutes. Let torte stand 10 minutes before serving.

SO delicious!  It is almost like a veggie lasagna but without the noodles!

Mushroom Sausage Ragu with polenta

I am BAACCCKKK!!

Yes I realize I took a long hiatus!   It turns out starting a new job and trying to plan a wedding...well it takes a lot of time away from your normal routine.

But I am back...albeit with a new last name ;)  So let the food blogging begin again!

Fall is upon us already.  When it starts to get gloomy and dark, dinner is all about warm and comfy foods!

We had some frozen hot sausage links in the freezer so I looked for some recipes which would allow me to use our two lonely sausage links.  Go me for trying to get stuff out of our freezer.  (Yes I know two little sausage links don't take up much room...but it's all about taking baby steps!)

I found a recipe for Mushroom Sausage Ragu with polenta.  Here is the link to the original recipe online.  I made a few adjustments so wherever you see the * sign, that means I deviated from the original recipe.

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/mushroom-sausage-rag-with-polenta-10000002012806/

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided 
• 2 hot sausage links
• 1/2 cup chopped onion 
• 1 pound baby bella mushrooms, sliced*
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, divided*
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2 1/2 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth $
• 1 1/2 cups milk*
• 1 cup uncooked corn meal*
• 1/4 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese*
• 1/2 tablespoon butter *
• 1 tsp dried thyme*

As always, before I start cooking, I chop all needed veggies

1.  Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons oil to pan; swirl to coat. Remove sausage from casings. Add sausage to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Remove sausage from pan.

2.  Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion; sauté 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add mushrooms; sauté 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in sausage, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and tomatoes; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium; simmer gently for 15 minutes.


3. Bring broth and 1 1/2 cups milk to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add cornmeal and thyme, stirring well.   Reduce heat to medium, and simmer until thick, stirring occasionally. Stir in remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt, cheese, and butter. Serve with sausage mixture.

I served some fresh sauteed garlic greens with the ragu.  Makes for excellent leftovers for lunch the next day!

Creamy Chicken Pasta with Butternut Squash

I found this recipe in Cooking Light and I have made this in two different variations so far. Since I have been on a butternut squash kick, here is the recipe for the butternut squash one.

Ingredients

8 oz cavatappi pasta (I used orcchiette because that was all I had in hand)
cooking spray
12 oz chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 cup unsalted chicken stock
1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup chopped parsley, divided
4 cups peeled cubed butternut squash
1 1/2 cups slices shallots
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 packages mushrooms caps
Cauliflower
 1 TBSP olive oil


1. Combine butternut squash, cauliflower, garlic, and onion with olive oil and roast in preheated oven (350 degrees) until squash is soft.

2. While the veggies are roasting, cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat, drain.

3.  Heat a dutch oven over medium high heat, coat with cooking spray. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan, saute 4 minutes turning to brown on all sides.

Add stock to pan, bring to a boil. Add mushrooms.  Cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, mascarpone, and 2 tablespoons parsley.

Add roasted veggies to the chicken and sauce and bring dish back up to simmer. 

Chinese BBQ Roast Pork (Char Siu)

I had a craving for some chinese bbq pork and chinatown was too far away so I decided to spend an afternoon trying to make chinese bbq pork. I called my parents for advice and you know parents, they don't give exact measurements so naturally I didn't really use exact measurements either.

Ingredients

Pork shoulder
Hoisin sauce
Five spice powder
Dark sauce soy
Chinese cooking wine
White pepper
 

Mix all of the ingredients (after pork shoulder) and use to marinate the meat.

Cut the pork shoulder into four sections and cut into eight long pieces.

The meat should marinate for 2-4 hours.

Once the meat has been marinated, roast pork in a roasting pan in a 400 degree oven. Every 20 minutes, take pork out and reapply sauce. Once the internal temperature of the pork reaches 160 degrees, change oven to broil and broil until outer skin is crispy.

Meatballs

This is a great recipe to have on hand. It is pretty quick and easy and you can always freeze half of the recipe to use for next time. I combed through many meatball recipes and the following recipe is what I decided to put together after reading through many meatball recipes.

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
2 TBSP chopped flat leaf parsley
1/3 cup grated Romano cheese
1/3 cup bread crumbs
2 cloves garlic
1/2 onion, diced
1 egg
Dried italian spice mix

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

In a food processor, pulse onion, garlic, and parsley unless everything is finely diced.
In a large bowl, mix meat together with onion mix, bread crumbs, cheese, and egg and spices. Mix together. I found that mixing it all together with my hands works the best.

Form meatballs into balls and place on parchment paper covered cookie. Bake for 15 minutes. Afterwards you can use the meatballs any way you like! In this picture below I put them in BBQ sauce for superbowl meatballs. Also keep in mind that the meatballs will shrink during the cooking process so keep that in mind while shaping your meatballs.

Sorry I have a habit of forgetting to take pictures when I am cooking so here are the pictures that I did remember to take.

Blueberry Banana Bread

Ingredients

1 cup flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
3/4 cup oats
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3 TBSP canola oil
1 cup mashed banana
3/4 cup blueberries
2 large eggs slightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine flours, oats, sugar, salt, baking soda and powder into a large bowl. Make well in the center. Combine oil, banana, blueberries, and eggs. Add to flour and stir until just moist. Bake for 35 minutes.

Butternut squash soup

Butternut squash soup is always very comforting. And not only is it great comfort food but it is really good for you as well.

Ingredients

1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into medium size chunks
1/2 onion chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
4 cups chicken stock
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper
nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut and peel butternut squash and roast in oven for half a hour or 45 minutes until the butternut squash is tender and soft.

In food processor, pulse onion in processor until completely diced. Then add the butternut squash in the processor with the onion. After the onion and butternut squash are finely diced, transfer the squash and onion into a large or medium size pot and pour in broth, add carrots, garlic, and celery. Add cumin and salt and pepper and a touch of nutmeg. Bring to a boil and then simmer until the carrots and celery are soft. Transfer back into the pot and bring back to boil and simmer. Then it's ready!

Texas Pulled Pork

I decided to try a different pulled pork recipe for the crock pot.  I found a recipe for Texas pulled pork and it turned out pretty well.

Here is what the recipes calls for :

1  (4-5 lb) pork shoulder
1 cup bbq sauce
1/2 cup apple cider
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 TBSP  prepared yellow mustard
1 TBSP worchestershire sauce
1 TBSP chili powder
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 tsp dried thyme

I threw in the chopped onion in the crock pot first.

 Put in the rest of the ingredients in the crock pot and stir it all together.

 I put the pork shoulder in with the fat layer face up.  It will easier to take the fat off after the pork cooks. 

 I let the pork cook for six hours on low and then turned it on high for the last two hours. After eight hours, I took the pork shoulder out and shredded the meat and discarded the fat from the pork.

There was a lot of liquid remaining in the crock pot.  After shredding the meat, I ladled all of the broth into a medium size pot and reduced the sauce.  Ten minutes later, the sauce reduced in size and was thicker.

 

I poured the rest of the sauce back into the crock pot with meat and kept it warm until it was time for dinner.

I paired the pulled pork with cole slaw and corn and it made for a great summer night dinner.

Babaganoush

So after making the Falafel baked Eggplant, I had roasted eggplant leftover and I thought hey I could try making some babaganoush.  I looked up the recipe and found that Babaganoush only contains a few ingredients making it super easy to make. 

Here is what you need:

Inside of 1 roasted eggplant
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 TBSP Tahini
2 TBSP fresh lemon juice

 I threw all of the ingredients into my blender (I don't have a food processor :( )  and blended it until all ingredients were pureed.  And that is it!   Makes for an awesome dip if you have some pita chips or veggies!

*I had leftover roasted eggplant but if you don't have any, all you need to do is cut an eggplant in half and put it in a preheated 450 degree oven and let roast until the insides are soft - about 15 -20 minutes.

Falafel Stuffed Eggplant with Tahini Sauce and Tomato Relish

I love falafel but I actually have never tried making it so when I saw this recipe in Cooking Light I was intrigued and thought well it is as good of a time as any to try this.  I was not disappointed, this turned out great and makes for a healthy and filling meal.

Here is what you will need: This is what the original recipe called for.  A little * denotes that I didn't have this and I used a substitute.

For Tahini sauce:
3 TBSP warm water
2 TSBP Tahini
4 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp cumin
1 garlic clove minced

For Eggplant:

1 large eggplant *
Cooking spray
3/4 tsp kosher salt, divided*
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs *
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 TBSP tahini
2 tsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp freshly ground  blackpepper
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
2 large eggs
2 garlic gloves, minced
1 (15 oz) can no salt added chickpeas, rinsed and drained


For Relish:

1 cup chopped seeded tomato
1/2 cup chopped seeded peeled cucumber
1/2 cup vertically sliced red onion
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 TSBP fresh lemon juice
1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 475 degrees

To prepare eggplant, slice the eggplants in half lengthwise; score cut sides with a crosshatch pattern.

Place the eggplant halves, cut sides down, on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 475° for 7 minutes or until slightly tender and browned.

 Remove from oven; carefully scoop out pulp, leaving a 3/4-inch shell. Season cut sides with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Reserve pulp for another use. (Need an idea for what to do with the pulp...read my recipe for Babaganoush!)

   Combine remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, onion, and next 11 ingredients (through chickpeas) in a food processor; process until smooth. Spoon 1/2 cup chickpea mixture into each eggplant shell. Bake at 475° for 25 minutes or until eggplant halves are tender and chickpea mixture is lightly browned.

To prepare sauce, combine first 6 ingredients, stir with a whisk and set aside.

To prepare relish, combine the tomato and remaining ingredients in a bowl; stir to combine.

 Place 1 eggplant half on each of 4 plates. Top each half with 1/4 cup relish and 1 1/2 tablespoons sauce.

For a side I made some cheesy orzo with broccoli.  While cooking the orzo, I microwaved some broccoli.  After the orzo was done cooking, I added 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, TBSP of milk, and shredded cheese to the hot orzo and simmered it on the stove until it all melted together.   It made for a very yummy and cheesy side.

  * I didn't have kosher salt so I just used regular salt * For the sake of time, I used store bought breadcrumbs instead of making fresh bread crumbs,