Grilled Eggplant Salad

I have never worked with eggplant before. I've eaten it (and loved it!), but I've never cooked with it. Mostly because it looks like some kind weird Dr. Seuss egg.

Well, a few weeks ago, Ike and I were getting groceries and decided to pick one new piece of produce that we've never really used in a recipe before. So, I decided to face my fears, and picked the eggplant.

These last few weeks have been absolutely gorgeous (especially for 'winter' in Kansas, hello 78 degrees!!!), so grilling seemed appropriate. And this is the wonderful (and incredibly easy, and incredibly healthy, AND incredibly delicious) recipe I found courtesy of the grill master himself, Bobby Flay.

Grilled Eggplant Salad

1 eggplant, cut into 1-inch thick slices

1 large red onion, cut into rounds

Canola oil

1 avocado, halved, pitted and flesh chopped

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon coarsely chopped oregano leaves

Honey

Olive Oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 lemon, zested

Parsley sprigs, for garnish

Brush the eggplant and red onions with canola oil and arrange on the grill. Cook the eggplant until soft and grill the onions until they have a slight char. Remove from the grill to a cutting board and let cool slightly. Once cool, roughly chop and add them to a serving bowl along with the avocado.

In a small bowl, whisk together the red wine vinegar, the Dijon, and oregano. Add honey and olive oil, to taste, and blend until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add dressing to the eggplant mixture and toss. Garnish with lemon zest and parsley sprigs.

See I told you, super easy! And really there isn't much better than grilled onions!

We ate this as our meal and between the two of us, ate it right up. The grilled eggplant had a nice meaty quality, so you won't miss any heartiness. (If you were serving it as a side it could probably serve four people.)

I grilled up some naan bread to go along with it (another grilling favorite).

Looking at the forecast for next week (high 70s and low 80s) it looks like more grilling will be in order! Here comes Spring!!!

Winter Fiesta

Well, after being a lazy bum most of the week I decided to end my doldrums by cooking two new recipes (Mexican stuffed shells and Tomatillo Guacamole) last night for dinner.

And they turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself!

Mexican Stuffed Shells

(found on Pintrest)

4 servings

1 lb ground beef

1 package taco seasoning

4 oz cream cheese

14-16 jumbo pasta shells

1 1/2 c. salsa

1 c. taco sauce

1 c. cheddar cheese

1 c. Monterey Jack cheese

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Brown ground beef, add taco seasoning and prepare according to the package
• Add cream cheese, cover and simmer until cheese is melted, blend well. Set aside and cool completely. (You may be tempted to eat what's in the pan, but wait, it gets better!)
• Cook pasta shells according to the directions on the package, drain. Set shells out separately so they don't stick together.
• Pour salsa on bottom of 13x9in baking dish. (make sure you have a really good salsa, as a lot of it soaks into the shells. I have yet to find a salsa at the grocery store, or even a recipe for one that I really love. And as much as I HATE corporate dining, Carlos O'Kelly's has the best salsa.)
• Stuff each shell with the meat mixture and place in pan, open side up.
• Cover shells with taco sauce (now, it says taco sauce, but I like enchilada sauce better, so I use that, and it still turned out to be delicious.)
• Cover with foil and bake for 30 min.
• Add cheeses and bake, uncovered 10-15 min
• Top with green onions, black olives, sour cream, more salsa, whatever your heart desires. We didn't top it with anything and it tasted wonderful.

Tomatillo Guacamole

(found in Skinny Dips)

Makes about 3 cups

Vegetarian

4 tamotillos, papery husks removed, halved lengthwise

2 large plum tomatoes, cored, halved lengthwise, and seeded

2 tsp. canola oil

2 large hass avocados, halved, pitted, and peeled

1/2 c. chopped cilantro or coriander leaves

1/4 c. diced red onion

3 serrano chilies, seeds and ribs removed, minced

2 tbsp. lime juice

1/2 tsp. kosher or sea salt

• Prepare medium-hot fire in a charcoal grill/barbecue, preheat a gas grill/barbecue on medium-high, or place a stovetop ridged grill pan over medium-high heat.
• Brush tomatillos and tomatoes with the oil. Place the tomatillos and tomatoes, cut side down, directly over the fire. Cover the grill and cook, turning once, until dark brown grill marks appear and they are tender, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a cutting board and cut into 1/2in dice. Set aside. (I didn't do any of that. Mostly because I'm lazy. I skipped right to the dicing of the tomato and tomatillos. It still turned out wonderfully, I just thought I would include these directions for the more ambitious ones out there!)
• In a medium bowl, mash the avocados until chunky. Add the grilled (or in my case, raw) tomatillos and tomatoes. Fold in the cilantro/coriander, onion, serrano chiles, lime juice and salt. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve immediately (definitely followed that part!)

Anyway, hope you enjoy. All in all, it only took me about an hour. I made the guac while the shells were cooking.

Hope you have a Merry New Year!!!!

Cold Cream of Cucumber Soup

I was able to pick a few GIANT cucumbers from the garden I told you about in my last post and this recipe was the perfect way to use up the cukes and eat something cool and refreshing on yet another hot summer day!!

Cold Cream of Cucumber with Dill and Yogurt

Serves 4 and is vegetarian!

3 cucumbers, each about 5 inches long, ends trimmed, unpeeled, cut into large chunks

2 sour dill pickles

1 cup plain low-fat yogurt

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon lemon juice (I was out, but lime juice worked just as well)

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill or dried dill

salt and pepper

Put cucumbers, pickles, yogurt, cream, lemon (or lime) juice and chopped or dried dill in a food processor. (I have a very tiny food processor, so I did cucumbers in multiple batches, and a batch of the pickles. I then mixed everything together in a mixing bowl. Just make sure your cukes and pickles are blended up into pulp.) Season with salt and pepper.

Cover tightly and refrigerate until well chilled, 2-3 hours.

For the adventurous: The recipe also suggests that you could add chopped sweet red onion or shredded carrots to the mixture. It also suggests that mint could be substituted for the dill.

It literally took me about 15 minutes to put this together (plus the chill time). It turned out delicious! I bought some Naan bread and threw it on the grill for about 1 1/2 minutes each side and served that with the soup. Perfect combination.

So, go out in your garden (or a friend's garden, or take a trip down to your local farmer's market) and find some cukes and get cookin'!

Butterscotch Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies

So my man is away for a month in Florida...I can't go out and drink my heartache away because Aggieville has its stupid Fake Patty's Day drunk fest today (I already worked during it, you can't pay me enough to go back down there!)...so instead I bake. And what did I bake you ask? Butterscotch Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies (I still have a while to go before swimming suit season, right?!)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine 3/4 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 cup butter softened, and 1 teaspoon vanilla and beat until creamy.

Add 2 eggs and beat.

Add 2 1/4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda and mix well.

Stir in 1/2 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/2 bag of butterscotch chips.

Stir in 1 cup chopped pecans.

Drop mixture by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes.

It says it should make 100 2-inch cookies, but I eat so much cookie dough while I'm baking, it ends up being way less!!

Well, I still miss ol' Ike, but baking (eating!) the cookies has helped....maybe it's because I'm over at his place (far, far away from Aggieville!!!).

Either way, let the countdown begin.....18 days (253 cookies) until I see him!!!

Quick Moroccan Chicken

When I was at my parents' house a few weeks ago, I was flipping through my mom's Real Simple magazine and found a bunch of recipes using rotisserie chicken. Ike and I tried one last night and it was simple and delicious. (For you vegetarians out there, you could easily omit the chicken and still have a delicious meal!)

Photo courtesy of www. realsimple.com

Ingredients

1 10-ounce box couscous (I used parmesan couscous....FANTASTIC!)

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1 large clove garlic, thinly sliced

1 1/2 tablespoons light brown sugar

pinch ground nutmeg

1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1/2 cup orange juice

1 15-ounce can diced peaches or peach slices, drained

1 rotisserie chicken, cut into pieces

1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, optional

Directions

• Cook the couscous according to the package directions
• Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 1/2 minutes.
• Add the brown sugar, nutmeg, vinegar, and orange juice and bring to a simmer.
• Add the peaches and continue to simmer until the liquid has reduced slightly , about 5 minutes.
• Divide the couscous and chicken among individual bowls, top with the peach sauce, and sprinkle with parsley if desired.

It only took about 15-20 minutes to throw it all together. Between the two of us, we had pretty good helpings and still had enough for leftovers for lunch today!

Try it! You won't be sorry!