Ok here is the recipe for the long awaited eggplant burger. For you non eggplant lovers, give this a try! I promise you will love it! For anyone with kids, this is a great way to get a veggie in them:) What truly makes this dish is the "remoulade" I made to go along side it! I served mine with homemade baked potato chips and fresh greens.
Eggplant Burger(for 1 with leftovers or for 2)
1 eggplant, chopped
2 scallions diced
1/2 cup mild cheddar cheese, shredded- take the time to shred your own, it makes a difference
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
1 tsp diced garlic
salt/pepper to taste
EVOO
Preheat large skillet to medium heat and add 2-3 tbsp EVOO. Add diced eggplant and saute for about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low/medium and cook for 15min or until eggplant is completely soft. Remove eggplant from heat and add 5 other ingredients and mix to combine. Form 2 equal size patties, and place in fridge for about 15 minutes. Reheat skillet to medium and add 2 tbsp EVOO. Place patties in skillet and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side. Serve alone or on bun along side yummy remoulade. If you serve on a bun, make sure you toast it. :)
Caramalized Onion Remoulade
1/2 onion sliced
1 tbsp butter
1-2 tbsp EVOO
2 tbsp mayo
2 tbsp sour cream
In small skillet heat butter and EVOO on medium heat. Add onions and saute til translucent. Once they are, turn down to simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes or until caramelized(brown). Mix onions with mayo and sour cream. This is so freakin' good....it tastes just like the french onion dip you buy in the grocery! For you health nuts, you can just caramelize the onions and serve them on top of your burger alone.
Home Made Potato Chips
1 baking potato
EVOO
salt/pepper
Thinly slice potato. Toss with evoo and salt/pepper. Place slices on cooling rack on top of cookie sheet. Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes or until brown and crispy.
Greens:
yummy fresh greens from the grocery
grape tomatoes
scallions
cheese of your choice
Want a healthy sweet treat to end your evening?
1 frozen banana
2 tbsp cocoa powder
In blender combine 2 ingredients and you will have a quick "sorbet" for dessert!
Hello friends! It has been quite a while since I have blogged.....I have been in Maine the past 10 weeks! Back to the grind this week and back in the kitchen. While in Maine I did not have access to my farm fresh veggies, so I loaded up the day I got back into town. The other night I made a stir fry that was super easy and better then take out. A great week night go to if you ask me! This recipe will be for one, but you can easily make it for 2, 3, 4, etc. I also stuck with just veggies but you can add chicken, pork, beef, or seafood. So so good, you must make it!
Ingredients:
1/2 red bell pepper
handful of broccoli
1/2 sliced onion
handful of mushrooms
handful of shredded carrots
1/2 cup uncooked jasmine rice
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp chopped garlic(or however much you like)
2 tbsp chicken stock
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp soy sauce
pinch of red pepper flakes
Bring 1 cup water to a boil, add rice and pinch of salt. Set to simmer and cook 30 minutes.Chop and prepare your veggies. ( you can do whatever veggies you want.....don't feel you have to stick to mine!) Mix together spices and liquids in separate bowl. Once there is 10 minutes left on your rice, preheat pan to medium heat and add about a tbsp of EVOO. Add veggies and saute for 5 minutes.(be sure to put lid on to help in cooking process!) After 5 minutes add your "sauce" and heat through for 5 minutes. Serve on top of rice. When cooking for 1, this recipe makes enough for dinner and leftovers for lunch or dinner the next day. This is better then take out, trust me!
Chefs Note: If you should want to add a protein here are my directions. Cut your meet into bite size pieces and toss with some cornstarch and soy sauce. Pre heat pan to medium and add some EVOO. Cook meat through about 10 minutes, depending on size. Remove meat from pan, then follow above directions to cook veggies. Add meat last after you have added the sauce. I recommend cutting pork and beef length wise into strips. If you have pork chops on hand, these are perfect and you can stretch a buck using 1-2 pork chops. If you use chicken, one chicken breast can feed 4 when cut into pieces. Fresh shrimp would be delicious as well!
Stay tuned for my eggplant burger recipe..........
So it has been at least a month since my last blog. I am sad to say there won't be any new recipes for the next 7 weeks. I am currently working in Maine, and trying my best to eat "healthy" with camp food. Not easy. So many carbs AND milk and cookies every night. There is a salad bar but it got old after the first night.
Do you know how hard it is to resist fresh baked cookies with ice cold milk every night?!
The food is actually all very fresh and homemade but a lot of it is not the best for you and I am craving some fresh veggies. I am also missing my southern summer veggies right now. No vine ripe red tomatoes up in Maine. I wonder if they even know a good tomato up here? I am craving fresh tomato, onion, cucumber, squash and field peas. If any of you can figure out how to Fed Ex some of that to me that would be awesome! :) I do have one recipe for you guys, and if you all want to try it or attempt to try it and let me know how it goes that would be great! The chef here at camp, Angelo, is freakin awesome and he gave me a guide as to how he makes his chicken curry.....yes we get chicken curry here at camp!
Angelo's Chicken Curry:
Season chicken with salt and pepper, curry and garlic and let sit overnight.
When preparing the next day, cut chicken into pieces and saute in EVOO.
Add diced carrots, red onion, and any other veggie you desire. (eggplant, zucchini, etc.) Sprinkle with curry. (Angelo suggests you shake your curry a bit before you use the spice.....wakes it up a little!)
Add heavy cream to make your sauce. (He says you can use yogurt to make it healthier but it won't taste as good as with cream)
Serve with white rice and a fresh green veggie.
This was so so good. I will try to blog a few times while here with some other "camp" recipes! haha
On a Maine note, I had lobster mac and cheese my first night in Maine......I must say I could make better mac and cheese. I guess southerners know best! Haha
Okay off to work. If you make the curry let me know what you think!
So my awesome cousin, Claire, hooked me up with a black bean burger recipe a few months back. I of course, have played around with the recipe and concocted my own creation. Last night was by far my favorite result so far! I recommend serving these cakes with some yellow rice and fresh tomatoes on top!
Black Bean and Corn Cakes
1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
1 ear of corn, corn cut off
1/2 bunch scallions
1 jalapeño diced
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
1 egg
salt/pepper to taste
In small skillet saute corn and jalapeño for a couple of minutes in some EVOO, just to heat through. In small bowl, mash black beans and add egg and bread crumbs. Slowly combine corn to bean mixture, you really have to temper the mixture since the corn is hot. Add scallions to mixture last. Ingredients should be rather thick. Try to divide mixture into 4, as you should be able to make 4 cakes out of this recipe.
Heat small skillet to medium heat and add 2 tbs EVOO. Drop 1/4 mixture into skillet and slightly flatten it to look like a cake. Cook 3-4 min on one side and flip. If you want a little something on top, sprinkle with pepper jack cheese after removing from skillet. One cake, with rice is a serving. Delicious!!!
Note: If you don't want big bean cakes, you can always make smaller patty size cakes and then you would have 2 small cakes per serving. Those of you with men if your life :), they might like 2 large cakes a serving.
To reheat, you can heat in the microwave, but they taste better heated in a toaster oven.
So when you are eating on a tight budget, you become quite creative with every ingredient you have on hand. I am big fan of Mexican flavors and one of my favorite restaurants, The Roosters Beak, has a Mexican pizza that they make with a tortilla. The possibilities of toppings is endless and you can really make it your own by what you choose to put on top. What is pretty awesome about this recipe is that you can individualize each pizza. How great for someone with a spouse? You can finally have something the way you want it and he can be happy too!! Woo hoo! The following recipe is my version, and I must say it is tasty! I made 2 pizzas, so I would have leftovers. 1 tortilla will serve 1 person. To reheat the next day, I recommend taking the time to reheat in an oven or toaster oven to keep the crispness of the tortilla.
Notes/Tips:
- Both tortillas and cheese freeze very well and thaw out quickly. You can pull out as many tortillas as you need at the time the morning of and they are ready by dinner time. You can also pull out a bag of cheese and place it in the fridge the morning of and it too will be ready for you by dinner.
- Other meat suggestions: ground beef, chorizo, or keep it vegetarian and just use beans.
- If you like tomatoes, they are a yum-o topping once the pizzas come out of the oven.
Mexican pizza ingredients:
1 cup black beans
1 cup shredded chicken(rotisserie chicken is great for this)
scallions( they come in bunches at the grocery, I used half a bunch chopped)
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 pkg Old El Paso taco seasoning divided(1/2 for the chicken, 1/2 for the sour cream sauce)
1 cup of a variety of cheeses( I used pepper jack, sharp cheddar, mozzarella) note: this is 1 cup total
sour cream sauce(see recipe below)
2- 10 inch tortillas
1 cookie sheet
1 cooling rack
Sour cream sauce ingredients:
2 heaping spoonfuls of sour cream
cilantro(I use the cilantro in a tube from the produce section, not as potent as fresh)
1 jalapeño pepper
1/2 pkg taco seasoning
For the sour cream sauce: In a food processor combine all ingredients until jalapeño is completed chopped and blended.
Preheat oven to 400. Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil and place cooling rack on top. Both tortillas should fit on top. In small saucepan heat chicken and season with 1/2 pkg of taco seasoning. (the other 1/2 is in the sour cream sauce). I also heat the corn with the chicken. Place a spoonful of sour cream sauce on each tortilla. You can determine how saucy it is :) Evenly distribute beans, chicken, scallions, and corn on each tortilla. Sprinkle each pizza with your choice of cheeses. Don't over do it with the cheese on these, remember its a tortilla not pizza dough. (I know I know, shocking that I just said don't over do it with cheese!!!) Bake at 400 for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and tortilla is browned. I cut mine into 4 pieces and like to dip it in sour cream and salsa. Enjoy!
This next recipe is an oldie but goodie in my cookbook. I discovered this recipe 5 or 6 years ago and it is delicious and a different way to use asparagus! The original recipe called for fancy cheeses that they average single teacher can't fit in the budget. So I tweaked it and incorporated some more affordable cheeses. Also if you don't care to buy a pack of prosciutto, consider going to the deli and having them slice it for you. Since it is supposed to be cut super tihn, you might save some money by buying it by the slice/pound! It may sound strange at first, but trust me....once you make it you will be in love!
Asparagus and Prosciutto Pizza
fresh pizza dough (Publix and Trader Joes carries it)
10-12 asparagus spears(buy them thin......not sure how well the thick ones would do)
3-4 slices prosciutto(cut into pieces)
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1-2 cups mozzerella cheese
salt/pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 375.
Sprinkle cookie sheet with flour or corn meal. Work out pizza dough to fill a cookie sheet.....a rectangle shape works best for this pizza bc of the asparagus. Spread ricotta cheese and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Lay asparagus across pizza leaving a little space between each spear. Sprinkle prosciutto over top. Cover with Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses. Bake 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted.
that you can split a brownie mix in half! Once again I had a craving and a box of brownie mix sat in my cabinet. I decided to measure out the dry mix and see just how much was in a box. Come to find out it is 4 cups of dry brownie mix. So why not use half and make less brownies? Oh and why not splurge and top your brownies with a cream cheese frosting?! Yes please! This treat is perfect to make the same night or week you make my yummy risotto as I used mascarpone cheese in the frosting. Also I make them in a cupcake pan, so these would also be a nice treat to pack in a lunch during the work week!
Brownies for 1 (or 2!) This recipe makes 6 brownies.
1 box brownie mix
1 egg
1/4 cup water
2 Tbs oil
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips(optional)
1/2 chopping walnuts(optional)
cupcake pan
cupcake liners
Heat oven to 350. Trick: If you don't want your chips/nuts to sink in your brownies, toss them with some of the dry brownie mix in a separate bowl before adding them to the batter.
In bowl mix half your brownie mix with egg, oil, and water. (you can save the rest of your dry mix in a ziploc bag or container for another time) Line cupcake pan with 6 liners and equally distribute your brownie batter.
Bake 15-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool.
Frosting:
2 oz cream cheese: softened
2 oz mascarpone cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
In bowl mix 3 ingredients. Frost cooled brownies, and feel free to sprinkle with a few extra chocolate chips!
Serve with an ice cold glass of milk!
Greens:
