Hooked on Eggplant! (Revisited)

Missy Tippens

I thought I'd re-share this post from 2013 because I'm once again going through an eggplant kick! Enjoy!



Missy, here. And I'm hooked on eggplant. Ever since I tried making the recipe Sandra LeeSmith shared on here (click here), I've been playing with eggplant and trying it cooked in different ways.

This spring/summer, my son planted his first garden at his rental home. When he came home for a visit, he brought me his first eggplant! I felt honored he shared. :) (Okay, so he probably had no idea what to do with it!) LOL

I just happened to have another eggplant (thankfully, because his wasn't very large).

We needed a quick dinner, so I chopped my eggplant and sliced his. Then I sautéed it in a pan in olive oil and garlic.

Eggplant can really absorb the oil! So you sometimes have to add a bit. But I buy a wonderful, fruity olive oil that adds great flavor.

Once it was tender, I served over spaghetti noodles and topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

A yummy and quick vegetarian dinner!

A Mediterranean Stew with Eggplant and Chickpeas

Still sick here and not able to eat, so not feeling very inspired.
(This is what happens when the lab tech isn't sure what the doctor's order was so he/she just didn't run the most important test!!!!)


But all is good.

When I was in the hospital with my husband a few weeks ago, I saw this poster in the gift shop. Isn't it perfect?

So, no real cooking.  However, I wanted to share a recipe I came across that I am looking forward to making. It just calls out to me for one of those cool autumn nights.

Kav, this one has your name on it too!

I'm going to link the video with the recipe - Healthy Eggplant Chickpea Stew

Supposedly this recipe is a staple of the Mediterranean Diet so we know that means it's good for us. Thing is, I think it looks delicious too.


And you get to use the slow cooker!

It starts out with roasted eggplant, tomatoes, sauteed onions, and chickpeas in the slow cooker.

You add rehydrated porcini mushrooms and the water they soaked in.

Finally, the rich flavor is derived from adding minced garlic, oregano, cinnamon stick and sage (the last two are removed before serving).

Check out the recipe and tell me if it doesn't look gorgeous for a fall night.


The video is step by step - not quite like Missy's in-person cooking class, but a nice addition.


It's been cool in my neck of the woods this week. It feels almost wrong to be having such glorious weather while so much of the world is suffering. But I shall take joy in the Lord's creation and appreciate the autumn glory.

But before I spend too much time swelling on autumn promises (which is a great lead-in for my current novella collection!), I wanted to share some pictures I took on my walks around my neighborhood this summer. I love the beautiful greenery in the city.

See the corn!!!

These corner corn plots amaze me (and make me smile).

Bounty at the Farmer's Market

Eggplant and Rice Casserole Revisited

Again, not much cooking in the Tippens household this week! I went away for a couple of days with my college roommate. A nice girls getaway! So I'm doing a re-post from December 2012. I hope you enjoy. It's one of my favorite dishes! I usually make it with ground beef and leave out the tomatoes--just use basic beef, rice, eggplant and cheese. But I love this vegetarian version as well.


Missy, here. And last week, I promised Kav a vegetarian dish. :)

First, let me say this is a modified recipe from Sandra LeeSmith. She posted her Eggplant Casserole  for Speedbo last year. I LOVED that recipe! I've made it at least twice.


But for Thanksgiving, my sister was coming. And she's a vegetarian. So I decided to come up with a veggie version.

Here's Sandra's list of ingredients, updated for my purposes:

1 cup brown rice (3 cups cooked)

1 large eggplant pealed and cubed

1 onion chopped

1 package veggie or soy crumbles

½ cup dry sherry or dry wine

1 ¾ cup canned tomatoes, drained (14 oz can)

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I also used shredded Italian cheese on top)

1 ½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

First the prep:
Cook the rice. Yes, I use Boil-in-bag! :)

Put cubed eggplant in boiling salted water and boil for five minutes.

Brown onion in a little oil and add in the veggie crumbles. I really like the Morning Star Farms Grillers Recipe Crumbles. I just used them frozen.

Add tomatoes and sherry: bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes.

Add drained eggplant, cooked rice and all remaining ingredients.

Transfer to a 3 quart buttered casserole dish.
NOTE from Missy: I always put in 2 dishes and freeze the smaller one so I can have it later for lunches.

Though it has cheese in it, I always sprinkle some (A LOT!) on top. Isn't everything better with cheese???

Sorry I didn't rotate the photo! Ran out of time.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour (Or just heat in microwave).

I actually put it in the oven while it was still pretty hot from cooking on the stove. I just baked about 30 minutes, long enough for the cheese to melt and the casserole to bubble.

Enjoy!

Eggplant Harvest Time on the Farm!

Okay, first... before I do food, let me tell you this, and yes, it's a shameless plug... For a beautiful, heart-wrenching story:

This book is available now. Like right now. It was released early and I'm thrilled because it is such a beautiful story... and I'm not saying that lightly, I'm not bragging, it's just... I know it's a beautiful story. I know it's special, that it's got a quality and feel that only happens sometimes. And it happened with "Refuge". If you want a beautiful, inspirational story, hop on over to Amazon or Barnes & Noble and buy it... we'll wait.

Lena's story... and her love and respect for hard-won freedom... will touch your heart and soul. And I hope you love it just as much as I do!

I have never made eggplant Parmesan because I'm the only one who eats it.

I LOVE IT!!!! I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!

But like most of us, I don't fuss over something that only I'm going to eat. Honestly, if that's the case, I'll have a bowl of cottage cheese and write a book!!!

I'm not even kidding, I love writing stories that much, but...

Then there was THIS:

And dozens more will join this happy table tomorrow! So what could I do? I was forced to play with eggplant, which means I'm forced to eat-- and enjoy!!!-- the results!

So this was fun. First I hopped onto facebook and asked for help.

I LOVE MY FACEBOOK FRIENDS! They gave me all kinds of advice and that rocked it!

First, I washed the eggplant... dried it... and sliced it about 1/3 of an inch thick. Now some folks like it thicker, some thinner, but this worked great.

Then a fun part! It starts oxidizing like instantly, like old apples, so don't let that bother you...

Lay out a layer in a big colander, sprinkle heavily with salt.

Re-layer and salt again. Repeat until all eggplant has been salted. This helps make the veggie less soggy after cooking.

They say 30 minutes is fine. Someone told me overnight... Who thinks that far in advance???? Anyway, I left it sit there in the colander while I made next week's post:

Chocolatey-Caramel Walnut Bars!!!!!

Oh my stars, you will love them, I promise! But back to eggplant. Rinse well, lay out on paper towels to dry...

RECIPE PART:

Flour

Egg wash (two eggs whisked in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of water)

Bread crumbs (I used Italian Seasoning mix and salt with fresh bread crumbs, but any crumb/panko will do)

Dredge (I love the sound of that word...) in flour, then beaten egg thinned with water, then seasoned bread crumbs. Heat a thin covering of olive oil on griddle. Fry each side until golden brown.

Set out on paper towel to drain, and enjoy!

Now at this point you can eat them just like this... or you can layer them with sauce and mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and bake them... or you can serve with pasta and cheese.

I loved them.

I loved them so much... I can't even...

I mean that!

So Finn was ready for lunch (I will not tell you how late lunch was that day, it's probably illegal to starve a child that long, but I gave him cookies. And his mother was here, and his aunt, and so we all will go to jail together. These days I shouldn't joke about that, eee gads, we are not helicopter parents here. We are so wretchedly normal.) and I gave him a piece of eggplant to try.

#notafan

Look at him, curling his lip!!!

So we substituted peanut butter and Nutella:

SCORE!!!!!

Happy toddler!

Quick Veggie Meal

Hello from The Belle, Missy. We've had a crazy week. Which meant crazy, spotty meals. (How many times can we eat frozen yogurt or cereal in one week??) :)

Well, one night when I was home alone, I decided to do something with eggplant. I wanted to make the recipe Sandra Leesmth shared here at the cafe. It's one of my very favorites. But I had no ground beef. So....

I remembered a recipe I had pinned on Pinterest, Roasted Parmesan Zucchini. I figured I could make it with eggplant!

I peeled and sliced an eggplant, the slices about 1/4 inch thick. Then I brushed them with olive oil and sprinkled them with pepper and a pinch of salt. Roasted at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

But I got impatient and put them in the oven before preheating...

And that was the tray that I sliced too thin. So that and my impatience led to FAIL! LOL

I gave up on that batch. Could barely scrape it off.

Here's the good tray... Sprinkle them with Parmesan cheese. Return to oven.

Bake until cheese is melted and bubbly. I ended up broiling them for a minute or two.

Enjoy!!

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Eggplant Casserole (and babies!)

Our church is fairly small, so you can imagine our excitement when THREE families in our church announced they were expecting babies in the same month! We filled the time with baby showers and supporting the new moms and dads...

...but none of us expected that two of the babies would be born on the same day!

Palm Sunday was quite exciting. We stayed glued to our emails to hear the big news. And we welcomed Ezra in the afternoon, and Mari a few hours later.

What can be better than babies????

No, that isn't one of the new church babies - that's my dad with his proud daddy back in 1929. I love this picture :)

One thing we always do, and I'm sure you've done this, too, is to take meals to families in the church who need them. And who needs a meal more than new parents?

This casserole has gotten rave reviews among the new moms and dads.

It's low carb, gluten free (or close to it), and can be made either with meat or without.

Eggplant Casserole
serves 8

Ingredients:

1 egg

1 tablespoon water

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

1 cup almond meal

salt and ground black pepper to taste

2 large eggplants, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch rounds

1 pound ground beef, browned

2 - 15 oz cans diced tomatoes

1 - 4 oz can tomato paste
Basil, oregano and garlic to taste.

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk the egg and water together in a shallow dish.

Combine 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, almond meal, salt, and ground black pepper in a separate shallow dish.

Dip eggplant slices in egg mixture.

Press slices into the crumbs and tap off excess. Arrange slices on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake eggplant slices in the preheated oven until tops are golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Flip eggplant and bake an additional 20 to 25 minutes. Remove eggplant from the oven and increase temperature to 400°.

Combine the browned ground beef, tomatoes, and tomato paste in a medium sized pan. Bring 

        to a boil, and then simmer for several minutes. Add the basil, oregano and garlic, then salt and pepper to taste.

When the sauce is ready, it's time to start assembling the casserole.

You want to layer this casserole like a lasagna. First, grease your pans - I used two 8"x8" disposable pans for this meal-to-go. If you're fixing this to have at home, use a 9"x13" pan.

Place 1/2 of the eggplant slices on the bottom of the pan. Ladle 1/2 of the tomato sauce over them, then sprinkle 1/2 of the mozzarella and remaining Parmesan cheese on to the tomato sauce.

Repeat all three layers, finishing with a layer of mozzarella/Parmesan cheese.

        At this point you can freeze the casserole, or bake it, uncovered, at 400° for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for about 5 minutes.

All wrapped up and ready to cover with foil (double layer
protection) and freeze.

     I like to take two of these casseroles to our new moms - one for supper that night, and one to stick in the freezer for a couple weeks later. You know, for one of those days when the baby hasn't slept, you're coming down with a cold, and you've just begun to discover the joys of diaper rash. :)

   Speaking of new moms, this is the time of year to look for new wildlife babies. The first bison calf of the season has been spotted...but not by us. We only saw a couple bulls on our last trip to Custer State Park. The cows and calves stay hidden away from the roads this time of year.

But we did see these beauties! It's hard to find the elk in the park. They're very shy, and stay away from the roads. The fence in the picture is around the small airstrip in the park, so I think they were feeling safe. I'm glad my new camera is powerful enough to get a shot from this distance....

      This looked liked a herd of cows and yearlings. No calves, yet.

And still wearing their winter coats, but we still expect snow. It's only April, after all.

      How is spring springing in your part of the world?

Hooked on Eggplant!

Missy, here. And I'm hooked on eggplant. Ever since I tried making the recipe Sandra LeeSmith shared on here (click here), I've been playing with eggplant and trying it cooked in different ways.

This spring/summer, my son planted his first garden at his rental home. When he came home for a visit, he brought me his first eggplant! I felt honored he shared. :) (Okay, so he probably had no idea what to do with it!) LOL

I just happened to have another eggplant (thankfully, because his wasn't very large).

We needed a quick dinner, so I chopped my eggplant and sliced his. Then I sautéed it in a pan in olive oil and garlic.

Eggplant can really absorb the oil! So you sometimes have to add a bit. But I buy a wonderful, fruity olive oil that adds great flavor.

Once it was tender, I served over spaghetti noodles and topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

A yummy and quick vegetarian dinner!