[Basically] Eggplant Parmesan

It's well past May Day and I still haven't posted photos and recipes from my Valentine's date-night-in back in February. Sometimes I don't feel like posting the things I've planned simply because the recipe isn't perfected or the photos have poor lighting. This is not one of those times; this particular recipe is really just something I threw together, and the pictures are quickly snapped with my phone, but I feel like this dish is yummy enough to share and sums up my life lately. I've been trying to avoid certain foods, so my options are much more limited, but this always leads to some solid, if simple, spins on classics.

Plus, eggplants were $1 at the grocery store this afternoon, and I've been trying to be more thrifty by buying only what's on sale or at least in season, thus fresh enough to be worth what the cost.

Here is my cheap, hurried basically eggplant parmesan.

I'm not going to give a full recipe listing every ingredient, because obviously you can do this dish any way you like. Here's how I did it:

• Heat oven to 425°f.
• Chop up en eggplant. You can do it in halves if you like, but I chopped mine up smaller for faster cooking and extra crispiness. (Don't peel it. I leave the peels on almost everything! Just make sure you wash it very thoroughly, duh.) 
• Slice some grape tomatoes in half (because I bought them today for $1 a pint).
• Toss the chopped eggplant and tomatoes in a bowl with raw chopped garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, and any spices you like. I used Italian seasoning, fresh ground sea salt and peppers, etc., but fresh herbs like basil would be better if you have them. Unfortunately, a squirrel dug up my basil plants today! 
• Lay the veggies out on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 35+ minutes, depending on how big your eggplant slices are. (I absentmindedly left mine in the oven a bit too long, but it was still delicious.)
• Remove from oven and eat as is or add anything you like. I added some pasta sauce and parmesan cheese (mine wasn't fresh, which is basically a sin). Top with raw chives if you are weird like that. I happen to have a hearty chive plant growing in a pot by my backdoor, so I top everything with chives, no matter what the flavor.

For  being exhausted after a long day + putting in subpar effort (which is sort of an oxymoron), I was able to put together a pretty yummy meal that is friendly to the changes I'm trying to make in my diet, (except for the crappy cheese). I don't know why I don't buy eggplant more often. I see lots of it in my future, dressed in many shades of herbs and spices. Hmm! Oh yeah, I might have added raw sunflower seeds to mine for extra crunch and protein, or just because I was basically starving and I'm some kind of freakish glutton. Ha! (I did.)

Pot Garden

My back "yard"

For the past three years, I have lived in a duplex that offers little space for gardening. My tiny front yard is landscaped and maintained by my landlord, so I can't plant anything there without fear of something being mowed over. The backyard is really just a bunch of cement. Fortunately, just beyond a little fence at the edge of the pavement are tons of shady trees and plenty of grass full of squirrels and birds, so it's still nice to sit on my back patio and soak up the sun rays. But the grassy area is not technically part of my yard, so all my planting has to be done in pots.

This year, I planted a few things from seeds: cilantro, basil, and cosmos. 

I also visited an enchanting nursery in Summertown, TN, run by some Mennonite people. Their nursery has three greenhouses full of every kind of plant you could want, and for great prices. I bought a lantana plant, an ivy geranium (both good for warding off pests, some say), and a couple of celosias for around $7 total, all of much better quality than I've found anywhere else. 

ivy geranium 

celosia 

basil . . . need to thin these out soon!

cilantro: need to thin these out, too!

celosia up close 

cosmo sprouts 

lantana bud (my current blog background!)

lantana 

And my sister, who is the go-to green thumb of the family, potted some of her own chives and peppermint for me.

yum! chives!

peppermint

I'd love to also grow some lavender and other herbs, as well as a few vegetables, but for now I'm happy just trying to keep my current plants healthy. They keep me healthy, too; I've already made a soothing rinse for my hair/scalp using the fresh mint leaves, and I've been topping all kinds of food with the plentiful fresh chives. 

I try to spend any free, sunny mornings I have surrounded by my plants, writing. 

Spring Shirts: Fun Patterns!

I haven't added any clothing-related posts in a while, and with the sun finally warming up the earth a bit (and awakening my dreams of summer dresses), I think it's high time I did. Now that it's spring, I've been trying to track down a few inexpensive pieces to liven-up my wardrobe. My favorite recent purchase is this navy blue, sleeveless Chloe K top I found at T.J.Maxx. 

In the past few years, I've come to gravitate toward blacks and neutrals over colors (and jewel tones over pastels when I do pick colors), so finding springlike clothing that fits my personal style is a bit of a challenge. I tried on several tops in T.J.'s the other day, but the mints and corals weren't calling my name. Instead, I went for a black top with gold buttons (pictured below, bottom left) and the navy one featured here.


I think the navy blouse is a good compromise, because the fun silver metal collar tip detail and horse pattern liven it up a bit and bring it out of the winter wear category, even if paired with a warm cardigan. And without a cardigan, it can even be a summer top, especially thanks to the cute back cut-out. (You can see the back of the top in the following picture, right middle.)

(Please ignore my messy hair here.)

Most new Chloe K blouses tend to sell at places like Nordstrom from $32-$38, so my $14.50 top was a good steal. I wore the top out to lunch with a friend. I wore a small black cardigan over it, but can't seem to track down any pictures of the complete outfit, despite the way-too-many I snapped before adding the cardigan. By the way, if anyone is wondering, my lipstick (as well as blush, foundation, and mascara) is from 100% natural mineral makeup & holistic skincare company EzrulieCosmetics, a shop I highly recommend.

I love how the deep blue brings out my eye color and makes my winter-pale skin glow rather than look sallow, like I felt both the peach and the mint shirts did.

                        

Something In The Whey: Homemade Butter and Buttermilk!

Have you ever made your own butter? Until yesterday, the only time I'd done so was in elementary school, when all the kids in my class took turns shaking some cream in a jar until it curdled. I don't remember it ever turning all the way into butter. Based on this memory, I'd always thought making butter was difficult. But with the help of an electric mixer, it couldn't be simpler. Yesterday I let my grownup self have a try at it with some leftover heavy whipping cream I had in the fridge, and it turned out beautifully!

By the way, I realize the title of this blog is silly, and whey isn't exactly involved in this process, but this song kept coming to mind as I conducted my butter experiment last night:

What if Kurt was really just singing about dairy? Hee hee. Okay, back to the butter . . . .

Measurements aren't important for this experiment, since the only necessary ingredient is heavy whipping cream, but I used about 1 3/4 cup of cream.

They say the non-pasteurized version expedites this process by separating more readily, but I didn't have any problems with this "ultra-pasteurized" cream. If you plan to do this by hand instead of with a standing mixer, it might be more of a concern.

Pour your cream into a mixing bowl and begin mixing on low speed. Wait for it to thicken a bit before increasing the speed (unless you want to a big mess on your hands).

You can see the cream beginning to thicken.

Increase the speed to medium (or a bit faster) and walk away for a few minutes, scraping down the sides occasionally if necessary. You will see the cream turn into whipped cream.

Then, keep mixing, but scrape down the sides or readjust the position of your beaters if necessary. It takes a little patience but next to no work, so stick with it! You will see the cream begin to look a bit curdled, like a creamy sort of butter, but if you keep beating it, it will turn more yellow.

Keep beating, though, because it's not butter yet. You may want to turn the speed back down a bit, but it's not that important as long as you keep your eye on what's happening. You want the buttermilk to separate from the butter itself, so when you suddenly see a lot more liquid in the bowl, then you've got butter (and buttermilk)!

The buttermilk will be very easy to see (like above), so if you aren't quite sure if you've mixed long enough, mix a bit longer.

Now scrape everything from your mixing bowl into a sieve; you could probably use cheesecloth or something, but I had a sieve, so that's what I used. 

Rest the sieve over a clean bowl and begin pressing out as much liquid from the butter as possible to collect in the bowl beneath. Be careful not to press too hard or your butter will get pressed through, too.

As more of the liquid is pressed out, begin kneading the butter, forming it into a ball.

I was pretty surprised at how much butter and buttermilk I got out of just 1 3/4 cup of cream! Make sure as much liquid as possible is pushed out of your ball of butter and then rinse it in cold water. (The less milk the butter retains, the longer it will last in your fridge!)

Ignore my greasy fingers, please. Look at the big ball of butter I made! Pretty cool, huh? (And I don't have small hands!)

And in addition to a heap of fresh butter, this process also rendered just under a cup of buttermilk. I love buttermilk; it's fabulous for adding richness to almost any recipe (pound cake, gravy, biscuits, etc.).

Any real chef will probably tell you not to freeze dairy products (something about the fat content changing upon freezing), but I did see many people online saying they freeze buttermilk for use in recipes all the time. I am going out of town soon and knew I wouldn't be able to use the buttermilk, so I froze it in an ice cube tray (star-shaped, that's all I had) and put in a container for later use. I'm not suggesting you do the same, but I'll let you know what I think about the buttermilk when I do try using it from frozen. 

Frozen Buttermilk

Now, here's the most fun part. Add anything you like to the butter! You can make all kinds of creamy, whipped butter spreads by adding honey or berries, or you can add herbs to make a savory butter. I simply added a little fresh-ground sea salt to mine and spread it on some toast. Compared to the store-brand butter I buy, this was much richer! Okay, maybe that's partly just a psychological thing, because I'm always happy to indulge in my own creations, but try it for yourself and see if it doesn't taste delicious!

Cinnamon Skillet Apples

I've been struggling with severe allergies already, and spring hasn't even officially begun.

This simple recipe serves two purposes: 

1) It's extremely easy and fast to prepare.

2) It's a tasty way to include local honey in your diet. 

The idea that consuming local honey can help you build up an immunity to pollen in your area has been refuted by many, but nothing else I've tried has helped my allergies, so I figured it couldn't hurt to get in a daily tablespoon or so of the local sweet stuff. I got mine from a shop on the town square, Pa Bunk's. Check it out if you're ever in Murfreesboro.

I have a bit of oral allergy syndrome, so many fruits and nuts make my lips swell up and throat and mouth itch like crazy. I'd avoided apples like the plague, for the most part, for the last ten years or so, but recently realized that thoroughly scrubbing all my fruits with vinegar helps remove some of the itchy pollen. Eating fruits in the winter, rather than spring or summer, seems to help, too. Perhaps this is because more of the produce during those times of year is brought in from elsewhere, and the pollen on these plants is different than the pollen from my area. Not sure. Anyway, as spring draws nearer, the apples seem to be making my itchier again. But cooking also helps remove some of the pollen, so this recipe is a good one. (Plus, I just love frying stuff-- usually veggies, nuts or meats-- and somehow hadn't already delved into the world of fried fruits.)

First, take one washed apple. I chose a Gala apple, because that's the only one I had. Slice/chop into bit sized pieces and toss with a tablespoon of (preferably local) honey and cinnamon to taste. I added several good shakes, probably amounting to about a teaspoon.

Melt about 1/2 tablespoon of butter in a skillet, careful not to burn it. Medium heat is good. Then add your sliced apples.

Cook on medium for about 10 minutes, or until liquid becomes more viscous, stirring occasionally. (You make cook them even longer if you want mushier apples, but I like mine hot, softened, but still with a bite to them.) You can see how the liquid portion in the picture below appears more  "stringy."

That's all there is to it! I enjoyed mine with a half serving of plain oatmeal. I'm trying to cut back on grains; this is also a good way to phase out your morning oatmeal and replace all or part of it with fruit. These would also be delicious with walnuts!

Metronomy: Everything Goes My Way

Here is a song I've been listening to lately, for your Thursday listening pleasure:

Venison & Mushroom Soup With Gnocchi

I often try to concoct affordable, prepare-in-advanceable --if you will-- meals that appeal to my too easily bored palate. One such concoction was today's venison and mushrooms soup with gnocchi. I'm not going to give a full recipe, because this is a recipe I'd still like to perfect, but it contained ingredients such as:

(before adding gnocchi and more broth)

butter
mushrooms (of two varieties) cooked in bacon grease
venison (backstrap seared in skillet first with some onions, mushrooms and bacon grease)
chicken broth
kidney bean broth
red wine vinegar
fresh garlic
celery (just a bit, leaves included)
carrot (only one)
gnocchi

I puréed some of the mushrooms, celery, onions and garlic with a bit of broth and added it back into the soup for a thicker textured, more flavor infused broth.  Of course, sea salt, fresh-ground (mixed) peppercorns, and other spices (a couple bay leaves, some parsley, you get the idea) were involved. The steak was marinaded ahead of time in my own mix.

We topped the soup with bacon and had some whole grain, bruschetta-like butter-garlic toast alongside it.

(before final steps)

I rather enjoyed this soup. People probably find it odd that I used such a quality cut of deer meat for this soup; usually, a tougher cut, or even a ground meat, would be used for a soup. But I think the small slices of tender, spicy steak bring just the right amount of interest to this recipe. Maybe that's because I love, love, love mushrooms with steak. But I also love soup, so this recipe is one I will definitely be refining. Mainly, I just want to increase the puréed segment of the broth and fine-tune the spice ratios, but I'm also considering adding in a tomato component.

I'm also working on a very unique flourless oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, so I will post both complete recipes soon!