Eggplant Lasagna

Eggplant Lasagna
Adapted from About.com

1 lb lasagna noodles
Olive oil
1 medium eggplant, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium onion, minced
Marinara sauce*
1 lb mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.

In a large saucepan, heat a small amount of olive oil. Add onion and garlic and cook until tender and fragrant. Add eggplant. Lightly saute for 3-4 minutes. Add marinara sauce. Cover and cook until eggplant is tender, about 10 minutes.

To assemble the lasagna, place a layer of the eggplant sauce on the bottom of the pan. Press noodles into the sauce. Top with another layer of sauce, then a layer of mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers of noodles, sauce, and cheese until there is a half inch of space on the top of the pan, or until you run out of ingredients.

Cover tightly with foil and bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes, until a fork can easily pierce the noodles. Allow to sit for 10 minutes, then serve.

My Notes:
*The tomatoes here in the store look absolutely terrible, and I didn't have all the ingredients to make a canned sauce from scratch, so I used a jar of marinara sauce. Blasphemy, I know. I do have a recipe for a roasted red pepper sauce to go with eggplant parmesean that I might try to make after I get back from my current rotation, but until then, just use whatever sauce floats your boat. I'll be adapting this one for a while, I think, before I get just the perfect balance of flavors.

My friend made eggplant parmesean for girls night the other night, and it was my first time really having eggplant. I had bought some before to make eggplant parm, but I got weirded out by the texture of the eggplant when I was cutting it, so I didn't ultimately use the eggplant. Go figure. But, this dish she made was absolutely amazing. So, I had to replicate it. Except that I still had a box of lasagna noodles in my pantry that I needed to get rid of, so I decided to start a little more basic.

Another friend and I had this last night for dinner. It was pretty good. The sauce needed some work (more heat and a little more spice), but I blame that on the fact that I didn't actually make the sauce from scratch. It had enough texture that I wasn't feeling like I was just eating noodles and cheese (which is my problem with a lot of 'vegetarian' lasagnas), so score. And I didn't have to deal with using ricotta (though I did buy some, so now I have to figure out something to use that in).

Chocolate Truffle Cake

Chocolate Truffle Cake
From Connie's Kitchen

1 cup flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 block (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 container whipped topping, divided
1 package instant chocolate pudding
1 package instant vanilla pudding
3 cups milk

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Mix together the flour, butter, and pecans until a dough forms. Press to the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool completely.

Beat together cream cheese and powdered sugar. Fold in 1 cup of whipped topping. Spread over cooled pecan crust.

Mix together chocolate and vanilla pudding mixes and milk. Allow to sit for 3-5 minutes, until thickened. Pour over cream cheese mixture.

Spread remaining whipped topping over the top. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, until set. Serve cold.

My Notes:
This is a recipe that was given to me by one of my hosts while on away rotations when I was talking about what sort of dessert to bring to a potluck. I have no idea where the recipe is originally from. But it tastes amazing. As in, I couldn't stop myself from eating it. My friends went for seconds. And if you make it right, it looks really pretty when you're done. Ours didn't look so pretty since I was in a hurry making it and we ending up eating it before it was set. But whatever, it still tasted amazing and I'm not terribly picky about presentation.

My host suggested making this in a spring-form pan, because then you can pull off the sides easily and have your beautiful setting. The crust was really, really thick when I used the standard size springform, though, so I think using less crust or the 9x13 baking dish will be nicer. Or you can separate out the ingredients into individual ramikins. Whatever suits your fancy.

Arroz Con Pollo

Arroz Con Pollo
Originally found at Simply Recipes

3 Tbsp olive oil
1 to 1 1/2 lbs chicken thighs or breasts, bone-in, with skin on, rinsed and patted dry
Freshly ground black pepper
Paprika
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup of medium or long-grain white rice
1/2 cup diced peppers
2 cups chicken stock
1 can diced tomatoes, strained and rinsed
1 tsp oregano

Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. Place the chicken in the oil and season liberally with pepper and paprika. Cook until browned on each side. Remove from pan and set aside. Add rice to the pan and brown (add more olive oil if necessary). Add onion, garlic, and peppers, and cook, stirring frequently, until onions become softened, about 4 minutes.

Place chicken pieces, skin-side up, on top of rice. Top with tomatoes and cover with chicken stock. Add oregano. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low, and cover. Allow to cook for 20-25 minutes, until rice and chicken are done.

My Notes:
Made a couple adjustments to this one. First, I removed the salt, but that's my preference. I never add salt to my cooking. I also removed the dredge on the chicken, because I didn't think it'd make much difference if the chicken was soaking for 20 minutes. Then, I added diced peppers. Specifically, yellow and orange peppers I had diced and popped in the freezer when they were on sale. I think I would've preferred this dish without the chicken skin on, only because if I eat chicken skin, it's gotta be nice and crispy, and soaking the chicken in the stock after frying kinda takes away from that crispiness.

It came out really well. Much more flavorful than I anticipated. This is definitely a keeper. Helps that I can basically make it in one pot. Woot!

Curry Rice Salad

Curry Rice Salad
Originally found at Simply Recipes

1 to 1 1/2 cups brown rice
one large yellow onion, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp curry powder (mild)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
few drops of sesame oil
Bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 cup raisins
1 apple, cored and chopped
1-2 Tbsp honey

Cook brown rice according to package directions.

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add curry powder, chili powder, cumin, and sesame oil. Allow to simmer for a minute. Add onion and cook until translucent.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the hot rice and curry infused oil. Taste and prepare more oil if needed. Add cilantro, raisins, apple, and honey to taste. Chill and serve.

My Notes:
Not bad. My trial did not include the cilantro (I got lazy and decided not to go to the store again prior to making it). I also had to add more curry powder because I could barely taste it. Still, the flavors melded together well, and everyone at the picnic I brought it to enjoyed it. This is definitely a 'mess with it as you go' recipe, where the above proportions are not exact by any stretch of the imagination. So have fun and play around with it until you get what you want.

Green Chile Enchiladas

Green Chile Enchiladas
Originally found at Simply Recipes

Green Chile Sauce*
1 can diced green chiles
6 corn tortillas
Canola or grapeseed oil
1/2 pound Monterey Jack cheese, grated

Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a frying pan. Set a tortilla in the pan. Allow to bubble up slightly, then turn and repeat. Take out the tortillas and dry on paper towels.

Mix together the cheese and chiles, and place a small amount in a tortilla. Roll up and place in a baking dish. Repeat until all tortillas are used. Pour green chile sauce over the enchiladas and top with extra cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

My Notes:
*The link above has a recipe for green chile sauce with tomatillos and jalepenos, and I made it, but it didn't smell quite right to me (it's currently sitting in my fridge as I try to figure out what to do with it). So I used my typical Verde enchilada sauce.

They weren't bad, but they weren't spectacular either. I think I can probably jazz them up with some effort, but I'll have to work on it a little more. I really want to try them with some Hatch whole green chiles, but sadly, they don't sell them here where I live (at least, not at the grocery store I frequent). Maybe I can steal some away next time I make my way out west. Still, they're a decent replacement for my mom's chicken enchiladas.