Eggplant parmesan, minus the parmesan ;)

I know I've been AWOL lately--sorry! I've been seriously lacking cooking motivation and it will probably get worse as J's busy season starts up. Anyone want to come visit? I'll be flying solo M-F for the most part and lamenting the loss of the ever-so-occasional MNOs at Starbucks and trips to the grocery by myself! ;) At least until the fall....

Anyway, here's what I ended up making last night:

An eggplant, peeled and sliced into 1/2" rounds. I salted it and ended up leaving it overnight because I was too lazy to cook after all two days ago. I think you could let it sit for 20 minutes and it would be okay... or skip the salting/sitting step altogether.

Take the slices and dip them in almond milk. Lay them one at a time on a sprayed cookie sheet. Sprinkle with Panko bread crumbs while still wet. Then, season with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Bake at 450 for 6-8 minutes or until the bread crumbs are browning.

Take them out, flip them over, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with more bread crumbs and seasoning. Cook this side for the same time and until the eggplant is soft/bread crumbs are brown.

Serve over pasta with marinara sauce on top. If you're a cheese (or vegan cheese) fan, you could put cheese on top and put under a browner until the cheese is melted.

If you are pretty hungry or have a bigger family, I would make 2 eggplants instead of one. My husband ended up eating most of it in one sitting! ;)

Pancakes revisited

OK, so obviously I love pancakes. Hence, another recipe. I make these for dinner (or lunch) sometimes. Pretty much, I've learned to simplify it down to this:

Flour: I've been grinding raw buckwheat and oats in my Blendtec for flour.

Add-ins: I throw in cooked brown rice, almonds, flax seed--and blend it up too. I've even thrown in raw pumpkin seeds and hemp seeds at times. I would recommend blending these so you're not eating a big chunk of seed in your pancake. Unless you like that sort of thing...

Cinnamon, vanilla: because they taste good!

2-3T baking powder

Almond milk: I keep adding until it's the thickness that I desire. I let it set a few minutes, so that the flax or chia can soak up what it will, then add more milk if need be.

Fruit: we usually make blueberry pancakes around here, so those go in last!

I haven't been adding extra sugar at all, because we put maple syrup on anyway, so why bother! :)

Sweet potato-lentil stew

I got this recipe from the 21 day kickstart site. I was a little uncertain because I don't really love sweet potatoes, but it turned out really good. I'm copying/pasting because I think the site disappears when the 21 days are over...? I put this over brown rice and added a bit more salt and some red pepper flake for more kick. It was a great dish for a cooler day!

Sweet Potato-Lentil Stew
Served on its own or as a soupy stew over brown basmati rice or couscous, this dish is hearty and filling.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

1/4 cup safflower oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 small tomatoes, diced
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
Fine sea salt
2-3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ¾” cubes
7 cups vegetable broth
1 cup brown lentils

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, deep pot. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, for two minutes or until the onion starts to soften. Stir in the tomatoes and ginger and cook for three minutes. Stir in the turmeric, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cayenne, and a small pinch of salt. Cook and stir for two minutes, then taste for seasonings; try to use only enough salt to heighten the flavors.

Add the sweet potatoes, broth, and lentils. Stir well, and bring to a boil over high heat. When the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes or until the lentils and sweet potatoes are soft.

Guac/salsa

Despite the cooler weather, I decided to make the salsa that my former roommate used to make. It's 2 tomatoes, diced + 1 onion, diced + 1 jalapeño, diced finely + a handful of cilantro, chopped finely + the juice of 1 lime + salt to taste. Then you add about 1-2 avocados if you want more of a guacamole, or you could go a fruity salsa route and add mango or pineapple. Just toss it all together. So delicious!

Potato leek soup

Mom, here's the soup recipe! ;)

This is pretty basic, not really exciting, but my Spanish 2nd mom used to make it all the time and I loved it. I think I've recreated it--at least if food memory serves me.

Potato/leek soup

In the pot goes olive oil or margarine (OO for Spanish style!), 3-4 leeks, cut into 1/4" slices (the white part). This time I added a small onion and a shallot, minced. I saute these for a bit, at least until the onions are transparent and you have a bit of browning happening. If it starts to stick, add a bit of veggie broth/stock.

Then I added 1/2 quart vegetable broth, 3 quarts water, around 7 peeled potatoes, cut into chunks. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until the potatoes are soft. Add salt to your preference. And that's it! I think it's great for cooler days and would be a great sick soup.

Baked oatmeal

I got this recipe from a friend. It is so delicious!

Preheat oven to 375. Grease 8x8 pan. Combine in a bowl: 2c oats, 1/4 almonds (or walnuts), 1/3c sugar, 1t baking powder, 2t cinnamon, 1/2t salt. In another bowl, whisk together 2c almond milk, 2 "eggs", 1 1/2T coconut oil (or margarine), 2t vanilla. Combine this with the dry mix. Arrange 2 bananas, cut into 1/2" slices on bottom of pan. Sprinkle 1c mixed berries over top of the bananas. Cover with the oat mixture. On top of everything, put 1/2c more berries and 1/4c more nuts. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

YUM

I'm so excited about my dinner creation that I have to post it. So I have some bok choy I needed to eat up, as well as some roasted garlic quinoa and tempeh.... and therefore, came up with this (and I apologize for lack of specificity with the measurements--per the usual, I just started throwing things in):

Heat 4 garlic cloves (minced) in olive oil in a med-lg skillet. Add in tempeh, cut up into cubes--once the garlic has gotten into the oil a bit (heat the oil with the garlic already in it). Add soy sauce--a few times around the pan. Keep stirring it all up. After a few minutes, add a full 'head' (?) of bok choy--that has been cleaned and cut about 1" from the bottom, and cut into 1-2" shreds, width-wise. Add mirin, again a few times around the pan. Keep stirring for a few minutes until the bok choy is softened, but not turning brown. Serve over whatever you have left over--like my roasted garlic quinoa for example. I added a bit of sesame oil and gomashio on top afterwards. I think next time I would cook with the sesame oil, but DH doesn't like it, so I did it on my individual plate tonight.

The roasted garlic quinoa I made this way: roast a head of garlic in the oven--wrapped in foil with some coconut oil on it. When roasted, squeeze them out and chop them, mixing them into cooked quinoa with lemon juice and coconut oil.