Roasted Eggplant tinged with cinnamon spiced chickpeas

Roasted Eggplant tinged with cinnamon spiced chickpeas

This recipe has always been a family favorite ever since I first laid eyes on it in The New York Times. It's part of Martha Rose Shulman's Recipes for Health series. Not only is it healthy but it is also delicious and super easy to make. It's the simple things in life that bring true happiness and this is simplicity at its best. I deviated from the original recipe by adding shredded mozzarella cheese on half of the dish, party hoping that I could sway the kids into eating it with no fuss. It worked somewhat. They threw up some complaints about eating the eggplant. So to make the dish kid-friendly, I will chop up the eggplant after roasting and add it in as a layer. They loved the chickpeas though! Next time I might experiment by making this in individual serving ramekins. How fun!

3 cups cooked chickpeas or 2 cans chickpeas, drained

1 28-oz can whole or diced tomatoes, crushed into puree

1 whole eggplant, sliced into rounds

1/2 cup feta cheese

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/4 cup olive oil

1-2 tsp honey (depends on how sour your tomatoes are)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp crushed pepper flakes

Fresh oregano if you have

Salt to taste

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Heat up about 2 tbsp oil in a pot. Add the crushed garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Then add the tomato puree, salt, honey, cinnamon and Italian seasoning and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and allow to cook covered for about 20 minutes to thicken. Taste and adjust seasoning based on your tastes.

2. Meanwhile, lay down some foil on your baking sheet and spray with nonstick spray. In a single layer lay down the eggplant rounds on the foil. You might need two baking sheets for this. I happened to use one very large round pizza pan and they all fit perfectly in one go. Drizzle a little olive oil and sprinkle a bit of salt on both sides.

3. Roast the eggplant slices for about 20 minutes. I flipped them over halfway through. Once roasted, remove from oven and crimple up the sides of foil so that eggplant can steam for a few seconds.

4. Lower the heat of the oven down to 350 degrees F.

5. Prepare your baking dish by spraying with nonstick spray. I used a small rectangular 2 quart Pyrex baking dish. Place all your chickpeas in the dish. Pour about 1 cup of the sauce from Step 2. Layer the eggplant slices on top of the chickpeas. Then pour the remainder of the sauce on the top.Sprinkle feta, goat, mozzarella or whatever cheese you like on top and chopped fresh oregano if you have.

6. Cover the baking dish tightly with foil and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 10 minutes more. 

7. Serve hot with garlic bread and a side salad. Enjoy!

Roasted Vegetables with Couscous

This meal idea was B and I's heads put together one day .. way back when (in reality, a few months ago). I made the couscous and B made the roasted vegetables. It turned out brilliant because the two paired together make the perfect match, and I was looking for a way to use up the couscous box that I bought on a whim and stored in the pantry until I came up with my own aha moment. It's a pretty quick and easy meal to prepare and on the lighter side, if you are looking for a light lunch or supper.

1 packet whole wheat couscous, roasted garlic with olive oil flavor
1/2 onion, cubed
1/2 red pepper, cubed
1/2 green pepper, cubed
1/2 zucchini, cubed
1/2 cup mushrooms, cubed
1/2 log of Goat cheese, crumbled
6 cloves garlic, whole
1/2 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
Black pepper to taste
Salt to taste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Parchment paper
Baking sheet

1. Chop the veggies and place in one big mixing bowl. Crumble the goat cheese on top and add in the whole cloves of garlic.
2. Throw in the seasonings and olive oil and mix it all together.
3. You will be roasting the seasoned vegetables in what is called a "packet" of parchment paper. You can make individual serving packets or a "packet for two". Depending on how big of packets you want, cut the parchment paper.
4. Place your vegetables in the center of the paper. Cover the wider flap over the vegetables and seal it in with a few small folds. Same goes for the sides until you have a rectangular shape.
5. The flaps go on the bottom side of the baking sheet. Roast the packets at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.

On to the couscous ... just follow the directions on the box.
1. Mix 1 1/4 cups water with 2 tsp butter/olive oil as well as the spice mix that is in the box.
2. Bring to a boil. Then, add in the couscous and remove from heat. Cover with lid and couscous will be ready in 5 minutes.

Serve couscous with the roasted vegetables. To add some heat, we also served with our homemade hot sauce. Delicious!

Stuffed Zucchini Casserole

I've been craving vegetable lasagna since I watched Sandra Lee make her pasta-less version of vegetable lasagna. It looked pretty tempting, but it requires slicing and dicing, which I did not want to be involved in doing without a mandolin. While I will eventually try Sandra's recipe, I thought this recipe was a little more unique in that it is lasagna, just in a different fashion. Here's my first go at it ...

1/4 cup chopped mushrooms
1/2 red cubanelle pepper, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup baby spinach, chopped (I used baby spinach. You can use frozen.)
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp red chili powder (or to taste)
Salt and black pepper to taste
6 oz. ricotta cheese
Sprinkle of feta cheese
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
8 oz. prepared marinara sauce
1 cup prepared brown rice
2 tbsp prepared pesto

1. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise. Scoop out flesh with a spoon or melon baller. Keep aside.
2. Heat oil in sautee pan. Add the onions and sautee for a few minutes. Next. add garlic, peppers, mushrooms, spinach and zucchini pulp and cook until all of the water cooks down. Add Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Remove from heat and let cool down.
3. Once cool, mix the sauteed veggies with the ricotta cheese. Fill the mixture into the zucchini halves.
4. Grease casserole dish with cooking spray. Spread the tomato marinara sauce on bottom of dish in one even layer.
5. Place the stuffed zucchini on top of the sauce. Dot the tops of the zucchini with breadcrumbs and the two cheeses.
6. Bake your pasta-less lasagna in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, mix 2-3 tbsp pesto with prepared brown rice in a bowl.
8. To serve, spoon a few tbsp of the pesto rice on bottom of plate and place one stuffed zucchini on top. You can also serve with a small side salad.

I must admit the stuffed zucchini was very yummy. We both loved it! Bon appetit!

Are Baba! Ghanoush

Baba Ghanoush

Baba Ghanoush is an Arabic dish of smoked eggplant mixed with various seasonings. It is often eaten as a dip with pita bread. We served baba ghanoush as a compliment to our Mediterranean platter.

1 eggplant
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup tahini paste
¼ cup greek style plain yogurt
1 clove garlic, crushed
Salt to taste
Extra virgin olive oil
Fresh parley for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover cookie sheet with foil and pierce the eggplants with a fork to avoid explosion. Bake for 45 minutes. When eggplants are finished cooking take out of oven and cool until they can be handled. Peel eggplants, cut in half and remove seeds.
2. Place in food processor and sprinkle with lemon juice. Also add tahini paste, yogurt, garlic and salt and a drizzle of olive oil. Process until smooth. Drizzle with olive oil and garnish with parsley.

Mini Greek Pizza

1 authentic Pita flatbread
Homemade sundried tomato aioli-chutney
Feta cheese
Spinach
Homemade Italian tomato salsa

1. Brush bottom side of flatbread with olive oil. Turn over and spread the tomato aioli-chutney all over the base of the bread.
2. Layer next with feta cheese and spinach. (can also add olives)
3. Bake the pizza in the toaster oven at 375 degrees for about 5 minutes.
4. Before serving, garnish with Italian tomato salsa. Enjoy!

Here's another winner. What started off as a quick pizza fix ended up being an amazing keeper! B and I agreed that this pizza would be great for entertaining. In fact, we have plans to entertain with a "pizza bar" - mix it up with a margherita, classic vegetable, Greek, maybe even a tostado pizza! I'll let you know how it turns out! Here's a final look ...

Grilled Mediteranean Vegetable Sandwich

Here's another restaurant favorite that I felt like trying at home - the Grilled Vegetable Foccaccia Sandwich. From the menu, it looked relatively easy to make. Bake some bread, marinate and grill some veggies, make a quick spread and what you have is one satisfying cheap meal. Here's the breakdown ..

1 loaf ciabatta or foccacia bread
Fontina and/or mozzarella cheese per taste (I used spicy Cabot pepper jack cheese)
1 portabello mushroom, sliced lengthwise
1/4 eggplant, sliced and then halved
1/2 onion, sliced lengthwise
1/4 green and red bell pepper each, sliced lengthwise
Handful of fresh spinach leaves
Few slices of tomato
1/4 tsp mustard
Homemade Spicy sundried tomato aioli chutney

Vegetable Marinade:
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tbsp mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
1 shallot or red onion, diced very finely

1. Mix the ingredients for marinade together in a small bowl. Then coat the vegetables with the marinade. I marinated the eggplant in a separate bowl. The veggies were marinated for a short time, about 20 minutes. If you have the time, the longer the better.
2. Next, grill the veggies in a nonstick skillet. WE used the cast iron skillet that we have, and they marinated in about 3-4 minutes on each side.
3. While the veggies were marinating, toast the bread in a preheated oven for about 5 minutes. Take the bread out, but leave the oven on. On one side of the bread, lay out the cheese. On other side, lather on the sundried tomato aioli chutney. Place the bread back in for 2-3 minutes to melt the cheese.
4. After the bread is nice and toasty, layer the following on top of the melted cheese: spinach, tomato and grilled vegetables. Lastly, apply a few dots of mustard and close your sandwich.
5. Serve your Grilled Mediterranean Vegetable Sandwich with a Greek salad and you are good to go!

One quick note and shoutout: The vegetable marinade is nothing more than some balsamic vinegarette salad dressing that I made the day before. Who knew it would serve a dual purpose. (It was B's idea to marinate the veggies.)

This sandwich tasted absolutely scrumptious. Not only that, it was super-filling. I've never tasted the one on the CPK menu so I have no idea how this compares. Since our version turned out so well at home, I think we will be having this quite often. The only thing we would change, though, is maybe leave the eggplant out. B found it bitter. I couldn't tell and actually liked the addition of the eggplant. I guess we will see what happens next time. For now, here's another look at the yummy goodness!!