Baked Eggplant Parmesan

Last night, while the Fall Off the Bone Ribs were cooking, I worked on some Baked Eggplant Parmesan.

Baked Eggplant Parmesan
Ingredients:

• 3 eggplant sliced 1/4" thick (you'll need 12 slices)
• salt
• 3 eggs beaten
• 1 (8 ounce) box Italian seasoned panko bread crumbs
• 1 (26 ounce) jar marinara sauce
• 1 (16 ounce) package fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced thinly
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil
• cooking spray

Directions:

1. Sprinkle some salt on both sides of each slice of eggplant. Layer the slices in a colander and place the colander in your sink. Place a heavy dish or pan over the top to press them down. Allow to sweat for 30 to 45 minutes. Rinse well with cold water to remove salt and blot dry with paper towels.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a rimmed baking sheet generously with cooking spray. Dip eggplant slices in egg, then in bread crumbs, pressing crumbs down with fingers if needed to cover evenly. Place in a single layer on oiled baking sheet and lightly spray tops of breaded eggplant with cooking spray. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes then carefully flip each slice and cook an additional 5 to 10 minutes, until nicely browned. Remove from oven and reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
3. In a 9x13 inch baking dish spread just enough marinara to cover bottom of dish. Place a layer of eggplant slices in the sauce. Cover each slice with a spoon full of marinara, a slice or two of mozzarella, and then sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Repeat with one more layer. Pour any leftover marinara and around edges of eggplant slices and top with any cheese that is left. Sprinkle basil on top.
4. Bake, uncovered, in preheated oven for 30 minutes

Well, except for my really old breadcrumbs, which were the only things that kept the dish from tasting wonderful, this recipe worked out really well. I only needed one eggplant, which, when sliced 1/4" thick, gave me stacks of eggplant 4-5 slices high, I used 4 cups of shredded mozzarella (I love cheese) and probably only half of the required parmesan. This was easy to fix and very tasty.

Fall Off the Bone Ribs

Tonight, I made Fall Off the Bone Ribs again. I made them once before, but they turned out to be way> too spicy, definitely for Tom and even for me!

Fall Off the Bone Ribs
Ingredients

• 1 rack baby back ribs, membrane removed
• Dry Rub:
  • 2 Tbs paprika
  • 1 Tbs black pepper
  • 3 Tbs brown sugar
  • 2 tsp coarse salt
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• BBQ Sauce:
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar bbq sauce
  • 2-3 Tbs honey
• Parsley

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300.
2. Lay your ribs on a large sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil.
3. Mix together your dry rub ingredients and rub onto both sides of your ribs and wrap up tightly and place on large baking sheet.
4. Bake in oven for 3 hours.
5. Remove from oven and unwrap.
6. Mix together your bbq sauce and honey and brush on ribs.
7. Place back in oven on lowest rack and broil for about 3-5 minutes, remove from oven and brush with more bbq sauce.
8. Sprinkle with parsley if desired.

Both times I've made this, I used Sweet Baby Rays Barbeque Sauce, but this time I only used half of the rub. This worked out really well for Tom, but I think I need a little bit more rub.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, everyone!

Today, after some yard work, I was able to prepare a delicious meal which culminated in an unexpected Easter egg hunt for Tom. I made a Baked Ham with Pineapple Brown Sugar Glaze, Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallow & Pecan Streusel and Southern Style Green Beans. I enjoyed everything that I prepared, and Tom did, too! The ham wasn't too sweet, the sweet potato casserole had a good flavor, due to the addition of cinnamon and cloves, and the green beans were tender and delicious. I recommend giving those recipes a try.

Ottoman

Tom and I spent the weekend working on re-covering an ottoman, and I must say that I am happy with how it turned out.

Before

After

We got the fabric when we got the recliner and Tom and I disassembled the ottoman and took measurements yesterday, and today we cut and sewed the fabric and reassembled the ottoman. Despite my nervousness, it was relatively easy. There are some ripples where we weren't fast enough smoothing the fabric before the spray adhesive started to work, but we'll put that side closest to the chair.

Life Changing?

So, the other day, Tom and I went to Denny's for dinner. When it came time for dessert, there was an item on the milkshake menu that looked intriguing - Horchata. Our server couldn't explain what it was, so I decided to take a chance and order it. It was delicious. Tom ordered his usual vanilla ice cream, but I convinced him to try the extra milkshake that gets left behind. He loved it and finished what he started. He loved it so much, he went back a few days later to get some more. Then, while at the grocery store a few nights ago, we saw that Weis had a limited edition Cinnamon ice cream, so Tom bought two quarts.
If you're thinking about trying it, I recommend it. It isn't too sweet, but it is really rich. I don't think I'd be able to eat it every day, but not because I wouldn't want to!

Trisha Yearwood's Crock-Pot Pork Tenderloin

I went to Pinterest in search of a recipe for pork loin in a crock pot, and saw many rave reviews for Trisha Yearwood's Crock-Pot Pork Tenderloin,, so I decided to try it. I looked at many of the Pinterest recipes, and they were all the same, except the one from Sparkles of Yum. The quantity of spices were just a little bit different, so I tried it.

Trisha Yearwood's Crock-Pot Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 to 3 lb pork tenderloin, trimmed of all visible fat (you can also use a pork loin, and get the same results)
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Season the pork loin lightly with salt. In a small bowl combine the garlic powder, ginger, dried thyme, and black pepper. Rub the seasoning over the surface of the pork loin.
2. In a skillet heat the oil and brown the pork loin on all sides. Transfer the pork to the crock pot. Combine the chicken broth, lemon juice, and soy sauce; pour over the pork loin.
3. Cover and cook on low heat for 8 to 10 hours, or on high for 4 to 5. (Instapot cook on normal for 4 hours)
4. After cooking, transfer the roast to a platter and cover with foil to keep warm.
5. To make the gravy, pour the liquid from the crock pot into a measuring cup. Skim off the fat. Measure two cups of the liquid, adding water if needed. Transfer to a sauce pan reserving 1/2 cup of the liquid.
6. Stir the cornstarch into the reserved liquid, then stir into the liquid in the sauce pan. Heat, stirring frequently, until the gravy is thick and bubbly. Taste and season with salt and pepper, if needed. Serve the roast with the gravy.

Now, this is the second time I've made this recipe, and I forgot to blog about it the first time. You see, there was this power outage, so I had to finish cooking it the next day, blah, blah, blah. Needless to say, Tom loved it! And he generally does not enjoy pork. Oh sure, he loves bacon and likes ham, but sit him down with pork chops or pork loin and he does not go crazy. He said he liked it because it tasted like beef. I wouldn't go so far as to say that, but it was good, and Tom does love beef, so I'll take it.
The first time I made this, partly due to the power outage, I cooked it for twice as long as the time required. I also used turkey broth instead of chicken broth (since that's what I had in-house), and doubled the amount of broth, lemon juice and soy sauce - I only had a 32 ounce carton of broth, and didn't want it to go bad after opening it, but twice the gravy can't be bad, right? Well, Tom said "Don't change a thing," but this time, I had to.
First off, I couldn't remember if I had used dried thyme or ground thyme. This time I used ground thyme. I still used turkey broth, but when the time came to measure out lemon juice and soy sauce, I didn't have enough of either for double the amount. So, on the grocery list they go, and the broth/gravy has a little less flavor.

Sour Cucumbers

So, our neighbor, Sally, gave us some vegetables that she had just picked: cucumbers, onions and green peppers. Initially, Tom had turned down the offer of the vegetables, he doesn't care for most of those veggies, anyway, but to be neighborly, I accepted. After some thought, I realized they're just what I need for sour cucumbers, and I could throw the peppers in, too. Now, I've never made them before, so I dug out my mother's/grandmother's recipe and went to work.

Step 1. Slice the cucumbers. Check. I broke out the mandolin, set it to about 1/3 inch, and sliced up the cucumbers and onions. I also seeded the green peppers and cut them into strips. I threw everything into an old Blue Bonnet tub.
Step 2. Salt the cucumbers and let them set for 30 minutes. I salted everything, put the lid on the tub and shook it up, removed the lid, salted everything again, put the lid back on and shook it for a while more. It wasn't 30 minutes, but when everything looked all moist and juicy, I moved on to the next step.
Step 3. Rinse the cucumbers. I opened the tub, ran some water in it and drained it.
Step 4. Add water and vinegar in equal parts to cover cucumbers. I started with one cup of the mixture, but it didn't cover everything, so I added another ½ cup.
Step 5. Add onions. Since the onions (and the peppers) were already in the tub, this step was OBE.
Optional: Season to taste. Grandma likes to add pepper, Mom some sugar. So I added four heaping ¼ teaspoons of sugar substitute. After tasting it, I thought it didn't have the right sweet to sour ratio, so I added another four heaping ¼ teaspoons. I'm not sure how much that equaled, but that's what I did.

Well, I enjoyed it. It turned out well, almost like home-made - wait - it was home-made. What I meant was like Mom makes. It made good use of the vegetables that I was given, and they were a good accompaniment to lunch or dinner, or great just as a snack.

Crystal

Tom and I went to see Cirque du Soleil's "Crystal" this evening.

This show was unique in that it was an ice show, like Ice Capades, but with a Cirque du Soleil twist. The acts were woven into a storyline about a girl who doesn't fit in, and while she's out ice skating one day, falls through the ice into a different world. I was very impressed with how they were able to showcase their usual types of acts (juggling, straps, balancing) into this format, and still add new acts, keeping it fresh. Tom commented that he would consider this one his favorite, after Allegria. For me, Kà and Dralion hold top spots, mainly because of the powerful music, but I think they've all been very good.

Weaving Bacon

Several years ago, I tried something new that I saw on Pinterest, and mentioned it in this post. Well, after forgetting about it for quite some time, I tried it again today. And once again, it was fabulous!

I took three slices of bacon, sliced them in half, wove them together, then cooked them. I was in awe of how well they fit on the sandwich - whoever came up with that idea is ingenious!

Salisbury Steak

Tom had recently had a television dinner that was Salisbury Steak, and it wasn't as good as he wanted it to be, so I planned to make it from scratch one day. I gave it a try tonight, using a recipe from the Betty Crocker website.

Salisbury Steak

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1/3 cup Progresso™ dry bread crumbs (any flavor)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 egg
• 1 large onion, sliced and separated into rings
• 1 can (10 1/2 ounces) condensed beef broth
• 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced (3 cups)
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

Directions

1. Mix beef, bread crumbs, salt, pepper and egg. Shape into 4 oval patties, each about 3/4 inch thick.
2. Cook patties in 10-inch skillet over medium heat about 10 minutes, turning occasionally, until brown; drain. Add onion, broth and mushrooms. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes or until beef is done.
3. Remove patties; keep warm. Heat onion mixture to boiling. Mix water and cornstarch; stir into onion mixture. Boil and stir 1 minute. Serve over patties.

We both enjoyed the dish. I, of course, strained out the mushrooms and onions from the gravy for Tom, so I ate mushrooms and onions on the side of my meal. Paired with mashed potatoes, it was really filling, and will make a good second meal.

Diaper Bouquet

Since I'll be away next week, and JoAnne (my office-mate) will be returning from maternity leave the week after, I thought I'd have a "Welcome Back" gift waiting on her desk for her.

It's a diaper bouquet, made from the diapers that were left over from the diaper cake that I made for her baby shower. I saw some on Pinterest, and I thought it would be a good way to (1) welcome her back and (2) use up the rest of the diapers. It would have looked a lot better if I would have remembered to use different colors of tissue paper to simulate greenery and other flowers, but I worked with what I had, and I'll do better the next time I attempt one.

Beef Jerky

Lately, I've been wanting to make beef jerky, and today was the day! I used my American Harvest Snackmaster Elite, which I haven't used in forever, and the American Harvest Original Beef Jerky Spice and Cure that must have come with the dehydrater.

Tom was a complete nay-sayer when I broached the idea with him - he said he probably wouldn't like whatever I made. Boy, was he wrong, we both loved it! The flavor was great - not too much pepper, and just enough salt.

Ashley's Wedding Shower

This morning, at work, we celebrated the upcoming wedding of Ashley. For the breakfast potluck, I made Eggs Benedict and Eggs Florentine. I combined a few different things while putting them together.
I cooked the eggs in the oven in a muffin tin - it wasn't quite as easy as all of the web sites made it seem. The oven was preheated to 250°C. One tablespoon of water was added to each cup of a muffin tin. Eggs were cracked individually into a small bowl, then poured into each cup in the tin. The muffin tin was put in the oven and the eggs were cooked for 12 minutes - an average of the times from different websites that I researched. The tin was removed from the oven, and the eggs were allowed to cool for a few minutes. Using a spoon, the eggs were removed from the muffin tin. Now, they didn't come out of the tin as easily as I had hoped, and they were done more than I wanted, so next time, I would cook them for less time and use a small spatula to loosen them up before taking them out of the cups.
For the Eggs Florentine, I made Speedy Creamed Spinach, a recipe I got from the McCormick website. I've used this creamed spinach recipe for years, so it just seemed logical for the dish.

Speedy Creamed Spinach

Ingredients

• 2 pkgs (10 oz each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 4 oz regular or reduced fat cream cheese, cut into small pieces
• ½ t garlic salt
• ¼ t onion powder
• 1/8 - ¼ t ground nutmeg
• 2 T butter

Directions

1. Thaw the spinach and squeeze dry, reserving the liquid. Add enough water to the liquid to equal ¾ c liquid total.
2. Place a 12-in skillet over medium heat until hot, add cream cheese, spinach liquid, garlic salt, onion powder, and nutmeg. Whisk until melted and completely smooth, about 2 min. Add spinach and stir until well-blended. Cook 3 min or until thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally.
3. Add butter and cook 1 min longer or until butter is completely melted.

For the assembly, I started with English muffins which were split, toasted and buttered. For the Eggs Benedict, the next layer was Canadian Bacon that had been warmed in a skillet, for the Eggs Florentine, about a tablespoon on creamed spinach. The next layer was an egg, and then each was topped with Hollandaise Sauce. For the Hollandaise Sauce, I used the Betty Crocker recipe, which follows:

Hollandaise Sauce

Ingredients

• 3 large egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ½ cup firm butter

Directions

1. In 1 1/2-quart saucepan, vigorously stir egg yolks and lemon juice with wire whisk. Add 1/4 cup of the butter. Heat over very low heat, stirring constantly with wire whisk, until butter is melted.
2. Add remaining 1/4 cup butter. Continue stirring vigorously until butter is melted and sauce is thickened. (Be sure butter melts slowly so eggs have time to cook and thicken sauce without curdling.) If the sauce curdles (mixture begins to separate), add about 1 tablespoon boiling water and beat vigorously with wire whisk or hand beater until it's smooth.
3. Serve immediately. Store covered in refrigerator. To serve refrigerated sauce, reheat over very low heat and stir in a small amount of water.

The sauce was super easy to make, but a little too lemony for my taste. Either way, it worked well for my purposes. The dishes worked out pretty well, but they were overdone, since I assembled them the night before, put them in the refrigerator and reheated them in the oven while I was getting ready for work in the morning. I would definitely make them again, but not do the make-the-night-before thing.

Toga!

I finished my toga!

Tom and I are attending GeoWoodstock in Cincinnati later this month, and one of the activities is a Roman Festival, where 100 trackable medallions will be handed out at random to people who wear togas. After doing some Google image searches, I decided to lean heavily on the idea of a Doric Chiton. With a large tablecloth (for the garment), some curtain tie-backs (as a belt), gold crochet thread (I crocheted a headpiece), two large buttons (on the shoulders) and a sheer cloth remnant (the sash), I think I've come up with something that I can wear proudly. And even if I don't win a medallion, at least I had fun creating the ensemble!

Brussels Sprouts Gratin

Happy Thanksgiving! With family coming over, Dad put me in charge of providing the vegetable dish, and Wanda sent me a recipe for Brussels Sprouts Gratin - so I thought they'd be perfect to try. I enlisted the help of my nephew, and together we made a pretty good tasting dish.

Brussels Sprouts Gratin

Ingredients:

• 16 oz brussels sprouts, trimmed of outer leaves and sliced in half
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• black pepper, to taste
• olive oil spray
• 1/2 tbsp butter
• 1/3 cup chopped shallots
• 2 tsp all purpose flour (or gluten free flour for GF)
• 3/4 cup fat free milk
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp fresh thyme
• 1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• 2 oz grated Gruyere cheese, divided

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray an 8"x12" gratin dish or casserole with olive oil. Add the brussels sprouts and season with salt and pepper. Spray more olive oil over the brussels and place in the lower third of the oven. Bake 15 minutes, toss and bake an additional 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat a medium nonstick pan over medium heat. Add butter and let it melt, add the shallots and cook until softened, about 4 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the shallots to make a roux, whisking for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the milk and stir with a wooden spoon until the roux is incorporated into the milk. Cook over medium-low heat for about 4 minutes, stirring, until the sauce thickens. Add fresh thyme, parmesan and half of the grated Gruyere cheese into the white sauce and stir until the cheese is melted and incorporated into the sauce.
3. Pour over the brussels sprouts, and top with the remaining cheese. Bake for 15 minutes until top is lightly browned and bubbly.

The grocery store was out of Gruyere cheese, so on a recommendation that I found on the Internet, we used Jarlsberg. As I mentioned, I think it was a good dish, but the best part was the bonding time with my nephew!

Recliner Pillows

Well, after eight months of working on them on and off, I've finally completed the pillows for the recliners.

They are very simple, but I kept putting off finishing them because we wanted to put zippers in them - something I've never tackled before. I, of course, am concerned with all of the imperfections, but Tom is pleased, so I'm glad they're done.

Halloween Potluck

We had a potluck at work today, and these were my contributions.

I made regular old deviled eggs, but decorated them with spiders made from cut up black olives.

This was veggies and dip.

And finally, I made Candy Corn Poke Cake.

Candy Corn Poke Cake

Ingredients

• one box of white cake mix plus the fixn's needed to make it
• food coloring
• 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
• whipped topping
• candy corn

Instructions

1. Make the cake batter as directed. Then divide it into three equal parts. Color one yellow, one orange, and leave one alone. Make sure you add enough to make it really vibrant.
2. Spray the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan . Spread the yellow layer evenly across the bottom, and then stick it in the freezer (make sure it is sitting flat). Leave it in there for 20 minutes.
3. As soon as you pull it out, very carefully add the orange layer, pouring it as evenly as possible around the pan, and gently spreading it out to cover the yellow. Put it back in the freezer for 20 more minutes.
4. Preheat your oven to the temperature specified on the cake mix.
5. Taking out the cake batter pan, again, carefully spread the white layer. Let it sit on top of the preheating oven for at least 30 minutes.
6. Bake according to package directions. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, poke holes throughout the cake with the end of a wooden spoon. Pour the sweetened condensed milk evenly over the cake, making sure to fill each hole.
7. Refrigerate overnight. Right before serving, top with whipped topping, candy corn, and enjoy!
8. **Note, the candy corn tends to bleed into the whip cream, so if you aren't going to be serving it right away, you might want to wait to top it

I think the hardest part for me was creating the colors, that food coloring is hard to work with.

R2-D2 Diaper Cake

Today we held a baby shower for Alyson, and had a Star Wars theme, since she's a big fan. For my part, I got to make the "Bantha Bites" and I made the Cuban Sliders, which were a request (later titled "Hans Hoagies"). For a gift, I decided on an R2-D2 diaper cake, but since most of the items I was able to source were green, it's more like an R2-A6 diaper cake.

Here's what I had to buy to make the cake:

• 1 white plastic colander
• 1 box of 120 size 1 diapers
• 2 plastic utensils
• 2 bottle brushes
• 2 boxes of wipes
• 1 spool of white ribbon

This is how I assembled the cake:

1. I rolled up three layers of diapers, using 35 diapers for each layer. Each layer was wrapped with a length of white ribbon, and secured with some pins.
2. The boxes of wipes were turned upside-down, and placed where the "feet" should be. A cardboard circle was placed on top of the wipes so that the first layer of diapers would have a flat surface to sit on.
3. The layers were stacked on the cardboard circle/feet, ensuring that the layers were turned so that the pins securing the ribbons were in the back.
4. The colander was turned upside down and placed on top of the top layer of diapers.
5. The bottle brushes were taped to the boxes of wipes and the handles of the colander. The containers for the bottle brushes weren't actually tall enough to reach the handles of the colander, so there is some empty space there.
6. The utensils were taped to the lop layer of diapers.
7. Using Google Images, I looked up "r2d2 printable pattern" and chose one that I liked. I printed it out, cut out the individual elements and taped them onto the cake.

She loved it!

Diaper Jeep

One of my former co-workers from the Tidewater is in town to visit her family, and they decided to throw her a baby shower. My contribution was a diaper Jeep.

I am pleased with the way it turned out, especially since I'm not crazy about the proportions of the Jeep in the only tutorial I could find on-line.

Community Art Quilt Blocks

A few months ago, I was volunteered by the Tidewater management to create quilt blocks for the Havre de Grace library's Community Art Quilt, which was being created to celebrate the one year anniversary of the new library building. Local businesses and individuals would create the blocks with the theme "Why I Love Havre de Grace." I made two blocks for the Tidewater's entries.

Both blocks were supposed to be representations of views from the deck of the restaurant; one looking to the left at the railroad bridge and the other looking to the right, down the Susquehanna River at the "sailboat races." Although neither of them won I think they both turned out well, and I'm excited to see how they're incorporated on the finished quilt.