Bourbon Pumpkin Pie

The glorious, long Thanksgiving weekend may have come to a close, and I do return to work as usual tonight, but the exuberant cheer and the relaxed holiday feeling lingers... and perhaps best of all, there is still leftover pumpkin pie in the fridge!

For Thanksgiving I always prepare my grandmother's pecan pie recipe, and I usually fix a fairly traditional pumpkin pie as well, but this year, after the gorgeous success with Cooking Light's Pecan Pie recipe a month or so ago, I decided to adapt their pumpkin tart recipe for the holiday itself. Prudence might have dictated that I experiment with the recipe before the actual Thanksgiving day, but I always disregard the adage that one should never fix a new dish for guests, and instead I simply tell everyone that our kitchen is a place of experiments... After all, how could one possibly go wrong with bourbon, vanilla, pumpkin, and cream cheese?

Bourbon Pumpkin Pie

--Adapted from Cooking Light, November 2009

8oz 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup raw turbinado sugar

1 (15 oz) can unsweetened pumpkin puree

2 eggs

2 T bourbon

1 T vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp allspice

One 8" graham cracker crust, either homemade or purchased

~ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

~ With an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese and turbinado sugar until fluffy.

~ Add the pumpkin and eggs, and beat until well mixed.

~ Stir in the bourbon, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.

~ Pour the filling into the graham cracker crust. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes - until the center of the filling barely wiggles when the side of the pie pan is gently tapped.

~ Allow the pie to cool outside the oven, then refrigerate at least four hours, and serve chilled - topped with whipped cream, of course! :-)

On the blog this time last year... Blueberry Cobbler Muffins!

Cranberry Chutney with Cloves and Pecans

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all! Well, technically, it is now the end of the day after the holiday of Thanksgiving here in the States, but since we're still celebrating with our families, continuing the Thanksgiving festivities, it feels warranted to continue to wish all my wonderful blogger friends, both in the States and around the globe, a bounty of blessings and festive cheer.

This year marked the second annual Thanksgiving at Zach and Astra's House, with both my family and Zach's family cooking, chatting, and camping in our house with nary a complaint about the somewhat cramped, but utterly cozy and cheerful accommodations. Having heard countless stories about couples having to choose between spending Thanksgiving with one family or the other, I feel so incredibly fortunate that both our families are willing to travel to our home and spend the holiday as one, peaceful, laughing, joke-telling, and prank-playing united family!

Since both my family and Zach's family love to cook, we had the extra fun of everyone together in the kitchen, with nearly each person preparing a dish or two! Everyone was able to fix their dishes as leisurely as they liked, with contented pauses to replenish a glass of wine, or nibble a bite of the torta de patata I prepared for a midday brunch.

As usual, there was always the concern that our bounteous feast wouldn't be able to fit on the table, but somehow we arranged the dishes like puzzle pieces, and even managed to find room for the second dish of cranberry sauce!

And the roasted green beans...

The pecan-collages Elise, Miss Brenda, and I created atop the pecan pies...

Miss Brenda's famous sweet potato casserole...

Zach's famous rendition of Julia Child's Garlic Mashed Potatoes...

A rainbow of spiced olives...

A bountiful bowl of rice dressing...

Carrot and Parsnip "Sunshine..."

Buttery marinated mushrooms and feta cheese...

And that's only just a few of all the dishes!

Oh yes, and did I mention the cranberry sauce? :-)

Speaking of cranberry sauce... Much like last year, the Thanksgiving item I was most excited about this holiday was once again the cranberry dish. This year, Elise (of muffin fame!) and I fixed a glorious cranberry chutney, infused with white wine, cloves, and apples, and the light tartness and spice of the dish proved to be the perfect foil to some of the richer dishes on the menu...

Cranberry Chutney with Cloves and Pecans

3/4 cup orange juice
1 cup raw turbinado sugar
1/2 cup white wine (we used a Chardonnay)
5 whole cloves
1 large tart apple, diced
1 1/2 tsp minced crystallized ginger
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
12 oz fresh cranberries
1 T orange zest
1/2 cup chopped pecans

~ Combine the orange juice, turbinado sugar, white wine, and whole cloves in a large saucepan, and bring the mixture to a boil. Allow the mixture to simmer, stirring constantly, until the turbinado sugar dissolves.
~ Stir in the apple, crystallized ginger, cayenne pepper, and cranberries, bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce he heat and simmer until the cranberries have popped and the sauce has thickened a bit.
~ Remove the pan from the heat, allow the chutney to cool, and then stir in the orange rind and the pecans.
~ Serve warm or cool!

Banana Brownies

With the Grand Thanksgiving Feast approaching, I've been trying to be especially diligent during the past two weeks with minimalistic grocery shopping, putting to use items in the pantry, clearing space in the freezer, and generally tidying up odds and ends in anticipation of pre-holiday groceries and post-holiday leftovers. Last night, as Zach was playing Dragon Age and I was prepping supper ingredients, I decided to fix us something fun for dessert as we were planning on having an especially light and healthful mixture of steamed veggies and quinoa for dinner. Glancing across the kitchen, two very ripe bananas caught my eye, perched atop a bunch of green bananas in the fruit bowl. At first, I hesitated - we always have on hand an abundance of bananas in varying degrees of ripeness, and in effort to let nothing go to waste I had already made banana bread this week, and banana cookies last week, and I wondered if perhaps we had already exceeded our quota for banana baked goods... Yet still, I persisted. Perhaps... banana brownies?

Gooey, sweet fruit paired with dark chocolate sounded ideal indeed...

Banana Brownies

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 T cocoa powder
2 T applesauce
2 T light vegan marg or butter
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

~ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat an 8X8 baking pan with cooking spray.
~ Whisk together the whole wheat flour, all=purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder, and set aside.
~ Cream the applesauce, light vegan marg or butter, and turbinado sugar until well blended.
~ Add the egg, vanilla, and mashed banana to the applesauce mixture, and beat well.
~ Gently stir in the dry ingredients.
~ Fold in the chocolate chips.
~ Pour the batter into the baking pan, and bake for 30 minutes - until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the brownies to cool for a bit to set, and then serve warm or cool, topped with whipped cream, of course... :-)

Creamy Spinach Quesadillas

When I left work this morning I drove home with even more enthusiasm than usual, knowing that Zach was waiting at the house for me! Zach completed his robotic surgery rotation this week, and had the day off today! Even though I was rather sleepy from being awake at work all night, how could I possibly take a nap when we had an entire week's worth of catching up and chatting awaiting us? So, I brewed a pot of coffee, poured myself my first cup of coffee of the week (now that I've adjusted to a night shift schedule, I'm able to stay lively at work without any caffeine, which is a miracle of physiology indeed...), and we settled in to exchange the adventures of our week. Zach had lots of updates to share about the paper he's writing and hopes to publish, and I had a somewhat less intellectual but nonetheless amusing story about a patient who thought her intravenous fluid pump was singing hymns and lullabies...

At the moment Zach has resumed work on his paper, and I'm applying myself to the final draft of our Thanksgiving menu and grocery shopping list, but a few hours earlier we were still chattering over lunch, for which I whipped up two light, creamy, positively dreamy spinach quesadillas. Ready at a moment's notice, and packed with veggies and calcium, these quesadillas felt like the perfect antidote to a long night at work, and the just the right introduction to the weekend...

Creamy Spinach Quesadillas

*Note: as written, this recipe serves two as a main course - feel free to adjust the quantities as needed...

1/2 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen

1 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves

8 oz fat free cottage cheese

1/2 tsp cilantro

2 whole wheat tortillas

2 slices pepper-jack cheese

Minced chives

~ Heat the corn kernels on the stovetop or in the microwave, just until warmed through.

~ In a food processor, puree the spinach leaves and the cottage cheese to make a thick, smooth paste.

~ In a mixing bowl, stir together the corn kernels and the spinach-cottage cheese puree. Stir in the cilantro, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

~ Spread half of the corn-spinach mixture across one side of each of the tortillas. Place 1 slice of cheese atop the corn-spinach filling on each tortilla, and fold each tortilla in half.

~ Coat a large skillet with cooking spray, and, over medium heat, cook one folded tortilla until the filling is heated through and the tortilla is golden brown on each side, flipping once. Repeat with the other tortilla.

~ Serve warm, garnished with minced chives!

Monkfish or Tofu Scaloppine

We've had a rush of unseasonably warm weather these past few days, allowing leisurely afternoons on the back porch with a glass of iced tea, and long hikes through the woods, admiring the autumn palate while savoring the soothing, spring-like weather.

Alas, I have noticed today, as I've been dashing about cleaning the house and preparing for work tonight, that the rains and chill temperatures are surreptitiously creeping their way back, but the warm weather did for a time make me long for more fanciful, elaborate dishes, such as our reincarnation of a monkfish scaloppine we first tasted at a little downtown bistro when celebrating the completion of Zach's second year of medical school many months ago. We were both enchanted with the dish, and determined to recreate the recipe at home, but monkfish proved far more challenging than I had anticipated. Even after the fish has been skinned a thick outer membrane remains, and unknowingly failing to remove the outer membrane before cooking resulted in a dish that was far from edible... On a second attempt, I found that cooking the fish very lightly, just as I would cook other firm white fish, yielded a dish that was technically cooked, as in, "Safe to Eat," but had a decidedly, er, rubbery consistency. Finally, though, I learned to first crisp the fish in a flour coating, and then allow it to simmer in a richly flavorful sauce, all to result in the most meltingly tender, explosively piquant fish dish we've ever tasted... As always, persistence prevails! I've also found that the heady flavors of this light white wine sauce pair beautifully with breaded tofu as well... and bring a taste of spring to the depths of November!

Monkfish or Tofu Scaloppine

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
8 oz monkfish, skin and membranes removed OR 8 oz firm tofu
4 T olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp anchovy paste (optional - leave this out for the veg version...)
3 oz white wine (I used a pinot grigio)
1 (14.5 oz) can chopped tomatoes, undrained
3 oz vegetable broth
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
8 oz whole wheat spaghetti, cooked according to package directions

~ Place the whole wheat flour in a large zip-top plastic bag, and season with salt and pepper.
~ If you're using the monkfish, once you've made sure the skin and membranes are completely removed, cut the monkfish into 1" cubes. If you're using the tofu, simply cut it into 1" cubes.
~ Place the monkfish or tofu in the bag with the flour, seal the zip-top, and gently shake the bag until the monkfish or tofu cubes are thoroughly coated in flour.
~ In a large skillet over medium heat, brown the monkfish cubes or the tofu cubes in the olive oil for only 1 minute on each of two sides.
~ Add the onion and garlic, and saute, stirring gently to avoid disrupting the monkfish or tofu cubes, until the onion and garlic just begin to brown.
~ Stir in the anchovy paste, if you're using it, immediately followed by the white wine, tomatoes, broth, and red pepper flakes. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring gently but frequently.
~ Reduce the heat to bring the mixture to a simmer, season to taste with salt and pepper, and simmer for just 5 minutes.
~ Immediately remove the dish from the heat, and serve right away, atop the whole wheat pasta!

Double Peanut Butter Cookies

The celebration of friends continues! Following the Grand Lasagna Night on Wednesday, Zach and I were blessed to have Kathleen spend 3 more fabulous days with us, complete with endless, endless chatting and explosions of laughter,

along with a trip to the famous Big Pie in the Sky Pizzeria,

where a single slice of pizza really is lunch for two people,

as well as a jaunt into Atlanta for the best milkshakes at Flip Burger Boutique!

Seriously. Pumpkin Pie...

and Chocolate Mole milkshakes. Beyond words.

Then, on Saturday afternoon, I zoomed into downtown to pick up... Guess who? Fellow blogger Jamie, of No Animals Lots of Carbs!

Jamie and I have been friends for ages, but hadn't actually seen each other in three years! Such a treat to catch up in person at last! :-)

Of course, you can't keep two bloggers out of the kitchen for too long... ;-) On Jamie's first day here, we headed straight for the farmer's market, then back home to fix peanut stew!

After a glorious day hiking on Sunday, the three of us returned to downtown Atlanta for dinner, but this time we resisted ordering dessert, because, after all, there were cookies waiting at home... I still am in awe at the realization that I was able to share these cookies with two precious friends in one week... Such a gift of joy... and deliciousness!

Between the glorious gift of spending time with out-of-town friends, and the flavors of special-occasion, celebratory treats, how could we be any happier? :-)

Double Peanut Butter Cookies

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup light non-hydrogenated vegan marg or butter

1/4 cup applesauce

1 cup chunky peanut butter

1 1/4 cup raw turbinado sugar

1 egg

1 T milk or soymilk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup peanut butter chips

1/2 cup dark (at least 60% cacao) chocolate chips

~ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

~ Stir together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt, and set the mixture aside.

~ Beat the vegan marg or butter, applesauce, and peanut butter together until fluffy.

~ Pour in the turbinado sugar and beat until well combined.

~ Add the egg, and mix well.

~ Add the milk or soymilk, and the vanilla, and mix well once more.

~ Pour in the flour mixture, and stir until well combined.

~ Using your hands, gently knead the peanut butter chips and dark chocolate chips into the cookie dough.

~ Continuing to use your hands, roll the dough into 1" diameter balls and place them on the baking sheet. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes - until the cookies are just set. Allow the cookies to cool on wire racks, or serve them warm, of course... :-)

Italian-Jewish-Vegetarian Fusion Lasagna

Two friends...

(Kathleen...)

(Me...)

One happy day with a giant pot of tomato sauce...

and some tofu "sausage..."

One gorgeous pan of luscious lasagna!

Kathleen and Astra's Italian-Jewish-Vegetarian Fusion Lasagna

1 lb. vegetarian "sausage" style soy crumbles

2 T olive oil
2 ½ lb of your favorite marinara sauce
2 lbs. part-skim ricotta cheese

8 oz reduced fat cream cheese
2 tsp sugar
2 eggs
a pinch of nutmeg
1 ½ lb part-skim mozzarella, shredded
1 lb provolone, shredded
1 box “no boil” lasagna pasta

~ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
~ In a large skillet, brown the vegetarian "sausage style" crumbles in the olive oil. Stir in the marinara sauce, remove from the heat, and set aside.
~ Combine the ricotta, cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and nutmeg, and beat until smooth and creamy.
~ Toss the shredded mozzarella and provolone together until mixed.
~ In a 15X9” baking pan, spread a layer of marinara sauce. Top with a layer of pasta. Spread a generous layer of the ricotta mixture on top, then top that with some shredded cheese. Continue layering in this fashion (marinara, pasta, ricotta, shredded cheese) until the pan is full, making sure to end with the shredded cheese layer (I can fit 3 complete layers in my pan, but it varies, of course).
~ Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the top layer of cheese is melted, slightly set, and just barely beginning to brown on top. Remove from the oven, and allow to sit for 10 minutes before slicing. Enjoy! (preferably with garlic bread or fresh-baked focaccia...)

PB&J Banana Cookies

I was scheduled to work last night, but spent the first part of the evening "temporarily on-call." In other words, the Medical Surgical floor where I work was quiet the beginning of evening shift change, but was nonetheless poised to anticipate a flood of new patients from the E.R., and when they arrived I was to be duly notified to fly to work. Thus, as I waited in anticipation, dressed and ready in scrubs and watching the phone with all the diligence of a teenager the day after a first date, this unexpected surprise also left me just enough time in the early evening to whip up the new cookie recipe my wonderful friend and honorary blogger Kathleen developed... PB&J Cookies.

PB&J Cookies? You can imagine just how excited I was when Kathleen described the recipe to me over the phone...

I wound up adding a mashed banana to the dough at the last minute, as we had a very ripe banana on hand that needed to be baked into something immediately (as I stirred in the creamy banana, I thought fondly of my Grandmother, who raised me with all the economic diligence she could muster, teaching me to cherish the leftover scraps of biscuit dough, such that I now feel even the last 3/4 cup of leftover coffee in the coffeepot mustn't go to waste, but instead should be blended with some chocolate soymilk, popped into the freezer, and saved as an iced mocha!)

For me, these cookies embody the best parts of being an adult - when you were a child, and your mother said "you're having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch," you were naturally expected to say "OK Mom," even if you were much more in the mood for, say, a bowl of soup or yogurt with granola. Now, though, as an adult, one can simply, breezily reply to the 'mom voice' in one's head, "Nope, as much as I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I think I'm going to bake peanut butter and jelly cookies instead..."

And while I might not be able to advocate cookies as one's sole lunch ingredient on a regular basis, you could well bake these delightful vegan cookies to go along with lunch quite frequently with nary a twinge of nutrition guilt, for they're healthfully emboldened with whole wheat flour, and they wave aside butter or oil in favor of applesauce and peanut butter...

These cookies are also the perfect way to announce that this afternoon... Drum-roll please... I will be driving to the airport to pick up Kathleen!! We've already planned a glorious week of Italian-Jewish-Southern fusion cooking... Stay tuned! :-)

PB&J Banana Cookies

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup raw turbinado sugar

1 ripe banana, mashed

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup all-fruit (no added sweeteners) strawberry jam

1 tsp vanilla

~ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

~ In a large bowl, gently stir together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, and turbinado sugar.

~ In a separate bowl, beat together the mashed banana, peanut butter, applesauce, strawberry jam, and vanilla, until creamy.

~ Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined.

~ Scoop the dough by rounded tablespoons onto the baking sheet, and bake for approx. 16 minutes - until the cookies are just set and just beginning to turn golden around the edges.

~ Immediately transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool... or serve them warm... :-)

Baked Chickpea Falafel

On Friday night, Zach and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary!!

(If you happen to recall the post about our 2nd anniversary, you may at this point be shaking your head in confusing, wondering "wasn't their anniversary in October last year?" If so, you'd be correct... but last October, we weren't yet engaged, and this year, we decided our engagement anniversary trumps our previous anniversary date! Have an "engaged for a year" anniversary is just one of the many lovely aspects of having a long, dreamy engagement... :-)

For our first anniversary, in 2007, we shared a romantic dinner at a little Italian restaurant, and last year, for our second anniversary, we spent the day at a vineyard, so this year we decided to be a bit more casual and quirky, and drove downtown to visit our now official, long-standing favorite destination, The Brick Store Pub. The atmosphere was perfectly festive without being too boisterous, and we laughed and reminisced for hours over a positively heavenly meal.

Then, back home to exchange presents... :-)

(Dragon Age for Zach...)

(and a copy of Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, for me! :-)

The next day, yesterday afternoon, I wanted to fix a special lunch for Zach, and somehow it dawned on me how long it's been since I've fixed... falafel. Since Zach became enraptured with falafel from the very first time I introduced him to this bit of chickpea magic, I decided to fill the house with the alluring scents of cumin and coriander... While I've prepared dozens of renditions of falafel before, this time I wanted to conjure a light, baked falafel, so I fixed a dough sticky enough to hold together in the oven, but still light enough to provide that wonderful, crispy-moist sensation upon each nibble, then simply coated each little, round falafel with olive oil cooking spray so the outsides would still be golden brown, ready to coat with hummus and fold inside a pita bread...

Perhaps it's strange that I fix Zach falafel as part of his anniversary present, instead of us going out again for lunch, or perhaps it's odd that I consider the joy of being able to cook lunch for us to be part of my present... but so it is with us. Anniversaries, in a cozy, happy, foodie household. May we be blessed with a lifetime of more...

Baked Chickpea Falafel

1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained

3 rounded T tahini

2 egg whites

2 tsp lemon zest

2 tsp lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 T dried minced onion

2 T minced parsley

Olive oil cooking spray

~ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

~ In a food processor, pulse the chickpeas, tahini, egg whites, lemon zest, lemon juice, cumin, coriander, chili powder, garlic, and salt until a thick paste is formed.

~ Transfer the paste to a bowl, and stir in the whole wheat flour, baking powder, dried onion, and parsley.

~ Using your hands, roll the dough into 1 1/2" diameter balls, just as though you were making sugar cookies, and place the balls on the baking sheet.

~ Coat the top and sides of each falafel ball with a mist of olive oil cooking spray.

~ Bake the falafel for 20 minutes - until the outsides are golden brown.

~ Serve warm, with hummus and pita!

Polenta Parmesan Muffins

Despite our consistently chaotic schedules, we've become particularly fond of having friends over for dinner on a weeknight. As impractical as it might seem, there's something especially lovely about having a mid-week get-together to which one can look forward, like a miniature weekend halfway through the work week!

(Granted, I work on Sunday most of the time, and thus often part of my "weekend" takes place during the week anyway, but Zach still has a traditional schedule, and I can't really have a proper weekend without him, so I dearly treasure any moments that feel like a true "weekend!")

To further inspire our mid-week soirees, our dear friends Frank and Jen have a schedule that always brings them near our house on Wednesdays, and thus, happily, Wednesday nights with Frank and Jen have reached nearly Tradition status.

This Wednesday night, as we gathered to chat and watch a movie, I fixed a cozy Autumn meal - chili, a spinach salad, and what I had initially thought would emerge as cornbread muffins... However, they turned out so moist, cake-like, and creamy, that Frank immediately noticed their close association to polenta... and thus, feeling like Indiana Joneses of the foodie world, we declared polenta muffins officially discovered.

All in the work of a Wednesday night... :-)

Polenta Parmesan Muffins

1/3 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup low fat sour cream

2 T minced chives

2 egg whites

1/2 cup 1% milk

~ Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Coat approx. 8 muffin cups with cooking spray or paper liners.

~ In a large bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking powder.

~ In a smaller bowl, whisk together the Parmesan cheese, sour cream, and chives to make a thick paste.

~ Beat in the egg whites until well combined.

~ Stir in the milk.

~ Fold the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined.

~ Scoop the batter into the muffin cups, and bake for 12 minutes - until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

~ Serve warm, with a dollop of butter or vegan marg...

On the blog this time last year... Mock Crepes!

Oven-Roasted Eggplant Parmesan

This Eggplant Parmesan went to the nutritionist, and discovered she was a healthy dish. She realized she didn't need to be battered and fried to feel good about herself. She learned about the wonders of oven-roasting, which made her feel confident in her vibrant, rich personality. She became close friends with rosemary and garlic, who encouraged her new-found appreciation for her own nutrient potential. She danced into the oven, enlightened and sprightly, and emerged feeling lithe and reborn, bursting with flavor!

This Eggplant Parmesan's creator, Astra, is herself feeling utterly loopy and silly, having worked last night, returned home, and then decided to forgo a nap, but while she is experiencing unexplained urges to rhyme, burst into song, and write silly narratives about personified eggplants, and while she is no longer quite sure about things such as directionality, longitude and latitude, and the difference between the floor and the ceiling, she is quite certain that this light, healthful eggplant casserole she fixed on Sunday night was a tremendous success...

Oven-Roasted Eggplant Parmesan

1 large eggplant

1 T olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup red wine

1 (28 oz) can fire-roasted tomatoes

2 tsp za'atar or 1 tsp oregano

2 tsp rosemary

1 tsp basil

1 bay leaf

2 sheets no-boil lasagna noodles

1 cup grated part-skim mozzarella

1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan

~ Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

~ Slice the eggplant in half length-wise, then thinly slice each half, to create thin half-moons of eggplant.

~ Place the eggplant slices on a baking sheet, coat with olive oil cooking spray, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

~ Roast the eggplant slices in the upper 1/3 of the oven until they are browned and tender, but still hold their shape well (aka not mushy).

~ Reduce the oven temp to 350 degrees F.

~ In a large skillet over medium-high heat, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil until the onion is limp and translucent.

~ Reduce the heat to medium, pour in the red wine, and stir for 30 seconds, scraping the bottom of the skillet to remove any browned bits.

~ Stir in the tomatoes, followed by the za'atar or oregano, and the rosemary, basil, and bay leaf. Let the sauce simmer lightly for a few minutes, just until the herbs are fragrant. Season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper, and remove from the heat.

~ To assemble the eggplant Parmesan, spread a light coating of the tomato sauce across the bottom of an 8X8 baking pan. Place the lasagna noodles on top of the sauce (this will give your final dish a more stable base). Spread 1/3 of the remaining sauce on top of the lasagna noodles. Sprinkle the sauce with 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 2 T Parmesan cheese. Layer half of the eggplant slices in the pan next, overlapping them just a bit. Pour 1/3 of the sauce over the eggplant slices, followed by 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 2 T Parmesan cheese. For the final layer, place the remaining half of the eggplant slices, topped with the remaining 1/3 of the sauce, and 1/4 cup Parmesan.

~ Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes - until the top of the dish is golden and bubbling... Let the eggplant Parmesan sit outside of the oven for 10 minutes to set, then serve warm...

Spooky Spider Double Chocolate Cupcakes

For the record, I am tremendously afraid of spiders. Nothing will send me closer to the clinical definition of a panic attack than the sight of a spider strolling across our kitchen floor, and more than once Zach has had to talk me through "spider removal" over the phone, complete with me hyperventilating and shrieking "Help! Help!" at frequent intervals.

However, on Halloween night, I wasn't the least bit afraid of these spiders...

Spooky Spider Double Chocolate Cupcakes

*For the Double Chocolate Cupcakes*
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup honey
1 cup applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
2 egg whites
2/3 cup dark (at least 60% cacao) chocolate chips

*For the Chocolate Peanut Butter Buttercream*
2 cups creamy peanut butter
Confectioners sugar "to taste"
Vanilla Soymilk, as needed (probably approx 2 T, depending on the moisture in the air)
Cocoa powder to taste

*For decorating the cupcakes*
White chocolate chips
Cherry liquorish sticks, such as Twizzlers (the kind that can be pulled into strings like string cheese!)

~ To start by making the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line approx 10 muffin cups with paper liners or cooking spray.
~ Stir together the dry ingredients (the whole wheat flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt), and set them aside.
~ Whisk together the honey, applesauce, vanilla, and egg whites until well blended and frothy.
~ Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ones until just combined.
~ Fold in the chocolate chips.
~ Pour the batter into the muffin cups, filling them 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes - until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool.

~ To make the frosting, beat the peanut butter with an electric mixer while adding confectioners sugar and little bits of vanilla soymilk (I add around a T of vanilla soymilk at a time while scooping in big spoonfuls of the confectioners sugar) until the desired thickness and fluffiness is achieved. The amounts of confectioners sugar and soymilk added can vary quite a bit depending on the brand of peanut butter you're using, how humid your geographical location can be, and your personal tastes in frosting. Once you've achieved the frosting texture you fancy, add cocoa powder to taste, depending on how much chocolateyness you desire.

~ Once the cupcakes have cooled, frost them, then decorate with white chocolate chips for eyes and liquorish strings for legs! :-)