Roasted Eggplant pasta sauce

From: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018275-roasted-eggplant-and-tomato-pasta

The original recipe is so fancy and nuanced, but you know, it's also super delicious to just chop eggplant into big chunks, roast it, and add to a $1 jar of your favorite marinara. This is what I learned and I will do it again and again. Roast eggplant gets all carmelized and I could hardly stop eating it off the pan. My extravagantly lazy version is here, then the original NYT one is below it.

Ingredients
- 1 big eggplant, cut into one inch cubes, slightly bigger than bite sized pieces, it will shrink a bit
- 2 bell peppers, red orange or yellow, deseeded and cut into 5 or 6 large pieces
- Olive oil, at least 2 tablespoons
- Salt, preferably coarse kosher salt
- 1 jar marinara
- 1/2 a pack of linguini

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425

Put tin foil on a shallow roasting pan, spray with cooking spray. You may need 2 depending on the size of your veggies, do not overcrowd them.

Put the chopped eggplant into a big bowl and pour olive oil over it. Mix and repeat until it's well coated. Sprinkle generously with salt and mix again, then spread on the baking sheet. Repeat with bell peppers.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes then take out and give the veggies a shuffle, turn over most pieces to brown more evenly. Return to the oven and bake another 20 minutes. They should be browned and soft and taste delicious. The eggplant gets very soft and kind of falls apart so don't mess with it too much. Big chunks are good and flavorful.

While veggies are baking boil the linguini in salted water according to the package directions, usually about 10 minutes. Drain well and leave in the strainer.

Warm the marinara in the pot from boiling the linguini, and add the roasted veggies once they're done. Mix just a touch and get everything to a good temperature. Serve a big handful of the pasta in a bowl with a big scoop of the sauce.

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INGREDIENTS
1 ¾  pounds eggplant, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 to 2  banana or Italian frying peppers, halved, seeded and thinly sliced
4  tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, more for drizzling
 Kosher salt
12  ounces pasta, such as campanelle or farfalle
2  pounds very ripe heirloom tomatoes, halved through their equators
1 to 2  fat garlic cloves, grated on a Microplane or minced
 Large pinch crushed red pepper flakes
2  tablespoons brine-packed capers, drained
2  tablespoons unsalted butter (optional)
 Grated ricotta salata or Parmesan cheese, for serving (optional)
 Fresh mint or basil leaves, for serving

PREPARATION
Heat oven to 450 degrees. Spread out eggplant cubes and peppers on a rimmed baking sheet. Toss with 3 tablespoons oil and season well with salt. Roast, turning everything, until eggplant and peppers are very soft and deeply golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook pasta in well-salted boiling water until about 1 minute shy of al dente. Drain.
Using the large holes of a box grater, grate tomatoes over a large skillet so the pulp falls into the skillet. To do this, hold on to the curved side of the tomato in your hand and slide the cut, flat side across the holes. Stop grating just before you reach the skin.
Add the garlic, red pepper flakes and 1 tablespoon olive oil to the pan with the tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Simmer until tomato pulp is reduced by half, then season to taste with salt.
Add the pasta, capers and butter, if using, to the pan with the tomatoes and bring to a simmer, tossing until butter melts and pasta finishes cooking, about 1 minute. Turn off the heat and toss in eggplant and cheese, if using.
Serve pasta drizzled with a little more oil and the herbs.

Dr. Sarah’s Garlic Chicken with green beans and mushrooms

Sarah brought this over for us after baby Wren was born and it was sooo dang good!! Had to get the recipe. Turns out this recipe bears little resemblance LOL!! She made it with only mishrooms and green beans, none of these other random veggies. It came out saucy and delicious and went perfectly with plain white rice. It’s so easy and good!!! We make this one on a regular basis now. Prepping the mushrooms is the most time consuming part, but it’s so worth it because they come out delicious.

Notes from Sarah are below.

https://www.eazypeazymealz.com/sheet-pan-garlic-chicken-veggies/

Ingredients

1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 tsp black pepper
2 lbs chicken thighs, boneless skinless, cut into strips
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (divided)
About 1 pound/3 cups fresh green beans
8-16 ounces of white mushrooms, cut in half
3 Tbsp minced garlic (from a jar)
1- 1 ounce package beefy onion soup mix

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
In a small bowl, mix together salt, onion powder, and black pepper
In a large bowl, add chicken, 1/4 cup olive oil, and seasoning mixture from above. Stir to coat well. Put in refrigerator for 15 minutes to let marinate
In a large bowl add green beans and mushrooms, 1/4 cup olive oil, minced garlic, and onion soup mix packet. Stir well to coat evenly
Dump veggies on baking sheet, and spread out to form one layer.
Place chicken on top.
Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through (cooking time will depend on how thick you cut your chicken).
Optional: Broil sheet pan with chicken and veggies on high for 2-3 minutes to brown and crisp up the edges a bit. Watch closely.
Enjoy!

Notes from the blog

Note 1: Feel free to reduce oil to lighten this up. You just want to make sure things are coated enough that the seasonings stick. If you reduce the oil too much, spray the pan with cooking spray so the food does not stick to the bottom while baking. Note 2: Broil the pan at the end of baking time to get a few caramelized edges and brown up the exterior of the chicken. This can add flavor, but is not necessary!

Notes from Sarah

Anyway, I tried it initially with a lot of the recommended veggies but in my opinion the zucchini, squash, all those veggies that have a lot of water in them get pretty soggy. I liked the asparagus ok but I prefer to eat it a little firmer. I think brussel sprouts would be good but Michael isn't really a fan. Sweet potatoes might be really good too. Sliced mushrooms shrink up quite a bit so my faves so far are to get whole mushrooms and chop them in half, small yellow or red potatoes hold up well, and fresh green beans taste awesome. So that's my trifecta with my picky husband and bonus kid. 

Also, I get the golden onion soup mix, or I've tried maybe beefy onion or one with mushrooms in it, but the regular onion makes me think of onion dip and that weird ranchy flavor so I avoid it. Maybe it's all in my head. 

I also don't use as much oil as they say to. I did the first time and it just felt like too much but you do you. Thighs and breasts are good. It's a quick prep meal and easy to clean up. 

Coconut healthy fat balls

A tasty dessert and a way to up my fat intake while breastfeeding. These aren’t amazing but they’re good enough for what I wanted. Basically homemade nut butter with coconut and chocolate. It’s kind of too many flavors for me, I’ll leave out the sunflower seeds next time and add some cardamom. I left out the cinnamon so maybe that would have been helpful afterall.

http://www.leefromamerica.com/blog/2017/3/14/coconut-fat-balls

Notes on things I made recently- pork tenderloin, eggplant pasta, mini quiches, strawberry tart

https://aseasyasapplepie.com/strawberry-tart-with-pastry-cream/ I’d like to make this but maybe never will!! LOL

https://sweetcsdesigns.com/best-baked-garlic-pork-tenderloin/  - this was decent, flavorful, moost, done in the oven which helped with time management

https://www.galonamission.com/paleo-breakfast-muffins-whole-30-approved/ made this for a coworkers graduation celebration and yummmm!! Love that veggie protein combo. Sausage kale and red bell pepper is my favorite

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018275-roasted-eggplant-and-tomato-pasta  Basically all I took from this was roast some big chunks of eggplant and add it to cheap marinara sauce. Delicious way to make vegetarian pasta that’s more hearty. I’m doing this again for sure

Taco meatloaf (GF)

This turned out a bit salty but good! Ingredients I used are first then original recipe below. I mixed the cheese in before baking but that was a mistake, it just seeped out. I'd like to try making the 2 lbs recipe next time and freezing half. I've read that meatloaf does well in a freezer to slow cooker situation, so I wanna give that a try some time.

Update: it does do well going from freezer to slow cooker. I just pop it in and cook on low all day, 8-9 hours. It doesn’t look great but the flavor and texture are good enough! Anything these kids will eat goes to the top of the list.

Second update: I did this recipe in a muffin tin today and it was easier because it didn’t take so long to bake. 25 minutes at 350 was a good amount of cooking. I forgot to add salt when substituting for the taco seasoning so it came out a little bland, but dipping it in salsa/sour cream takes care of that!

Ingredients
1 egg
3 Tbsp (ish) plain yogurt or sour cream
3 Tbsp (ish) salsa from a jar
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c crushed tortilla chips
1 lb ground beef (80/20)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix everything but the cheese together in a bowl, then mold into a loaf. Bake for 55 minutes or until done. Top with cheese and warm until melted.

Alternatively, form into patties and grill or sauté 5 minutes a side on medium high heat as if they were burgers.

Or form into a loaf and freeze on a baking dish, then put it in a large ziploc for storage up to three months. To cook from frozen pop in the slow cooker on low for 8 hours.

From: https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/main-course/beef/taco-meatloaf.html

Ingredients
1 egg
1/2 c sour cream
1/3 c salsa
3 Tbsp taco seasoning (store bought) or 1 Tbsp cumin, 1 Tbsp chili powder & 1 tsp salt
1 c crushed tortilla chips
2 lb ground beef or 1 lb beef 1 lb pork

Chicken crockpot casseroles

Crock Pot Chicken and Stuffing Casserole

Servings: 4 -6

Made this one and Anna liked it but me and Leo were kinda eh about it. Came out a bit salty so my modifications are below. It's very moist and mushy, I may like this recipe better in the oven.

Author: Cris at https://www.recipesthatcrock.com/crock-pot-chicken-stuffing-casserole-2/

• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs 
• 1 tsp sage
• 10.75 oz Can Cream of Chicken Soup
• 6 oz Box Stuffing
• 2 Cups water or watered down broth

Instructions

1. In a bowl mix stuffing and broth together and set aside.
2. Place chicken pieces in the bottom of your 6 qt slow cooker
3. Sprinkle seasoning over tenderloins.
4. Pour soup over chicken and spread evenly.
5. Once stuffing has absorbed all of the chicken broth pour evenly on top.
6. Cover with lid and cook on low for 4-6 hours

   
   

   
   

   Crockpot chicken with noodles (with ny modifications, original link below)

   Ingredients

   • 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast tenderloins
   • 1 10.5oz can cream of chicken soup (don't add water)
   • 1 10.5oz can cream of celery soup (no water added yet)
   • Sprinkle dried parsley
   • Sprinkle powdered sage
   • Sprinkle garlic powder
   • 1 Tbsp butter, very approximately 
   • 2 tsp chicken bouillon 
   • 3 1/2 cups water
   • 2 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley 
   • 1 stalk celery, diced
   • 12 baby carrots, sliced
   • 8 oz. egg noodles, uncooked
   • More chopped parsley for finishing, if you like

   Instructions

   1. Place chicken breasts in the bottom of the crockpot, then top with the soups (no water added) and sprinkle with the spices and bouillon. Add butter to the top, and pour in the water. Add fresh veggies and parsley.
   2. Cook over low heat for 5-6 hours, (or high heat for 3-4 hours). Remove the chicken from the pot and shred into large chunks with two forks.
   3. Add the shredded chicken back to the pot along with the dry egg noodles and stir. Continue cooking for 30-45 minutes, until noodles are tender. Enjoy!
      
      
      https://belleofthekitchen.com/2017/03/09/crockpot-chicken-noodles/