Fried Eggplant

This is the only way I'll eat eggplant. Our 2 year old also loved it - he kept calling them 'cookies.'

Fried Eggplant

1 eggplant
1/2 cup flour
5 eggs
3 cups cornmeal*
3 tsp Italian seasoning (or any combination of Italian spices)
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 cup canola oil

2 hours before cooking, peel eggplant, slice thin, and place in large bowl of water. Top eggplant with another heavy plate or bowl to keep submerged. Soak for 2 hours to remove bitterness.

At cooking time: Set out three medium sized bowls. Fill one with the flour, one with the eggs, and one with the cornmeal and Italian seasoning. Heat oil over medium low in large frying pan. Heat marinara over medium low heat.

Drain eggplant and place between layers of paper towel to dry. Take each eggplant slice, coat in flour, coat in egg, then coat in cormeal mixture. Drop into pan of oil. Fry on each side until golden brown. Remove and place on a paper towel to absorb excess oil.

Serve fried eggplant slices with marinara for dipping.

* You may also substitute seasoned breadcrumbs for cornmeal mixture for a crunchier texture.

Sauteed Kale

Kale is considered a superfood - but when we juiced it, it tasted like lawn. This sautee is actually pretty good and super healthy!

Sauteed Kale

1 bunch Kale, washed and chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
3 small cloves garlic, grated
3 tbsp shelled unsalted sunflower seeds
3 tbsp shelled unsalted pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup brown basmati rice
2.25 cups water

In a small saucepan, add rice and water, bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook 30-40 minutes.

In frying pan, heat olive oil. Add onions and garlic and sautee until tender. Add sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and kale. Cook until kale is tender and has reduced in size.

Serve sautee over rice.

** We have also made this recipe with swiss chard (another superfood) and it was just as tasty, a little less mild.

A new goal

Clearly I haven't updated this blog in a while. With two tiny kids, life tends to get in the way of blogging. So my new goal is simply to work at reaching 365 new recipes posting as often as I can, but not necessarily getting them all in in a year. This should also help make sure that the recipes on here really are all things I think are super yummy - I'll just post them as I discover them. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy what's here and I'll try to be on as often as I can. And as always, feel free to leave me feedback - it helps me know what you'd like to see :)

Blueberry Lemon Muffins

Most muffin recipes I've tried have seemed to lack 'something' - turns out it was a hint of lemon!

Blueberry Lemon Muffins

2 cups all purpose flour (or 2 cups rice flour)
1 cup whole wheat flour (or 1 cup potato starch + 1 tsp xanthan gum)
1 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup milk
2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)
zest plus juice of 1/3 small lemon

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Add eggs, oil, milk and lemon. Mix until just moist. Fold in blueberries. Grease 18 muffin cups and fill 3/4 full with batter. Top muffins with another sprinkle of sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Blackberry Pie

Blackberry Pie

3-4 cups blackberries
3-4 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp flour (or rice flour)

Combine all ingredients. If using fresh blackberries, allow to sit in refrigerator for 1 hour. Pour into pie crust and top with lattice crust or vented crust. Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes.

Rhubarb Pie

This is one of my absolute favorite desserts. It's a little tart, which I think is just perfect.

Rhubarb Pie

3-4 cups rhubarb, sliced 1" thick
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsp flour (or rice flour)

In large bowl, combine all ingredients. Let sit in fridge for 1 hour. Pour into 1 double crust pie shell and top with lattice crust or crust with vents. Bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes.

Gluten Free Vinegar Pastry Crust

This makes quite a nice pie crust - to roll out, flour a cloth or waxed paper, roll dough in flour until no longer sticky, roll out with rolling pin. Invert pie plate over center of dough, slide hand under paper, and invert, gently pressing dough into edges of plate. Repeat for top crust, cutting vents in dough before inverting. I'm usually too lazy to roll out the dough and found that it works just as well, though isn't as pretty, to press the bottom crust into the pan in chunks and then smooth, then flatten top crust dough into several circles and place evenly across top of pie.

Gluten Free Vinegar Pastry Crust

1.5 cups rice flour (Bob's Red Mill makes a good white and a good brown rice flour)
1/2 cup potato starch (I also use Bob's Red Mill)
1/2 cup corn starch
1 tbsp sugar
1/5 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 cup butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp vinegar
3 tbsp cold water

Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter until forms pea-sized crumbs. Mix egg, vingar and water. Add 2 tbsp at a time until dough is of playdough consistency.