Garlicky Egglant Maranara

I saw this recipe on Rachel Rays daytime talk show and with few tweaks it was squeaky clean and tasty.

1 head garlic
2 red bell peppers
1 eggplant
1 28oz can fire roasted tomatoes
1 large spaghetti squash

Take the garlic and cut off the top just far enough down to be able to see the tops of the cloves. Wrap it in tin foil and place on a cookie sheet. To the same cookie sheet add the peppers and the eggplant cut in half with the cut side up. Season the eggplant with salt and pepper. On a separate cookie sheet cut the squash in half and put cut side down add about 2 cups of water to the pan. Put both pans in a 450 degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour.

At this point if the pepper doesn't have nice black charred spots put it over the flame on your stove turning frequently. Cut off the stem and scrape out the seeds.

The eggplant will look like this when its done. Spoon out the insides of the eggplant leaving the purple skin.

I used my handy dandy food processor, but you could use a good blender to puree all the ingredients together (excluding the squash!). Take the garlic out of the foil and squeeze the root side, the cloves will have liquefied and turned into a paste. Add the garlic, fire roasted tomatoes, eggplant insides, and the bell peppers and blend until it is smooth. Scrape the squash into spaghetti like strands. I cooked some ground beef and put it right on top of the squash and sauce.

The Veggie of the Week...

I missed the veggie of the week post last week due to the holiday I did make a wonderful dish to make it up to you! This week we are on E and I decided to do an eggplant dish. I had not ever used eggplant in cooking and was pleasantly surprised. It had a great flavor and was not as hard to prepare as I had previously heard.

Native to South East Asia eggplant is grown in tropical climates as a garden vegetable and is a staple in many middle eastern countries. It comes in a variety of sizes, shapes and colors including purple, black, white and striped. Eggplant is available in the US year round but is best eaten August-October when they are at their peak. Eggplants are part of the night shade family which include tomatoes, peppers and potatoes. Eggplants are a nutrient dense food containing over 80 nutrients, it contains high amounts of B vitamins and potassium.

Eggplant Lasagana

You can either make a sauce or use a pre-made one like Classico Tomato Basil which is what I did it makes this recipe simple! Heat up the sauce and add a few leaves fresh torn basil, this will make is taste homemade. In a hot skillet scramble 2 eggs and add to the sauce. I know this sounds wierd but trust me when I say that this makes the recipe. It actually seems like cheese when its all put together not to mention another way to get some extra protein!

Slice 2 eggplants to about a 1/4 inch thickness and about 6 roma tomatoes thinly, put on sheet pans and season with salt and pepper. Roast in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes crank up the heat to 450 and roast an additional 10 minutes or until the veggies are fork tender.

Make a layer of eggplant on the bottom of a cassarole dish, follow by adding a layer of your roasted tomatoes. add about 1/2 C of sauce and add 1# cooked ground beef, next add a layer of fresh or frozen drained spinach top with another 1/2 C of sauce. Over that add another layer of the tomatoes and end with a layer or the eggpant. Add the remaining sauce and bake covered for 1 hour in a 350 degree oven, it is best to let is set for an hour before serving to insure the layers stay together.