Grilled Eggplant Napoleon (because of its conquering status, not layering ingredients)

Eggplant. Hard to convince many people that it's actually really good. This recipe does that.

Many of my recipes are spawned by a thought process of, what are some of my favorite things to eat and how can I make them all work together? Lot's of bad recipes happen this way, but some of my best happen too.

Simply put, this recipe is eggplant, tomato, basil, mozzarella and parmesan layered and baked. For your ingredients list, you will also need olive oil, garlic and ground pepper.

You can get really complicated in how you make this. Below is the simplest version.

Steps:
1. Slice eggplant into really thin (but not so thin there are holes) circles.
2. Slice tomato into thin slices.
3. Mince garlic and mix into 1/4 cup of olive oil.
4. Brush olive oil and garlic mix onto both sides of your first layer of eggplant and place on your flat baking surface.
5. Layer on top of each eggplant slice: tomato, grated mozzarella, basil leave.
6. Repeat layer stack on top of each original stack (two stacks total).
7. On top of each stack grate parmesan and ground black pepper.
8. Place in oven at 325 degrees and bake for 25 minutes.
9. Serve with bread.

Note: If you prefer a more crispy eggplant, only do one stack instead of two.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Who Needs Meat Tacos

This recipe has made me reconsider meat in tacos forever, except for pork or shrimp...maybe.

Ingredients:

Taco Filling
1 medium sized sweet potato (diced)
1 can black beans (rinsed)
1/3 cup chopped green onion
1/2 tablespoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/3 teaspoon ground pepper

olive oil for pan

flour tortillas

Avocado Topping

1 avocado

1/2 a cucumber (diced)

1 tablespoon lime juice

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

small container of goat cheese

Directions

Chop sweet potato and add to boiling water. Let boil for 5-8 minutes.

Add sweet potato to hot large skillet with olive oil.

Sauté potato for a minute or two and add rinsed black beans.

Chop green onions and add to potato and beans.

Add spices and adjust to taste.

Let the mixture cook for a few minutes and stir often.

In the meantime, prepare avocado topping. Cut avocado, dice cucumber and mix in all ingredients except the goat cheese.

Heat tortillas.

Remove taco filling from skillet and add to tortillas.

Add avocado topping and dollops of goat cheese.

Eat 'em up!

Tomato, Onion, Kale, Ginger and 5qts of Healthy Soup

It's winter, which means big pots of hearty soup.

Ingredients:
3 medium yellow onions (thinly sliced)
4 roma tomatoes (diced)
2/3 bunch kale (finely chopped)
64oz tomato juice
32oz water
4 cloves garlic (minced)
3 tablespoons fresh Ginger (grated)
1/2 tablespoon oregano
1/2 tablespoon basil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 tablespoon crushed red pepper
1/4 tablespoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Sauté garlic, Ginger and onions.
When onions are tender add the kale.
When the kale has cooked down add tomato juice and water.
Bring to a boil.
Add spices and lemon juice and let simmer for 10-15min adding/adjusting spices to taste.
Add tomatoes right before serving.

Notes:

For this recipe, we toasted slices of French bread with Gruyère to top each bowl of soup before serving.

oldest beer

Chicken Noodle Soup - Get Healthy Because I Love You Style

Sometimes the people I love (or even just like enough to make soup for) get the flu, and during those times having a handy home-made chicken noodle soup recipe is my ticket to dishing out a bowl of happiness.

Ingredients:

Soup
2 stalks celery (halved and sliced)

2 carrots (sliced)

1 large white onion (thinly sliced)

1 cup fresh parsley (chopped)

1 large lemon

4 cups vegetable broth

2 cups water

2 cups uncooked elbow pasta

1lb chicken breast (cut into small pieces)

3 large cloves of garlic (minced)

2 tablespoons onion powder

1 tablespoon crushed red pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

Crust Topping
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (cut into 1/2 inch cubes)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
6 to 8 Tbsp ice water

Directions:

Soup
Heat large pot with a spoonful of olive oil.

Sauté garlic and onion on low heat until it smells delicious or the onions are more translucent.

Add chicken and cook until chicken browns and looks cooked.

Add vegetable broth, onion powder and water and raise heat to bring to a boil.

Once the soup is boiling turn down the heat and let simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add carrots, celery, parsley, and crushed red pepper.

Squeeze the entire lemon into soup (watch for seeds).

Add pepper and adjust spices to taste.

Let simmer for a few minutes and turn heat off while you make crust topping in the meantime.

Crust topping
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl add flour, salt, sugar and butter.

Cut the butter chunks into the flour (I recommend a large whisk if you don't have a mixer).

Once the mixture turns into small little balls add the tablespoons of water.

Begin to mix the dough after the first 4 tablespoons of water, adding each tablespoon till correct consistency.

The dough is ready as soon as it collects together into a ball (no more water!).

Cover your dough rolling surface with a handful of flour.

Place dough ball in the center, flatten with you hand, and begin to roll dough from the center outward.

Once the dough is thin and wide enough to cover your pot, cover the soup and pot with dough.

Add slits and use remaining bits of dough to decorate.

Place soup and crust in the oven and bake for 25-30minutes or until crust is brown.

Notes:

This soup is also fantastic without the chicken or the noodles.

Easy Egg Over Who Drank All the Milk Cornbread

There are many, many great ways to prepare the breakfast egg. Staring at some leftovers, a loaf of bread, carton of eggs, jar of pickles (not used in the recipe) and everything else that was in the fridge, I just didn't want an egg sandwich. I spotted the left over Who Drank All the Milk Cornbread from the other night and thought, let's try this.

Ingredients:

-for one-

1 egg

handful of spinach

horseradish mayonnaise

Who Drank All the Milk Cornbread

Directions:

- Start to fry an over easy egg

Making a good over easy egg is often a pretty hard feet. So, first grease up your skillet. Wait till it's hot (if you flick water onto the pan and it sizzles, it's hot) then crack your egg into the pan. It's best to shape the egg by pushing in the white portion to keep it nice and small to fit onto your piece of corn bread.

- Lightly butter your left over corn bread and warm it up. I always prefer the toaster oven.

- Smear the horseradish mayonnaise on the corn bread and top with the spinach

- Flip the egg and add to the cornbread pile.

By this point in the process, the egg should be ready. So, gently flip it and let it stand for about 20 seconds.

For the record, any cornbread will do. Leftover cornbread, however, will have a bit more of a dry texture so the egg yolk and horseradish mayonnaise really interact well with the dryness. This looks rather impressive for how easy it is. Tastes great to boot. Now, if you have a eater who doesn't like the over easy egg, you can try several different versions of scrambled egg to topple it with.

Who Drank all the Milk Corn Bread

Corn bread is one of the greatest things to learn to make.

It's easy.

It's cheap.

And

You can't mess it up.

While steaming up some artichokes (also one of the greatest things to add to your regular cooking circuit, but we'll cover that another time) the other night, I thought some corn bread would be a good hearty addition. After measuring out the corn meal and other ingredients, I opened the fridge to see the empty lonely spot where the milk usually sits. So I just used water instead. I also used brown sugar for the first time. Anyway, here's how it went:

Ingredients:

-for a full 9" by 5" bread pan-

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup yellow cornmeal

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 egg

1 cup water

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Directions:

- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

- Butter your pan.

- Combine all the ingredients and stir till everything looks well mixed and even.

- Bake for 25-30min or until top is golden brown.

The best way to know when your cornbread is done is to stick a fork or knife in it and if it comes out clean, it should be ready to eat.

Because of the brown sugar and water, this version of cornbread came out darker and bit dryer than the usual yellow fluffy bread. It's definitely not a cornbread to eat plain.

My fall back cornbread recipe source I found on All Recipes. It's a very stable cornbread recipe. I recommend following it and feeling free to tweak it as you please the more confident and adventurous you feel with making your own cornbread.