Recipe: Easy Eggplant Recipe

That is actually what this recipe from Alyona's Cooking is called. I know my last post was about eggplants, and this one is, too, for the same reason: I bought some eggplants but didn't know what to do with them. Thank goodness the internet has so many ideas!

Ingredients

• 1 ½ lbs eggplants (3 small eggplants, cut into chunks)
• 1 ½ lbs tomatoes (4 medium sized, diced)
• 1 onion (diced)
• 1 clove garlic (crushed)
• 2 large red bell peppers (cut into chunks)
• 2 carrots (grated)
• 1 ½ TBSP white distilled vinegar
• 1 ½ TBSP salt
• 1 ½ TBSP granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2/3 cup white rice (jasmine rice or short-grain white rice)

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients into a deep non-stick skillet or pot. Bring to a boil over high heat and boil 8 minutes, stirring often.
2. Reduce heat to low, cover with a lid and simmer for 30 minutes mixing occasionally. The mixture should darken in color and veggies should be very soft.
3. Serve warm or cold. Keep refrigerated.

Pretty simple recipe, right? I can't remember the last time I made a recipe with only three steps! (Although, I did make pumpkin spice overnight oats recently, and that was pretty much just two steps of mixing everything together and refrigerating it overnight.)

I didn't have regular white rice; I had instant rice, and I wasn't sure if that would work for this recipe, since it simmers for a while. Instead I used a brown and wild rice mixture. I am not sure if it's because this rice mixture is pretty old (does rice go stale?), or if it needs more liquid to cook properly, but it was really crunchy. In the end, I think this dish tasted fine (despite the crunchy texture), but I wouldn't consider it a meal on its own. I ended up pouring it over tortellini and adding red pasta sauce, and that tasted pretty good. I'm not sure I would bother making this recipe again, but it was worth a try, and it helped me use one of my eggplants!

Recipe: Easy Eggplant Casserole Recipe

 

Image found here

I found a HUGE eggplant at Target the other day, and it was so tempting I had to have it (*resisting the urge to put in an eggplant emoji joke here...). I wanted to make another casserole, so when I found this recipe on the Cook with Kushi blog, I thought it would be a good one to try.

Equipment

• 1 Baking pan
• 1 Casserole dish

Ingredients

• 2 Large Eggplant, unpeeled (approx, 1 kg or 2 pounds)
• ¼ teaspoon Salt
• Olive oil, just to drizzle
• ½ teaspoon Italian Pizza seasoning
• ¼ teaspoon Red pepper flakes or black pepper powder
• 1 cup Marinara sauce (pizza sauce)
• 1 cup Mozzarella cheese (can add little extra if desired)

Instructions

Roast the eggplant

1. Preheat the oven to 425° F. Line a baking pan with parchment paper and keep it ready.
2. Nicely wash the eggplants and cut them into rounds of ¼ to ½ inch thick slices. No need to peel the skin of the eggplants.
3. Arrange these slices in the prepared baking pan, brush with olive oil, and sprinkle salt. Roast it for 10 to 12 minutes.
4. Remove it from the oven. Flip all the slices - drizzle oil and salt, and roast for another 10 to 12 minutes.

Arrange eggplant casserole:

1. Reduce the oven temperature to 350° F.
2. Lightly spread one or 2 tablespoon of marinara sauce in your casserole dish. Arrange half of the roasted eggplant slices. Spread half portion of the sauce and cheese on top of the eggplant slices. If desired, season it with pizza seasoning and pepper flakes. 
3. Arrange the remaining eggplant slices, followed by the remaining marinara sauce and cheese.
4. Bake until the top becomes golden and bubbly for 10 to 15 minutes.
5. Let it cool for 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with herbs of your choice or simply with spring onions.

Even while calling out the equipment necessary for this recipe, I still messed that part up. I roasted the eggplant in the casserole dish instead of a baking dish. Once I realized I mistake, I took out a different casserole dish for the actual assembly part later. I only had the one big eggplant, but I figured the recipe would still work, albeit a little smaller. And I didn't have pizza sauce, but I had plain tomato sauce; I used that with extra spices like oregano, basil, and parsley. I might not have cooked it long enough in the end (the cheese did not become golden), but since I was mainly making this recipe for lunches this week, I figured I'd be reheating/recooking it a little bit anyway.

I thought it was really yummy! I would definitely use two eggplants next time; it just seems like a small stack of eggplant when it's only two layers instead of four. But this recipe is easy to make, and I would do it again!

Recipe: No-Bake Chocolate Raspberry Pie

My husband sent me this recipe from the Home Cooking Adventure blog over text. He claims he wasn't asking me to make it, but he certainly didn't seem to mind it when I told him I'd make it for him!

Ingredients

Oreo Cookie Crust

• 7 oz (200g) Oreo cookies
• 1/4 cup (60g) butter, melted

Chocolate Cream Cheese Filling

• 4 oz (120g) semisweet chocolate
• 1/4 cup (60g) whipping cream
• 9 oz (250g) cream cheese , room temperature
• 3 tbsp (24g) powdered sugar
• 1 tsp (5g) vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup (80g) whipping cream (35% fat), chilled

Raspberry Sauce

• 5 oz (150g) raspberries , fresh or frozen
• 2 tbsp (30g) sugar
• 1 tbsp (15g) lemon juice
• 2 tsp (6g) cornstarch
• For Decoration
• fresh raspberries
• powdered sugar , for dusting
• mini chocolate rocks

For Decoration

• fresh raspberries
• powdered sugar for dusting
• mini chocolate rocks

Directions

 

1. Grease with butter an 8-inch (20cm) pie or tart pan.

2. Prepare the raspberry sauce.

• In a small saucepan add raspberries, sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly.
• Simmer for about 5-10 minutes or until thickens. Remove from heat and set aside to cool down until ready to use.

3. Prepare the crust.

• Place the Oreo cookies into the bowl of a food processor. Blend until crumbs form. Add melted butter and process until completely combined.
• Press the mixture with the back of the spoon and your fingers where necessary, into the bottom and edges of the pan. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
• Spread the raspberry sauce over the crust. Freeze until you prepare the chocolate filling.

4. Prepare the chocolate cream cheese filling.

• Place semisweet chocolate and ¼ cup (60g) cream into a heatproof bowl and place over a pan with simmering water. Melt over low heat. Let cool to room temperature.
• In a large bowl mix cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla extract and mix to combine. Mix in the melted chocolate. Add whipping cream and continue mixing until stiff peaks form.

5. Assemble the pie.

• Cover the raspberry sauce with the chocolate cream cheese filling. Smooth the top.
• Refrigerate the pie to set for about 4-6 hours or even overnight.
• Decorate with fresh raspberries, chocolate mini rocks and dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

As usual, I tried to make the recipe as easy as possible, but there were a few hiccups. For one, I didn't want to make my own Oreo crust. I know pre-made ones exist, but I couldn't find one for the life of me! Not at Target, not at Publix, not at Aldi. So I bought Oreos to do it myself. The recipe calls for seven ounces; why not just tell me the number of cookies, or just say half the package?

I had also counted on Marshall's having raspberry syrup (that's where I always buy it!), because I was NOT going to make my own raspberry sauce (I already had to make the crust!). But the store did have a nice jar of raspberry preserves, so I went with that. 

I also only had regular heavy whipping cream, so I never got the "peaks" as described in the directions. Maybe I should have incorporated Cool-whip? And I did refrigerate the pie for a while, and then I second-guessed myself and thought I should have put it in the freezer, so I did that for a little while, too. AND I had bought the raspberries several days before making the pie, so by the time the pie was actually made, many of them had started to grow mold. What a waste, especially when they are already expensive!

But even with all of this going on, the pie turned out great. It was delicious, and Steve couldn't stop making yummy noises while eating it. The recipe wasn't too hard, but it was more steps than something I would normally make. But maybe I'd make it again!

Recipe: Easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have followed the Crazy for Crust blog for years now. I look at the emails regularly, and when there's a recipe I want to try, I tuck it away, usually never to be found again. BUT since I started my new job this week (yay!), I wanted to bring a treat to the office on my first day. I saw this recipe for peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, and I knew I had to give it a go.

Ingredients

• ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter melted
• ½ cup (133g) creamy peanut butter
• ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
• ⅔ cup (134g) packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ¼ cups (155g) all-purpose flour
• 1 ¼ cups (213g) chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Mix or stir butter with peanut butter until smooth. Add brown sugar and granulated sugar and mix until creamy.
2. Beat in vanilla, egg, baking soda, and salt. Mix in flour slowly until cookie dough forms. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Scoop 2 tablespoon sized cookie dough balls onto cookie sheets covered with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Chill 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F.
5. Press cookie dough balls flat with the tines of a fork.
6. Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes, or until slightly brown on the bottom and the top just loses the wet cookie dough look.
7. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze for up to one month.

This recipe was really easy! I mean, you don't even have to mix the dry and wet ingredients separately! Even letting the dough chill wasn't too annoying. I might have made the cookies too big (I only got 20), so even after nine minutes they weren't fully baked yet. But I hate overbaked cookies (then they are too dry and crunchy), so I actually was pleased with the softer texture. I brought some to a friend's house, too, and she loved them! So I think I'll be making this recipe again 💗.

Dan + Shay Concert at Midflorida Credit Union Amphitheater

Image found here

I bought tickets to see Dan + Shay at the Midflorida Credit Union Amphitheater even before I moved to Florida. I saw them in 2018 (so long ago!) when they opened for Chris Young (read that blog post here), but I had never seen them headline a show before. Plus, I love outdoor venues like Wolf Trap and Merriweather Post Pavilion in the D.C. area, so I wanted to try a similar venue in Tampa. 

Unfortunately, it started POURING on our drive there. There wasn't a lot of signage, so even though I paid for premiere parking (which I didn't need; I received an email saying I needed to purchase parking, which was not the case), I just parked in the first lot I came to. We sat in the car for probably an hour, getting updates via email and social media that the gates were delayed in opening until the storm calmed down. Finally the rain stopped and we could come in. The entry lines were SO long, but luckily they moved quickly. Once we were inside, we easily found a good spot on the lawn where our views weren't blocked by lawn chairs. Steve bought us drinks (the raspberry lemonade from Smirnoff Ice is delicious!), and we settled in for the show.

Dylan Marlowe was the first opener. I had heard his name before, but I couldn't have named one of his songs. I didn't recognize any of his songs, but he did do a cover of Taylor Swift's "Back to December," which I love. So that was fun!

The second opener was Jake Owen. I totally forgot that I had seen him open for Kenny Chesney in 2015 (even longer ago! Read that blog post here.); he even had the short hair back then and I still remembered him with long hair. He has so many great hits, and it was fun to see him again (for the first time in my mind haha). Here are some of my favorites:

Barefoot Blue Jean Night

Anywhere With You

Alone With You

Made For You

Then it was Dan + Shay's turn! Even though I slept through some of their set (I had woken up at 5:10am that morning to teach Pure Barre!), I still really enjoyed the show. Here are some of the songs they sang:

All to Myself

From the Ground Up

How Not To

Speechless

Save Me the Trouble

Bigger Houses

Glad You Exist

10,000 Hours (which I didn't know was originally recorded with Justin Bieber!)

We left early to beat the crowds, but as we were walking out, we could hear them sing a cover of The Killers' "Mr. Brightside," and the whole audience was singing along. And we missed the encore song, but my guess is that it was "Tequila," which is my favorite song of theirs:

Such a fun show and a good venue! We will be back, and hopefully it won't rain next time!

Backstage Tour of the Manatee Performing Arts Center

The sisterhood of Temple Beth El in Bradenton hosted a backstage tour of the Manatee Performing Arts Center earlier this week. While I am not a member of the sisterhood or the temple in general, I was invited to tag along, and I'm so glad I got the invitation!

Janene Amick, CEO of the Florida Cultural Group, Inc. (of which the center is a part), led the tour, and she was amazing! She has been with the organization for nearly 20 years, and she knows her stuff. I learned so much during the tour that I feel like I know the ins and outs of this theater! Here are some interesting facts about the theater:

• The theater has a $2 million annual budget, which comes from ticket sales and donations. The budget covers things like contractors who help make the shows possible (people who build sets, work the tech/equipment, etc.), as well as the musicians (the orchestra pit can hold up to 30 people, but usually there are about six musicians for a show). But there are many volunteers who are very important to the shows: all of the actors are volunteers, as well as some carpenters ("Tool Timers") and costume makers ("Fabulous Fabricators"). They also have college and high school interns who help on a semesterly basis to learn more about the behind-the-scenes work of the theater, getting a true hands-on education.
• The building itself is almost completely made of concrete so that it can weather storms and hurricanes (built to last 100 years, she said!). And the orchestra pit I mentioned? It's built like a swimming pool; if the roof were to collapse, all of the water would run into the pit and be contained there. 
• There are two theaters within the building. The main one can hold 350 people (there are no bad seats!), and the other holds about 80 for a more intimate experience. In the smaller theater, they host a program called "Actions Through Acting," in which plays will focus on a particular issue. Examples include The Father, which looks at Alzheimer's (A woman in our group has a husband with the disease, and she burst into tears during this part of the presentation. We should have had a trigger warning!), Steel Magnolias focuses on diabetes, On Golden Pond is all about aging, and Death of a Salesman is about mental health. So for these shows, a representative from a local organization will talk about the respective issue, and theatergoers can ask questions and learn more. I thought the coolest one Janene talked about was how, when they were showing "Bark the Musical," the Manatee Humane Society discussed how they have a foster program for pets when their owners are in the hospital for a surgery and related recovery. That is such a cool idea! I really like how the theater is connecting live entertainment with the local community, and especially how this program provides education about the available resources for topics that would be particularly important for the older demographics of their viewers and the general area.
• The theater has several dressing rooms for the actors, including ADA-accessible ones on the first floor (which are also used as youth dressing rooms when needed). There's a laundry room for the clothes/costumes, and even showers (If an actor has just finished up with Cats, Shrek, or Wicked, that person probably wants to wash off ALL that make-up paint!). And of course there is a green room where actors get into character; I had never thought about it before, but it makes sense that dressing rooms are for physically becoming a character, while the green room is the space where actors mentally transform into their characters.
• Janene said the theater's mission it to "gather and educate." The theater rents out a lot of its space for other organizations to use. While we were there, there were scholars from Bradenton Bay High School taking class so that they could earn credits toward their high school diplomas. The Kiwanis Club was meeting in another room, too. Together, those two spaces actually make up one big ball room that can hold 300 people and has been rented out for wedding receptions, bar mitzvahs, etc. (There's even a full catering kitchen!) So this theater touches the local community in SO many ways!
• Another space to rent is the skybox, which can be rented for $1,200 and can hold 13 people. The rental includes dinner before the show, a separate open bar, and during intermission dessert and a meet-and-greet with one of the actors or the artistic director. What a fun idea for a special occasion!
• The theater offers a songwriting camp for professional songwriters, and they bring in FAMOUS speakers for master classes. Celebrities could include people like Michael McDonald from the Doobie Brothers, Sting, Smokey Robinson, and Randy Johnson (yes, the baseball player, but now he's a photographer, and some of his work focuses on the history of rock 'n' roll). 

Here are some behind-the-scenes photos I took while we were on the tour:

This is Janene on the calk-walk (which is ADA accessible, btw). She put the headset on for us, too!

They have THOUSANDS of costumes that range from military uniforms all the way to Renaissance wear. I felt like I was walking through the biggest thrift store ever. A lot of the items, including clothes, eyeglasses, housewares, etc., have been donated by community members. And you can even rent a costume from them; just ask!

These are a few signs from previous shows. They try to reuse as many of their supplies as they can.

These are the FORTY-FOUR pullies that control all the drapes, like the grand curtain but also a film screen, sheer drapes, etc.

This is where the stage director sits so he can see the full show from multiple angles on the different monitors.

This is the main theater, which includes several sizes of seats and offers a few rows with extra legroom. So accommodating!

Like all arts organizations, the theater really depends on its patrons and supporters. Janene told us about a capital campaign they are running now to build a new building next door, which would house more rehearsal spaces and classrooms (ones that are more sound-proof!). Of course they always need funds to maintain the existing theater; they will need more than $3 million in the next ~10 years to maintain things like the roof, elevators, air conditioning etc. And they hope to create an endowment which could cover some of the costs that aren't basic, day-to-day operational costs. So if you would like to support the theater, you can donate today!

I'm at the head of the table (how fitting for the youngest person there!😆)

After the tour, the group went to Caddy's for lunch. What a fun tiki spot! We were right on the water, which was beautiful. It was such a lovely way to end a fun outing. I would definitely go back to both the theater and this restaurant! 

Recipe: Acorn Squash Mashed Potatoes

Image found here

I bought some well-overdue acorn squash recently (i.e. they were orange instead of dark green), so I wanted to find a new recipe to use them in a different way than just eating them on their own. I also had a lot of mini potatoes (I bought some, then my husband bought some, so we were overloaded). When I found this recipe for acorn squash mashed potatoes from the Tidy Mom blog, I thought it sounded pretty easy and thought I'd give it a try.

Ingredients

• 1 acorn squash, halved and seeded
• 5 yukon gold potatoes peeled and quartered
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon dill weed
• salt and ground black pepper to your taste
• 1/2 cup milk

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 400° F. Place the halved acorn squash cut-side down on a baking sheet lined with foil.
2. Roast squash in oven 25-30 minutes or until soft and tender. Remove squash from oven and scoop out the flesh.
3. Place potatoes in a large pot and with cold heavily salted water and bring to boil over high heat. Once boiling cook the potatoes 15-20 minutes until completely tender. Drain potatoes completely and return to pot over low heat for a few minutes stirring occasionally to dry out the potatoes slightly.
4. Place potatoes and squash flesh in a large bowl and mash with hand masher or a hand mixer on medium speed. Using a large spatula mix the potatoes and squash with the butter, mustard and dill weed until smooth. Add milk gradually, mashing to desired consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper. If the mix is too thick and you’d like it smoother, add more milk a couple tablespoons at a time until you get the texture you prefer.

I cooked the acorn squash in the microwave instead of the oven, just because that's so much faster (all you have to do is poke holes in it for the steam to release and microwave for ten minutes!). But otherwise I pretty much stuck to the original directions (and I could use dill from my own dill plant, which I thought was so neat). I did forget the salt and pepper, so that was my bad; they were a little bland. But I loved the texture, and I thought the mustard (I actually used honey mustard) was an interesting touch. This was very easy to make, and I would totally make them again!