Roasted Eggplant Spread

This is a spread I remember eating as a child. It goes well on bread or as a fancy dip.

Roasted Eggplant Spread
2 Eggplants
2 Tomatoes
1 Onion-Chopped
1/2 Cup Parsley- Chopped
1 Tbsp Vinegar
Salt and Pepper
2 Tbsp Oil

1) Roast eggplants and tomatoes in the oven at 200F.
2) Remove tomatoes after 1 hour and cool off.
3) Peel tomato skin and blend in a blender with vinegar till smooth.
4) Remove eggplants after 2-3 hours total. Cool off.
5) Peel eggplant skins, drain water, and chop up into pieces.
6) Suate chopped onion in a large pan with oil till caramelized.
7) Add in the eggplant, parsley, tomato sauce, salt, and pepper (to taste).
8) Cook for another 5-10 minutes stirring constantly.
9) Store paste in a glass jar, sealed well, in the fridge.

No Bake Chocolate Vanilla Eclair Cake

This is a child-friendly recipe that requires no baking or cooking. It is fun and easy to make and tastes good too.

Chocolate Vanilla Eclair Cake
1/2 Box Graham Crackers
3.4oz package Vanilla Instant Pudding
1 ½ cup milk
8 oz tub of Whipped Topping
Chocolate Frosting (Nutella)

1) Whisk pudding and milk in a bowl. Let stand for 5 min.
2) Place a layer of Grahams in a 8x8 pan.
3) Mix in the whip crème with the pudding.
4) Make 3-4 layers of crème and 4-5 layers of crackers.
5) Spread chocolate frosting on top and refrigerate for 3 hours.

Elegant French Bread

French Bread
5-6 Cups White Flour
3 Tsp yeast (or 2 1/2 packages active dry yeast)
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 cups warm water
1 egg white
1 Tbsp water
cornmeal-to sprinkle

1) In a large bowl, mix together 2 cups of flour, yeast, and salt.
With a wisk, beat in warm water.
2) With a wooden spoon, mix in additional 3 cups of flour.
3) Kneed dough on a lightly floured surface with additional flour (up to 1 cup, if needed).
4) Place dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let it rise in a warm spot for 30 minutes (During cold months, I usually preheat my oven to 200F and turn it off. Then I set the dough to rise there).

5) Punch dough down, separate into two balls, cover, and let it rest for 10 minutes.
6) Grease a pan and sprinkle with cornmeal. In a small bowl, beat egg white and water. Preheat oven to 375F.
7) Roll each ball out into a rectangle, Roll up the rectangles and pinch ends in.

8) Place dough on a greased pan sprinkled with cornmeal.
9) Cover and let rise for 30 more minutes in a warm place.

10) Cut 3-4 diagonal slices on each loaf and brush on egg white.Bake for 20 min, brush more egg on, and bake for another 15-20 minutes.

No Bake Cookies from scratch

I emphasize from scratch because I dont use maple syrup in the recipe (I make the syrup), and the peanut butter is freshly ground (nothing added). These cookies are dairy free, and vegan. But they are high in fat and sugar.

1 1/2 Cup Oatmeal
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup White Sugar
1/4 cup water
1 pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup Olive Oil
5 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
1 tsp cinnamon

1)Boil down water, sugars, and salt till thick and bubbly.
2) Add in vanilla, oil, cinnamon, cocoa powder and stir.
3) Add in peanut butter and mix well.
4) Add in the oatmeal and mix well.
5) Drop by spoonfuls on wax paper and chill for 30 minutes.

Roasted Chicken

I like to make roasted chicken and the potatoes all in one swoop. This lets the potatoes cook in the chicken juices and spices added to the chicken. I also remove the chicken skin because I think its kinda gross and fatty. Its an optional thing.

1 Whole Chicken
1 Onion
2 Potatoes
2 Carrots
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Lemon juice (fresh squeezed)
1 tsp Rosemary
1 tsp Thyme
1 tsp pepper
1 TBsp Salt
3-4 Cloves minced garlic

1) Mix together the oil, lemon juice, spices, and garlic in a small dish.
2) Prepare the chicken-remove skin, extra fat, and rinse in cold water.
3) Peel potatoes, carrots, onions, and chop.
4) Lay down a thin layer of onion in a large baking dish.
5) Set Chicken on top of onion layer.
6) Pour and rub spice mix all over chicken, including the back.
7) Sprinkle the rest of the veggies all over the baking dish.
8) Cover with Foil and bake for about an hour (depending on chicken size).
9) Remove foil and let chicken complete baking uncovered for another 15-30 minutes to get crispy.

Quick Potato Cakes

These go great as a side dish, and anyone can make them. This is just the basic recipe, but you can add a whole bunch of other items to these cakes such as parsley, onion, garlic, pieces of cooked meat, whatever. They are very versatile.

Basic Potato Cakes
2-3 Potatoes
Salt and Pepper
1-2 Eggs
2-3 TBSP oil (or more as needed)

1) Peel Potatoes. Shred with carrot shredder.
2) With your hand, squeeze out water from the potatoes one fist full at a time.
3) Add eggs, salt and pepper to the squeezed potatoes.
4) Add some oil to a pan and drop small balls of potato cakes onto it. Flatten the balls.
5) Fry on medium-high till crisp on both sides.
6) Makes 8 cakes.

Simple Salmon

Simple Salmon
Ingredients
Wild Caught Salmon
Garlic
Onion
Lemon
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Thyme
Rosemary
Brown Rice

1) In a small dish, mix garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and all spices.
2) lay out onions over the fish and pour over the spice mixture.
3) Bake at 400F for 20 minutes (depending on size of fish).
4) Serve with brown rice.

Sweet Whole Wheat Bread - Homemade!

I made this bread in hopes of eating something more natural than the stuff they sell at the store packed with all kinds of additives. I was surprised how tasty it was. I was not expecting such good results.

Sweet Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients:
2 Cups White Flour
3 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 packet of Dry Yeast
1 1/3 Cup water
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar Packed
1 Tbsp Honey
3 Tbsp Butter
1 1/4 tsp Salt


1) In a large bowl, mix together Whole Wheat Flour and Dry Yeast. Set aside.
2) Lightly heat water, sugar, honey, butter and salt in a sauce pan unitll butter is dissolve.
3) Add water mixture to flour mixture and blend with a whisk or hand beater.
4) Slowly add the white flour, more or less if needed until you have a soft dough. It will be slightly sticky. Do NOT add so much flour that the dough is completely dry.
5) Place dough in a bowl and cover with a towel. Set in a warm place for 1 hour.
6) Punch dough down, divide into 2 pieces. Shape into loaves and place into greased loaf pans.
7) Let down rise for another 30-45 minutes in a warm place.
8) Bake at 375F for 35 minutes. Once baked, cover with a towel and cool on a wire rack.