recipe

Quinplant Patties

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Have you ever loved a food so much that you’d do anything in order to eat it?  For me, that food is eggplant.  I know it sounds crazy that I could love a vegetable.  Maybe even crazier that I say I would do anything for it. 
This summer I started having weird food reactions, especially to vegetables.  My mouth would get itchy and sometimes it would hurt.  One time I even felt like my throat was getting tight.  And of course, one of the foods that caused this was eggplant.  So instead of not eating eggplant, I decided to eat it in small quantities.  And make recipes that involved eggplant with other ingredients.  Call me stubborn, I already know it.  It’s just too good to give up. Trust me,  I’m pretty sure you’ll try this recipe and thank my dedication to the beloved purple plant.
Quinplant Patties
Yields 3-4 cakes
1/2 cup of quinoa, prepared according to box
1 cup eggplant, diced
1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
2 Tbs parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 red bell pepper
1/2 cup sweet onion, chopped
1/2 Tbs olive oil
fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste
1.) Line a baking sheet with foil and put eggplant, onion and red pepper on the foil.  Spray with cooking spray and bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.
2.) When veggies are finished, allow to cool.  In a bowl, combine quinoa, eggplant, bread crumbs, cheese and egg.  Form into 3-4 patties.
3.)  In a food processor, combine pepper, onion, olive oil, a few basil leaves, salt and pepper.
4.) Heat a pan to medium and spray with cooking spray.  Place patties in pan one at a time and cook 5 minutes on each side, or until crispy.
5.) Remove patties from pan, top with veggie spread, and a piece of basil.

 

Have a great weekend!

Home Grown Stuffed Peppers

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Welcome back!  I hope your weekend was relaxing and enjoyable.  Thank you to those who entered my giveaway!  I contacted everyone via Facebook so just send me your address if you haven’t yet.
As promised, I wanted to share the recipe I created using local Philadelphia products.
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The products I used were:
•Stepped-In-What Tomato Sauce
•North/South Meatery & Canning Co. Pancetta
•PA Noble Cheese, Cave Aged Cheddar

Stuffed Peppers

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You will need:
•3 Frying peppers
•3 slices pancetta
•1 small onion, chopped
•2 oz. sharp cheese, such as an aged cheddar, cut in small cubes
•1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
•1/3 cup tomato sauce
•1 Tbs. olive oil
1. Preheat oven to 375.  Begin by washing peppers.  Cut the top of the pepper off and clean seeds out.  If you want, you can cut the top off so that it is a lid for the pepper.
2. Cook pancetta in a pan at medium heat until crispy.  Remove pancetta and let cool on a paper towel.    Do not clean the pan!  Throw the onion in the pan and sauté in pancetta fat until soft and caramelized.
3.  When onions are finished cooking, put in a bowl and add pancetta, cheese, bread crumbs, and sauce.  Mix until the consistency is thick and paste-like.
4. Using a spoon, stuff each pepper with the mixture until the mixture reaches the top.  When full, place each pepper on a piece of foil and then place the foil on a cookie sheet.  Drizzle the peppers with olive oil.  Bake for 35-40 minutes or until peppers are soft and lightly browned on top.
Serve over heated sauce and enjoy!

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Spring Mix

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There’s a popular dessert recipe in my family with an inappropriate name. Sure there are other names for this dessert, but the real name is politically incorrect. Though I decided that it must be shared because everyone, and I mean everyone, loves this recipe.
For the sake of being polite, we’ll call it…
Spring Mix
You will need:
•3 cups Cheerios
•3 cups Rice Chex
•3 cups Corn Chex
•3 cups pretzel sticks
•3 cups dry roasted peanuts
•1 bag M&Ms
•3 bags white chocolate chips

1.) Combine all ingredients except M&Ms and white chocolate in a large bowl.
2.) Put white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 3 minutes, stirring every 30-45 seconds until melted. Continue to stir once chocolate is melted so it starts to cool.

3.) Pour melted chocolate over cereal and stir together.

4.) Then stir, stir, stir! Make sure everything is very well coated. Once coated, add the M&Ms and continue to stir.

5.) Let cool for about an hour and allow mix to harden. Then break into chunks and store in a dry airtight container.

Still wondering the real name of this delicious concoction? Well, here’s a hint. The first word is the color of egg shells and the second word is what you put out to the curb once a week. Got it ;)?
Does this politically incorrect name stop me from eating it? Not a chance. It’s sweet, salty, crunchy, and chocolatey. Just make it and give it a try, I bet you’ll be too busy munching to even care.

I thought I slaw…

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As you can tell, I like to mix up what I eat for my meals! I tend to get really bored of food so I often make something different every day. Now don’t get me wrong, I love leftovers, but I have a hard time understanding how people can eat the same things day in and day out!!
Today’s lunch consisted of Simple Broccoli Slaw, topped with tuna, garnished with pita chips.
In the slaw: veggies, broccoli, pistachios, vinegar and some pomegranate seeds! I only used the serving size of tuna and mixed it with 1 tablespoon of Hellman’s Light Mayo.
Topped with some more pita for crunch!
I also had a bowl of Amy’s Tomato Bisque with a dollop of sour cream. Mmmm!
This was the first time I tried Amy’s soup and I was impressed! It was very creamy tasting and there were nice chunks of tomato in there which gave it some filling factor.
Lunch was a good one!
Tonight I am meeting Jay for dinner! Because we live about 30-45 minutes away during the week we try to get together once a week for dinner. On the weekends he stays with his family so we can spend time together and with our friends. Most of the time we do takeout or meet at a restaurant. It is a nice change of pace and breaks up the week. I’m not sure what we’re going to do tonight so I’m excited :)