Week 40 and 41

Typing weeks 40 and 41 panic me a little bit. There are only 11 or 12 weeks left in the year! What?!

Where has my life gone?

While I contemplate who I really am and finish panicking, here is what we've been eating.

So, I'm not so much of a broccoli fan. Unless it is in broccoli cream soup, and let's just be honest. Broccoli cream soup is more about the cream than the broccoli.

So when we got a head of broccoli in our BB, I was on a quest for green greatness. And, my blogging friends, I have found it.

Week 40: Blackened Broccoli
Recipe from Lunges and Lashes, fitness blog by a health guru who happens to be my hair stylist

A bunch of broccoli, chopped into florets
Minced garlic
S &P
Olive Oil

1. Start by putting broccoli and a heaping spoonful of garlic in a bowl.
2. Roll them around in EVOO.
3. Sprinkle with S & P.
4. Broil in oven until blackened, then flip and broil some more. But you don't want them charred, just nicely blackened.


Note: You want the garlic to be all over the broccoli. So how much you use depends on how much broccoli you have. Also, I am not sure if this would work with frozen broccoli.

Rating: 4.5. The roasted garlic had almost a sweet flavor. It made broccoli delicious. And you can never go wrong with garlic.

Sub note: every time we eat broccoli, Jacob tells me how he used to pretend they were trees and he was a dinosaur. (When he was a kid, of course.) This makes me laugh every time.

Week 41: Eggplant Rollatini
Found in Giada's cookbook "Everyday Italian." Online version here.

No photo. Dinner was insanely late that day. 

2 eggplants
16 ounces ricotta cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
A few shakes of grated Parmesan cheese
10 basil leaves, chopped
1 cup tomato sauce

1. Preheat the grill pan and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Place a rack over a large baking sheet. Cut the 2 ends off the eggplant. Cut the eggplants lengthwise, into 1/2-inch thick slices. Arrange eggplant slices onto rack. Sprinkle with sea salt to help remove excess moisture and any bitterness from the eggplants. Set aside for about 10 to 15 minutes. Rinse off the salt from the eggplants and pat dry with a towel.
3. Spray hot grill pan liberally with vegetable spray and then place eggplant slices on the grill until lightly browned on each side and tender, about 4 minutes per side. Remove slices from the grill pan and allow to cool.
4. In a large bowl, beat eggs until lightly scrambled. Mix the ricotta in with the egg. Add mozzarella, 3 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and toasted pine nuts and gently combine. Fold in basil just to combine. Do not overmix.
5. Place a tablespoon of the cheese mixture on 1 end of the eggplant and roll up tightly. Place the eggplant rollatini into a greased (with olive oil) 13 by 9-inch baking dish, seam side down. Continue with remaining eggplant. Evenly distribute the tomato sauce on top of the eggplant rollatini. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with remaining 5 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and bake for 15 minutes. When cooked, drizzle the top with extra-virgin olive oil.

Rating: 3. It was pretty good. But I won't ever crave it or want to make it again. A lot of work. And I liked the insides better without the eggplant. Maybe I needed to cook it longer?