Eggplant Lasagna....

  Heck yes I will.. Looks hard, but it's not.
Preheat oven to 375
Add into plastic ziploc bag :
3/4 cup seasoned breadcrumb
2 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons dried oregano
In another bag add:
2 eggs , 2 Tablespoons water, & beat together.Then add:
2 med. eggplant, sliced into 1/4 inch slices.
Let eggplant soak up egg mixture, then toss into bread bag and coat each piece of eggplant completely.
Place eggplant slices on foil lined cookie sheet, and bake for 20 mins, turning half way through so each side browns.Let cool slightly.

In a blender mix up the items below.
3 1/2 cups canned tomatoes
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup chopped fresh basil, or 1/4 cup dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
Spread 3/4 cup tomato sauce on the bottom of a 9x9 pan, arrange half of eggplant on top of sauce. Cover with 1/2 cup sauce, and 1/2 cup cheese,
Repeat eggplant, sauce, and cheese.
Cover and bake for 30 mins. remove foil, and bake 15 more mins.

Barefoot Contessa's Amazing Coconut Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 5 extra-large eggs at room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract
• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 14 ounces sweetened, shredded coconut

For the frosting:

• 1 pound cream cheese at room temperature
• 3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 1 1/2 pounds confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In 3 parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Fold in 7 ounces of coconut.

Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Fill each liner to the top with batter. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to a baking rack and cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the frosting. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, on low speed, cream together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla and almond extracts. Add the confectioners' sugar and mix until smooth.

Frost the cupcakes and sprinkle with the remaining coconut.

Jalapeno poppers. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/

• 20 whole Fresh Jalapenos, 2-3 Inches In Size
• 2 cubes Cream Cheese, softened
• 1 pound Thin(regular) Bacon, Sliced Into Thirds

Preparation Instructions

If you have them, slip on some latex gloves for the pepper prep… Cut jalapenos in half, length-wise. With a spoon, remove the seeds and white membrane (the source of the heat; leave a little if you like things HOT). Smear softened cream cheese into each jalapeno half. Wrap jalapeno with bacon pieces (1/3 slice). Secure by sticking toothpick through the middle. (At this point, you can freeze them, uncooked, in a Ziploc bag for later use).
Bake on a pan with a rack in a 375-degree oven for 20-25 minutes. You don’t want the bacon to shrink so much it starts to the squeeze the jalapeno. If, after 20 minutes, the bacon doesn’t look brown enough, just turn on the broiler for a couple of minutes to finish it off. These are best when the jalapeno still has a bit of bite to it.
Serve immediately, or they’re also great at room temperature.
You’ll love these so much, you’re gonna come out of your skin. Or something like that.

Whole Wheat Pita Pockets

Thanks to http://tammysrecipes.com/whole_wheat_pita_pockets for this great recipe, and to Sweet Lil Ali for telling me about homemade pitas:)

Whole Wheat Pita Pockets 

Picture: 

Description: 

Soft whole wheat round breads with a pocket inside!

Yield: 

8 whole pita pockets (or 16 halves)

Ingredients: 

1 1/4 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup gluten*
1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast

Instructions: 

1. In a large bowl, combine first 4 ingredients. Add the gluten and 1 cup of the flour, along with the yeast, and stir to mix. Add remaining flour and knead to make a soft dough. (Add additional flour if necessary during kneading.)

Alternately, if you have a bread machine, you can put the ingredients in the pan in the order listed and use the dough cycle. Skip to step 3 if using your bread machine! :)

2. Put your dough into a bowl, lightly oil the top, and cover. Set in a warm place to rise, until almost double (about an hour). I like to turn my oven on for a minute or two, then turn it off, and let the dough rise in there, since our house is cool.

3. Punch dough down and turn onto a lightly floured surface. Using a sharp knife, cut dough into 8 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball into a 6- or 7-inch circle.

4. As you roll the rounds, set them aside on a lightly floured countertop or table, and cover loosely with a towel. Let rise for about 25-35 minutes, until slightly puffy. (The rounds will still be thin though! :D)

5. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place 2 rounds, side-by-side, onto a wire rack, such as is used for cooling things. Place rack in the middle of the oven. Bake for 4-5 minutes, until puffy and just slightly browned. (If bread is too browned, it will be dry and not pliable.)

6. Remove rack from oven and immediately wrap/layer pita breads in a damp towel, to soften. Continue baking the remaining breads, layering them between damp towels as soon as they're baked. Allow breads to completely cool.

7. Cut pita breads in half, or split the top edge, and fill as desired. :)

8. Store pitas in a plastic zipper bag in the fridge for a few days, or place in the freezer for longer storage. To re-warm pitas, wrap them in a damp towel and then wrap in foil. Place in a warm (200-250 degree) oven for about 20 minutes.

Additional Notes: 

*May use whole wheat bread flour in place of the whole wheat flour and gluten.

Preparation Time: 

30-45 minutes (faster using bread machine!)

Cooking Time: 

4-5 minutes

Tammy's Review: 

These are a deliciously soft, hearty whole wheat pita bread! Joshua and I prefer this whole wheat version of pita bread, which is heartier and healthier than the regular pita pockets. (Though I must say, the regular ones are really super good, too!!)

Pita pockets are surprisingly easy to make, and these homemade ones are so much better than the typical ones in your grocery store.

First, the flavor. Truly, nothing beats fresh-from-the-oven homemade bread when it comes to flavor, and these pita breads are no exception. When they're still warm from baking, I love to eat them just plain!

Secondly, the texture and durability. These pockets are soft inside, but hold together very well. Provided that you haven't over-baked them (4 minutes is great in our oven; 5 minutes is almost too long!), they will open without cracking. The edges don't split. The pocket inside is HUGE. You can stuff them or fill them or do whatever you want with them, because they aren't really fragile.

I have never really enjoyed pita pockets from the store, because they seemed to fall apart so easily, and not much filling would fit inside... so it felt like I was eating mostly bread. The store-bought ones I've had were also drier and not nearly so soft and pliable as my homemade ones. There is really no comparison between homemade pita pockets and the cheap ones from the store!! :)

As a side note, my children loved watching these bake in the oven. After a minute or two, the round flat pita breads start to puff up, and you can see them quickly expanding into a round ball of air! When they come out of the oven, they are like balls! After a few minutes of cooling between damp towels, the pitas flatten into soft breads with a big pocket inside. :)

Chayote Squash

Surprising Steps to Perfect Pasta

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/use-a-pan-instead-of-a-pot-and-9-other-surprising-steps-to-perfect-pasta-2477254

Use a Pan Instead of a Pot and 9 Other Surprising Steps to Perfect Pasta

• by bon appétit magazine, on Fri Apr 22, 2011 7:44am PDT

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Pasta with Sun Gold Tomatoes

By Oliver Strand, Bon Appétit

The BA Pasta Manifesto

1. Forget the pot. Use a pan. Ever notice that the pasta you get at top-flight restaurants is different from what you make at home? It's glossy and luxurious, each strand of pasta coated with sauce. The key to pasta this transcendent is a sauté pan. That's what the pros use to cook almost-done pasta and sauce together—until there's pomodoro clinging to every bite of bucatini, until each raviolo is lacquered with sage-flecked brown butter. It's a unified, flavor-packed dish, not a bowl of noodles with a bunch of sauce dumped on top. To make your own restaurant-worthy pasta, grab a sauté pan (use one that's either 10" or 12" in diameter) and get started.

2. Build the Foundation. At its most basic, a pasta sauce requires just a handful of ingredients and 20 minutes of cooking time. To make a classic pan sauce, heat olive oil, sauté garlic, add a vegetable or two and then—here's the important part—a generous amount of pasta water. The starchy water and oil simmer together, forming the foundation of a sauce. We love a long-simmered ragu, but this is the technique we return to again and again.

Related: Bon Appetit's Favorite Pasta Recipes

3. You're not using nearly enough salt. Add a small handful of kosher salt to a pot of boiling water, then drop in the pasta. The noodles absorb water as they cook, so you're actually seasoning the interior of an otherwise bland starch. Mark Ladner, executive chef at Del Posto in New York City, says the water should taste "almost as salty as seawater." For Ladner, that's about 1 Tbsp. salt for every quart of water, but you don't have to be so particular—just throw it in there.

4. Don't dump the pasta water. Starchy, salty pasta water is the secret ingredient in most sauces. Scoop out some of the cloudy water (it's supposed to look like that) with a coffee mug or measuring cup, and pour a few splashes into the sauce. Save the rest; you might need more than you'd expect. Then simmer until the water and oil emulsify and begin to form a slightly creamy sauce. It's a little like deglazing a pan with stock or wine, a simple step that gives a dish body and flavor.

5. Trust the Tongs. While the pasta is cooking, grab a pair of basic metal tongs (12" ones are best for pasta prep). They are an indispensable tool: Use them to pick up a noodle to test for doneness, to transfer long noodles from pot to pan, to toss noodles in sauce, and, finally, to plate it all beautifully.

6. Now work that pan. It's where the magic happens. Bringing it all together in the pan is as easy as it is important. Undercook the pasta by about two minutes (you should see just a hint of white when you bite into a piece) and finish cooking it in the sauce's flavorful liquid. To coat the pasta with sauce, try some fancy restaurant fry-pan flips. Or, if you don't feel like cleaning the range after dinner, use tongs as if you're tossing a salad until the pasta is completely coated. Keep an eye on the sauce: Is it too tight? Remove it from the heat and add a bit more pasta water. Too brothy? Let it cook 20 seconds longer. Just remember that the pasta will continue to absorb the liquid and the sauce will thicken off the heat: What's loose in the pan will firm up in the bowl.

See Also: The Best Meatless Main Courses

7. Everything's Better with butter. The other secret to rich, silky sauces is extra fat—and yes, all the restaurants use it. "I finish the pasta with a little bit of olive oil, butter, or both," says Andrew Carmellini of New York City's Locanda Verde. "In Italian it's called mantecare, which means 'to make creamy.' " He adds cold butter to the pasta and sauce in the pan, off the heat, to give it an unctuous texture.

8. Cheese is not just a garnish. Whether you know it or not, restaurants enrich pasta sauces with cheese even before grating it tableside. When a little bit is added to the sauce, it melts and becomes a binder, a stealth ingredient that lends texture and flavor. Here are three simple steps to getting the most out of it: Skip pre-grated cheese. It's more expensive and it doesn't taste as good. Grate it finely so it'll melt easily into the sauce. You're making pasta, not a quesadilla. Think beyond Parmesan. Frank Falcinelli and Frank Castronovo, of New York City's Frankies Spuntino, use Pecorino, a sheep's-milk cheese with a tangy bite. "It has a stronger flavor," Castronovo says, "so we use less of it in the food."

9. It should looks as good as it tastes. Like a wineglass, a well-designed pasta bowl not only makes for beautiful presentation but also serves a purpose. A broad bowl with high sides keeps food warm (especially if you heat the bowl in an oven first), and a white one makes the colors in the sauce pop. We like Crate & Barrel's Bistro Large Bowl ($7; crateandbarrel.com). Use your trusty tongs for plating. "It should look like a bird's nest," says Thomas McNaughton, executive chef at San Francisco's Flour + Water. To get the look, twirl the pasta, lift it out of the pan, lower it into the bowl, then re-twirl.

10. Practice Makes Perfect Now that you've learned the principles of great pasta, practice the technique on these four classic recipes.

Tomatillos???

Enchiladas Verdes:
4 t. vegetable oil
1 medium onion chopped medium dice
1 T. minced garlic cloves
1/2 t. cumin
1 1/2 c. low sodium chicken broth
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
12 tomatillos husks and skins removed, and washed well.
3 poblano chilis, or jalapenos
1 - 2 1/2 t sugar
salt pepper
1/2 c chopped cilantro
8 ounces pepper jack cheese grated about 2 cups
12 corn tortillas


Heat boiler. Toss tomatillos, chilis, and 2 t. oil together and place in  a foiled lined cookie sheet, broil till blackened and starting to soften. Peel the chili's when cool, but not the tomatillos. Transfer all to food processor and lower oven to 350.  Add 1 t. sugar, 1 t garlic, reserved cooking liquid and processes until still chunky, about 8 pulses of processor. Add remaining sugar 1/2 t. at a time. Throw away the foil. You will use this pan to warm the tortillas in a minute

  While veggies are broiling:  Heat 2 t oil in pan, add onion and cook til golden brown, 6-8 min, add 2 t. garlic and cumin.stir in fragrant, add broth, add chicken and cook until thermometer reads 160. about 15 minutes.Remove 1/4 cup liquid from pan and discard the rest.  Cool and shred and chop chicken into small pieces.  and add  1 1/2 cup cheese, season with salt.  .


Spray both sides of tortillas with cooking spray and place on  baking sheet, place in warm oven . Bake until soft and warm. Take them out of the oven and turn it up to 450.

Spread 3/4 cup tomatillos sauce in bottom of 13x9 pan. Spread 1/3 cup filling down center of each tortilla. Roll each tortilla tightly and place in baking dish on top of sauce, seam side down. Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas. Use the back of a spoon to spread sauce so it coats each tortilla. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and cover with foil. Bake enchiladas on middle rack until heated thru, about 20mins.


Yum and EEE