Grilled Eggplant Parmesan

I made this for the first time the first summer that Steve and I were dating and it has really held up as a summer staple. It is a great farmers' market meal too--almost all of the ingredients can be bought locally during the summer. Plus it is on the grill so you don't have to heat up the whole house to make it, which is nice when it is 90 outside. Also, it is vegetarian, but filling and delicious. Here is the recipe:

1 1/3 cups shredded four-cheese mix or pizza cheese
2 tablespoons Italian-style dry breadcrumbs
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil 1 medium eggplant (about 1 pound), cut lengthwise into1/2-inch-thick slices
8 ounces plum tomatoes, thinly sliced
1/4 cup garlic-flavored olive oil (I crush 1-2 cloves garlic in 1/4 cup olive oil and let it sit a while before using it)
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Stir cheese mix, breadcrumbs, and 1/3 cup basil in medium bowl to blend. I added some chopped green onions because I had them on hand.


Heat grill to medium heat. Sprinkle eggplant and tomatoes with salt and pepper. Brush 1 side of eggplant slices with some oil. Grill, oiled side down, until bottom side is tender and grill marks appear, about 3 minutes. Brush second side of eggplant slices with more oil; turn over and top grilled side with tomatoes, then cheese mixture. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Drizzle with remaining oil. Cover and grill until tomatoes are tender and cheese melts, about 7 minutes. Transfer eggplant slices to plates. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons basil and serve.

I forgot to put the last basil on ours but it was still good. (Forgetting the finishing touches will be a recurring theme here because I usually am too excited and starving by the time the food appears ready). We ate ours with a side of parmesan-garlic cous cous.

Food Network Granola

A friend at work brought in some really good homemade granola and I later learned that it was a recipe from food network. I managed to find this one, though it is clearly not the same recipe I had previously tasted. It is killer. And it makes a massive quantity of food, so you can eat it for breakfast for like, 2 weeks. It keeps really well, plus the Barefoot Contessa guarantees regularity. Because I am afraid being sued by the food network, I will not reprint the recipe here. Here's that link again. Supposedly the recipe will only be up there for a limited time, so if it disappears, let me know, I will hook you up.

I substituted golden raisins for figs because I think figs are kind of a pain to work with.

Here's the photo documentation:








Yum. I recommend it mixed in a bowl of Banilla yogurt.

Oreo Cupcakes

I made Oreo Cupcakes for Nody's Baby Shower. The recipe came from these two fabulous baking blogs. Here is my adapted recipe:

24 paper liners for cupcake pans
1 pack Double-Stuffed Oreo cookies
1 pkg plain white cake mix
1 cup low-fat plain yogurt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat your over to 350 and line the pans with paper liners. Count out 24 Oreos and separate the top and bottom wafers. Place one wafer, icing side up, in the bottom of each paper liner. Place the non-icing side with the rest of the cookies that will be smashed.

Crush the remaining Oreos and non-icing halves. I recommend using a food processor. Set the crumbs aside.

Place the cake mix, oil, yogurt, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and blend with an electric mixer on low for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides and beat again on medium about 1.5 minutes more. Fold crushed Oreos and fold these into the batter.

Fill your liners 3/4 full with batter and place the pans in the oven.

Bake the cupcakes for about 18-20 minutes until they are golden and spring back when lightly touched with your finger. Cool in the pan on wire racks for about 5 minutes and then remove cakes from pans and cool completely on wire racks.



COOKIES AND CREAM FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
a pinch of salt
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 pack regular oreos (not double stuff)

Set aside at least 12 whole oreos. These will be cut in half and stuck in the tops of the cupcakes, so if it is hot and sticky outside, it might be a good idea to stick them in the freezer for a few minutes before using. The rest of the cookies go in the food processor again! Smash 'em good.
Mix together butter, confectioners sugar, and a pinch of salt until it's creamy. Increase your mixer speed to high and beat until its light and fluffy. Add whipping cream and vanilla. Beat until its smooth. Fold in crushed Oreos, saving a little to sprinkle on top.

After frosting the cupcakes, stick the oreo halves on top of the cupcake in whatever way you would like, and sprinkle more crumbles on top. I garnished mine with a mint leaf. These are the best cupcakes I have made to date. I love the cookie on the bottom--and the thick layer of icing remains remarkably intact through baking. Delicious.

Baby Bibs

Here are a few recent embroidery projects I have completed for babies that will be arriving shortly. Patterns (with the exception of the MN/WI one) are from Sublime Stitching, my stitching teacher, mother, secret lover.

Lucky Cat

Rocket

Monkey!

Cupcake

Home States (for Nody)

Mmm...Breakfast

Clarifications

Ok, I may have lied when I said I have never had a blog before. When I was 14 and the internet was new I had a website that was mostly text and probably totally impossible to read. I wrote about what I did on a daily basis. My sister who was in college at that time found it very amusing, so I hope that she finds this blog amusing as well. I had a few friends who were much more computer-geeky than I was who helped me out with animated gifs and stuff like that. Pretty sweet.
The other blog I have taken part in is the infamous breakfast blog, to which I think I only contributed one post. Nevertheless, I like to think I was an important contributor. I think I will be more successful with this blog because I don't have to review things (like a restaurant I had never been to before, nor have I been to since), I just have to explain what I do. And tell you what to do, another strong suit of mine.

So with this blog, as I mentioned before, I am going to tell you what I make. And thanks to Steve, after this post I will be changing the name of this blog to "I hope this is good..." because that is what I say whenever I am cooking or stitching. Things usually turn out A-OK. I also ended up picking the url that I did because someone already picked "stuff I made" and I usually require a lot of guidelines with making stuff. I am not feeling sorry for myself; you will see I make cool stuff in spite of it all.

Am I supposed to be explaining this much on a blog post? I am new here. I feel like I am explaining why a joke is funny. On with the stuff I made already!

Dear Blogiary

Blogiary sounds like a nasty ailment. I started this blog today. It is going to contain...stuff I made! Delicious food that I make, crafty stuff, other domestic stuff (I promise I won't detail my cleaning secrets). And if you are lucky maybe I'll tell you about some of the gross stuff that I see and do at my job. Lucky you! I have never had a blog before, so you will have to tell me if I commit any terrible faux pas, etc.
More to come, hopefully today.

Love,
Calley