Moroccan Spiced Eggplant & Tomato with Tahini

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I love cooking outdoors! One of
the highlights of my summer has always been firing up my electric smoker, or
using my Texas barrel as a “wood oven.” I have cooked just about
everything imaginable outdoors, from pizza to smoked peaches. Grilling,
smoking, and barbecuing doesn’t have to be reserved for meat. There are
a lot of plant foods that do extremely well on the grill. This recipe for
grilled eggplant is my favorite way to just grab an eggplant from my garden
and quickly turn it into a featured grill item. If you can mix a few spices
together, you can easily prepare this dish. The buttery flavor from the
natural oils of the roasted eggplant along with tomato and the tahini is
heaven when eaten! You can even prepare this on your stovetop griddle or in a
grill pan. Read More

5 Spice Eggplant with Soba Noodles

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Yay!
Two of my favorite things, eggplant with Chinese 5 spice and soba noodles,
rolled into one dish. I have been wanting to try this for a while and finally
got around to it, and I am really glad I did. You could probably also add
other veggies to this like roasted peppers, chopped spinach, and-or steamed
bok choy, for example, to give it more dimension, but I love it like this,
just simple and straightforward. Enjoy!

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Robata Eggplant Tacos with Miso-Sesame Coleslaw

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The Japanese eggplant is going
nuts in my garden right now. I have enjoyed Japanese eggplant many
different ways. This time, I wanted figure out a way to keep it intact,
because the shape is so cool and versatile, while trying something entirely
new and different from my typical eggplant concoctions. Robata is a Japanese method of cooking long
pieces of food on an open flame, on big skewers. Traditionally, the skewers
are placed around the fire by sticking them directly into the sand or earth
that surrounds the fire.  You don’t have to go to the trouble of
building a fire to enjoy something similar. You can grill the eggplant, or
just cook it on a stovetop griddle if you don’t have a lot of time. In fact,
modern robata restaurants use a charcoal grill, not an open pit fire. The
charred eggplant, combined with the slightly spicy miso slaw make for an
awesome fusion taco. The sprouted corn tortilla is superior for nutrition and
it has a homemade tortilla kind of texture and flavor. I loved the way this
came out and will definitely make this a regular.

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Eggplant Cannelloni with Mushrooms & Leeks

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Cannelloni, ravioli, manicotti, tortellini…what do these foods have in common besides ending with the letter “i”? Well, it is probably safe to say that they are all loved by many for their cheese-stuffed, pasta goodness. One of my favorite reasons for blogging on here is to discover healthier, less toxic versions of this kind of stuff. With that said, I am loving this cannelloni creation that has been evolving in my kitchen. It delivers a rich, comfort food experience without any of the bad stuff. And, it is great the next day, even cold! I know this because I left it sitting on the stove one cold winter night, and the next morning it was devoured before I could wrap it and put it into the refrigerator! The sunflower seeds give this dish enough clean protein to replace any meat or dairy version, and the mushrooms don’t need any nutrition hype to make their healthy introduction. In other words, this would make a great entrée whenever you have that urge for a comfort food whatever…ending in “i”! Read More