Summer Eggplant

Oh Eggplant, where have you been all my life?

I don't know what's more embarrassing to admit; that I'm 30 years old, or that I'm 30 years old and have never had eggplant!

My mom never made eggplant when I was growing up.  Probably because her Mom Super Powers told her that her picky eaters wouldn't even want to try eggplant (she was probably right).  Then I married the biggest eggplant hater on the planet.  He hates eggplant for the opposite reason: his mom made it all the time.  And he never liked it.  But he had to eat it.  So that's how I ended up 30 years old and an eggplant virgin. But no more!

Angela grabbed a bunch of Jersey fresh eggplant at the local farmer's market last weekend.  What's a girl to do with an abundance of eggplant? Make sauce! She made the most delicious red sauce with eggplant...it was heavenly!  Joe was out of town and my mom came over for dinner, so the eggplant coast was clear. I took a bag of sauce out of the freezer, thawed it and tossed it with pasta.  We inhaled it! It was a quick, delicious and healthy dinner. Can't beat that!

If you're growing your own garden, you probably have a TON of eggplant by now and this is a great recipe to make in bulk and use them up.  If not, head on over to your local farmer's market and get some locally grown eggplant and whip up this sauce.  You'll be so glad you did!

Here's a note from Angela about our fresh Jersey produce and some great ways to use it up in your kitchen!

I am a Jersey girl all the way! I hate to pump my own gas, I spend my summers at the Jersey Shore and sitting in traffic is my normal! And even though some day I would like to leave this over populated state, I would hate to leave the freshness of summer fruit and veggies that come along with it! Jersey is known as the Garden State and it is for good reason. We have an amazing selection of fruits and vegetables in the summer. Even though I cannot wait until pumpkin season, enjoy summer a bit longer and try some of my summer sauces and drinks! They showcase some of our Jersey gems; tomatoes, eggplants and blueberries! Make up a few batches, freeze them, share them and get the taste of summer all year long.  And while you're busy in the kitchen, sip on my Jersey Berry Infused Water!

P.S.

What's growing in your garden?

Summer Red Sauce

1/2 lb of pasta
6 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup of good olive oil
Fresh basil diced (about 12 leaves)
Cherry tomatoes (1 1/2 lbs)
Salt and pepper to tastes
1 tsp sugar
1/8 cup Parmesan cheese

Cooking instructions:
Boil water and cook pasta as instructed. Set aside. Mince all your garlic and set half of the amount aside. Saute the remaining amount on medium low with about 4 Tbsp of olive oil until you start to smell it. Be sure not to burn it. After about 3 mins add your tomatoes, whole, to the pan. Cook until your tomatoes start to burst open, this will take about 10-12 mins. Add your remaining ingredients,  salt pepper to taste, sugar, cheese and the remaining minced garlic and olive oil. Add to your pasta,  enjoy! !!!

TO FREEZE:
Let cool. Add to freezer bags. Label and date. Keep in the freezer for up to six months.

TO EAT:
Thaw in the fridge overnight.  Add to a sauce pan. Reheat on med until warmed and add to your fresh cooked pasta.

Roasted Eggplant Pasta

1lb patsa
2 large eggplants
2Tbsp good olive oil
Salt
Pepper
*freezer friendly summer pasta sauce

Cooking instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Boil water and cook pasta as instructed. Wash and slice your eggplant into strips. Drizzle the eggplant with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 25 min. Cut into cubes and add to the summer pasta sauce. Add to your cooked pasta and enjoy.

TO FREEZE:
Let cool. Add to freezer bags. Label and date. Keep in the freezer for up to six months.

TO EAT:
Thaw in the fridge overnight.  Add to a sauce pan. Reheat on med until warmed and add to your fresh cooked pasta.

Blueberry Strawberry and Raspberry Infused Water

1 cup of blueberries
1 cup of strawberries
1 cup of raspberries
4-5 mint leaves
1 gallon of water

Instructions
Wash fruit. Cut the stems off of the strawberries. Take half of the amount of fruit and with a mortar and pestle crush the fruit. Add the crushed and whole fruit and mint to the water. Set in the fridge overnight. Drink the next day. Enjoy. 

~Freezing institutions.
Wash your fruit. Separate into freezer bags. Label, date and freeze fruit up to six months.

One Pot (Pasta) Wonders

So apparently I missed the boat.

 I've been making pasta all wrong--who knew! So me, Meghan, lover of freezer cooking, being lazy and leaving the dishes for later had no idea that amazing dishes existed where you cook the pasta IN THE SAME POT as everything else.  This means less dishes, less cleaning and less mess.  Now we're cooking with peanut oil, as Phil would say.

And the funny part is I learned of each recipe almost at the same time.  It was like the cooking gods were smiling upon me recently.  So here are the recipes, one from Andrea (shocker, I know!), one from Angela and one from kevinandamanda.com.

 Angela's Beef Goulash:

Beef Goulash
{serves 8}

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 pounds ground beef
2 large onions, finely chopped (about 2 cups)
2 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 29-ounce can tomato sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni

Instructions:

In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Brown the meat in the oil about 10 minutes, breaking meat up with a fork as it cooks. Add the onion; cook and stir for 5 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients except the macaroni. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. (Add water if it looks a bit thick.) Stir in the macaroni; simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Let the goulash stand for 20 minutes before serving.

original recipe by Bobby Deen

To freeze:

Make as directed and cool completely.  Spoon goulash into labeled containers and freeze.

To eat:

Thaw over night in refrigerator.  Heat in saucepan over low/med-low heat, stirring often. 

Andrea's One Pot Pasta Dinner

2 jars sauce

1/2lb ground beef

1/2 box pasta, broken into pieces

cheese to top

1. Brown meat and drain excess fat.

2. Add sauce and bring to simmer.

3. Add pasta, stirring so it doesn't stick.  

4.  Cook about 20 mins.

5. Cover with cheese, put a lid on to melt and serve!

Yup, that easy.

Cheesy Pasta with Sausage

1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb smoked sausage
1.5 cups diced onion (frozen chopped are awesome!)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 (10 oz) can Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chiles, Mild
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 oz penne pasta
1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper, each
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1/3 cup thinly sliced scallions

1. Add olive oil to an oven-safe skillet over medium high heat until just smoking. Add sausage and onions and cook until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

2. Add broth, tomatoes, cream, pasta, salt and pepper and stir. Bring to a boil, cover skillet, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until pasta is tender, about 15 minutes.

3. Remove skillet from heat and stir in 1/2 cup cheese. Top with remaining cheese and sprinkle with scallions. Broil until cheese is melted, spotty brown, and bubbly.

www.kevinandamanda.com

Enjoy these quick weeknight dinners! 

Stay full,

Sunday Funday: Beef Goulash

Let's Go Birds! 

It's been a crazy sports weekend here at Casa de Lopez. Yesterday it was a college football extravaganza (GO NOLES!), last night it was the Mayweather fight and today it's football all day!  But you won't hear me complain, I love having our house filled with family and friends! 

Yesterday I did some much needed food shopping early in the morning and got a head start on some of my cooking for the week.  Of course, there was chili on the menu, because well....my husband just has chili running through his veins.  But I also added beef goulash to the menu, which is AMAZING.  I had never tried it before but Angela was so sweet and cooked me some extra meals for my freezer for back to school time and one of the meals was her beef goulash. (Guess what the other meal was...yup, you guessed it: chili pie.)  She was generous and gave us a good amount of the goulash, so I had only heated up about half of it.  Then I had a bite.  And immediately started to heat up the rest! It's SO YUMMY! It's kinda like the Italian cousin of chili...more mellow in flavor and more comforting (to me, at least!).  And the best part...its a ONE POT MEAL.  Yes, you cook your pasta in the same pot!! Hello winner winner beef goulash dinner!!

Beef Goulash
{serves 8}

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 pounds ground beef
2 large onions, finely chopped (about 2 cups)
2 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 29-ounce can tomato sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni

Instructions:

In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Brown the meat in the oil about 10 minutes, breaking meat up with a fork as it cooks. Add the onion; cook and stir for 5 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients except the macaroni. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. (Add water if it looks a bit thick.) Stir in the macaroni; simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Let the goulash stand for 20 minutes before serving.

original recipe by Bobby Deen

To freeze:

Make as directed and cool completely.  Spoon goulash into labeled containers and freeze.

To eat:

Thaw over night in refrigerator.  Heat in saucepan over low/med-low heat, stirring often. 

What team are you cheering for?

Go Team!

On a Mission: Meal Planning Day 4

Pasta pasta pasta! Per my hubby's request, I made a pasta dish last night. Pasta alla Norma is a spicy eggplant and tomato combination. I love anything with eggplant! I also love any pasta dish that involves veggies. I always decrease the amount of pasta and up my portion of veggies. Here are some of my pasta veggie secrets:

- In the last 2-3 minute of pasta cooking time, add in strands (made with a vegetable peeler) of zucchini and summer squash to your spaghetti.

- Make a sauce out of roasted, pureed butternut squash 

- Make a "no-cook" sauce out of tomatoes, roasted red peppers, garlic, basil, and olive oil. The warm pasta will heat the sauce and veggies, bringing out the flavors! Add in some shredded low-fat mozzarella for the ooey gooey factor.

Pasta alla Norma is a quick dish and can be made in ~30 minutes. You can double or triple everything and save the sauce in the freezer for a delicious lunch or light dinner anytime! It would be great with crumbled hot Italian turkey sausage. 

Pasta alla Norma

3/4lb rigatoni pasta 

1 medium eggplant sliced into rounds 

1 can plum tomatoes, crushed by hand or snipped with poultry shears 

3 cloves garlic, minced

1tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

2tbsp crumbles goat cheese

1/4 cup fresh basil, sliced in strips

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside.  Heat olive oil over medium heat in sauce pan. Add garlic and red pepper, stirring until fragrant. Add tomatoes, bring to a boil and continue to simmer ~20 minutes. Meanwhile, salt and pepper eggplant rounds. Heat a nonstick grill pan to medium high heat and grill eggplant rounds until soft and browned. Chop eggplant into bite size pieces and add to tomato sauce. Pour sauce over pasta and toss until well coated. Serve with fresh basil and goat cheese on top.

To freeze: 

Prepare sauce only with eggplant. Freeze in freezer safe plastic bags and lay flat to freeze. 

To eat:

Defrost sauce in refrigerator overnight. Reheat on stove top until boiling. Serve over rigatoni with basil and goat cheese. 

Enjoy!!

Stay tuned for my next meal planning in a mission recipe: chicken artichoke bake!

Freezer Friendly Visits Florida

It's about time to end our trip here in Florida :0( We had a blast....cooking, reading and going to the beach! 

Angela (& Baby W), Harp & Meg @ Bathtub Beach

Mom day at the Beach for Angela's birthday!

We certainly couldn't leave without stocking my parents' freezer!  They recently celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary and as a gift, my brother and I got them an extra refrigerator/freezer for their garage (can you tell this family likes to eat?).  So while Angela and I were here we whipped up some of our favorites to leave behind as a thank you for having us.

While we were here we made:
*Shrimp Scampi (doubled the batch so we had it for dinner one night and froze a batch for later)
*Chicken Pot Pie (again, doubled so plenty for later cc)
*Chocolate covered Oreo truffles (a Freezer Friendly original)
*Seafood Pot (which can use stock made from the shrimp scampi)
*Blueberry Pie

-2lbs fresh or frozen shrimp   shell on

- 1/4lb salted butter

-2 med size shallots

-4-5 cloves fresh minced garlic

- juice of two med size lemons

- 1/8-1/4 cup of olive oil

-1lb linguine pasta or 2cups rice uncooked 

Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking instructions

Clean and peel shrimp (saving the shells to make seafood stock for a later recipe *see below). In a medium pot, bring water to a boil for pasta (make sure to always add salt to your pasta water) or cook rice according to package. In a medium sauté pan melt 1/2 of your butter into the pan on med heat.  Dice your shallots nice and fine along with the garlic then add to your melted butter. Allow the shallots to get translucent looking then add your oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Turn down and allow to simmer for about 5min. Add shrimp. Reserve 1-2 ladles of pasta water and add to your shrimp mixture. If making this over rice, still be sure to add 1/2 cup of warm water to your shrimp mixture,  when shrimp are pink its done. Serve over pasta or rice. Enjoy

Cooking instructions for freezing:

To freeze: Allow sauce to cool, place in a freezer plastic bag or freezer container, date it and place in the freezer.  Freezer Friendly tip: If you are making this recipe to freeze, do not cook your shrimp all the way or do not add them at all, you can add them either fresh or frozen while re-heating it.

To eat: Allow sauce to come to room temperature. Heat in a sauce pan over medium/high heat. If re-heating from the freezer, bring your pasta to boil to make sure you add your two ladle full of pasta cooking water. If making this over rice, still make sure to add 1/2 cup of warm water to your shrimp mixture. Add your shrimp if you did not have them already half cooked from before. Cook until your shrimp are pink then serve over your rice or pasta!

*seafood stock

Add two cups of water and the shells from the shrimp to a med pot. Bring to a boil and allow to cook for about 20 min. Drain shells but reserve liquid and save, let cool and freeze that stock for a later recipe. Such as our seafood chowder that you can find on our website!!! 

For the filling:

-1 stick of butter

-8 TBS flour

-4 ribs of celery, diced

-1 medium to large onion, diced

-2 large carrots, diced

-1 16oz bag of frozen mixed veggies

-1 lb of chicken, cooked & shredded

-about 6-8 cups of chicken stock, heated 

-1tsp poultry seasoning

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper to taste





For the pastry: (Ina Garten's recipe...NEVER fails)
For the pastry:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
Flaked sea salt and cracked black pepper
For the pastry, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the shortening and butter and mix quickly with your fingers until each piece is coated with flour. Pulse 10 times, or until the fat is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water; process only enough to moisten the dough and have it just come together. Dump the dough out onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.


Cooking instructions:
1. Make dough according to above directions.  Preheat oven to 375.
2. Melt butter  over medium heat in large sauté pan, add celery, onions, carrots, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper and bay leaf.  Sauté until soft, about 5-7 minutes
3. Slowly add flour and whisk into butter/veggie mixture until incorporated.  Stirring constantly, cook mixture about one minute.  Continuing to whisk, slowly add in warm chicken stock to veggies. Stop and stir to combine occasionally, stopping when you get to the desired consistency for your filling (add more liquid if you like it soupy...add less if you like it more like a stew).
4. Let simmer, taste and season as needed.  Add chicken and about half of the bag of frozen veggies.  Feel free to add the whole bag, or a bag of just peas! It's totally up to your preference!
5. Turn off burner, ladle filling into tins and cover with dough (if eating right away).
6. Brush dough with egg wash, salt and pepper. Poke several holes into pastry dough to allow steam to escape.
7. Bake in preheated oven (on a cookie sheet) at 375 for 40 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

To freeze:
Follow directions up to number 5, but allow mixture to cool once in tins before putting on pastry dough. Brush with egg wash, salt and pepper, wrap tightly & label and pop into your freezer.

To eat:
Thaw overnight in fridge.
Remove foil, and poke several holes into pastry dough to allow steam to escape.
Place on baking sheet to catch and spills and bake at 375 for about 40 minutes.









-2 28oz cans diced tomatoes
-1 small can of tomato paste
-3 cans of seafood stock (or stock from shrimp shells from shrimp scampi)
-1 large onion, diced
-1 large potato, peeled and diced
-2 bell peppers, diced
-1 jalapeno, diced
-3 tablespoons butter
-1 tsp oregano
- tsp parsley
-1 bay leaf
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1/2 lb of shrimp, peeled & deveined (you could also use the shells and make some seafood stock from them)
- one dozen clams, cleaned
- one dozen mussels, cleaned
-2 tsp chopped cilantro
{you can really throw in any kind of seafood you like...we've added lobster tails, king crab legs, fish...}

To cook:
1. Melt butter in the largest pot you have.
2. Add onions, garlic, and bell peppers and saute 5-7 minutes.
3. Add diced potato, tomatoes, seafood stock and tomato paste. Stir well to incorporate the paste.
4. Add spices and salt and pepper to taste (go easy on salt, the seafood you add will also add salt) and bring to a simmer for about 30 minutes.
5.  Add clams and cover for about 5 minutes.
6. Add mussels and cover for 3 minutes
7.  Add shrimp.  At this point, the clams and mussels should be about open.  Once most of the clams and mussel shells are open, serve immediately with crusty bread and enjoy! Garnish with cilantro
{Toss any clams or mussels that have not opened}

To freeze:
Follow directions up to and including number 4.
Cool soup completely
{If you are adding fish and/or shrimp to the pot, you could add it uncooked to the cooled soup before freezing OR just add fresh the day that you reheat the soup.  Do not freeze clams or mussels}
Put into containers and label.

To eat:
Reheat soup on stove in sauce pan.
Once to a simmer, add seafood and follow directions 5-7.
*This base would also be great with sausage and raviolis for a hearty dinner if you didn't want to add the seafood*







(Freezer Friendly Original)
-1 block of cream cheese, softened
-1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
-3 sleeves of Oreo cookies
-1 bag of chocolate chips

To make:
1. Mix softened cream cheese with powdered sugar.
2. Crush oreo cookies (in a food processor)
3. Mix crushed cookies with cream cheese mixture
4. Cover and chill mixture for 30 minutes
5.Roll chilled mixture into balls, about tbsp in size
6. Place balls onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and chill for 30 minutes
7. Melt chocolate in small bowl for 30 second intervals until melted.
8. Dip cookie balls into melted chocolate, shaking off any excess and place back onto parchment lined sheet
9.  Chill until outer layer has hardened and enjoy!

To freeze:
Make as directed and place into a container and freeze.

To eat:
Eat directly from the freezer, or place in fridge to thaw.  ENJOY!

Stay full & Cook with Love!

Slow Cooker Spaghetti

So I've been seeing it a lot on Pinterest...I've even pinned several varieties myself, but have never attempted cooking pasta in my Crock Pot.  

Well, tonight I tried it.  And I'll do it again!

I pinned this recipe to our Freezer Friendly board not too long ago.  It looked super yummy and my kid will eat pasta and sauce like it's going out of style, so that's a major win in our household.  I made several adjustments to the recipe (due to lack of them...) but it still turned out great.  My hubs even said it was a keeper, and he's pickier than our toddler!  

Here is a link to the original recipe: http://skinnyms.com/slow-cooker-cheesy-spaghetti-with-turkey-sausag/

I signed up for emails for more slow cooker (crock pot...what do you call it?) recipes  from the site.  YUM!

Below is the recipe with my adjustments:

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef

1/2 onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

24 ounces spaghetti sauce

8 ounces (uncooked) spaghetti, about 2/3 of a 13.25 oz box, break into small pieces before adding to meat mixture

2 cups low fat ricotta cheese

1 cup skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Kosher or sea Salt to taste

Directions

Sauté onion and garlic until softened, about 2-3 minutes.  Add beef and cook in a large skillet over medium heat, breaking into small pieces while cooking. Ensure the beef loses its pink color before removing from heat. Drain, discard any fat and set aside. Combine meat with marinara and broken spaghetti pieces.

In a medium bowl combine cooked meat with the remaining ingredients, add to slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 2-3 hours or until spaghetti is al dente and cheese is bubbly.

Serve and sprinkle with parmesan if desired.

NOTES:

I used my crock pot liner (easy clean up!) and cooked on high for about 2 hours.  I started on low, but I'm impatient and I didn't feel like it was getting hot enough all the way through.  

To make this recipe FREEZER FRIENDLY: 

1. Brown beef with onions and garlic, then set aside and cool completely.

2. Combine beef with spaghetti sauce and cheeses and S & P.

3. In a gallon freezer bag, add beef/cheese/sauce mixture, closing tightly to remove as much air as possible.  

4.  Break up pasta and place pieces in small Ziploc bag. (Now, you could just do this step when you are ready to cook the meal, too). 

5.  Place bag of pasta and bag of sauce into a larger gallon bag (keeping it all together) and label and freeze.

When you're ready to cook

                         :

1.  Thaw completely in fridge.                 

2. Mix to bags together.

3. Place mixture in your crock pot (that is fitted with a liner) and cook!

Stay full!