Eggplant Pasta Sauce

I found this wonderful pasta sauce over at Ally's Kitchen. Delicious chucks of eggplant get cooked down in olive oil and cabernet and then get covered in hearty tomatoes and fragrant basil. Some green olives and red chili flakes give this dish a perfect salty/spicy kick.

Our family enjoyed a beautiful spring evening dinner out on the deck with this delicious sauce served over whole wheat rigatoni. (And my husband and I enjoyed finishing off the rest of the bottle of cabernet.... waste not want not!)

Ally's original recipe called for boxed tomatoes which I could not find in my area. I substituted a 28 ounce can of whole tomatoes and crushed them through my hands along with adding the liquid. Since there is nothing else I changed about her amazing recipe, I am going to send you on over to her page to find the directions.

You can find Ally's recipe for Eggplant Pasta Sauce here.

Enjoy!

(If you love eggplant, also try my recipe for Eggplant & Sundried Tomato Pesto with Almonds.)

Easy Cast Iron Skillet Biscuits

These light and fluffy biscuits make the perfect breakfast when topped with butter and jam. The best part is, there is no kneading, no rolling, and no cutting. They are simple, easy, and delicious! If you don't have a cast iron skillet, try them in a round cake pan.

Easy Cast Iron Skillet Biscuits
((Printable Recipe))

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour (or a 50/50 blend of all-purpose
flour and whole wheat flour)
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons soft butter
2 tablespoons shortening (or you may substitute 2 T. butter for shortening)
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 additional tablespoons melted butter
1 additional cup all-purpose flour

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 475 degrees F.

2. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda with a whisk.

3. With a pastry blender, or your hands, cut in the butter and shortening into the four mixture until the the butter/shortening is about the size of peas.

4.  Add the buttermilk to the mixture and stir just until combined.  Allow this to sit for 3 minutes.

5. In a separate bowl, place your additional 1 cup of flour.  Using an ice cream scoop, or a 1/4 cup measuring cup, drop 1 scoop of biscuit mixture into the flour. Gently toss the biscuit in the flour and scoop the biscuit up from the bottom with your fingers. Lightly shake off the excess flour.  Place the biscuit in a greased 10-inch cast iron skillet or cake pan.

6. Continue with the other biscuits until you have about 10 biscuits. Pour the additional 1 1/2 tablespoons of melted butter over the biscuits.  Bake for 16-18 minutes.

Celebration Sandwich Cookies {Chocolate Chip Sandwich Cookies with Vanilla Buttercream}

What do I make for my friend who is turning 50 and loves all things chocolate chip cookies? Well, last year I made her my Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie. (That one is hard to top!) This year I decided to make a batch of my favorite chocolate chip cookies and sandwich them between some decadent vanilla buttercream frosting.

Oh... and sprinkles.

Everything is more festive with sprinkles!

Celebration Sandwich Cookies 
{Chocolate Chip Sandwich Cookies with Vanilla Buttercream}
((Printable Recipe))

Here's what you'll need:

- About 30 small chocolate chip cookies (I used a 1 inch cookie scoop) from my Overnight Chocolate Chip Cookies


- sprinkles

- Buttercream frosting:
1 stick room temperature unsalted butter
2 cups powdered sugar
small pinch salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
about 1 tablespoon whole milk

Directions:
1. Beat the butter and add in the remaining frosting ingredients together. Add enough milk to thin the frosting until you have a consistency you like.

2. Put a heaping tablespoon or so onto the bottom of one cookie, smoothing out to the sides. Top with another cookie and gently press.

3. Roll in sprinkles.

Guacamole Grilled Cheese

I was browsing Pinterest the other day when I was inspired by a photo for Guacamole Grilled Cheese. So, I set out to make my own using my favorite guacamole recipe.

I have one word for you: Fabulous! 

Now, making guacamole grilled cheese really isn't rock science. I'm not going to bore you with a long recipe.

In a nut shell, here's what you do...

Guacamole Grilled Cheese
((Printable Recipe))

Directions:
1. Butter the outsides of some whole wheat panini-style sandwich bread.

2. Slice some sharp cheddar cheese and some Roma tomatoes.

3. Make up a batch of fresh guacamole. You can find my recipe here. (I left the tomatoes out and saved them for slicing.)

4. Layer one slice of bread with cheese, guacamole, sliced tomato, more cheese, and the final slice of bread.

5. Grill on a hot griddle or cast iron skillet on both sides until the bread is toasty and the cheese is melty.

That's it. Bam. Done. Acabado. You have made heaven in a sandwich.

Other grilled sandwiches you may enjoy:

Grilled Sweet Onion Panini with a Garlic White Bean Spread
Pesto Panini Sandwich
Provolone White Bean Grilled Panini with Basil & Tomato 
Spinach Artichoke and Hummus Panini

Quinoa Granola

Cereal and toast are our two main breakfast staples here. Since I make all our breakfast cereals from scratch (we save boxed cereals for special dessert bars) I'm always looking for new twists on the classic breakfast recipes I make. Granola is one of the easiest things to make. When developing my original recipe, I was looking for a way to make granola that had far less fat and sugar than what you find at the store. This newest granola recipe I developed follows my classic recipe, along with the delicious addition of protein-packed crunchy quinoa.

Quinoa Granola 
((Printable Recipe))

Ingredients:
7 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup quinoa, washed and drained
2/3 cup raw honey
1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup fat (tahini, butter, or coconut oil)
1/4 cup pepitas (optional)
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup almonds, chopped
2-3 Tbs. ground flax seed
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 275 degrees F. Melt the honey, orange juice, and fat together.

2. On a large sheet pan or divided between two cast iron pans, mix together the remaining ingredients. Pour the liquid over and stir well.

3. Bake for 1 hour, stirring ever 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Other homemade cereal recipes you may like:

Bran Cereal Flakes (three ways)
Cast Iron Coconut Maple Granola
Corn/Wheat Cereal Flakes
Dark Chocolate Granola Cereal with Peanut Butter
Granola Cereal
Nutty Pumpkin Granola
Steel Cut Oats
Tahini Granola

Maple Pecan Breakfast Bread

My kids love to have a "special breakfast" on the weekends. When they use the word special, it always makes me laugh. Their typical weekday breakfasts consists of homemade cereals or homemade fresh baked bread. If you ask me, that's pretty special!

Now this recipe for Maple Pecan Breakfast Bread, I will admit, has more sugar and butter than what is typically in one of my "special" weekend breakfasts. I believe this one would fall under the category of "special-special"- meaning, we don't eat this way everyday... so don't judge me. :)

Maple Pecan Breakfast Bread
(Adapted from Bake at 350)
((Printable Recipe))

Ingredients:
1/2 cup salted butter, melted
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup pecans
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, chilled
2/3 cup buttermilk

For the frosting drizzle:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon milk (or more as needed to thin)

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Grease an 8x8 or 9x9 inch square pan.

2. In a small bowl, stir together the maple syrup, brown sugar, melted butter, pecans, and cinanamon.  Set aside.

3. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. With a pastery blender, cut in the 1/4 cup cold butter, until you have coarse crumbs. Add in the buttermilk and sir just until the dough begins to come together.

4. Press the dough into the prepared pan. Pour over the pecan mixture.

5. Bake for 16-18 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, mix all of the frosting ingredients together and drizzle over the cooled cake.

Linked to: Weekend Potluck

DIY: Roasted Peanuts

My husband is not much of a snacker. I could have a plate of cookies out and he probably wouldn't think to eat them unless I told him to. (Oh how I wish I didn't have a sweet tooth!) Salty snacks are more his vise. If I had the house stocked with potato chips and Cheetos, he would be in trouble. Lucky for us, I don't succumb to buying that stuff at the grocery store. (As much as my kids wish I did.) And really, my husband is fine with that. He knows he doesn't need the temptation in the house.

One thing he does love snacking on are peanuts. He loves to grab a handful and it gives him a nice salty little protein 'pick me up' when he gets the munchies. However, with all the heavily seasoned and highly salted peanut options out there, it made shopping for healthy peanuts difficult. Ingredients like natural flavor (natural= not really), sugar, gelatin, torula yeast (aka MSG), dried corn syrup, and maltodextrin are all things that I felt my family could really do without. Peanuts themselves can be a healthy option for a snack. When you add all that junk to them, you rob them of their goodness.

One day I finally found some shelled raw peanuts at my local grocery store. I popped one in my mouth and was shocked to know what a raw peanut tastes like. They were good, but totally lacking in the flavor I had come to love in peanuts. I knew roasting would need to happen.

Granted, this is not as convenient as buying pre-roasted nuts in a jar at your grocery store, but for a little extra effort, you get a much healthier food.

DIY: Roasted Peanuts
((Printable Directions))

Stovetop Directions:
1. Cover a heavy skillet (preferably cast iron) with raw, shelled peanuts. Turn the skillet on to medium heat.

2. Sprinkle the peanuts lightly with salt (optional.) Stir them with a wooden spoon constantly (they will burn quickly if left unattended).

3. Roast them until they become fragrant and have turned a golden brown color.

4. Allow the peanuts to cool completely before storing them in a glass jar.

Oven Directions:
1. Place the peanuts on a sheet pan in a preheated 325 degree F. oven.

2. Bake for 10 minutes. Stir with a wooden spoon and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

3. Sprinkle with salt (if desired) and allow the peanuts to cool completely before storing in a glass jar.