Category: Food

Eggplant Parmigiana ~ Dana

Jen’s husband, Shea, makes a killer eggplant parm. Sadly, this is not that recipe. But in my quest to find a good one, I hit up my fantasy best friend, Martha Stewart. I’m not sure out of which issue of Martha Stewart Living I tore this, but it’s absolutely delicious. I posted pictures of it on Facebook a few months ago and several of you asked for the recipe, so far be it from me to deny the people what they want.

There’s a bit of prep involved in breading and frying the eggplant. In fact, I won’t make it during the week when my husband isn’t at home to wrangle the girls while I cook. But if you’ve got some time on a Sunday afternoon, it’ll be worth it for Sunday night dinner!

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Eggplant Parmigiana

Grease sometimes gives this dish a bad rap. The trick is to fry the breaded eggplant quickly over high heat, so it doesn’t absorb too much oil. Then drain on paper towels to remove any excess. Thanks, Martha!

For Breading and Frying

2 cups fine plain fresh breadcrumbs
½ cup finely grated Romano or Parmesan cheese (1 ounce)
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 large eggplants, sliced into ¼-inch-thick rounds
¼ cup vegetable oil, plus more if needed

For Assembling

Marinara Sauce (recipe to follow)
3 cups coarsely grated mozzarella cheese (12 ounces)
¾ cup finely grated Romano or Parmesan cheese (1½ ounces)

1. Bread and fry the eggplant: Combine breadcrumbs, Romano cheese, ½ tsp. salt, and some pepper. Put flour, eggs, and breadcrumb mixture in 3 separate dishes. Dredge eggplant in flour, shaking off excess. Dip in egg, letting excess drip off. Dredge in breadcrumbs to coat. Let stand for 30 minutes.

2. Heat oil in large, straight-sided skillet over medium-high heat. (Oil is ready when a breadcrumb sizzles when dropped in.) Working in batches, fry eggplant until golden, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined baking sheet. (If oil gets too dirty, discard, and heat an additional ¼ cup.)

3. Assemble the dish: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread ½ cup marinara sauce in the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Arrange a layer of eggplant on top, overlapping slightly. Top with 1 cup sauce. Sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella and ¼ cup Romano. Repeat twice to form layers with eggplant, sauce, then cheeses. Cover with foil. Bake until bubbling, about 30 minutes. Uncover, and bake until cheese melts, about 5 minutes more.

Marinara Sauce

3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 cans (28 ounces each) peeled whole tomatoes, pureed in a food processor
½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
¼ cup fresh basil leaves, torn
1 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano

Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic until soft and translucent, about 8 minutes. Add tomatoes, red pepper flakes, 1 tsp salt, and some pepper. Simmer, covered, until thick, about 25 minutes. Stir in herbs.

My notes:

1. If you don’t want to make your own marinara, you can totally use your favorite jarred sauce. You need about 3 ½ cups.  But I will say that this one is delicious and makes your house smell really, really good while it’s bubbling away.

2. You can also use store-bought breadcrumbs and dried herbs, if you don’t have fresh readily available. Use 2 Tbsp dried basil and 1 tsp dried oregano and add to the sauce along with the tomatoes to give them a chance to reconstitute.

3. Seriously, if you have a one and a three-year-old, don’t do this alone!! Breading those eggplant slices leaves your fingers so goopy and gross. And then what if your one-year-old sticks an Easter jellybean up her nose? I’m just looking out for you.

My Uncle Ron’s Fried Bagels

My uncle Ron is the kind of cook who keeps a can of old bacon grease next to the stove. The kind of cook who opens the refrigerator on Sunday morning and doesn’t see a week’s worth of leftovers, but an opportunity. The man single-handedly figured out how to get kids to eat asparagus: fry it up in bacon grease and cover it in cheese. Viola.

One year on Easter, he did this amazing thing with bagels. And I’m going to share it with you because it’s so good.

Are you ready?

First, get a pound of bacon and a dozen bagels.

Fry the bacon up and discard it however you want. The bacon is not important.

Cut the bagels in half and fry them up in the hot bacon grease. Watch them closely, because they cook really fast.

Put them on paper towels to drain for just a second. Then slap on some cream cheese, mash a couple of avocado slices into the mix and top it all off with a dollop of salsa and some salt and pepper.

If you just said “Are you kidding me?!” out loud, I promise you that I am not. They are SO GOOD.

Happy Easter to you and yours!

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Jen and Dana

How Squirrels Prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse

Last weekend, we saw this thing that the squirrels did and it kind of freaked me out. It’s like they’re getting ready for something.

Preparing.

Maybe because this is the second drought year in a row in California. Maybe because they know that next year, Winter is Coming. 

But what if they did it because something wicked this way comes? And if you think spooky Shakespeare is too much, look at this.

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It’s a pine tree, right? Not even that big. Normal size for Southern California mountains.

Get closer.

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What is that?

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It’s my proof that something is up:

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The woodpeckers made the holes. Then squirrels filled them up with acorns. Every. Single. Hole. From the bottom of the tree to the top.

Here’s the stream of conscious that happened while I was looking at this tree: That’s a LOT of acorns. They could feed a LOT of squirrels. Heck, they could feed an entire family of people. They could feed MY family of people in an emergency. And every single pine tree in the dang park looks like this.

In the Springtime, after the mildest winter So Cal has seen in decades.

Waaaaiiit a minute. 

They know something. And whatever it is made them store ten years of squirrel food in a grove of trees in Southern California, which translates to roughly two years for a human family of five. So even though I’d love to tell you where I found these trees, I’m not going to, just in case. I’m sure you understand.

But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Afternoon Tea ~ Jen

When I asked my mom what she wanted for Christmas, she hemmed and hawed. She and my dad have been working empty nesters for almost 15 years so if they want something they buy it, and they don’t want much.

This makes it very hard to buy presents for them.

A few days after this conversation, my cousin liked an article on Facebook. I can’t find it, but it was something along the lines of “Don’t buy my kid more presents, give him your presence.” Great idea.

So I gave my mom Afternoon Tea for Christmas.

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We finally got around to going this past weekend. We waited for the weather to warm up a bit so we could wear dresses and strappy shoes. The tea was at the Mission Inn, which is an amazing historical landmark in downtown Riverside, CA. Anne Rice fans will recognize the name—she loves the place and has featured it in one of her more recent novels. It’s hard to explain the Mission Inn—a mix of castle, Spanish Mission, old Hollywood and Garden District Haunted Mansion. Several Presidents have stayed there, and just this visit we noticed a secluded, tiny spiral staircase winding up from the corner of the Presidential Lounge to…the Presidential Suite? There are lots of nooks and crannies and spiral staircases—I counted four and wasn’t even trying—and hallways leading up and down and sideways. Very mysterious in a way that makes you feel like you’re ten again and need to sneak past the bellman to explore.

In the midst of it all is a gorgeous courtyard, sheltered and shaded by four stories of mismatched balconies and box windows. And here, by the gurgling fountain, is where we had our tea.

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I did some research and found out that what we had was Full Tea—served in the afternoon, with savories and sweets—and not a High Tea, which is served later and more like dinner. The Mission Inn Restaurant serves a Full Tea menu from 2 to 4 pm, complete with finger sandwiches, scones and pastries. Everyone gets their own generous teapot, with matching china cup, saucer and plate. Kate enjoyed learning how to properly pour her tea. The food came on tiered plates in the center of the table—and it was more than enough. Crab croissants, egg salad and salmon, sun dried tomato and basil and chicken salad sandwiches for the grown ups; turkey, ham and peanut butter and jelly for the girls. Then brownies, cheesecakes, custards, macaroons, and mousse for dessert.

We couldn’t finish it all so we brought some home to Gabriel. He had begged me to find somewhere else for him to go instead of “that tea”, but he was happy to eat the sweet leftovers.

It was an elegant afternoon, where everyone sat up straight and used their best manners. We chatted and laughed and when we were done, we showed Grandma some of the special places we found on our last trip to the Mission Inn.

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Then we strolled over to one of Dana’s Favorite Places, Mrs. Tiggywinkle’s, to check out the Easter decorations.

Presence…a lovely idea. In fact, I think this one should become an annual tradition.

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Stolen Goods ~ Dana

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*Names have been changed in this story to protect… the guilty (me).

When I was playing volleyball for Long Beach State in the mid 90s, the men’s and the women’s teams were a pretty tight knit group.  We hung out together, went out dancing together, had classes together, dated, and knew each other’s parents.  Among the favorites of all of the parents was Suzy* who was the mom of one of the guys on the men’s team.  Suzy is beyond tall, is always sun-kissed tan, has the perfect natural shade of sandy blonde hair, and a gorgeous twinkle in her sky blue eyes.  And on top of it all, Suzy can bake.  She used to bring bags of frozen chocolate chip cookies for her son and all of his friends.  And they were delicious.

At one point, I was dating Suzy’s son’s best friend.  So we all trundled down to San Diego to Suzy’s house for a few home-cooked meals and lots of beach volleyball.  When we arrived, the guys headed out to the beach and I stayed behind to help Suzy with dinner prep and cookie baking.   As she got her cookie recipe out, I raved about the cookies, and how everyone loved them, then followed up with a question, “May I copy down your recipe?”

“No.”

“No?”

“No.”  Suzy was also known for being a Dr. Laura-type no-nonsense woman.  She explained that it was her recipe and she didn’t share.  My duties were to man the mixer and start it when she had added all the ingredients.

I’m not going to lie; I was hurt.  And mad.  I mean, really?  Who doesn’t share recipes?

The rest of the weekend was lovely.  Fun, sun, delicious bar-be-ques.  On our last evening there, the kids all went out to a few local bars and had a grand old time.  When we got back to Suzy’s house, we were all ready to turn in as we were going to head back to Long Beach early the next morning.   And when I turned out the light in my perfectly darling guest room, the idea hit me:  I was going to get that cookie recipe.   The boys were all sleeping on the floor in the living room; so sneaking around the kitchen would be tenuous, at best.  Nonetheless, I had the courage of a few adult beverages behind me, and I was on a mission.

I crept down the stairs and blindly started going through drawers.  These were the days before cell phones, so I had no instant flashlight, and I couldn’t just snap a picture of the recipe when I found it.  Soon, I found a paper and pen, and after a few drawers of kitchen utensils and canned goods, finally found her recipe box and scribbled the recipe as quickly as I could, completely undetected.  Thank you, margaritas.

We packed up the next morning, ate the breakfast burritos Suzy made for us, and I never looked back!  I’m a thief and I have no remorse.  None.

So today, I will share with you my stolen cookie recipe.  They really are delicious and I giggle every time I make them.  I hope you enjoy!

Suzy’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

2¼ c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 c. shortening

1 tsp. vanilla

¾ c. white sugar

¾ c. brown sugar

1 12 oz bag toll house semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix flour, salt, and baking soda separately.  In the mixing bowl of a mixer, beat together shortening, vanilla, and sugars until creamy.  Add eggs one at a time and beat well.  Slowly add flour mixture and beat on low speed until well incorporated.  Once all flour is added, stir in chocolate chips.

Drop by heaping tablespoons onto cookie sheet and bake for 9 minutes.