Eggplant Meatballs

3 medium eggplants
3/4 Cup parsley (more if needed depending on taste), leaves removed from stems
3 large garlic cloves, cut into thirds
2 to 3 C Italian breadcrumbs depending on consistency
1 1/2 C grated Romano cheese (from Arthur Ave if possible)
olive oil if necessary to add moisture to balls

1. Roast eggplants at 350 degrees for1 hour. To roast, cut in half, score and put a little salt on top.
2. Clean eggplant out from skin and put into large mixing bowl. Add parsley and garlic and process until smooth. Scrape sides down as needed. Process until consistency of hummus - chunky and wet!
3. Remove mixture and return to mixing bowl. Add breadcrumbs and cheese and mix well. Should be the consistency of meatloaf.
4. Roll into balls approx. 1 inch each - ping pong ball size. Place on sprayed cookie sheet
5. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes

Whip it up: Week 4 - Seared Scallops with Fresh Linguine and Romano Cheese

I can't believe that this cooking challenge is half over. So I really looked for a vegetarian recipe this week. I only planned for tonight and tomorrow and vegetarian just didn't seem to fit with either of these meals. I was looking through this month's Cooking Light and in my favorite section - 20 minute meals, I found this. For the record, the past is good enough to eat on its own, so you could totally make this as a vegetarian recipe and thus it could fit with this week's theme. Sorry there aren't more pictures, J mostly cooked this and I decided as it was coming to the table that it would be good enough to blog about so that's when I decided to take the first picture.

Here is the recipe.

Seared Scallops with Fresh Linguine and Romano Cheese

The key to obtaining the perfect sear on the scallops is to cook them in a very hot pan. Fresh linguine has a silky texture that provides a nice contrast to the browned crust on the scallops. Add mixed greens tossed with a balsamic vinaigrette.

1 (9-ounce) package refrigerated linguine

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (about 1 1/2 ounces) finely grated fresh Romano cheese, divided

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 pounds sea scallops

4 lemon wedges

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain pasta in a colander over a bowl, reserving 2 tablespoons pasta water. Combine pasta, reserved 2 tablespoons pasta water, 1/4 cup cheese, 1 tablespoon oil, chopped basil, and pepper in a large bowl; toss well.

2. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large cast-iron skillet over high heat. Sprinkle salt evenly over scallops; add scallops to pan. Cook 1 minute on each side or until golden.

3. Place 1 cup pasta mixture on each of 4 plates; top each serving with about 3 scallops and 1 1/2 teaspoons remaining cheese. Serve with lemon wedges.

Yield: 4 servings

CALORIES 495 (23% from fat); FAT 12.5g (sat 3g,mono 5.8g,poly 1.5g); IRON 5.6mg; CHOLESTEROL 110mg; CALCIUM 177mg; CARBOHYDRATE 42.4g; SODIUM 872mg; PROTEIN 51.7g; FIBER 1.9g

Cooking Light, AUGUST 2008

Question time:

Was the recipe easy to follow? Very - I love Cooking Light recipes. Except for those that ask for ingredients that are super specialized or hard to find, they are very accurate and easy to follow.

Did the dish taste good? Excellent. I love scallops and we get some great fresh linguine from the North Market so its almost impossible to mess up unless you over cook the pasta - which I didn't.

Would you ever make it again? For sure - easy, tastes good, fast, and uses little dishes - always a repeat performer in my book. I would just want to do something to avoid the pan looking like this after I seared the scallops :)

Whip It Up: Recipe #3 (a second try at week 2) - Zucchini Pie

So I was so disappointed at the corn bread recipe I submitted for this week's Whip It Up Challenge that I decided I wanted to try again. J and I have new plan for weekly dinners. On Sunday I ask him to come up with a week's worth of meals he wants me to make and then I search for recipes on Monday and go shopping for the week. We did this to ease my stress on planning meals, varying our diets, and limiting the number of trips to the grocery store. So this week's menu was:

• Monday - Veal Milanese - ok, J liked it more than I did
• Tuesday - zucchini pie (see recipe and comments below)
• Wednesday - Lemon Fusilli as made by RA
• Thursday - clams cooked on the grill
• Friday - on the road again, so no cooking, only 10 hours of driving

Today I made the zucchini pie - very easy, as most Bisquick recipes are. It also produced little dishes which makes me happy.

Here it is:

Ingredients

• 3 cups diced zucchini
• 4 beaten eggs (I used 1 Cup of egg beaters)
• 1 cup Bisquick (I used the light and healthy kind)
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/2 cup grating cheese (I used mild cheddar - and thus this qualifies as a cheese recipe)
• 1 onion chopped
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

• mix ingredientspour into greased 9 inch pie pan bake 425 degrees for an hour

SEE HOW EASY! Gotta love it!

Recipe courtesy of my mother-in-law

Question time:
Was the recipe easy to follow? Super easy - how could I mess it up, it was only 3 steps

Did the dish taste good? It was pretty good...not amazing. It tasted better with green tabasco on it.

Would you ever make it again? We said we would although we would do some things differently. We might add a different cheese, maybe parmesean. We also would add more salt. And fnally I would consider adding some kind of meat, either bacon or ham. Just because I think the salt would be good for the meal (I also could cut out some of the oil I think if I did this).

And since I sometimes try to think about weight watchers I figured the points for 1/4 of this recipe - 8 pts - a bit high for no meat, but that's b/c of the oil.

Still looking for the recipe to match week one's awesomeness. Next week I am home in CT some there will probably some pics of dad making a recipe - does that count - you bettcha! He's a good cook who is always looking for new recipes.