Mom's Fluffy Cinnamon Rolls

These are the best cinnamon rolls you will ever have the pleasure of putting into your mouth. Nothing beats my mom's recipe. I know everyone loves Cinnabon in the airport and malls but, after you eat one of these, you will never want to waste your money on them again. No offense to Cinnabon of course. They just don't compare! These are soft and fluffy with the perfect amount of cinnamon and sugar. The rolls do take a little bit of time, but it's worth it! Cinnamon rolls have been a part of our family ever since I can remember. This recipe makes about 4 dozen, but they will be gone fast! Freezing the freshly baked rolls helps keep them from going stale and you can warm them up in the microwave for about 10 seconds, yum.

Mom's Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

Dough
1 Cube Butter
2 C Milk
2 Tbs Yeast
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 tsp Salt
4 Eggs
~6.5 Cups Flour (no more than 7 cups)

Filling
~ 1 Cube Softened Butter
~ 2 cups Cinnamon Sugar
~ 6 cups Brown Sugar

Frosting
2 lbs Powdered Sugar
1 Cube Butter
A few Tbs milk or add until spreadable
1 tsp Vanilla
1/4 tsp salt if needed
Beat for about 5-10 minutes.

Directions

In your KitchenAid mixer:
Pour hot milk (~2 min in microwave) over 1 cube butter, sugar, and salt. Wait 10-15 minutes or until butter has softened and milk has cooled down. If the milk is too hot it will kill the yeast. Stir in the yeast and wait about 5-10 minutes for the yeast to get foamy.
Using the mixer, add the eggs. Add the flour a little at a time and mix until the dough is smooth. This should take about 1-2 minutes.
Cover with a clean dish towel and let the dough rise until it's double in size. The amount of time this takes can vary depending on the temperature of the room. Check it after 30 minutes, it probably shouldn't take more than an hour.

This is the part of the recipe that is really not exact...
Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Roll out on a floured surface into a rectangle about 10x5 1/2 inches. You just don't want to roll the dough too thin. It should be about 1/2 - 3/4 inch thick. Spread softened butter with a spatula onto the rolled out dough. You can be pretty generous. Make sure it is even. Sprinkle about 1/4 inch thick of brown sugar on top of the butter, keeping it even; again you can be pretty generous. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top of the brown sugar, covering all areas.

To roll, take the longer side and fold about and inch in, and push down with your fingers to pinch the dough down. Then roll it up- be sure to pinch the edge on the last roll to seal the roll up and keep it from unrolling. Cut into 12 slices and transfer to a 12x17 inch pan with parchment paper. Roll out, fill, roll up, cut and transfer the next 3 portions of dough. You should end up with 2 dozen on each cookie sheet (12x17 in.) when finished. One dozen can fit on a 9x13 inch pan if needed. Cover the pans with a clean dish towel and let the rolls rise until they double in size. Check after about 30 minutes.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 9 minutes. Let the rolls cool for a few minutes before frosting.
Cover and freeze immediately if saving for more than about 5 hours later; they defrost in the pan on their own in about 1 hour.

Sorry, parts of this recipe are an approximation, but that is what's great about it-you can add as much or as little filling as you like.

Macaroni and Cheese

Again, I apologize for the terrible lighting. What to do when it gets dark at 5 pm? This is such a good recipe, and it's probably because it's made of cheese! Well, if you are on the DASH diet this will definitely meet some of your needs for calcium but it's definitely over-ruled by the fat and sodium content. I try to make this as often as I can with out gaining an increased chance of a heart attack. This is quick and easy and such a good way to enjoy mac and cheese as a grown up! Hooray for comfort food, on these cold winter nights. This recipe comes modified from the Williams-Sonoma cook book American. Be sure to eat lots of veggies with your Macaroni and Cheese!

Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients

1 lb Elbow Macaroni (In this picture I used Fusilli- like Fusilli Jerry off of Seinfeld)
4 Tbs Butter
1/4 Cup Flour
3 Cups Warm Milk
1/2 lb Montery Jack Cheese Grated
1/2 lb Sharp Cheddar Cheese Grated
3/4 Cup Bread Crumbs
1 1/2 Tbs Melted Butter
Salt and Pepper to Taste
Hot Sauce to taste (this is a MUST)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and some salt and cook for about 6 minutes.
Drain pasta; while this is draining, return the pot to the stove over medium heat, melt 4 Tbs butter.
Whisk in the flour, and over low heat let bubble for about 2 min. and stir occasionally.
Pour in the warm milk and whisk well. Bring the burner up to medium heat again and bring to a boil (careful because it can be hard to tell when milk is boiling). Whisk and make sure nothing is stuck to the bottom.
Add the cheese stirring well.
Add the pasta.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Gradually add 5 drops of hot sauce at a time. We like a lot of hot sauce!
Transfer pasta and cheese to a 2 quart baking dish.
Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top and drizzle with the melted butter.
Bake for about 30 minutes until it's bubbly and golden brown on top.

This is the kind of hot sauce we like for this recipe

Poppy Seed Bundt Cake

This cake reminds me of my early college days. For a while it was the go to birthday cake, snack cake, or whenever I want cake, cake.
A while back I was reading a blog that said they would never write a post that included things from a box, or jar. I was a little offended. I understand they only want to bring the best recipes with the best ingredients to the public, but what do you do when you needed food 10 minutes ago? You have to have some cheater recipes on hand or you could go crazy. I am not below a little help now and again. Especially when you have limited time to cook or bake when you are either working full time and/or going to school. An old roommate of mine asked for this recipe and I would say she has limited time, as she is now in dental school. So this one is for you Ana!

You can find other variations of this type of cake at THIS blog.

Poppy Seed Bundt Cake

Ingredients

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix
1 Box Instant Butterscotch Pudding
1/4 Cup Flour
3 Eggs
2/3 Cup Oil
1 Cup Water
2 Tbs Poppyseeds
Sprinkle with powdered sugar to finish

Directions

Preheat oven 350 degrees.
Combine all wet ingredients and mix well.
Add all dry ingredients and mix well.
Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan.
Bake for ~45 min. although mine was done early at about 40 min so keep and eye on it.
Let cool for 15 min or more before transferring out of the pan. Also, cool completely before sprinkling with powdered sugar, otherwise it will melt!

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

I grew up not really liking anything pumpkin. Not sure why, but I have had a hankering for it ever since, about a year ago, classmates of mine made a tofu pumpkin pie. I may post that recipe in the future, but for now, pumpkin bars. These are quite probably the most moist cake-like bars I have ever had (hmm did that make sense?). Especially now, during the fall season and Halloween, I think these are more than appropriate.

Ingredients

2 cups Flour

1 1/2 cups Sugar

2 tsp Baking Powder

2 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

4 beaten Eggs

1 15 ounce can of Pumpkin

3/4 cup Oil

For the Frosting:

4 ounces Cream Cheese at room temperature

1/4 cup Butter at room temperature

1 tsp Vanilla

~ 2 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar - add more to thicken, up to 3 cups of powdered sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all the dry ingredients well.

Add the wet and stir in well.

Pour into an un-greased 9x13 pan. If you want them thinner, feel free to put them in a bigger pan, but keep in mind they rise up when they are baking. Although, you should keep an eye on it in the oven so it doesn't over cook.

Bake for 25 min or until a toothpick can be inserted in the center and come out dry.

Let cool completely.

As for the frosting, just blend the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla. Add the powdered sugar.

Spread on the bars. You can add either about 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips, walnuts or even cocoa powder sprinkled on the top. Or, eat it without the chocolate and nuts. Keep in mind, if you choose to sprinkle cocoa powder on the top, you should wait to do it just before serving because the powder eventually soaks into the frosting.

Enjoy

Banana Bread

I don't have anything against banana bread, but I always feel like there is something missing. Don't get me wrong, this was a good recipe; it was a very yummy, moist (I can't stand that word but I could not think of any other word to take it's place), but typical banana bread. I debated whether or not to add spices, chocolate and other exciting ingredients but only went as far as walnuts. I only put nuts in half to accommodate my family's liking. If any of you have suggestions of your favorite banana bread I would love to hear them. I am positive I will be posting more banana bread recipes, each with their own variation, but for now, I think basic is best in order to build up.

*This makes two loaves and was adapted from Simply Recipes

Ingredients
5-6 Very Ripe Bananas Smashed in a bowl
2/3 cups Melted Butter
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp Vanilla
2 tsp Baking Soda
Pinch of Salt
3 cups Flour
1 cup Walnuts (optional, very optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
To the smashed bananas add the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla- mix well.
Stir in the baking soda, salt, and flour.
Pour into two greased 4x8 loaf pans and bake for 1 hour. Let it cool, and eat (I like it kind of warm still with a tall glass of milk, yum!)

Perfect Pizza Crust

For some time now I have been craving homemade pizza. Although, I had a problem; I didn't have a recipe for crust. Well, I think I may have found it. :) I have kind of been obsessed with this blog called The Amateur Gourmet. Adam Roberts, the writer, takes a different angle to the whole "blogging world" and I love it. He has some great ideas, like this (haha). Anywho, he posted a friends recipe for some pizza crust that was exactly what I was looking for, sweet, and fluffy. Some leave the crust behind when they eat pizza but I practically save the crust for last, I think it's the best part. In the recipe you can use wheat flour, half wheat half white, or all white. I just used all white flour and it was great.

We topped our pizza with fresh basil, fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, and kalamata olives. We just used whatever pizza sauce that was in the fridge but you could easily make your own (that may have to be a different post).

Perfect Pizza Crust

 For best results, make 2 pizza's from this recipe... otherwise one pizza is too thick and the dough doesn't cook all the way through.

Ingredients

1 Tbs Yeast
1 cup luke-warm tap water
~ 3/4 cup brown sugar
3 1/2 cups Flour
1 tsp Salt
2 Tbs Olive oil
~ 2 tsp Finely Chopped Rosemary (optional but SO good)

Directions

Dissolve the yeast in the cup of warm water with a couple Tbs of Brown sugar, set aside.
In your Kitchen-Aide (with dough hook) mix the flour, sugar, salt and rosemary well.
Add the foamy yeast sugar water to the flour mixture along with the olive oil and mix until it forms one smooth lump on the dough hook. *You can knead it by hand if you don't have a mixer, it just gets kind of messy.
Add a few Tbs of water if needed to make it more sticky (most likely you will need to).
Cover the dough with a cloth or wet paper towel and let it sit and rise for about 2 hours or until it is about double in size.

I cheated because it was late and we were hungry so I put the dough in a warm spot in the house and it was done rising in about 40 min. Keep in mind that if it's too warm it will dry out the dough and won't rise too much so it is always easier to play it safe!

When it's done rising, roll out and top your pizzas and bake at 425 degrees for about 15 min. (If you have a pizza stone, use it)

Caramel

Oh my, I don't know how I didn't know about this. This is heaven. I think I will be making this caramel all the time. It is so easy and I probably will make more than one at a time so I have some on hand whenever I need it (aka: whenever I want it, so I can stick my finger in it and lick it off). This picture is the result of my mom's first try. I never had it growing up so I assume it was her first. We put it on apples and it was perfect. My mom is making a cookie that has this as the filling along with coconut that I may be posting later. I am in love.

All you do is take a can of this


(**just a note, I have tried other brands and Eagle Brand is by far the best**) and peel the paper off and simmer it, unopened, in a pot, for 2.5 hours. Easy peasy. Just make sure it is covered by at least an inch or more of water and let it go. Take a look at it every now and again to make sure the water level is still above the can. After the 2.5 hours let it cool completely before opening. If I were you I would do a few cans at a time, no joke, you will regret it if you don't!
I think that the word simmer is pretty vague so my mom said hers was slightly boiling; just in case you weren't exactly sure on how much of a boil it should be. How easy is that!? I think most of last night I was thinking of what I could do with this delicious stuff. Perfect for the lovely fall, almost winter weather, we have been having. Yum.

Lemon Drop Cupcakes with Meringue Buttercream Frosting

The world is currently in a craze for cupcakes. I thought I would join in. Last Christmas break my husband and I escaped to San Jose, California to visit my brothers family and just to get away from the cold for a while. We stopped by Santana Row to window shop and found this little cupcake shop called Kara's Cupcakes and had a Meyer Lemony Lemon cupcake for breakfast (breakfast of champions). Well, the cupcake was to die for! The frosting that they topped the delicate cake with was one of the best frostings I have ever tasted. I'm not even sure how they got it so light and fluffy but it was so good. Here is a picture of it... yes it was so good it was picture worthy.


Well, I attempted a lemon cupcake a few days ago and it turned out pretty good. I would definitely say worth making again and maybe again. I changed a Martha Stewart recipe and combined a different frosting to get the texture I wanted. Here she goes.

Lemon Drop Cupcakes with Meringue Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose Flour
1 Tbs Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter, room temperature
2 cups Sugar
4 large Eggs, room temperature
2 tsp Lemon juice
1 tsp Vanilla
1 cup Buttermilk ( I just put a Tbs of lemon in a cup of milk and let sit until curdled to create the buttermilk)
~2 cup Lemon Curd

Directions

Sift together the dry ingredients. Cream butter and sugar until pale yellow adding eggs one at a time until just mixed. Add vanilla and lemon juice. Alternate adding the dry ingredients (three times) with the milk (two times) until just mixed.
Spoon batter 3/4 the way full into lined cupcake tins. Add one Tbs of the lemon curd to the top center of each cupcake. It will drop to the center of the cupcake while baking.
Bake at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes.
Cool completely before frosting.

Meringue Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups Sugar
5 large Egg Whites
2 cups Unsalted Butter, cut into pieces (next time I make this I am going to decrease the butter to one cup just to see and taste the difference)
1 tsp Vanilla extract

In a double boiler whisk egg whites and sugar with an electric mixer until they are very warm (about 3 minutes).
Remove from heat and continue whisking until it has completely cooled (about 10 min).
Begin adding the butter (continue using the whisk attachment) a little at a time and it may look curdled but just keep mixing, it will smooth out. 
Beat with the paddle attachment on low for a few minutes to release any air pockets Add vanilla and you are done!

Decorate as you wish :)

Peach Cobbler

I have been away from the blogging world for a while, but I have been reunited and thought I would post a terrible picture with the delicious matching recipe that completely hit the spot one night. I now have a fear that this blog will turn into just a sweets, cookies and dessert blog but don't you worry, I will try to keep a variety of recipes on here!

My husband and I love to make cobbler in the dutch oven when we go camping. Who am I kidding- He cooks with the dutch oven, not me! We had an interesting experience while camping in the Nevada desert with some Spaniards, who bicycled from Argentina all the way up to Nevada and were making their way to Canada! Extreme. Well, we had plenty of leftover food and cobbler and thought we would offer our neighboring campers a warm meal (since they had very little room to pack any sort of comfort food on their road worn bikes). They curiously wanted to try this dish we called cobbler and a peach dessert sounded great to them so the came to our campsite and we served them their first taste of dutch oven cobbler. They loved it and dug in for seconds while asking how to make it. After we explained the process, which included a giant can of peaches, a cake mix, can of Sprite and butter one man asked in a thick Spanish accent, "What is, can of Sprite?" We loved this simple question and now quote the man whenever we drink the fizzy, citrus drink. One of my favorite memories since being with my lovely husband, camping in the barren Nevada desert while feeding some bikers from Spain.

This recipe definitely doesn't require a can of Sprite! This comes a little tweaked from one of my favorite line of cook books from Williams-Sonoma American.

Peach Cobbler

Ingredients

1 c. Heavy Cream
2/3 c. Sugar
1 tsp Cornstarch
5 lbs Ripe Peaches- sliced into wedges

Dough:
2 c. Flour
2 Tbs Sugar
1 Tbs Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
Pinch of Salt
6 Tbs Cold Unsalted Butter, sliced
2/3 c. milk
1 egg
1 tsp Vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9x13 in. pan.
Whisk cream, sugar and cornstarch in the baking dish. Stir in peaches carefully.
Stir together the dry ingredients and cut in the butter with a pastry blender or fork until it creates small pea size crumbs.
Combine the remaining wet ingredients in a small bowl then add to the flour and butter mixture but only enough to make a soft moist dough. You may not need to add all of the wet mixture.
Don't over mix the dough.
Divide into 8 sections and place on top of the peaches and cream.
Bake until topping is golden brown and the inside bubbling- About 50 min. Let cool for 10 min and enjoy with vanilla ice cream!

Berries and Cream Shortbread

I didn't have any eggs but was craving some kind of sweet baked good. I read through one of my cookie books (Better Homes and Gardens The Ultimate Cookie Book) and found the perfect recipe, although it was a Pineapple Macadamia Nut Shortbread, (There is no way I had candied pineapple and macadamia nuts on hand if I didn't even have eggs!) so I just left out the extra ingredients. I did, however, have some frozen blueberries and some whipping cream. The combination of berries and shortbread satisfied my craving, and then some (and they look quite patriotic).

I made these at like 9 pm so there was no way I was going to get a good picture. I will see if I have time to take another one today to replace this sorry photograph with a slightly less shadowed one.

Berries and Cream Shortbread

Ingredients

2 1/2 c. Flour
1/3 c. Packed Brown Sugar
1 c. Cold Butter
1 or 2 Drops Orange Extract (optional)
Berries and Whipped Cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Stir together the flour and brown sugar.
Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until the mixture forms tiny balls that start to stick together.
Add orange extract and stir in well.
Form into a ball and knead a couple times.
Roll out about 1/4 in. thick on a lightly floured surface and cut out dough with cookie cutter. Only re-roll the scraps once.
Place on a baking sheet and cook about 15 minutes or until golden brown on the edges.
Let cool and top with berries and whipped cream. yum.

Sundried Tomato Cream Sauce

First off I would like to apologize for the quality of the pictures I have been posting; this one in particular. I have been getting home a little later from work and barely have enough time to take a picture before all the natural light goes away. I can't wait to get a new camera but it is just one of those things that is on my list to do, but you know, may not actually get around doing them!

Well, this recipe is so easy! Thank you to my mom for making life easy peasy. I made this sauce with out any protien (chicken, sausage...) just for an extra easy meal. You could add practically anything to this sauce and it would be delicious; artichokes, olives, squash, zucchini, chicken, sausage, pesto, Italian cheeses -I could go on and on.

Mom's Sundried Tomato Cream Sauce

Ingredients

1 1/2 c. Cream or Half and Half
1 tsp Dried Thyme
10 Sundried Tomatoes (in a jar in oil)
1 c. Chicken Broth
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Bring cream and thyme to a boil then simmer for 10 min then let sit to cool a little for 10 min.
Press the tomatoes between some paper towels to get most the oil off.
Puree the tomatoes and with half of the chicken broth.
Strain the cream through a sieve to get the thyme out and put the cream back into the pan.
Add the pureed tomatoes and the rest of the chicken broth to the cream and simmer for a few minutes.
Salt and pepper.
Serve over pasta.

S'more Bars

These bars were inspired from a campfire on the beach with some of our friends. It had been quite a while since I had had a s'more and after the delicious experience on the beach, it's all that I wanted for about a week after we got home. I thought there had to be a way to make s'mores the same way you make rice crispy treats. I tried it and it turned out so good! I did notice that the graham crackers got a little soft so I decided to put a little bit of a crispy rice cereal in it to keep the crisp factor up. I think in my childhood I had some type of these but made with Golden Graham Cereal. I remember the graham flavor of the cereal was too strong for me, but I think they could easily be substituted. These bars bring part of the camping experience to your kitchen.

S'more Bars

Ingredients

1 cube Butter or Margarine
1- 16 oz bag of Mini Marshmallows
2 pkgs Graham Crackers
1 1/2 c. Crispy Rice Cereal
1 c. Chocolate Chips -melted

Directions

Break up the graham crackers into a bowl with your hands into small bite size pieces.
In another large microwaveable bowl, melt the butter.
Add the marshmallows to the butter and coat evenly. Microwave the marshmallows about 30 seconds stirring very well after each. When they start melt and just start to string when stirring you know you are ready. *You don't want to over cook the marshmallows, this will make your bars hard.
Stir in the broken up graham crackers and the rice cereal. This may take some muscle.
Pour mixture onto a baking sheet with parchment paper or wax paper on it. Lightly wet your hands and smash and squish them flat to spread them around the pan. Make them as thick as you like.
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Heat the water in a pot to a boil and turn down to simmer. If you don't have a double boiler you can use a large glass bowl. Set the bowl with chocolate on top of the pot and stir till melted. Spoon the chocolate over the graham crackers and marshmallows.
Let it set for a few hours (I sometimes cheat and throw it in the freezer for a few minutes) and eat!

Yummm.

Key Lime Pie

I love limes. If you pair a lime with anything I will most likely like it. I have learned, thanks to my husband, that Mexican food isn't Mexican food until you can squeeze lime juice all over it. I fell in love with this pie a few years back when, I think, my sister-in-law brought it to a family function. Since then, the yogurt flavor key lime pie has been in my top five yogurt picks. This recipe is quick, easy, and most of the ingredients you have on hand. I think the hardest thing about this recipe would either be taking your anger and frustration out on the graham crackers or squeezing the 1/2 c. of lime juice!

Oh, and please ignore the fact that I over beat the whipped cream on top :)

Key Lime Pie

Ingredients

Crust:
1 pkg graham crackers crushed
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon-- this adds a deeper flavor to the crust that compliments the lime well
5 Tbsp. butter

Filling:
3 egg yolks
1- 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 c. fresh lime juice
2 tsp. grated lime zest
1 drop green food coloring

Directions

For the crust, stir together the smooshed graham crackers, cinnamon, and sugar. Add them to the melted butter so everything is coated. Press this into a 9 in pie plate. Bake at 375 degrees for ONLY 4 minutes (it is going in the oven again). Cool completely.

For the filling, beat the yolks and stir in the sweetened condensed milk. Add the lime juice and food coloring until completely combined. Stir in the zest. Pour into the completely cooled crust and bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes. *If you think your edges are brown enough from the first bake, you can cut a ring of foil that only covers the crust edges to avoid burning. Otherwise, ignore that asterisk. Let the pie cool completely again, then all that's left is to add a layer of whipped cream on top and eat it!

Enjoy

Chicken Pasta Caesar Salad

When summer comes around I love salads, it's refreshing. This Pasta Caesar Salad is big enough for a meal in itself! Mixing pasta with lettuce really is delicious, a little different but good!

Chicken Pasta Caesar Salad

Ingredients-- Customize to fit what you like

1-2 Heads Romaine Lettuce
Chicken-- about 1/2 breast per person
Cooked Bowtie Pasta-- about 1/2 cup per person (uncooked)
Bottle of Caesar Dressing
1 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
Cherry Tomatoes-- optional
Croutons-- optional

Directions

Cook the pasta and rinse with cold water. Let it sit to cool.
Chop the lettuce and place in a large bowl and set aside.
Grill or cube and cook the chicken until it is no longer pink in the middle and set aside.
Add the tomatoes, Parmesan, croutons, and cooled pasta to the lettuce and coat with some dressing.
Layer the chicken on the top and serve.

With some french bread and some lemonade, this makes for a perfect summer dinner!

Roasted Egg Plant Sandwiches

I am always looking for new ideas for dinner, dessert, and everything else in between. As a new grad with a degree in Dietetics I have a love for food that I want to share! So, off on my new adventure I go to find and tweek recipes that bring variety to your kitchen table. As for my first post I decided on a simple dish my husband and I ate for dinner just last night. It is so simple yet so delicious.

Roasted Egg Plant Sandwiches

Needed:

Egg plant
Crusty bread
Pesto-- even fresh basil can work
Tomato-- fresh is best but canned diced can work
Mozzarella-- or Parmesan cheese
Olive oil
Salt

Directions:

Slice the egg plant into about 1/4 in. slices. Sprinkle salt on them and wait about 15-20 min. then wipe away the salt and the water it pulls out of the egg plant. Wipe a little oil on the egg plant and roast in the oven at 375 degrees about 10-15 min, flipping half way through.

Place the roasted egg plant on a slice of crusty bread that had pesto slathered on it. On another slice of bread top with slices of tomatoes and grated mozzarella cheese. Place the open faced sandwich on a pan and broil it until the cheese is melted and a little brown.

Take it out of the oven and put the sandwich together! Some sides for this dish could include, fresh fruit, chips, veggies, pasta salad, or even some yogurt.

Enjoy.