baked eggplant over scampi pasta

Italian Night

Over the MoFo I made a Chick'n Scampi pasta dish from Olive Garden. This dish impressed Mikel so much he requested it again. I wanted to change it up somewhat, so I married Eggplant Parm and the Scampi dish and came up with this course: Baked Eggplant over Scampi Pasta.

As the name implies, Scampi includes lemon and garlic.

I baked the eggplant which turned out just as crunchy as frying it, but without the obvious oily texture. You can add some Daiya to it at the end to get the Parmesan effect.

The pasta sauce is soy free, using cashews as the base of the creamy sauce. Mikel's only complaint was the size of the peppers. Therefore, I have adjusted the recipe since the picture to reflect his concern; dice the peppers and not slice them.

I served these over rice pasta so if you are using gluten free pasta, make sure not to over cook it; it'll turn to mush.

Cost Breakdown:

eggplant, bread crumbs, spices: $4

cashew, nutritional yeast: $2.50

pasta, lemon: $3.50

garlic, pepper, onion: $3

Total to make 4 servings:

$13.00

Baked Eggplant over Scampi Pasta Recipe

lima bean bake (January 24)

Meatless Monday

I chose to make Lima Bean Bake for tonight's meatless Monday meal because it is easy to make and so rewarding.

You can use either dry large Lima beans (which need to soak first - no short cuts here) or canned Lima beans or butter beans. I few minutes on the stove and then into the oven for a few hours rewards you with an exceptional meal. I have taken this dish to many a potluck and never came home with a single bean. No culinary expertise is needed. Only the two hours to bake it.

To accompany the rich, buttery beans, some garlicky greens are ideal. Today I made a Swiss Chard dish. I had fought to make chard tasty for so long, but either the chard I received from my CSA has mellowed out, or I have figured out a way to cut the earthiness-taste down to size.

I have decide that chard needs something else cooked with it. Even adding the stems of the chard makes some difference. In  this case, I also added cauliflower. Just a simple pan searing with garlic is all that it needs as long as the cauliflower has been steamed. If not, just steam it after charring it a bit, but be careful to not burn the garlic. In fact, use large chunks of garlic to flavor the oil and then remove it.

Cost Breakdown

Lima beans: $4

tomato, carrot, onion: $2

spices, garlic: $.50

chard, cauliflower: $4

Total to make 5 servings:

$10.50