Roasted Grape salad / Eggplant sandwich

Grape Salad from Myrecipes


Eggplant Sandwich from Allrecipes


You know when you don't eat grapes in time, and they lose their crunchiness? Well yesterday I had a bagful of such grapes. They just weren't fit to eat by themselves. I have really been into roasting vegetables lately, and I thought...why not roast grapes?

Well, I googled it and sure enough, there were directions. I knew it wasn't crazy. Toss the grapes in a little olive oil and a pinch of salt, and bake on 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes. I tasted one right after they came out of the oven - they taste surprisingly like a cherry cobbler.

I found the above recipe for a grape salad, and I simply omitted the chicken and used the roasted grapes instead of fresh.
If you use these on a salad, though, be careful because they retain a lot of juice. To avoid a soggy salad, you'd probably do best to add them on top of each salad portion, instead of mixing them into the bowl.

My sister made the eggplant, and it was yummmmy. I ate mine in a pita instead of the bun.

Breakfast Pita pocket

This is kind of a homemade version of a breakfast lean pocket, if you've ever tried one. I used to make these at the dorm cafeteria all the time, and it's really easy. Actually, I feel a little silly even explaining it, it's that easy.


Take half a pita and line it with the cheese.
Scramble an egg and heat up the sausage
(You can also use turkey bacon instead of sausage.
You can make this vegetarian by using veggie sausage links,
doubling the cheese or using veggies...potatoes, onions
and/or tomatoes come to mind.)
Put the egg in the pita.
Chop up the sausage.
Put it in the pita.
EASY.

I also grilled mine on the George Foreman to make it extra crispy.

Pepper and goat cheese frittata

I decided to make another frittata using this for general instructions. As you can tell, this frittata isn't quite as purple as the other one. ;)

This time I used sauteed onions and green bell pepper, green chiles, red pepper flakes, roasted cherry tomatoes, and a "spring" mixture of lettuces (romaine, swiss chard, etc).


I also added more goat cheese than last time (a hard, "drunken" goat cheese, and also a soft, pepper goat cheese).


Topped it with some toasted pine nuts and it was done.

This is a great recipe to experiment with. The egg base is easy to make, and you can add whatever toppings you're in the mood for.

Camping - migas and sausage

Here is the result of my first attempt at using a camp stove by myself. I felt like such a wilderness woman, cooking eggs up in the middle of the woods. I was entirely thrilled that nothing exploded.

To make migas, we added fried corn tortillas, a can of Rotel, and some American cheese to scrambled eggs.


We also grilled up some sausage links.


615 calories total.

Not bad for a hearty wilderness meal, huh?
We went on a hike afterward. ;)

Reader error - fixed!

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Thanks to everyone who's been commenting and reading my blogs!

jordan

Purple frittata

A Tasty Frittata - from 101 Cookbooks

I have been so excited to make this ever since I found both purple potatoes and purple cauliflower at Whole Foods. Heidi suggests pink potatoes to make it colorful, but purple?? Even better!

I made only half the recipe and it still made this big old panful. It's got a cilantro chile lime sauce to drizzle over it which is a good addition. Definitely will make this again.

Sauteeing the purple stuff...

Look at all the pretty colors!

So pretty!

Quinoa Big Bowl and spinach salad

Baby spinach with dried cranberries, whole almonds, some olive oil and pepper


Delicious Big Bowl - Quinoa - from 101 Cookbooks

Once again another delicious recipe from Heidi at 101 Cookbooks. This one is easy, quick, and one of those things that you can throw in whatever you want to customize. The recipe makes a big family-size bowl.

Chipotle shrimp and green beans with leeks

Vibrant Green Beans from 101 Cookbooks
About 120 calories for 1/3

Shrimp in Chipotle Sauce from Recipezaar
About 180 calories for 1/4


I've been wanting to make shrimp, and we had some chipotle peppers around, so might as well try it. It also has EIGHT cloves of garlic in it, and a half cup of Coca Cola. Interesting. The sauce smells so good. It's got a bit of a kick to it...pretty spicy, actually, but sweet too.

My dad made the green bean recipe that I picked out. The leeks are sauteed and crispy, and the green beans are just a little crunchy. Don't let them get too squishy.

These recipes go really well together...plus, they're very festive red and green. ;)

My first shot at Quinoa

I've never made or tasted quinoa, and I've never made tofu before...thankfully this recipe is really hard to screw up. Of course I got it here from 101 Cookbooks, which, if you couldn't tell, I am slightly obsessed with.

Quinoa (I think it's pronounced KEE-no-uh?) is a whole-grain that's sort of a mix between barley and couscous. It turned out similar to the fried couscous we made the other day...but I think I prefer this recipe. It has a deep, velvety flavor because of the pesto, the olive oil, and the pumpkin seeds.

I substituted peas for corn, but other than that I followed the recipe word for word. The tofu was ridiculously easy to cook up. In general, this recipe requires a bit of preparation but that's the perfect meal for a Sunday afternoon.

Enchiladas

Here's some enchiladas based on this recipe from Hungry Girl.

I basically stuck to the recipe, but changed a few ingredients. I changed the refried beans to mashed up black beans, and added soy meat crumbles. Plus, I straight up used Mexican blend shredded cheese instead of the fat-free kind.

I do not condone using fat-free shredded cheese, because you know what? It tastes like plastic. It looks like plastic. I don't want plastic on my enchiladas. That's just my personal preference. Take a look at the Hungry Girl photo. That enchilada looks like it's covered with yellow hot glue. But by all means, use it if you're desperate to chop off some calories. EDIT: Or of course you could use reduced fat. Nothing wrong with that. Usually.

In total, I estimate there's about 260 calories per enchilada after the changes. But they're very filling. I say have yourself a bit of guacamole, a little salad, and you've got a meal.