About Us

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Seattle/Tacoma area, Washington, United States
Thank you for visiting! We are Amanda, Tiffany, Lauren H, Lauren F, Danielle, Lisa, Meagan, Teresa, Emily, Cassie, & Bea. We are a group of women ranging in age from 27-32. 2011 marks the 5th Fall season of us getting together weekly, on Thursdays, to make dinner for eachother, talk about our kids, marriages, jobs, weddings, homes, weekends and so on. We travel as far North as Kirkland and as far South as Graham to visit each week...that's a total of nearly an hour of driving (not counting traffic), so that should show you how dedicated we are to "the cause" of having some girl time each week. A few of us are mothers and have planned our weddings. Our group also includes a dietitian, wine distributor & a few teachers ranging from elementary to high school. We are here to share our favorite recipes, update you on our girl talk each week, answer questions from experience and review products for companies and share our takes on them for the women out there just like us. Please feel free to contact us with topics you'd like us to cover or questions you may have. Our group e-mail is ThursdayGirlsNights@gmail.com Thanks again, The Girls

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Eggplant Parmesan - A Hearty Vegetarian Dish

Thursday the 22nd was at my house. I wanted to try to make something I'd never had before and came across this dish, courtesy of Bobby Flay, on foodnetwork.com. I wasn't sure eggplant was going to be my thing...I proved myself wrong - I'm hooked!

Now before you go following this recipe verbatim, I do have a few tips I want to share that will shorten the prep time for this dish, because although it says prep is 30 mins, it took me nearly an hour. I'm all about a quick & easily prepared dinner.

  • Use jarred roasted red peppers if you don't want to make your own (will save you 40 mins of broiling time plus the 15 mins it will take you to let them set and peel them of their skins. Jarred are nearly as good as the real thing)
  • Use pre-dried breadcrumbs from the bakery and a food processor to crumble them (will save you 30 mins of baking time)
  • Do NOT sub jarred spaghetti sauce for this homemade version. This one is delicious, fun to make and completely worth it in the end. I'll probably use it in the future for lasagna and spaghetti.
Total Time: 1 hr 40 min
Prep: 30 min
Inactive: 10 min
Cook: 1 hr 0 min
Yield: 8 to 12 servings


Ingredients

Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce:

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 3 roasted red peppers, peeled, seeded and chopped
  • 2 (28-ounce) cans plum tomatoes and their juices, crushed with your hands
  • 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
  • 3 tablespoons freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • 3 tablespoons freshly chopped basil leaves
  • 1 tablespoon freshly chopped oregano leaves
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Honey, to taste

Eggplant:

  • 5 cups fresh dried breadcrumbs (made from dried day-old bread)
  • Butter, for greasing the dish
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano leaves
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 6 large eggs, beaten
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 2 to 3 medium eggplants (about 2 1/4-pounds), cut into 1/2-inch-thick round slices (need about 18 slices)
  • All-purpose flour, for dredging
  • Vegetable oil, for frying
  • Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce
  • 12 ounces grated mozzarella (not fresh), plus1/2 pound fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
  • 12 ounces grated fontina
  • 3/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano
  • Fresh basil leaves, torn

For the Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce:

Directions

Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until soft. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute. Add the red peppers and cook for 1 minute.
Add the tomatoes, bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a food processor and process until smooth. Return the mixture back to the pot, add the parsley, basil and oregano and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 10 minutes longer and season with honey, if needed.

For the Eggplant:

To dry out the bread crumbs:

Preheat the oven to 300 degree F.
Evenly spread the bread crumbs on a large baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 5 minutes, turn the oven off and let the bread crumbs sit in the oven for 30 minutes or until just dry.
Raise the temperature of the oven up to 400 degrees F. Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a 15 by 10 by 2-inch baking dish and set aside.
Place the bread crumbs into a large shallow bowl. Add the herbs, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. In another medium shallow bowl, whisk the eggs and 2 tablespoons of water together.
Season each eggplant slice on both sides with salt and pepper. Dredge each eggplant slice in the flour, tapping off excess, then dip it in the egg, and finally dredge it in the bread crumb mixture. Shake off any excess breading and transfer the egg plant to a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining eggplant.
Heat 1/2-inch of oil in 2 large straight-sided saute pans over medium heat until the oil reaches a temperature of 385 degrees F. Working in small batches, fry a few of the eggplant slices, turning once, until golden brown, about 3 minutes per batch. Using tongs, transfer to a paper towel-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining eggplant.
Cover the bottom of the prepared baking dish with some of the tomato sauce and arrange 1/2 of the eggplant over the sauce. Cover the eggplant with some of the sauce, grated mozzarella, fontina, Romano cheese and some of the basil. Repeat to make 3 layers ending with the sauce. Top with the fresh mozzarella and remaining Romano and bake until hot and just beginning to brown, about 30 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.
Enjoy!
Amanda

Monday, September 26, 2011

Salmon Cakes over Quinoa Tabouli topped with a Greek Yogurt Vinaigrette

The last few weeks we've had a few of our girls missing as they have taken on a new 7 week workout routine. We're all trying in different ways to get ready for our trip to Mexico next month for Tiff's wedding. Eventhough we miss having everyone there each week, we also realize that it's nice every once in a while for our Thursday evening to be a little less crowded, loud and crazy seeing that our days are usually that way anyway dealing with our own kids or classrooms full of others. You have got to imagine how loud it can get...most of us have pretty loud personalities and/or are used to speaking in front of groups (students) all day so it's in our nature to take over a conversation. Getting caught up on 10+ different lives isn't always easy but we make it work and love every second of it. For dinner Lauren F made us a super healthy dinner OH MY AMAZINGNESS were these good! Proof that even though it's good for you, doesn't mean it needs to taste like crap :) Here's her recipe:


Mascarpone and Chive Salmon Cakes with a Quinoa Tabouli Salad topped with a Greek Yogurt Vinaigrette.

Quinoa Salad (makes at least 8-12 servings and will store in the fridge and can eat during the week for lunch)
1 small box organic quinoa (trader joes)
1 English cucumber cut into small pieces
1 small container grape tomatoes quartered
½ cup chopped flat leaf parsley2 large lemons (juiced)
½ cup of EVOO
Salt and Pepper to taste

Quinoa- cooks similar to rice in a 2/1 ratio form.  I also added 1 lemon cut in half and some olive oil to give it flavor while cooking.  Cool the quinoa and add the other ingredients.  Feel free to add more or less lemon juice or olive oil depending on your taste.

Greek Yogurt Vinaigrette
8oz container fat free Greek yogurt
1 large lemon juiced
2 TBPS of apple cider vinegar
1 TBPS Honey
1 clove of garlic
SNP to taste

Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. This makes enough sauce to top the cakes and the tabouli for lunches.

Salmon Cakes
2 pounds of fresh salmon (your choice) cubed into about ½ inch pieces
4 oz of mascarpone cheese
1 big handful grated Parmesan
2 eggs
¼ cup of minced fresh chives
2 tbps of lemon juice
SNP to taste
1/2 cup (or so) of panko bread crumbs.

Mix all ingredients together until come together almost like a meatball consistency- you can make the cakes any size you’d like but I grabbed a small handful for each and flattened to about 3 inches in diameter.  In a large non-stick pan (for best results do not use cast iron pan), coat the bottom with EVOO and cook each cake on med-high heat for about 5 min on each side.  Make sure you get a good golden color on them

Plate with salad on the bottom, 1-2 cakes on top of the salad and then top with the yogurt sauce.

Enjoy! I promise you will...