Stuffed Eggplant - Vegetarian

As ususal - an experiment.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggplants cut in half lengthwise
• 2-3 cloves garlic minced
• 1 rib celery - chopped
• 1 carrot- chopped
• 1 small zucchini - chopped
• 1/2 cup mushrooms -chopped
• 1/2 small red onion -diced
• 2 roma tomatoes - diced
• handful of golden raisins
• 1 cup dry couscous
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1/2 can chickpeas
• salt & pepper
• olive oil
• Ras el Hanout seasoning - http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1185359
• crumbled goat cheese
• parmesan cheese

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350
• Fill the bottom of a large skillet with about 1 inch of water and place sliced eggplant skin side down in the water - cover and let steam approx. 5-10 minutes or until eggplant is soft
• While eggplant are steaming, prepare couscous: bring 1 cup of water to a boil with handful of golden raisins and about 3 tablespoons chopped red onion - when water boils, add couscous and 1 tsp Ras el Hanout seasoning, stir quickly, cover and remove from heat - let sit for about 5 minutes
• When eggplant is soft, remove from skillet and set on paper towels, drain water
• When eggplant is cool enough to handle, scoop out the inside - leaving about 1/2 an inch of flesh around the shell -place shells on a baking sheet - cut up the eggplant that was removed and set aside
• in the same skillet heat 1 tbls olive oil - brown pine nuts - about 30 sec - remove pine nuts to a separate bowl
• in the same skillet heat 1-2 tbls olive oil - toss in garlic, vegetables (all but eggplant), about 2 tablespoons Ras el Hanout, salt and pepper to taste and sautee until tender
• Add pine nuts, chickpeas couscous, and eggplant to skillet and heat through
• Spoon the mixture into the eggplant shells, top with a little goat cheese and parmesan, cracked pepper
• Bake for about 10 minutes -or until filling and eggplant shells are heated through

Jambalaya

I haven't made this for a while - so hopefully I don't forget anything!

Ingredients
1 (5 -pound) chicken trimmed of fat and cut into pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound andouille sausage sliced (Kroeger Meats at Findlay has a mild andouille that is out of this world)
2 cups chopped yellow onions
1 green pepper chopped
1 red pepper chopped
4 stalks celery chopped
1/2 teaspoon (+) cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons cajun seasoning
1 can chopped tomatoes
2-3 dashes of tabasco/hot pepper sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3-4 bay leaves
1 teaspoon thyme
2 quarters chicken broth
3 cups white rice
1 pound small shrimp - peeled and deveined (you could use the frozen kind that is already peeled)
handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions

• season chicken pieces with salt and pepper
• heat olive oil in a large stock pot
• add the chicken and sear each side for about 3 minutes
• remove from pot and drain
• add sausage to the oil in the pot and cook until browned
• add onion, peppers, celery, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper, 1.2 tsp cayenne, 1 tablespoon of cajun seasoning - stir often until vegetables are soft
• add tomatoes, tabasco, garlic and bay leaves until tomatoes give off juice
• add thyme, chicken stock and chicken pieces - bring to a boil
• Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 50 minutes
• remove chicken from pot and let cool, cut chicken remove skin from bone and shred (discard skin and bones)
• add rice to the pot and bring back to boil, reduce heat and cover until rice is tender
• return shredded chicken to pot
• season shrimp with remaining tablespoon of cajun seasoning and add to the pot with the chopped parsley
• return pot to a simmer and cover until shrimp is cooked
• Taste and adjust salt, pepper and cayenne to taste

Roasted Jalapeño Dip

This was inspired by a recipe I saw in a magazine. The real recipe calls for Jalapeno halves to be stuffed, then grilled, but with some ingredient additions, I thought it was easier to take the dip cold in a bowl to share as a dip.

Ingredients

• 10 Jalapenos
• 1 cup diced and seeded tomato
• 3 green onions sliced thin
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sage
• 1 teaspoon + cilantro
• 5 oz goat cheese
• 4 oz softened light or fat free cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese

Directions

• Preheat oven to 500 degrees
• Cover a baking sheet with foil
• Cut jalapenos in half and carefully de-seed them
• Place peppers on baking sheet and roast in oven until sides begin to brown (10-15 minutes) - half way through flip peppers over
• Once peppers have cooled, dice
• In a medium sized bowl combine peppers with all other ingredients and refridgerate
• Serve with tortilla chips or crackers