My Other Passion: Cooking

Hey yall! Happy Hump Day! I am so glad mid week is here! Brandon has Thursday AND Friday off!!! Yay! We never get to spend 2 whole days together...well we do, but it is so rare! So I am so excited this evening! I wanted to hop online right quick and do a little blog post to share my other love in this life besides scrappin'....and that is cooking! I love to cook!!! I love to try all sorts of dishes from all over the world. I have to say I have one of the best little taste testers too, my hubby! He is always so sweet to be completely honest and tells me what he does and doesn't like about things that I cook. He usually is very gracious and loves the new dishes, but there have been a few he wasn't as crazy about. LOL. But for my birthday this year, I decided I would rather cook myself than go out to dinner. I knew I wanted to cook a gourmet meal. I am so addicted to 'Food Network' and 'The Cooking Channel.' During the weekdays, that is usually what my tv is tuned to while I clean, scrap, or just chill. Well, one day, my favorite chef (Giada De Laurentiis of 'Giada at Home' and 'Everyday Italian') made the most delicious looking thing called 'Eggplant Timbale.' Here is a picture of HER dish!!! Isn't it gorgeous?!!!

So I knew I had to try this. Brandon and I do not eat eggplant very much, but I have to say this was FABULOUS!!! The eggplant is sliced and grilled. It makes it so sweet tasting. If you think you do not like eggplant, you need to give this dish a go, because it may just change your mind. The whole idea of the dish is that it is a 'pie' almost, except you eat it for the main course instead of dessert. You create a 'eggplant shell' around a pasta mixture through the use of a spring form pan. I have to admit, I was a bit intimidated at first, but this really was so easy to prepare. It did take time, but it was so worth it! We both just adored it! I spent around $25 on the ingredients needed for the dish and I don't know about yall, but Brandon and I can rarely go out and eat for that. And for this, we have enough to have leftovers. The cheeses are the biggest expense. This has Pecorino Romano and Smoked Mozzarella in it. I paid about $10+ just for that. I did make 2 tiny changes to our meal. I left out the peas because I do not like them. And instead of using 1/4 cup of Marsala wine, I used chicken stock. We are not wine drinkers in my house and I just did not see the point of buying a whole bottle of wine for a dish that called for a 1/4 cup. I know I can keep it and cook with it later, but I don't have any other recipes that use it. But I was still very proud of how my dish turned out. It was very flavorful, definitely different from the everyday. Mine does not stand up as well as hers did, but I'm thinking I should of let it 'rest' longer than I did. So here is what mine looked like once placed on the serving platter:

 I used our George Foreman Grill to grill the eggplant slices. I sprinkled extra Pecorino Romano cheese on top as well.

The pasta mixture inside was just heavenly!!! YUM! We are big pasta eaters in my house! LOL

So, all in all, for a first try, I was very pleased with this dish. Brandon and I both plan on cooking it again in the future. Next time, I want to try regular mozzarella cheese and I will definitely let it 'set' longer so it doesn't fall apart as easy.

Now, if you would like to try this for yourself, the recipe can be found HERE. I hope you will give it a try the next time you have a special occasion or just for an everyday meal. It is delicious!

See you guys later! Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Happy Scrappin'!