Fried eggplant with a roasted red pepper and mushroom sauce.

This is one of my all time favorite meals! It is meatless, but it fills me up every time.  The eggplant is fried so that is not the most healthy thing in the world, but it is better than a lot of things! The taste is so worth it as a treat meal sometimes, plus a good eggplant only comes around every once in awhile where I live so  - I make the best of it, it's a little like a celebration to me. I had some more asparagus with this meal because I got a lot in my Bountiful Basket this last time.  If you want to see how I made it you can look at the "This isn't exactly what you would call meatloaf post." 

The sauce is a much brighter red in real life, but you know I did take the pictures on my phone. 

You will need:

For the Sauce: 

Butter

Olive Oil

Cooking Wine 

Garlic 

Onions

Herbs

Mushrooms

A jar of red peppers (they are normally pretty expensive, but my husband found these at the dollar tree and got a bunch for me) 

Pepper 

Parmesan or Asiago Cheese

For the Eggplant:

Eggplant

Whole wheat bread 

Almonds (optional)

Herbs 

Salt and Pepper 

Flour 

Eggs 

Noodles 

Your favorite brand of Whole Grain noodles - I used Barrilla Whole Grain thin spaghetti. 

Salt 

Olive Oil 

water - duh. 

Cut the ends off the eggplant.

Slice the eggplant into really thin slices.  If they are too thick they will be gummy, and bland and not crispy and yummy. 

Add about 5-6 slices of bread, salt and pepper, herbs, and almonds to the food processor. 

Blend until they are bread crumby, it will be a little wet because it's not dried like bread crumbs. 

Crack 5-7 eggs and add some milk in a shallow pan or dish.

In a shallow dishes assemble a breading line. In the first one put flour, in the second your milk and eggs all mixed up, and finally the bread crumb mixture. 

First coat the eggplant in flour and shake off the excess. 

Coat in egg. 

And finally in the breadcrumbs.

Cover both sides and set aside. 

I like to put them on a cookie sheet and set them aside for when it's time to fry them.  It makes it go by really fast.
It's time to start the sauce. 

Smash up 4-5 cloves of garlic to make it easier to get the paper off. 

Slice up garlic, onion, and mushrooms. 

Soften the onions and garlic, add about 1/4 cup wine.

Add the mushroom and red peppers and wait for them to soften a little bit, add some chicken broth and allow it to soften a little more until all the mushrooms, onions, garlic, and peppers are all softened 

Add cheese, pepper, and herbs to a food processor. 

Blend all together until smooth. 

Place back in a pan to keep warm on low heat, add more chicken broth to sauce to get the desired thickness.  The sauce is seriously so much better looking in real life... A whole lot more red.  Plus it smells amazing. 

Heat oil in a frying pan, either on the stove or just one of these bad boys.  Test the heat by adding some of the bread crumbs in to see if the oil bubbles when you add it. 

When one side is browned, flip it over. 

Drain on some paper towels to let some of grease drain off. 

Add over your spaghetti or pasta and cover in the sauce! 

You will never miss the meat, at least I don't. 

Loaded quesadillas with pineapple salsa!

Loaded quesadillas with pineapple salsa

These were pretty yummy, I could hardly believe they were good for me! They take just minutes to put together and cook-  the prep work is the worst! 

You will need: 
For the Pineapple Salsa:
Pineapple                                                                
Red Onion
Green Onions
A hot pepper
Spices of your choice
Cilantro
Butter
Olive Oil
For the Tomato Salsa:

Roma tomatoes 

Hot peppers 

Yellow or white onion 

Lime 

Cilantro 

Spices 

For the Rest

Whole grain tortillas without lard 

Cheese (any kind that melts well, I used cheddar because I had some) 

Green and hot peppers 

Zucchini 

Mushrooms

Olives 

Chicken

Sour Cream

wine (optional) 

Chicken broth (optional) 

                                                              

Prep Work - This would have been a lot of fun with someone helping me... 

Quarter and seed your roma tomatoes, otherwise the salsa will have too much water in it. I used three.  

Blend with about a quaurter of an onion, hot pepper to your taste (I used half of an anaheim without the seeds -  a slightly spicy but not very hot), Spices (I used Cumin, paprika, chili powder, and salt and pepper), Lime juice (Use about the juice of two for a batch this big),  and cilantro (I used a handful). Use plenty of salt. 

Shred cheese and cube chicken (boring I know) 

Slice up zucchini, mushrooms, some green peppers, some hot peppers and onions. 

Chop up red onions, green onions, cilantro, and some hot pepper  to be ready for  your pineapple salsa. Also some olives. 

Chop up some pineapple. 

Heat your pan with olive oil and butter in it. 

Wait until it's bubbling. 

Add your pineapple. 

Cook until browning and getting soft. 

Mix it in with the rest of the ingredients - set aside. I also added some red pepper flakes later to add a dash of red color. 

Throw in your chicken cubes. 

Loosen the browning bottom with wine or chicken broth

Take out your chicken. 

Clean the bottom again with some chicken broth, water, or wine. 

Add all your veggies. 

Add a little more olive if needed to help them soften up. 

Add your favorite spicy spices -I used cumin, paprika, cayenne, chili powder, and salt and pepper

Mix it all up.  

Cook until onions and mushrooms are getting soft. 

We have all our stuff 

I know this mexican food looks cheesy on this plate - But all my plates are in storage... so :(...
Sprinkle the cheese on the tortilla. 

Add all your filling

Little more cheese - it acts as the glue to hold it together. 

Onto a grill or in a heated pan it goes.  I like to use the george forman because I don't have to flip it, and wheat tortillas have a hard time staying together.  If you want some more browning you can rub oil or butter on the tortilla, but I just spray it with some olive oil and it turns out well. 

Get it all toasty brown. 

Cut it up how your like. 

Make it look all nice with your toppings. 

This is Derek's revision of it after I gave it to him. 

They must have tasted all right because he nearly ate the whole thing before taking off his coat or his backpack.  Such a cutie I have for a husband, I love him... More than I loved these quesadillas.  And they were really yummy.