Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Fantastic Black Bean Chili

Submitted by Kimberly Felix

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground turkey
3 (15 ounce) cans black beans, undrained
1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil leaves
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 tablespoon cumin

Heat the oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat; cook onion and garlic until onions are translucent. Add turkey and cook, stirring, until meat is brown. Stir in beans, tomatoes, chili powder, oregano, basil and vinegar. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 60 minutes or more, until flavors are well blended.

Note: I've made it with beef as well. The only change was draining some of the fat off after the meat browned.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Eggplant Parmesan

Submitted by Allie Jones

Ingredients:
1 huge eggplant (or 2 medium), peeled and sliced into about ½ inch slices
2 eggs, beaten, with a generous splash of milk, in a shallow bowl
2-3 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs, spread about ¼ inch thick on plate (start with a cup or so, and add more crumbs as needed while doing the eggplant dipping)
One jar and a half favorite spaghetti (tomato) sauce
1 (12 or 16 ounce) package mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
One small onion, sliced thinly
2-3 large cloves garlic, minced
~ 1 tblsp fresh rosemary, minced
~ tsp fresh thyme , minced
nutmeg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a skillet on low-med heat, sauté garlic, onions, rosemary and thyme in a generous amount of olive oil until onions “caramelized”

Dip eggplant slices in egg, then in bread crumbs until completely coated. Fry all eggplant slices up in a large skillet with olive oil, med-high heat, about 5 minutes per side (maybe more for thicker slices, less for really thin slices. NO matter what make sure eggplant is soft in middle before you remove). Place all fried eggplant rounds on paper towel to cool when done.

In a 9x13 inch baking dish spread spaghetti sauce to cover the bottom. Place a layer of eggplant slices in the sauce. Spread over top of eggplant all of the onion sauté. Sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Repeat layering with remaining ingredients, ending with the cheeses on top. Depending on size of your eggplant(s) you will have 2 or 3 total layers of eggplant. Sprinkle a little nutmeg on top.
Bake in preheated oven for about 35 minutes, or until golden brown.