Baba Ganoush

Have you ever heard of baba ganoush before??  It's a very interesting, yet very yummy eggplant dip.  I had never, ever tried it before making it on Sunday.  It ended up being wonderfully delicious, albeit a little different and weird at first!  Eggplants are definitely some of the weirdest veggies out there.  At the bottom of this page is a link to the printable version, as well as some nutritional information.

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Baba Ganoush-Orignial recipe from The Little Ferraro Kitchen

 Our ingredients for this are eggplants, garlic, paprika, cumin, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, and tahini.  Have you ever had tahini?  Me either until Sunday!  It's a sesame seed paste.

First, you want to wash your eggplant, and cut them lengthwise.

You also want to cut the top off of an entire head of garlic.  My garlic was starting to grow sprouts, some people would toss their garlic at this point, however, I used it anyway.

Lay your eggplant on a sheet of foil...

And wrap them up in foil.  You also want to wrap up the garlic in foil as well.  Put it on a baking sheet and slide it in the oven.  It doesn't take long until it will fill your entire house with a lovely garlicky smell!

Gross little suckers aren't they?!  Take a spoon and scrape your eggplant out.  You don't want any of the skin though, so be careful.  Scoop out the flesh and add it to your food processor, or blender.  You can also probably use a hand mixer, kitchen aid, or by hand with some elbow grease.

Anyone out there roast garlic before?  This is what happens, it turns into almost a paste.  You just squeeze the entire thing and it just gooshes out.  Because it's roasted it has a much milder flavor, not as harsh and strong as fresh garlic.  Just squeeze it in with the eggplant.

You'll want to shake your tahini, and add it to the garlic and eggplant.  This stuff is very interesting!  It tastes kind of like peanut butter, but more sesame-y.  We had a heck of a time finding it.  It wasn't at walmart, and when we got to our local Sunfresh, we didn't see it on the ethnic isle either.  In our grocery store there was ethnic foods on one side, and olives, pickles, and dressings on the other.  The tahini ended up being with the salad dressing.  So in case you decide to make this, you may have to do some searching for it!

I did this at my moms, so I just took my hand cranked food processor, this is everything, including the lemon juice, and spices, waiting to be processed!

Here is the final dip.  You put it in a bowl, drizzle it with a little olive oil, and sprinkle with paprika.

Like I said, this is a very interesting flavor.  When I first put it in my mouth, I was dismayed.  When it first hit my tongue, I didn't taste anything.  Then I started tasting everything!  It's very garlicky, not spicy, fairly creamy, and sort of earthy because of the tahini. I was very surprised that Rob really enjoyed this as well, though not as much as me.

Have you ever had baba ganoush before?

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes.

As I mentioned in my post on Friday, I’m turning 25 next month.  This type of birthday could trigger many, many different feelings.  Such as, but not limited too…

I’m getting old.

I have wrinkles.

I’m not a spring chicken anymore.

I may as well just buy a cane, and get it over with.

High waisted pants? Why not.

But, I’ve already decided not to focus on any of the negatives.  Instead, I want to be a woman who embraces getting older.  I have noticed some changes in myself though.  I’m learning there are things I want for myself and for my life.  One of these changes is in eating habits.  One of my goals for 2012 is to eat more colorfully.  Fruits and veggies, people, not m&m’s and skittles!

I've never been a picky eater.  I've always been willing to try anything, and growing up we always had salads, green beans, and I've always liked beets.  I may not have been in love with these things, but I ate them.  Then I met Rob, and his eating habits kind of rubbed off on me.  We ate out more, and when I cooked I made sure to avoid veggies at all costs.  Now I’m getting older, and I am realizing more and more that health is important.  I’m realizing organic would be ideal, and I am a big advocate for eating sustainable foods, and treating the animals you eat with kindness. There are a few problems though.  Although these things are good, and they are things I want to work towards, they are not possible for us right now.  What is possible is eating more vegetables, and fruits, and making better decisions when it comes to food in general.  This means some changes are coming to this blog!  You may be wondering, “What types of changes?”  Well, these types…

I’m going to be posting recipes at least once a week.

I plan to post healthy recipes, and maybe some far from healthy recipes.

I refuse to use low-fat, no-fat, and or fake ingredients, including margarine, or artificial sugars.  I think these foods are altogether bad for us, and I think we should eat butter…just not a stick at a time.

I plan to post nutritional information with all the recipes.

I plan on having step by step pictures to go with the recipes.

I plan on recipes that are not run of the mill (at least to me).  I like to try new foods, and I intend to make you try new foods too!

Sound like fun? Good, because here’s the first recipe!

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Oven Baked Spinach Chips

Original Recipe from: The Indolent Cook

This is such a simple, healthy, and ridiculously yummy snack.  Let me start by saying I really enjoy spinach.  It’s my favorite type of green to use for salads because, as far as I can tell, it doesn’t have a strong lettuce/green flavor.  The only thing I’m not crazy about are the stems.  I may or may not try to pluck them off.  However, I left them intact and ate them when I made them this way!

 Here are the items you need, extra virgin olive oil, and spices.  The original recipe called for garlic salt which I didn't have, so instead I used salt and garlic powder and then I went fairly heavy on the chili flakes. I really enjoy spicy foods.  I have no doubt these would be just as good just lightly salted, with or without pepper, or garlic powder.  Feel free to experiment.

You’ll want to wash and thoroughly dry your spinach, and in my case I went ahead and put it on my cookie sheet lined with aluminum to season.

I drizzled with olive oil, and then added my spices and mixed them in.

You want to make a layer with the leaves close together, maybe slightly overlapped, but not whole leaves on top of other leaves.

Then you just slide them in the oven and wait.

About 10 minutes later pull your cookie sheet out, and burn a finger plucking a leaf up.  They are completely firm, and incredibly delicate.  They literally just crumble and melt in your mouth.

Red & Green Christmas Cake Recipe!

I got an anonymous comment on my DIY Projects I Want To Accomplish... inquiring as to the recipe for the red and green Christmas cake.  I checked on pinterest, and the link went to here... Bakingdom You can follow the link and check out all the steps.  After looking at it I was definitely intrigued.  I have only briefly dabbled with fondant, but this would give me a great excuse to try something new I suppose!  You could definitely make this cake with a regular white cake mix, food coloring, and a white icing recipe.  Or you could challenge yourself and do the entire thing!  If there are other projects from my DIY project post you'd like, let me know and I'll give you the link, or if you'd like to try pinterest feel free to leave your e-mail address and I'll send you an invitation!