Well it has certainly been awhile ya’ll. I have to say, being pregnant has certainly knocked me off of my feet literally for the past two months and I haven’t been posting as much as I would have liked, due to the fact that every smell and word about food made me run away or feel nauseated. I still have my moments, but today was the first time in awhile that I had inspiration to cook something fresh and seasonal. I had a craving for some fresh homemade bruschetta with those little pearly mozzarella things and some balsamic drizzled over it with some crusty bread… so I got cooking and came up with this easy cheesy recipe. It is to die for and I warn you now it will be hard to keep your hands and mouth off of it. You’ll be lucky if anyone else in the house gets a bite. I’m going downstairs now as I say this to get another slice of bruschetta before I start uploading the photos!

So, now that we have that out of the way (mmm this is so good!), I’m not sure how frequent I will be posting recipes in the upcoming months, but hopefully good things will come and this nausea will soon pass and I will have new energy for sharing some recipes. For now, I leave you all with this trusty recipe for my chopped bruschetta… when all else fails and its too hot and humid to eat anything else, you can’t go wrong with this. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

You will need:
1 loaf of french bread or a large french baguette
8 Roma tomatoes
1-2 large cloves of garlic
5-6 fresh basil leaves
1 package of Bel Gioioso fresh Mozzarella pearls
Balsamic vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt
black pepper

Step 1: Rinse and chop Roma tomatoes and place in a medium size serving bowl or plastic bowl, whatever you have on hand and don’t have to bend over to pick up.

Step 2: Mince the garlic cloves and add to the tomatoes.

Step 3: Break apart the Bel Gioioso Mozzarella pearls and then add them to the tomato mixture.

Step 4: Pick 5-6 large basil leaves and rinse them. Then pat dry with paper towels. Stack leaves and roll up lengthwise. Cut diagonally with a knife and spread strips apart with fingers. Then roughly chop strips and add basil leaves to the tomato mixture.

Step 5: Add the vinaigrette in this order – olive oil, balsamic vinegar, kosher salt, black pepper. Drizzle ingredients over the top and then mix with a spoon until all the ingredients are well coated with the mixture.

Step 6: This is the best part…now slice the french bread into thick slices and top with a heaping spoonful of the mixture. Then enjoy it. I recommend covering the bowl with plastic wrap and marinating for a few hours in the fridge before serving. Also if you want to be more fancy you can toast the baguette slice in the oven and then top with the bruschetta mixture. But, in my pregnant world, this worked just fine cold and without toasting the bread. Enjoy!

I’ve been on an Asiago cheese kick lately… it’s such a refreshing alternative to Mozzarella, Provolone, or Parmesan. Those subtle hints of smoked flavor as well as a bit of sharpness and bite to the cheese makes it lovely to add as a garnish or to deepen or enhance flavors, which is how I used it in this particular recipe. It was love at first taste with me and Asiago… I’m sure you will have a similar encounter!

Meat Stuffed Shells
Makes approximately 18 stuffed shells

3/4 – 1 lb. lean ground beef
3 links of Italian sweet sausage, removed from the casing (may use hot sausage as well… i just accidentally pulled out the sweet from the freezer, but either works!)
2 large cloves of garlic
salt and black pepper
olive oil
Red pepper flakes
Fresh basil leaves (8- 10 leaves)
Dried oregano
1 small onion or shallot, chopped finely
1 c. Asiago cheese, grated
1/2 c. Romano cheese, grated
1 package of Jumbo shell noodles
1 jar of Dellalo brand Pink Vodka Sauce (feel free to use any regular spaghetti sauce for this, I just wanted to spice up the dish a bit, so I used something a little less traditional)

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I love, love, love pizza made with all kinds of different flat breads (pitas, naan bread, lavosh, etc.)…. it just never gets old with me, not to mention its so easy to make and you can literally put almost anything on it and it tastes wonderful. Here is a quick and easy idea if your feeling a bit “Greek” for the day.

P.S. Sorry about some of the photos, it was really dark out when I made this, so I didn’t have very much light.

Ingredients: yields one pizza (feeds about 3 ppl., I usually make two)

1/2 lb. of ground lamb or beef
olive oil
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1/2 lb. grated mozzarella cheese
feta cheese (about 1/4 c. crumbled)
Mushrooms
Jalapeno
Kosher or Sea Salt
Black pepper

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As promised, here is a photo of the crock pot Chicken Cacciatore recipe I posted last week for those of you who are curious as to what it is supposed to look like. After posting the recipe, which I’ve made several times, I got so hungry for it, I made it for dinner that week. It was still just as delicious as every time I make it.

Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore

Eggplant Parmesan was something I never appreciated as a kid, but now it is a dish of my mother’s that I savor. Well, maybe the more appropriate term is more like devour… but this dish is delicious just the same! It is a great alternative to chicken Parmesan (which is made the exact same way, but with a pounded chicken breast instead of a slice of eggplant). This is also a great vegetarian dish and the breading can also be substituted for gluten free ingredients, which I will show you in the recipe below. Hope you enjoy this yummy dish, and try not to eat the whole pan!

Step 1: Prep 2 eggplants by peeling the purple skin off and then slicing it down into about 1/2 inch thick slices.

Step 2: Arrange the sliced eggplant into a shallow dish stacking the slices on top of each other if necessary. You may need to use two dishes to fit all the slices from both eggplants (I used two pie plates).

Step 3: Pour milk over the eggplant slices enough to just about cover them. Let the eggplant soak in the milk for 1-3 hours (the longer the better). This will help mellow some of the bitterness.

Step 4: Once the eggplant is done soaking, fill one bowl with some all-purpose flour (or Gluten free all-purpose flour), another bowl with about 4 whipped eggs, and a third bowl with Italian seasoned breadcrumbs (or crushed corn flakes for a gluten free version. Line the three bowls up in this order: Flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs. Then spread some tomato sauce into the bottom of two baking pans like you see in the picture… just enough to coat the bottom of it to keep the eggplant from sticking. Once you have your bowls lined up use a fork to stab a slice of eggplant and dip first in the flour and coat all sides of the eggplant slice, then dip into the eggs, then dip into the breadcrumbs and set on a plate. Repeat the process until all the eggplant slices are coated.

Step 5: Heat a large skillet over meadium heat with a fairly generous amount of canola or olive oil coating the bottom of the skillet. Place 4-5 slices of eggplant in the pan and brown both sides (about 1 minutes or so per side).

Step 6: Remove browned eggplant slices and place onto several sheets of paper towel to soak up some of the oil. Pat some of the excess oil from the top and let them cool off. Repeat the frying and paper towel process until all the slices are done.

Step 7: Place the sliced eggplant in the baking pans with the sauce from earlier. Layer them on top of each other as shown in the photo (should make about 2 layers per pan).

Step 8: Pour the remaining sauce over the top of the eggplant slices and then cover each pan with foil. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Step 9: Meanwhile, grate some provolone cheese (probably about 1/2 lb.). Set the cheese aside in a bowl or on a plate and try not to eat it all.

Step 10: The last 5 minutes of baking, sprinkle on the provolone, and be generous… this is the best part! Make it ooey and gooey…then pop the pans back in the oven for the last 5 minutes of baking time and don’t take it out until all that cheese is melted all over!

Voila! You now have an amazingly delicious dinner to serve up to your family, for company, or to even eat all by yourself. Yes, once you taste this you will realize why its possible to think of high jacking the eggplant and running into a corner somewhere and eating it all by yourself! It pairs nice with just a simple salad. Enjoy!