Procrastination Pro: Eggplant Parmesan

Well, it's exam time.  While I love being in Madrid and having the freedom to study by distance, finding a place to do external exams has been quite the unpleasant task.  Thankfully, everything has been sorted, I've already finished 2 exams out of 5, and with 3 remaining the only thing left to do is study.  

Anyway, as you can see, my studying has taken a tangent and somehow I've ended up breading aubergines.

Eggplant Parmesan 

(Great for dinner or for guilt-laden study breaks. )

1 eggplant, sliced in half then vertically. 

1 cup bread crumbs 

2 tbsp olive oil 

 Batter: 

1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup flour 

1/2 tsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp parsley

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp oregano 

salt + pepper to taste

To top eggplant: 

mozzarella cheese 

homemade pasta sauce   

After cutting eggplant, top with 1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt and allow the eggplant to "sweat" for 30 minutes.  

(I do get how gross that sounds.) 

Next, mix together the milk, vinegar, flour, and spices.  

When your eggplant has sat for 30 minutes, rinse off in water and soak slices in batter. 

 Bread eggplant with bread crumbs and heat pan with olive oil (medium heat). 

Transfer breaded eggplant to pan and cook for 2 - 3 minutes on each side.  

Finally, top crispy eggplant with sauce and mozzarella cheese and serve on top of pasta or a nice salad.

I will..

(Img. source, Badlands)

I should do a lot of things. Like get a hobby. Buy new headphones (again!). Drink less coffee and more water. Paint more. Take my drivers license. Send e-mails to certain people. Not worry too much. Talk more Spanish. Floss more. Look at University stuff. Clean my room and iron my clothes. Open up more. Learn how to play an instrument (more than one song). Travel more. Work out? Buy a new computer battery and also a new camera. Write more personal in my diary. Cut my hair. Post a letter.

Yes, there are a lot of things I should do. I will, someday. Not all at once, but sometimes it feels like I am dreaming away and just focusing on a few things. Knowing all of this though shows that I am aware after all. Time will come for all of that.

Just not today.

Stuffed Peppers!

Simple and delicious.  Stuffed peppers are great for cold comfort food days.  This recipe features some green peppers of an unknown name, but it also works well with bell peppers. 

Ingredients: 

Peppers, with the top cut off and cleaned inside

3 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion

1/2 lb ground beef

1 1/2 cup cooked rice

1/2 cup of chopped asparagus

Salt and pepper to taste

Season with curry powder or Italian herb spices.

Cut and clean peppers.  Bring large pot of water to boil.  Add peppers and several pinches of salt and boil for 3 minutes or so, until bright and slightly softened.  Preheat oven to 350F. In small pan, fry onion and olive oil until golden and translucent. Mix onion/oil mix with hamburger, rice and chopped asparagus. Season with salt, pepper and seasons of your choice. Stuff peppers with beef mixture and bake in oven for 30-50 minutes.

B&W

Banana Coconut Chickpea Curry

Banana and coconut on curry.

It probably sound a bit strange, but give it a chance. South Africa thinks it's great, you might too. 

Ingredients: 

1 large onion, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

1 tbsp butter

1 1/4 tbsp curry

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne powder

~1/2 cup milk

2 tbsp flour

1 can of chickpeas

salt and pepper

banana and/or coconut

Cook onion and red pepper in a pan on medium heat until golden.  In a different pan, mix butter with curry, cumin and cayenne powder.  Slowly add milk and flour mixing together well to avoid lumps, you can add more milk if you want extra sauce.  Next, add chickpeas and simmer on low heat until chickpeas are cooked.  Season with salt and pepper, and top with banana and coconut to serve. 

Enjoy! 

Post Exam Sugar Cookies!

My exams are finally over. It felt so good to spend the afternoon not studying, just making the cookies pictured.  My next few days are going to be entirely devoted to gluttony and Christmas food haha.  These sugar cookies are really simple and the icing is great for decorating.

Cookies:

1½ cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
6 tsp vanilla

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar

1-4 drops of lemon juice
1 tbsp light corn syrup
~1 tbsp milk

Cookies: Mix butter and sugar until well combined.  Add eggs, egg yolk and vanilla.  Next in a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients slowly.  Be careful not to overmix.  Now, refrigerate for 1-2 hours.  Pre-heat oven to 350F.  Cut cookies to about 1/2 inch thickness and bake until browned around the edges (about 8-10 minutes depending on your oven)

Icing: Combine powdered sugar, corn syrup and lemon juice.  Add milk to make desired consistency of icing. 

From: Iambaker

Rocky road

Don't forget to make your own Rocky road for Christmas! It's super simple to make and delicious. Also you can variate the filling with whatever you like. You can add all from fresh raspberries to dried apricots or different kinds of nuts. If your imagination takes over why not just make several batches and your holidays are saved!

I will make mine like these:

600 grams of dark chocolate
2 bags of diced toffee sweets
2 handfuls of chopped marshmallows
1,5 cups of salted peanuts
half a cup of pistachio nuts
half a cup of dried cranberries

First thing you got to do is to melt the chocolate on low heat over a water bath.
While the chocolate is melting chop the toffee, marshmallows and peel the pistachios. When the chocolate is liquid mix it together with all the ingredients. When all of it's coated spread it evenly in a baking tray. Then put the tray in the fridge Enjoy!

(Image source: frutimotej)