canela's kitchen

65 minutes

I love eggplant parmesan but I rarely ever make it. I had great plans when I created my meal plan this week, but then, I came down with my grandson's virus. Luckily, the other rescued our family by making his famous eggplant parm so I wouldn't infect the entire house. I had been hearing about his eggplant parm from his ex-girlfriend Wendye, whom I've become friends with. 4 years and lots of meals later, he had never prepared it for me, so this was definitely a treat. Of course, because I can't have gluten, his traditional recipe was modified for my consumption.

The rest of the family had theirs on a hero from the bakery at the market, while I had mine on a Schar Gluten-Free Baguette. Let me tell you, Schar makes the BEST commercial GF baguettes and heros I have had so far. Baked for 7-9 minutes, they are crunchy on the outside, soft in the inside, and simply wonderful. I love them with oil and vinegar, as a sandwich loaf or as garlic bread to serve with pasta.

Even though Jarobi made the parm in my photo, I am going to give you my personal recipe. And as always, this is 100% Gluten-Free.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 eggplants, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices

1 tablespoon salt

1 cup Schar Gluten-Free Bread Crumbs

1 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Baking Flour

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided

2 eggs, beaten

1 (28 oz,) jar of tomato basil or marinara sauce

1 (16 oz) bag shredded, low-fat, skim milk mozzarella cheese

Olive Oil for Frying

Schar Gluten-Free Baguette, for serving

Directions

Add eggplant to bowl with sea salt and water. Allow to sit for 30 minutes - 1 hour. This will prevent the eggplant from browning.

Place bread crumbs and flour on seperate plates.

Preheat oven to 350.

Remove eggplant from water and pat dry with a paper towel.

Dip eggplant in GF flour.

Dip in egg to coat both sides.

The dip in bread crumbs to coat both sides.

Fry eggplant in olive oil on stove top, 2 - 3 minutes per side.

Remove from oil and set on paper towel to drain.

When all the eggplant is finished, place a layer of eggplant in a baking dish. Start with a layer of sauce, then alternate with layers of cheese, sauce and eggplant.

Last layer should be mozzarella and parmesan.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

Remove from oven.

Heat hero or baguette in the oven until desired crispness or according to package directions.

Fill baguette or hero with parm.

Serve immediately.

55 minutes

So I live with a man who doesn't like traditional breakfast in the morning. His reasoning makes sense... most breakfast foods are full of carbs which lead to a false sense of energy and hard crash during the busiest part of the work day. Needless to say, breakfast is always an adventure in our house. Not to say we don't sometimes indulge in pancakes and french toast from time to time - but usually, we have something savory with an egg for a little protein.

I found this little ditty on Pinterest via HummusSapien. Super easy, super simple, and 4 ingredients. The day I decided to make this, I didn't have any salsa in the house. What I did have, were tomatoes, red onion and cilantro. I had ordered 1 tomato from Instacart, and the shopper accidentally sent me 1 lb of tomatoes. So yeah... I had tomatoes. After dropping off my grandson at day care, I stopped into my favorite bodega for a cup of coffee and decided to grab a couple of jalepeno peppers and a lime. The result, was fresh pico de gallo to make this recipe even MORE YUMMY than I could have imaginesd. Also, I used baked organic yams instead of sweet potatoes. We like our eggs a little runny, and an over medium egg was the perfect topper for this delectable concoction. If you prefer your eggs cooked all the way through, fried won't be horrible, but it sucks to be you that you can't taste the deliciousness that is the runny egg mixed with the salsa and potato. Think of it as a heuvos rancheros, without the beans and tortilla - only sweeter. ^_^

Ingredients

2 yams, baked

1 avocado, ripe

1/2 cup fresh pico de gallo

2 eggs, to order (over-easy, over-medium or fried)

Directions

Wrap yams in foil and bake in the oven at 400 F for 1 hour.

Prepare pico de gallo, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Slice avocado and set aside.

When the potatoes are done, remove from the oven and place on a plate to serve.

Cut the potato open using a butter knife, then mash the insides with the knife blade until the potato is nice and open.

Place a nice dollop of pico de gallo on the potato.

Top with 3-4 slices of avocado.

Cook egg to order.

For Over-medium eggs; heat a pat of butter, or 1 tbsp of olive oil in pan until hot, being careful not to burn it.

Crack egg into the pan, seasoning with sea salt and pepper, allowing the egg white to set.

This will take approximately 2 minutes.

Add 1 tbsp of water and cover.

Cook for 1 minute and remove.

Top loaded potato with egg.

Serve immediately.