Eggplant, Tomato and Mozzarella Pasta with Mint

This was so unbelievably good - the pictures don't do it justice. I would eat it for a week straight. seriously. This is probably the best meal I have had in weeks - minus that crazily spicy appetizer I had at Char No. 4 that made my lips swell and my eyes tear up and that I think about while I lay in bed. Mmmm. hot.

I AGAIN found this in Real Simple. Shout out of thanks to Nicole for buying that bridal edition this summer which in turn got me a whole year free. The only thing I did differently was I used rigatoni instead of penne - sometimes I get tired of penne and like to change it up. You can use any type of pasta.

Serves 2 with leftovers
Ingredients

-1/2 box/bag of pasta
-olive oil
-1 medium eggplant cut into 1/2 inch pieces
-cherry tomatoes halved. I also used some cocktail tomatoes
-1 clove of sliced garlic
-crushed red pepper
-salt and black pepper
-fresh mozzarella cut into slices
-torn fresh mint leaves

Cook the pasta. While the water is heating up chop the necessary ingredients.

Heat some olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the eggplant and cook it until golden brown and tender - probably 8 to 10 minutes. Don't let it burn - keep it moving. Do the hustle! Add the tomatoes, garlic, red pepper and salt and pepper. The crushed red pepper gave it excellent heat while eating it, so base how much you add on how hot you like it - that's what she said. Toss all together for about 3 minutes or until pasta is done cooking.

Plate your pasta and add the skillet mixture on top with the mozzarella. Add any olive oil if necessary. Sprinkle the mint on top.

Wild Berry-Glazed Chicken with Spinach

This was a great dish! I again was inspired by something I saw in Real Simple, but I decided to change it up a little bit. The original recipe called for red-currant preserves instead of mixed berry preserves and golden raisins instead of candied pecans. I couldn't find red-currant preserves at the supermarket, although they did have black-currant preserves. I didn't know really what I was getting myself into though, and I fearfully pictured some horrendous tasting black chicken that would cause Dan to run for the hills. As for the pecans, well, I explain that below. They are DELICIOUS and I had to try it. So glad I did.



Ingredients (Serves 2):
-1/2 cup mixed-jelly preserves (or other type)
-a dash of crushed red pepper
-2 pieces of bone-in and skin-on chicken
-a few tbsps of olive oil
-salt and pepper
-1 clove of garlic sliced
-1/2 cup of candied pecans (recipe below) or golden raisins for ease
-1 5oz package of fresh spinach

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the preserves and red pepper.

Place the chicken on a rimmed baking sheet (my interpretation of this is a cake pan, am I wrong? oh well) and rub it with olive oil and season it with salt and pepper. Bake it until it is cooked through, probably about 30 minutes or more. After about 25 mins baste it with the jelly mixture. I just brushed mine on with a pastry brush.

While the chicken finishes cooking, heat some more olive oil in a large frying pan. Toss in the sliced garlic and let it cook for about 2 minutes. Enjoy the smell, mmmm. Add the spinach and toss it until it wilts. Serve this with the chicken and with the candied pecans on top. yum. yum. yum. GREAT meal.

Candied Pecans

I made these tonight. wow. I went to a wedding labor day weekend and in the salad were candied pecans. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a huggee salad fan. I can choke it down to be polite, but I have never in my life craved a salad. Or even wanted a salad. However, these pecans at Darby's wedding helped disguise, for me, the more ominous beings on my plate - like lettuce.

It is so easy too - I am definitely going to be making these around the holidays.

Steps
-Preheat the oven to 275/300. Have a cookie sheet ready with parchment paper on it.
-Beat one egg white in a bowl until it is stiff. If you don't know what that means you should look it up. It will take a few minutes.
-Add about 1/2 cup of brown sugar
-add about 1 tbsp of cinnamon
-add a dash of vanilla extract.
-mix together

-Add regular pecans to this mixture. (When I made it I only had one bag which is about 1 1/2 cups of pecans. Ideally you would want more like 3 bags since I definitely had a lot of "candy" on my "candied pecans." I think it would definitely be better with a smaller ratio between the mixture and the pecans. You can see from the pictures that I could have used more pecans.)

-Deposit on parchment paper and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or more if necessary. Enjoy! Great gift idea!

Green and Kidney Bean Pasta "Salad"

I threw this together the other weekend when Steph and Alan came - I just have been soooo busy that I hadn't posted. I found the recipe in Real Simple and basically followed it to a T - so not a Summer original.

I made this actually during that little heat wave, so it was kind of appropriate because it had a light "summer" (ahh thank yah, thank yah very much) feel to it.

It is a quick dish so do this when you are crunched for time.

Total time: 20 minutes. Serves 2
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Cook 4 ounces of penne. (Oppure, penne rigate per i chef italiani come me)
Add about a cup of halved green beans during the last 3 minutes or so of cooking. Drain. If you want this dish served cold, rinse with cold water. Otherwise set aside. Toss the pasta and green beans with 1 cup of rinsed kidney beans and chopped parsley (about 1/4 cup), grated Parm cheese (say 2 tbsp), 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix and eat.