Onsa's Eggplant Tagine (p. 315)

We all know I'm not a big eggplant fan, but I think this is my last eggplant dish, so I'm okay with it. Plus, the pieces of eggplant and squash get fried pretty heavily olive oil, so that's always nice.

The eggplant needs to be salted and set aside to drain for about an hour -- the salt absorbs water from within the eggplant pieces which beads up to the top. After the hour has passed, rinse off the eggplant and dry them thoroughly.

This recipe is not vegetarian. Sauté small pieces of chicken with scallions in a little olive oil, and cover them with water to finish cooking the chicken thoroughly.

Once cooked, drain the water away and put the chicken and scallions in the food processor, along with capers, salt, and a little more olive oil. Blend until this has become a coarse paste.

Fry the eggplant as well as squash pieces in olive oil and set them aside to drain.

Lower the heat and cook a green pepper in the same pan until the skin begins to peel off.

To assemble the dish, layer in the half of the eggplant and squash pieces and put half of the chicken mixture on top. Sprinkle grated gruyere and top with a beaten egg. Then add the same layers again to use up the rest of the ingredients. Put the sliced, cooked pepper on top and cook for about 40 minutes.

I ate this stuffed in a toasted pita and really enjoyed it. It reminds me of a quiche and has a lot of flavor. The texture of the eggplant didn't even bother me!

gruyere cheese -- $7.05 (tons left)

chicken -- $.71

eggplant -- $3.47

green pepper -- $1.07

Total Cost of Onsa's Eggplant Tagine: $12.30

($4.10 per serving)

Fattoush (p. 87)

Fattoush is Lebanese Toasted Bread Salad and seemed like it would be a nice side with the steaks Matt made us last night (with a garlic, rosemary, and butter sauce -- yum!)

This comes together super fast since nothing needs to be cooked. Just toast some Arab flatbreads before hand, break them up, and toss them in the bottom of the bowl.

Layer in romaine lettuce, sliced radishes, scallions, cucumbers, pickles, tomatoes, and parsley (in that order) and top with a dressing of garlic, salt, lemon juice, and olive oil.

Wait to stir everything together until you're ready to eat so that the pita doesn't get soggy. 

This was scrumptious and I happily gobbled up the leftovers even though the pita was pretty soggy by that time. I'd eat this again for sure.

pitas -- $2.29 (6 are left)

romaine lettuce -- $1.69 (half of the head is left)

radishes -- $1.99 (most left)

scallions -- $.63 (half left)

cucumbers -- $1.25 (half left)

tomato -- $1.82

Total Cost of Fattoush: $9.67

($2.42 per serving)

Everyday Granola

I've been dying for homemade granola lately, so I emailed my friend Sarah over at a Little Fancy to ask for her favorite granola recipes. She sent me several and I decided on Everyday Granola from Bon Appetit because I didn't want anything too fancy.

It calls for shredded coconut, which I generally don't love but decided to include anyway. Sarah recommended that I pre-toast the coconut and oats, so I popped them in the oven for about 10 minutes before mixing in the honey mixture.

Once I mixed everything together with the spices and put it in the oven it smelled amazing. It also cooked much, much faster than the recipe said it would; after just 20 minutes it was already pretty brown and I was worried it would burn (or had already), so I took it out to cool.

Once cool, I mixed in the fruits, and then Matt and I sat there and gobbled it up. It definitely did burn, a little bit, but it's still delicious and we'll still finish it right up.

I ate it on my yogurt this morning and was quite the happy camper.

I'll make this again, but play around with the temperature and time.