Eggplant with tomatoes and avocado

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One of my favorite vegetables is the eggplant.  It is very versatile in my opinion and will hold up to almost anything you pair it with.  I call it the hamburger of the plant world.

Last week I purchased two of these purple beauties and promptly forgot about them.  Scavaging for something to eat last night I pulled them out and they were still very firm so I decided to use one.  I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, I had seen a recipe on Pinterest I liked, however a scan of my pins and likes did not reveal the recipe.  I decided to wing it.  Here is the recipe I came up with just using what I had on hand in the fridge.

Recipe: Eggplant with tomatoes and avocado (For 2)

1 large eggplant
1/2 cup Ham (cubed)  *Optional
2-3 tomatoes (Diced)
1/2 Avocado (Diced)
1/2 tsp Olive Oil
Garlic Salt

Slice the eggplant into 1/2 inch slices (about 5 slices).  In a skillet heat olive oil and add eggplant slices. Season with garlic salt to taste. Brown on both sides, remove from the pan and set aside.  To the pan add the ham and heat through, add the tomatoes and saute about a minute.  Finally add the avocado and heat till everything is warmed through.  Arrange the eggplant slices on a plate and top with the tomato and avocado mixture.  Top with Parmesan and serve.

Notes:
I say this is an 2 serving meal.  I used about 3 small tomatoes from my garden, this was my preference.  I used the two larger slices of eggplant for my husbands portion and 3 smaller slices for myself and split the tomato/avocado mixture evenly between the two.
I am not vegetarian so I used what ham was left in my fridge from making pizza the week before, so it is not an essential component.  Without the ham about one to two shakes of garlic salt per piece of eggplant should be enough seasoning.  The ham added more salt than I thought it would, so my first attempt, though good (even in my dear husbands opinion) was salty.  If using ham I would reduce the garlic salt used or use garlic powder instead.  I was very pleased with the  outcome though and think this is definitely a repeat dish in my house.  Now to figure out what to do with the other eggplant.

Brownie's, Cookies, Peanut Butter... Oh My!

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About time for my first post since creating this site.  My daily routine involves scrolling though my FaceBook catching up on the tales of my friends.  Today my son joined me and exclaimed, "can we make that!" as I scrolled past an image which even caught my eye.  I "liked" Reeses fanpage and today they showed a pan full of cookie dough topped with a Reeses Cup and then topped with a brownie....can we say "YUM"!  The idea I believe is found in the Pampered Chef Cookbook, but here is the link Reeses posted from Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/pin/76631631129669364/

Not my photo but it does do the process justice

Before the store could close and once the summer heat was back below 100 I went an bought the following:
1 bag of peanut butter cups (about 14 per bag)
1 boxed brownie mix 
1 rolled of refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough

Pick your favorite brand and go for it...really fool proof and very easy to do with your kids.

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray bottom of pan of choice with cooking spray.  

If you have a brownie pan break it out, but you could also use a cupcake pan or even a small cake pan.  If using one of the first two, cut the rolled cookie dough into 1/4 inch circles (just slice through the wrapper) and put into the pan.  If using a cake pan just cut the ends off the roll and remove the wrapper and put into the pan.  With washed hands, have your kids moosh the dough flat and into the corners of the pan so none of the bottom shows.  Surprisingly neither of my kids tried to eat the dough while doing this.  Next unwrap all the peanut butter cups and have the kids place one each of the cups of the pans or wherever they want if using the cake pan.  Final step.  Mix up your brownie mix according to the directions and spoon into each of the cups, leaving a 1/4 gap if possible for the brownies to rise.  I found I had leftover cookie dough and brownie mix so I pulled out a very small round cake pan and mooshed the extra dough into the bottom and covered in brownie mix. 

Bake for 22 minutes.  Let cool completely before turning pan out onto a cookie sheet.  They won't last long so make sure you hide some for yourself.

 I over filled my brownie pan... if you are like me and love the hard brownie edges, go ahead and fill the pan to the top with mix.  You may have to separate them.

 My husband said I should cut one open and show the results but....

 I think this result shows it better.... It was very delicious!