Eggplant and Chicken Polenta Casserole

I wanted to make something that would use up the ripe eggplants that my husband has been growing in his garden, but I make Eggplant Parmesan all the time, and I wanted a change. I searched for a recipe into which I could also incorporate some of his ripe tomatoes, sage, and fresh basil.  I found a recipe for Eggplant Polenta Casserole in my vegan "Forks Over Knives" cookbook, but since my husband wishes he could get more protein, I added a chicken breast and two eggs. (If you do it my way and add chicken, you will end up with about three cups of extra chicken broth that you can use for something later.)

Polenta:

The recipe called for five cups of water and 1 1/2 cups of cornmeal, but I didn't have cornmeal, so I improvised.

5 cups water

1 cup washed quinoa

1 cup flaxseed meal

dash of sea salt

(handful of mushrooms)

(1/2 cup of grated cheese)

(2 eggs)

I boiled 5 cups of water and gradually added the quinoa and flaxseed until the mixture was creamy. It took about 15-20 minutes, stirring often. Then, I added a dash of sea salt. Once that was finished, I put it into a glass mixing bowl and set it aside to work on the next part. (Before I put it all in the oven is when I beat two eggs, 1/2 cup of grated cheese, and the mushrooms into it.)

Casserole Filling:

1 large onion, diced

1 large bell pepper, diced

2 eggplants, diced (My husband's organic garden variety are about half the size of the steroidal ones you get at the grocery store.)

1/4 cup minced garlic

2 large tomatoes, diced

1 cup fresh, chopped basil

1 sage leaf, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Once I set aside the polenta from the cooking pan into the mixing bowl, I used the same pan to sear and then boil a frozen chicken breast. I boiled it in 3 cups of water for 10 minutes. While that was happening, I went ahead and chopped my onions, bell pepper, eggplant, and garlic. I came back to my chicken breast and let it rest on a plate while I converted the stock into a glass jar for using in soups later. I don't know why it looks cloudy in this picture, because it's actually translucent.

Then, I put my chopped vegetables into the same cooking pan and started sauteing them while I diced the chicken breast on its plate. After that, I diced the tomatoes and added them to the other vegetables and continued to saute (about 10 minutes overall). I preheated the oven for 350 degrees. While the vegetables were continuing to saute, I chopped the basil and one sage leaf and added them and the chopped chicken breast into a 9"x13" casserole dish.  Then I added the sauted vegetables to the casserole dish and tossed them all together. 

This is the point where I then beat two eggs, a handful of mushrooms, and 1/2 cup of grated cheese into the polenta. I poured the polenta on top of the vegetables and put them into the oven for 40 minutes. (You can see in the picture that I also sprinkled some dry basil on the top. That was just to make it more photogenic.)

After 40 minutes, I opened the door to take this picture, but then I turned the stove off and let the whole thing cool down on its own--Free cooking energy! (I also burned my finger when I pulled the shelf out to take the pictures, and I'm icing it while I type. . .which is so annoying, and I don't recommend it!)

The End.

Chanel Inspired: Striped Sweater

Okay, so this is another one that's really loosely based on Chanel. Anyways, I've been seeing sweaters for fall and winter that have shorter sleeves than you'd expect. I'd been working on this sweater for about two weeks, off and on, whenever my husband and I watched T.V.  I made this sweater from the leftover yarn I still had after the "Baby Boom of '13" as I'm calling it. (Of the 250 people at my church, 10 women will have had babies this year. I made them all mother/baby hat sets, and I had a ton of leftover yarn. Hence, the sweater.)

Basically, I knitted five panels. Two sleeves, two large panels for the body, and one for the neck. Then, stitched them all together. 

(I did other things too, like tapering in the body panels at the top to avoid the shoulders hanging off, folding the "fabric" over to create tubular edges, and tapering the top hems of the sleeves so they hang at an angle.)

This sweater is super bulky, so I will definitely not travel with it! It takes up almost half my carry on!

I lifted the sleeve to show how I matched up the colors on the seams on the sides.

The End!