Oh Saturday was such fun!! Scrapbooking from 9:30 a.m. until 11 p.m.! Mom and I had a blast, as we always do. I finished every project I took with me: a school album for Mazy for Christmas, a beginner word/photo album for Bo for Christmas and another album that I can use for a gift. Very productive day. It's always so fun to be in a huge room like that with hundreds of other people who share your hobby. You get great ideas, see cool new tools and stuff, and of course, have plenty of opportunity to stretch your legs and shop at all the vendors. And the food was good and plentiful -- always a plus for a pregnant woman.
Today, Bo and I both slept in until 9:45!! Holy cow, I haven't slept that late in ages. Thank you Shawn and Mazy for letting me. It was highly appreciated!
After eating a late breakfast, we all worked around the house for about an hour. Bo loves to sweep so that was his job. Mazy is a perfect gopher to run up and down stairs with books and toys. We're s-l-o-w-l-y getting things organized and ready for Christmas decorating later this week.
Around noon, I got it into my head to do some Iron Chef cooking with whatever I could find in the fridge, pantry and freezer. I started with a huge eggplant Shawn bought last week that I needed to use. I sliced it and salted it, and let it sit in the collander for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, I browned a pound of hamburger, cooked some white rice and sauteed some spinach. Once the eggplant was ready, I poured some olive oil, Italian seasonings and salt onto a cookie tray. Then I laid each eggplant piece down, coating each side with oil and spices, and baked it at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes and then flipped it and baked it another 20 minutes. As that was cooking, I used the rice as my "crust" and covered the bottom of a baking dish with it. Then poured spaghetti sauce over it. Next I layered the cooked hamburger, more sauce, then the sauteed spinach, and then topped it with the baked eggplant slices and covered it all with the rest of the sauce. I baked it for about 40 minutes.
Four big slices of eggplant would not fit on my cookie sheet, so I chopped them up, added about a cup of chopped onions and sauteed both in olive oil. Once they were translucent, I added some old red wine that's been in the fridge for months, some chicken stock, garlic and some of the dried shittake mushrooms I bought the other night. That cooked down for quite awhile. I got out the crockpot, threw in the rest of the sauteed spinach from the other recipe, added four boneless chicken breasts and then poured my concoction on top. It cooked all afternoon and smelled delicious! I made more rice (we're out of pasta and potatoes...) and put it in the fridge. Tomorrow night we'll have chicken with eggplant/spinach in wine sauce over rice, with baked asparagus.
We ate the rice/beef/eggplant "lasagna" tonight for supper with some dinner rolls. It was good! It's amazing what you can cook without dairy and still feel like you've eaten an Italian meal. I'm taking leftovers to work tomorrow. Mazy ate all his, with some complaints. But Bo wouldn't touch it. So he went to bed hungry. Little Prince is in for a rude awakening this week... After being sick for a week and being fed all his favorites and nothing else, he's turned into a picky eater. And that is going to stop now!
Whew, what a long post. Guess I better end before you all fall asleep. Busy Thanksgiving week ahead! Hope you all have plans to spend it with family and friends!
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