raw eggplant manicotti

I have decided to serve one meal a week...raw. Now if you are an adult, it may sounds intriguing, even adventurous; but, if you are a kid, not so much. Or if you are my husband. Once a year, he says, is more than enough. Unfortunately for my family, the raw meal stays. At least for now. If they start withering away, I'll reevaluate.

Tonight I made a raw eggplant manicotti. 'Cooking' raw is actually quite easy and uncomplicated, as long as a plan is in place. The eggplant needed a few hours to marinate and a few hours to dehydrate. Dinner was actually ready on time.

I totally dug this dish, but my family collectively thought otherwise.

Baby steps.

Cost Breakdown:

eggplant: $2

sun-tom: $2

tomato: $2

nuts: $4

lemon: $.50

spices, herbs and oive oil: $4

Total to feed Mom thrice and Dad once:

$14.50

Raw Eggplant Manicotti Recipe

turkish lentils and chickpeas

Excellent meal!

It was easy to make, too. It would have been even easier had I used my food processor for the salad. In fact, the salad was the most time consuming part of this meal; everything was finely diced. It was only when I was three-quarters of the way through that the idea of a machine came to mind. The lentils were cooked with some eggplant, onion and carrot and then pureed. I added the chickpeas at the end. The Turkish salad has cucumber, onion, bell pepper and tomato with a red pepper dressing. The combination of the two was outstanding. A little heat by way of red chili flakes added some oomph. 

Cost Breakdown:

lentil: $.50

chickpea: $2

veggies: $4

pita: $2

lemon: $1

Total to feed a family of 5:

$9.50

Turkish Lentils and Chickpeas Recipe

Turkish Salad Recipe

roasted eggplant and leek on cornbread

Another Mikel pick. This is blue cornbread, with melted Daiya and Follow Your Heart, with roasted eggplant and leeks. Basil is the final touch. The cornbread is a wonderful touch - we baked them in a cast iron muffin pan. You have to foodsit (like babysit) the leeks while they are cooking, otherwise, this is a no-brainer, easy, tasty meal. This dish is practically out of Follow Your Heart cookbook by Janice Right.

eggplant parmesan

Italian Night!

If Mikel had to pick one food to take with him on deserted island, it would be this. It was a little challenging figuring out how to bread the eggplant without eggs and without frying it, but the answer is very simple - yogurt. A thin layer of soy yogurt and then the panko crumbs mixed with some fine bread crumbs and the result is crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside. The cheeze is a mix of Daiya and Follow Your Heart, and the sauce is homemade. With the exception of eldest daughter who would like this if it were not eggplant, we all dig this dish.