On Thursday night, I was feeling lazy for dinner, so I just whipped up some raspberry pancakes. Pancakes have got to be the most boringest thing to take pics of though, lemme tell you (or to even blog about really)--plus there're so many variations that I'm almost to the point of thinking that new variations don't warrant a post (hence me jamming it in with a stuffed eggplant recipe--though I *DO* have to say, I actually contemplated trying to incorporate some Nutter Butters into a pancake recipe on Thursday until I realized that I would probably go into some sorta sugar coma--*THAT* would've totally warranted a blog entry though, heh heh)... Anyways, all I did with these babies was use a 1/2 batch of the standard pancake recipe from VwaV, taking out 1 t. of flour and subbing in 1 t. cocoa powder (next time 'round, I'm TOTALLY adding in semi-sweet chocolate chips as well 'cuz raspberries and chocolate are like a fricking gorgeous sin) and then tossing a handful of frozen raspberries in the mix. I kinda made them a bit runny, but they turned out ok anyways, and the raspberries were yummy. Yes yes.
As for the weekend, as I mentioned last week, I had a couple of white eggplants I had been hoping to make into stuffed eggplants. But by the time Saturday night rolled around, I had to can that idea since they were really soft and starting to look a bit hideous.
Determined to make stuffed eggplant anyways, I picked up a couple of plain ol' stupid normal ones at the market (*sigh*). But they worked quite well, thankfully. I'm not quite sure I like stuffed eggplant, to be honest (though I dug the stuffing itself, even moreso as left-overs the next day). It was kind of a pain in the butt trying to gut the eggplant without mangling the skins (that's why stuffed peppers rock--they're pretty much gutted for you). And I ended up just eating out the insides and not the skins anyways because they didn't taste all that kick-ass (despite the fact that I normally like eggplant skin a lot). The stuffing materials were yumtastic, but I think next time, I'd probably just stuff some stuffed peppers with them instead of eggplant.
Anyways, here be the recipe.
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 medium-sized eggplants
- 2-3 T. olive oil
- 2-4 cloves garlic
- 1 onion, diced
- 1/2 cube extra-firm tofu, crumbled
- 1/2 - 1 c. wild rice, cooked according to package directions
- Baby portabellas, about 10-12 (or 1/2 of a larger container of 'shroomies), diced
- About 6-8 roma tomatoes, diced
- 1/2 - 3/4 c. walnuts, toasted
- Sm. can diced tomatoes
- 1-2 t. all-purpose flour
- Homemade vegan pesto
DIRECTIONS:
Boil the eggplants for about 5-10 minutes. Once boiled, slice each eggplant in two and carefully scoop out the insides. Dice the insides and set aside.
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the onions and garlic and cook until softened. Add the tofu and about 1/2 the diced eggplant. Cook until the eggplant has softened some and the tofu has started to brown. Add the baby bellas and tomatoes and cook until just starting to soften. Season with some basil and seasoned salt, to taste. Toss in the walnuts and wild rice. Stir around and remove from heat.
Preheat oven to 375. Spray a pan of some sort with nonstick spray. Place your eggplant skins on top. Stuff your eggplant skins with the mixture from your skillet. You will probably have enough left over to stuff about 1/2 of another eggplant, so it's up to you what to do with it, of course (though you could very well just pack the shit out of them eggplants). Cook for about 30 minutes (or until the insides are sufficiently heated).
While the eggplants are cooking, toss your can of diced tomatoes into a small saucepan. Add the flour and stir. Season sauce to taste (I used some dried basil, seasoned salt, garlic, onion powder). Heat until hot. (You could, of course, alternately use some jarred spaghetti sauce or your own recipe.)
Serve eggplants with tomato sauce on top and a few little blurps of vegan pesto.
Serves 4.
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