Eggplant Parmesan

You might need to check your jealousy at the door. Unless you aren't a big fan of quality girl time, grown-up slushies, or fantastic food...in that case, read on, oh cold-hearted.

A few weeks ago, a good friend (who is working her butt off in PT grad school) migrated south from Seattle for a much need R&R in her hometown. This, of course, meant fro yo, quality conversation time, debriefings on life, and a date with our favorite person ever: Cari.

You can't have a girl's night without a little vodka, lots of laughter, and good home-cooking. Am I right, or am I right?

Enter Eggplant Parmesan.

Neither of us had ever made this dish before, but there's a first for everything...and our grown-up slushies gave us the extra boost of confidence we needed (if we were lacking any).

Needless to say, it was a success.

As always, we made our voices hoarse from talking, had sore cheeks from laughing and smiling, and left with the feeling that we are so blessed to have such great people as friends.

Ingredients:

1 eggplant, peeled and sliced

1 egg, beaten

2 cups Italian breadcrumbs

3 cups spaghetti sauce

8 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/4 Parmesan cheese

Italian seasoning

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Dip eggplant slices in egg, then in breadcrumbs. Place eggplant in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes on each side.

In a 9x9 dish, spread half of the spaghetti sauce on bottom. Place a layer of eggplant slices on top of sauce, sprinkle with cheeses. Repeat with sauce, eggplant, and end with cheeses. Sprinkle Italian seasoning on top and bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown.

Zucch.

I present to you the mother of all zucchinis...and there were TWO of these monsters.

It is time for a baking transformation. Zucchini bread (lots and lots) here we cooooooome!

Bakery Dreams

I may be running hard and training a lot for the upcoming half marathon, but I've also been eating goooood and making up for all that running. That's how it works, right? You run and workout so you can eat extra dessert, right? I'm pretty sure that's why I choose to be active.

My mom is incredible. Baking runs in our blood. It's a Giorgi/Heinz thing.

She recently created Margarita Cupcakes (picture tangy fresh lime cupcake with lime margarita frosting, crushed pretzels on the bottom and sprinkled on top) that were amazing.

Then, we fell in love with a Caffe Latte cupcake from a local cupcake bakery and the hunt for a similar recipe was on...and we take these recipe hunts very seriously.

Well, the hunt ended on Monday. My mom created a homemade chocolate cupcake with espresso buttercream frosting. Incredible. Seriously, the best cupcake that has even been baked in the Stow Canyon kitchen.

Confession: I ate one for breakfast the next morning.

My dream of owning a bakery or selling pies/cakes/cupcakes out of my kitchen (or a roving van??) will become a reality. Someday. And I know who my co-owner will be...my mom.

Start placing your orders!

Peru

My friend is living the South American life...and she's living it well.
She's down there for a few months working for a travel agency, Peru For Less, and recently got an article published!
So proud.

www.enperublog.com/2010/08/13/from-lima-to-the-rock-gardens-of-marcahausi/

Of course, I can't wait for her to return to the states, but I'll have to wait a bit longer to see her face-to-face. For now, I live vicariously through her adventures and photos. Peru is beautiful. Hmm, looks like I just added another country to my loooong list of countries that I would like to visit someday...

Current obsession?

Cilantro and Jalapeno Hummus from Trader Joe's.

It's good.

It's really good.

Especially with these:

The right way.

Today, I woke up the right way.
Okay, so technically, the right way would have been getting my lazy bum out of bed and to the gym with errands and a grocery store run thrown in there all before 11am BUT that didn't happen. Or maybe a beautiful morning hike with a breakfast date to follow would have been the right way.
Hmm, there are so many "right ways" but today I woke up the way my poor body needed to be woken up: no alarm clock (well, there was one but it got "dismissed"), light streaming in the window, and a leisurely sloth-like pace of eating breakfast and checking e-mails with a big mug of green tea. Ahh, this is the life.
Of course, the past few days have consisted of me getting up before the sun rises, running, babysitting, working, babysitting, chasing kids, babysitting, and being a social butterfly with friends who are leaving me soon. And the next 5 days consist of the very same activities, so today's morning of leisure is not one that will be repeated for a while...maybe that's why I'm taking my time getting out of my pajamas. Denial. I'm in denial.
We all know that I secretly love the busy, productive life, but these times of relaxation sure are wonderful!

RFKC

My voice may be raspy, my shoes coated in layers of dust, and my eyes heavy with tiredness (is that even a word??), but I would gladly drive back up the 154 and do camp for a second week if it was an option. Heck, I'd probably even do it for a third and fourth week.

I am so incredibly thankful that I was able to make it to Royal Family Kid's Camp this year. Seriously. For the past 4 summers I have been sad that I wasn't able to participate but I don't think I realized how MUCH I was missing it. Looking back, I'm not quite sure how I was able to go FOUR years without being at camp. I love teaching summer school, but nothing compares to spending 5 full days loving kids who have gone through unimagineable pain and pouring into them while they pour into you. I am definitely praying that in the summers to come, school will continue to get out in early June so that I can teach summer school before RFKC...otherwise, I'll just have to say no to summer school because RFKC is just a little closer to my heart. :)

The kids are sweet, funny, dramatic, wacky, goofy, thoughtful, spontaneous, wounded, hurting, energetic, innocent, amazing...and it breaks my heart that most of them are living with foster parents who don't genuinely care about them or that they are living a yo-yo life where they shuffle from foster home to foster home without consistent support and stability.

Pray for these kids.
And pray for the group of us who will continue to reach out to these kids through the Royal Friends' Club!!