Mint & Eggplant
Penne with Eggplant, Tomatoes and Mozzarella was the dish for tonight. Limit the mozzarella to lessen the calories and buy whole grain pasta for higher nutrient value (check the ingredients, don't rely on the package advertising).
Mint was the herb in this dish that caught my attention. Its easy to grow on your own and adds a very fresh taste to the dish. Mint can help with stomach aches and chest pain. It has also been used to whiten teeth and is found in everything from tea to shampoo.
This dish was very tasty, juicy from the tomatoes, flavorful from the red pepper & garlic! There are lot's of colors and that's what I look for in my food, it makes it taste better, look better and I just know its full of vitamins and minerals!
Plant mint near a door to drive ants away or take it camping to repel mosquitos. This plant has many uses, from culinary to practical!!!
Magazines & Movies
Two places of inspiration merge into 1 wonderful project that I want to share with you!
This magazine subscription was a very thoughtful gift from a client. In October, they created not only a 5-day meal plan for each week, but a shopping list to match it. And each week is planned so that the ingredients which are most perishable are used earlier in the week. It wasn't tough getting Dave to agree to this new way of grocery shopping for the month.
After scanning the meals, I decided they seemed healthy & interesting enough to give it a try. After having seen Julie & Julia, about Julia Child and an aspiring and admiring young woman who cooked her way through Julia's cookbook, I felt inspired. Its not 500 + recipes, but just 20 :)
As I am learning these recipes, I am encountering new spices and ingredients already that I have used before, but did not know much about. So, for each meal I will choose one to highlight, just for fun!
This is a great way to force yourself to try some new meals. And the first weeks shopping totaled at $75 for enough food to make 5 dinners, 4 servings each, which is plenty for 2 people plus left-overs!
Each meal will link to the Living Simple Website, if you want to cook it yourself!
Meal 1 was Roasted Tilapia, Potatoes and Lemons
Thyme is an ingredient in this recipe that gave my kitchen a wonderful smell. I found some interesting information about this from Wikipedia. Not only did the Egyptians believe it to bring courage to warriors, but they placed it under their pillows at night to aid sleep and ward off nightmares. Thyme used at funerals was said to ensure the passing into the next life.
For cooking, it is a flavorful herb and blends well with other spices. Thymol, which makes up almost half of this plant is used in Listerine, can help with fungus and can ease bronchitis or a sore throat.
