SickaCook-A-Mania!

I made my own pie crust!!! This is very exciting. I am still sick, but I feel better. I will definitely be at work tomorrow. Even though I'm sick, cooking is still such a release to me and I was excited to finally cook these two recipes. I had an eggplant I had to cook before it went back, so I made eggplant Parmesan and I've been wanting to make this Tomato Corn Pie ever since I saw it in Gourmet and on Gretchen's blog. The first thing I did was make the Eggplant Parmesan.

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup plain dry breadcrumbs
• 3/4 cup finely grated Parmesan, plus 2 tablespoons for topping
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 cup of flour
  
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 jar of Tomato Sauce
  
• 2 large eggplants (2 1/2 pounds total), peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On three plates, set up an assembly line- whisk together eggs and 2 tablespoons milk. In another bowl, combine breadcrumbs, 3/4 cup Parmesan, oregano, and basil; season with salt and pepper, on the other plate, combine flour and salt and pepper.
2. First, put eggplant in flour, then dip eggplant slices in egg mixture, letting excess drip off, then dredge in breadcrumb mixture, coating well; then pan fry in a hot skillet.
3. Spread 2 cups sauce in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Arrange half the eggplant in dish; cover with 2 cups sauce, then 1/2 cup mozzarella. Repeat with remaining eggplant, sauce, and mozzarella; sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan. Bake until sauce is bubbling and cheese is melted, 25-30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

This was soooo tasty! I've made eggplant parm a million times, but I've never made it by using the three step method of flour, eggwash and breadcrumbs. Usually I grill the eggplant first. But this way made the eggplant taste much tastier!

The next thing I made was a Tomato and Corn Pie adapted from Gourmet. The one thing I totally forgot to add was the mayonaisse and lemon. (Maybe that wasn't an accident since I'm not the biggest fan of mayonaisse!) I also used skim milk because I didn't have whole. If you want the original recipe, you can find it here.

Tomato and Corn Pie

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 3/4 teaspoons salt, divided
• 3/4 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, plus 2 teaspoons melted
• 3/4 cup skim milk
• 1 3/4 lb beefsteak tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups corn (I used frozen, steamed)
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped green onions
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
• 1 cup grated sharp Cheddar (1 3/4 cups), divided

• 
  
  Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 3/4 tsp salt in a bowl, then blend in cold butter (3/4 stick) in a food processor. Add milk, stirring until mixture just forms a dough, then gather into a ball.
  
• 
  
  Divide dough in half roll out on counter top with flour.
  
• 
  
  Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle.
• 
  
  Peel tomatoes, then slice crosswise 1/4 inch thick.
• 
  
  Arrange half of tomatoes in crust, overlapping, and sprinkle with half of corn, 1/2 Tbsp green onions, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp pepper.
• 
  
  Repeat layering with remaining tomatoes, corn, green onions, salt, and pepper, then sprinkle with 1 cup cheese.

• 
  
  Roll out remaining piece of dough into a 12-inch round in same manner, then fit over filling, folding overhang under edge of bottom crust and pinching edge to seal.
• 
  
  Cut 4 steam vents in top crust and brush crust with melted butter (2 tsp).
• 
  
  Bake pie until crust is golden and filling is bubbling, 30 to 35 minutes, then cool on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Dave thought this was one of the best dishes and that the pie crust tasted really fresh. Making crust was easy, I will definitely do it again!

My dinner plate:
And last but not least, I wanted to make these Trailmix cookies, but Dave took the trailmix that was on the counter for his lunch. See what happens when I don't pack his lunch! So I basically made these cookies, only without any nuts and instead of trail mix, I added M & Ms and dried cranberries (all I had!)

M&M, Oatmeal, Dried Fruit Cookies

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
• 1/2 cup of M & Ms
• 1/4 cup of dried cranberry

Mix first 6 ingredients in bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars in large bowl until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until mixture is fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low; beat in flour mixture until just combined. Fold in oats, M&Ms, dried fruit and coconut.

Using 2-inch-diameter ice cream scoop, drop dough onto sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Do Ahead For ready-to-bake dough, freeze dough on sheets until firm.

Preheat oven to 350°F. For freshly made cookie dough, bake until cookies are golden brown, about 13 minutes. (For frozen dough, arrange frozen cookies 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets; bake until golden brown, about 16 minutes.) Transfer to racks to cool.

These tasted great, but came out HUGE. I even used an ice cream scoop. They also came out pretty flat. Maybe I forgot some ingredient... who knows.

Okay its 6:30pm and I am going to get ready for bed. I NEED TO BE HEALTHY TOMORROW!