Hamburger and Eggplant Fries

I felt like something particular for dinner. I even knew what I wanted before I went to the grocery store to do the shopping. A hamburger and fries was the only thing I was in the mood for. Now as you know I attempt to be a little bit more health conscious about my food choices, so I made sure I grabbed extra lean ground beef and whole wheat buns and all the veggies a good burger needs!

As for the fries I decided on a less starchy veggie to use than good old fashioned potatoes. I instead went and grabbed a rather large eggplant. Eggplant fries are something I enjoy as much, if not more, as the potato version. Eggplant has less starch (ie carbs), calories, and if you use a healthier oil (such as olive oil), even breaded, you can feel a less guilty when you are busy stuffing your mouth full of them!


My hamburgers are pretty much along the same lines as most people's, I suspect, but I do add a few things to the meat mix that others might do differently. I like lean beef for my burgers (I've heard bison is very lean and much healthier than beef and tastes almost the same, but I have no idea as to where to get it nor have I ever had it). I put the meat in a large bowl, minced garlic (approx. 2 cloves) and salt & pepper to taste. I then take about 1/2 a cup of shredded cheddar cheese and mix it in to the meat. This makes it so I don't have to put cheese on top and I believe the fat from the cheese helps make the beef juicier, but I'm not entirely positive :).

Divide the burgers up and make them into patties. I don't remember where I read/saw it, but after you make the patties up use your thumb to make an indentation in the middle (be careful not to go all the way through or you'll end up with hamburger donuts!) and it'll help the hamburger patty from shrinking rather than use your spatula to flatten and let all the juice out.

From there cook and add condiments and veggies as you like.
Eggplant fries are something I just found out about approx. half a year ago, and I'm so glad I heard about them! I was actually looking for something with less carbohydrates than potatoes and I stumbled upon a vegetarian site where they had a recipe, so I looked up a few more and through trial and error I came up with one that works good for me.

Take a large eggplant, 2 eggs, flour and bread crumbs (I use puffed wheat cereal that I pulsed in a food processor till it's fairly broken up). Cut the peel off of the eggplant (I found that it's tough when cooked this way) and cut the rest into pieces that are good fry size for you (try to keep them the same size so they cook evenly). Put the flour in a bowl adding salt and pepper (this isn't needed if you season it after cooking or put a lot more into the bread crumbs). Beat the eggs with a little water and put to the side. Bread crumbs need to be in yet another bowl with some salt and pepper, adding in some parmesan cheese if you like, and mix well. Set up your breading line as follows: Flour > eggs > bread crumbs > pan with oil to fry the eggplant in. Be careful to not let your oil get too hot (medium heat was perfect for me). Cook and watch to make sure nothing burns because that's just not any good! If you run out of eggs, don't want to use eggs or don't have bread crumbs, you can just use flour to bread it with then put it straight into the oil. It actually looks more like French fries when done that way, but I like the added texture with the crumbs.

By the way for those of you who have other people to feed, the little one didn't complain and ate this quickly (fries and burger) which to me means he loved it. A day with out a complaint at the table is a good one. The hubby on the other hand said and I quote, "I could eat eggplant like this all day long!"

Deviled Eggs

One of my hubby's favorite foods are eggs. I decided as a treat for him (and myself :)) I would make some Deviled Eggs out of the half a dozen eggs I had left in the fridge. Now I know eggs usually also make most people think more along the lines of spring type of food and deviled eggs as a holiday or special event appetizer, but I think of them more as summer, I think mainly because of the yellow color of the filling and the red paprika my mother always puts on top of hers (which of course I had to copy cause it's sooooo good on them!).

Deviled Eggs

I used 7 eggs, hard boiled (boiled mine about 15 minutes). Cool eggs in cold water for about an hour. I then peeled the eggs, set them aside till I was finished with all of them and ready to make the filling. Cut the eggs in half length wise (I've never tried to do it the other way as I'm sure there would be some difficulty with filling 'em, but it might be interesting to try some time :)) and use a teaspoon to scoop out the yolk, being careful to not break the white part, and put in a bowl. Repeat till all the eggs are done.

Now I don't know how other people do theirs but I have an extra egg (usually one that cracks or doesn't peel very nicely) and I like to take that one and chop it up and put it in the filling along with the rest of the yolks. This tends to give a little extra just in case you didn't put enough mayo/dressing in it to fill them all. As for the rest of the filling I tend to use mayonnaise and mustard with salt and pepper to taste.

At this point I use a fork to mash up the yolks and add the mayo (approx. 3 tablespoons) and mustard (approx. 1 teaspoon) and mix it all up. I've had it with green olives added in or diced up pickles and it's very good too. Take a teaspoon and scoop up a nice amount and put it in the spot where the yolks used to be in the egg half and there you go! Rinse, repeat, and then eat!

As I said the hubby loves these, the little one not so much. We offered him some, he took one look and said "No, thanks." But that's OK this time, because that meant more for us!

Vanilla Mousse Pie

I don't think this needs too much of an introduction. What reason do you need to make a dessert that looks like this (yes I had one but does it really matter?). The hubby said words like "Beautiful" and "Really good" and "You are going to take pictures of it, right?" And all that was before he had a single bite!

The little one started asking if it was cream, and I explained it was mousse. He actually remembered what mousse was from previous times of me making something like this, and was only too eager to get some as soon as dinner was done.

Now I have to confess. I cheated. I didn't make the mousse from scratch. I feel guilty putting it up without saying that what I used was a box of powder (found on the same aisle as pudding/gelatin mixes) with a cup of milk and used a beater till it was all frothy and thick and oh so good looking. I don't feel as guilty as I should because the kind I used was made with Splenda to sweeten it (less calories, less sugar). I know there are plenty of people who would much rather have it made from scratch and I will add a recipe for a basic mousse.

Now the crust I don't feel so guilty about. It's from a frozen puff pastry I bought from the store. For less than $5 per box (two come in a box and I used one), plus not having to used the time to make puff pastry or space (if you saw my kitchen you would understand why I don't even attempt to make most pastry at home from scratch!), it makes for a very efficient, delicious, and beautiful crust that isn't the normal pie or graham cracker crust.

Mousse Recpie

Beat:

• 1-½ cups cream until light and beat in gradually
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 1-½ teaspoons vanilla
  
• Small pinch of salt

Put in refrigerator to cool.

Puff Pastry crust

Thaw out pastry. Unroll it and set in an aluminum pie tin (one of the throw away ones are perfect). Preheat oven to 375. While the oven is heating up trim the over hang of the pastry off. Take a fork and press it against the edge of the pastry and pan to give it that ruffled look. Take the fork and then press holes in the bottom of the pastry. No need to go all the way through, it's to keep it from rising so high and so you have a place to put the mousse! Now put it in the oven for about 10 minutes, checking frequently after that to make sure it's a golden brown color and the edges have puffed up. Take it out and let cool about 20 minutes. Fill with the mousse and add a light dusting of cinnamon on top for visual appeal and return to the refrigerator till ready to eat!

Now I have to say when we did finally get some of this, the little one was all over it and hounded me for about 20 minutes after he ate dinner to get some (while I was getting those pictures :)). The hubby cut it and didn't even put his on a plate or used a fork, he wanted into it so badly! I also noticed this morning that there was more of it gone... must be breakfast food too!