Cooking (and Eating) Makes the Blues Go Away.

I have an admission to make. We didn't go see BODYWORLDS 2 on Monday. In fact, we barely left the house. I guess it was due to Blue Monday. Whatever the reason, I just didn't feel like going downtown and dealing with parking and rain and.... people.

So what did I do? I stayed home and cooked all day! It was awesome!

It all started with an episode of Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger on the Food Network (my favorite cooking show), where one of the dishes she made was breakfast cookies. Now I don't know about you, but I'm pretty much all over any excuse to eat cookies for breakfast. Let the baking begin!

But since I needed to run to Whole Foods to grab a few ingredients, I figured I would look through my cookbooks to see what else I could make. I'm usually home so late I never have time to make dishes that require, well, time. So my day's agenda turned into "what I can I make?", and I was super stoked.

I went through my fridge to see what we had, and more importantly, what needed to be eaten. Trip had bought some wonderful Japanese eggplant a few days before, and I have been craving Dish Dash, so thought I could try to recreate one of my favorite dishes there - musaka'a. So I Googled it and found a recipe. Hooray! I was then delighted to find that I already had all of the ingredients I needed to make another dish have been dying to make but have never had the time - Greek Bulgur and Lentil Salad.

So here they are, my Rainy Day Recipes to Keep the Blues Away:

Breakfast Cookies
Copyright 2007 Ellie Krieger, All rights reserved

Ingredients
3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup (1 small jar) strained carrot baby food
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup bran cereal flakes
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup walnut pieces, lightly toasted in a dry skillet for 2 minutes, until fragrant and chopped

1. Place rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Whisk together flours, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium-sized bowl.
3. Combine butter, oil and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on high speed, scraping down sides if necessary, until sugars have dissolved and mixture is light in color, about 1 minute. Add egg, carrot puree and vanilla and beat an additional 30 seconds. Add flour mixture and beat an additional 30 seconds. Add oats, flakes, raisins and walnuts and mix over low speed just until incorporated. Dough will be slightly sticky and less cohesive than traditional cookie dough.
4. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using between 3 to 4 tablespoons of batter, form a ball and place on cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining batter, leaving about 3 inches between cookies.
5. Wet hands and use palm of hand to flatten cookies until about 1/4-inch thick.
   
6. Bake for 12 minutes, until cookies are fragrant but still soft. Let cookies cool slightly, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Okay, doesn't really seem like a great alternative to Total, but it actually has a good amount of fiber, protein, and monounsaturated fats. Plus they're hecka good and make your house smell delightful. Oh, and I don't have a stand mixer (damn it), but my hand mixer worked just fine.

Musaka'a

Ingredients
3 Tb. Olive oil
1 lrg Eggplant cut into 1/2" rounds
Salt & pepper to season

1/4 cup Olive oil
1 Onion - chopped
3 Tomatoes - peeled, seeded, chopped
2 cups Chickpeas - cooked, rinsed (I didn't precook mine and they turned out fine - nice and soft)
1 cup Water or tomato juice (I used water)
Salt & pepper to season

1. Preheat oven to 400º.
2. Sautéed the eggplant in 3 tablespoons of hot oil, until lightly browned and softened.
3. While the eggplant is cooking, heat the 1/4 cup olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté till translucent. Add tomatoes, chickpeas, water or tomato juice and seasonings. Bring to a boil and stir to heat through. Adjust seasoning.
4. Place the eggplant in a casserole dish and pour the tomato-onion mixture over all. Place in oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until bubbling through. (The last three minutes I put the naan in the oven as well).
5. Remove and serve hot or at room temperature.

I served this with garlic naan, although pita would probably have been more geographically correct. But the naan was off the hook.

Bulgur and Lentil Greek Salad

1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup bulgur
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup dry lentils
2 cups water
1 med tomato, chopped
1 small cucumber, quartered lengthwise and sliced
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 2 1/4 oz. can sliced pitted ripe olives, drained
1/2 cup crumbled feta

Greek-Style Vinaigrette
1/3 cup olive oil
3 Tb. red wine vinegar
1 Tb. Sugar
1 Tb. lemon juice
1 Tsp. dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. dried oregano, crushed

1. In a medium saucepan bring 1 1/2 cups water to boil; remove from heat. Stir in bulgar and salt. Cover; let stand for 30 minutes. Drain thoroughly, pressing bulgur to remove excess water.
2. Meanwhile, rinse lentils. In another medium saucepan combine 2 cups water and the lentils. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until tender; drain. Rinse with cold waster; drain again.
3. For Greek-Style Vinaigrette, combine all ingredients in a screw-top jar and shake well. Cover and store in the refrigerator. Shake well before using. (Can be stored for up to 2 weeks).
4. In a large mixing bowl combine cooked bulgur, cooked lentils, tomato, cucumber, onion and olives. Toss mixture with Greek-Style Vinaigrette (recipe to follow). Cover and chill at least 4 hours or over night. Before serving stir in feta.

Those close to me will be oh-so very impressed that even though both of these dishes had tomatoes in them, I was able to eat them! Actually, I even liked them! I think the trick is cutting them up really small. :-)