birthday season

April is full of birthdays. Both my sister and I are born in April, as are a smattering of cousins and friends. For whatever reason, spring time rolls around, and the birthdays just keep coming. Last weekend, I was able to go to Boston, where my sister goes to college, to celebrate her 19th birthday. I had a wonderful weekend, and though I'm usually against buying birthday cakes, I ordered her a delicious cake from Rosies, a local bakery --rather than carrying a cake all the way up to Boston.

This weekend, Friday was my good camp friend's birthday, and Saturday was my college friend's birthday- oh and mine! Saturday my parents came in for the day, and a few of my best friends from home and camp were in to celebrate. I was so lucky to have not one, but two delicious home-made birthday cakes for the day. An orange-almond vanilla cake from my mom, and a chocolate marshmallow cake from my boyfriend. Both were seriously amazing. My entire day was filled with amazing food, lots of sunshine, and a lot of  time spent with my wonderful friends who made the day perfect. Thank you to everyone who helped me celebrate!

Jumping back in time, Friday night I had a delicious birthday dinner at my camp friend's apartment. Her roommate and I made some delicious food- it was a wonderful birthday celebration. We were going with an Italian theme, so I decided it would be a great excuse to try out a new recipe. It was a definite winner. This eggplant dish is easy, but definitely an impressive dish. Just a little (seriously, very little) work goes into this dish, but your friends will love it. You can prep it in advance, and finish cooking it off when you're ready to serve it. It is the perfect pot-luck dish! Happy birthday to all of my spring chickens!!

yum.

Eggplant Rollitini

One large eggplant
1 bag of frozen spinach, thawed and patted try with a towel
1 1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped basil
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg
2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 cup part-skim mozzarella

baking

filling

rolling

 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
Line a baking sheet with tin foil, and spray it with non-stick cooking spray
Cut the eggplant in half, long ways, and then slice it into 1/8th inch thick slices (should be about 8-10 slices)
Lay the eggplant on the prepared sheet and sprinkle with salt
Bake the eggplant for about 10 minutes, flipping the eggplant over half way through (you will know it is done when the eggplant is soft and just starts to turn translucent)
Meanwhile, in a bowl mix the spinach, ricotta, garlic, basil, salt, pepper, and egg
When the eggplant is done, place it in front of you on a cutting board and line the entire slice with a thin layer of the spinach mixture
Once the spinach has been spread out evenly, roll the eggplant around the mixture and place each roll seam-side down a baking dish, sprayed with non-stick cooking stay
Repeat this for each of the eggplant slices, packing the rolls in tightly next to each other in the dish
Cover the rolls with the tomato sauce, and cover the dish with tin foil
Bake the rolls for 20 minutes before removing, sprinkling the top with the mozzarella cheese, and placing it back in the oven, uncovered, for about 10 minutes. Finish the dish off by broiling for about 3-5 minutes until the cheese starts to brown
Remove from the oven and enjoy!