WORDLESS WEDNESDAY...

photo taken by me, on our private beach, Palm Beach, Florida...1-28-2014

While the rest of our country...even in the deep South was in a 'frozen frenzy' yesterday, here in S. Florida we had the most beautiful sunny and pleasant day of 79 degrees F. Not so, today (dreary, raining, and damp-cold-windy-chilly-nasty day)
Linking to:
be there 2 day...Wordless Wednesday

Eggplant Parmesan...and a Beautiful Garden!

I'm sure you are all familiar with eggplant Parmesan...so I will not go into a lengthy recipe with this, other than my simple "tried and true" method, and somewhat a step-by-step direction. Last week, I decided to use up my much needed "attention" eggplants that were just sitting lonely in the fridge box...looking almost sad after more than one week. Don't get me wrong, they were not spoiling or anything else, but I'm not like my daughter Lora, piling up on veggies, and day after day making something healthy out of them like she does.
That's why she stays skinny...LOL even when she will be returning from Italy, maybe she gains about 5 lbs. and every time I travel, I come back gaining 15 lbs. and it takes several months to get rid of it.

I'm linking my Eggplant Parmesan to:
Foodie Friday # 16 @Little Brick Ranch


So while I'm house sitting, I hope Lora sees my post on her I-Pad that I really took care of her basil that Teresa planted...aren't they gorgeous...but wait, there's more!

With all the drought we had, we've been literally praying for rain here, in South Florida, but now, for the last week it's been raining every single day...prayers do WORK for positive results. This little rosemary plant nearly died, now I'm going to plant it in a bigger pot, or in the ground so it could flourish, and grow bigger.

As you can see more basil plant, more oregano, a different type, and some Mexican oregano....love it!

A beautiful aloe plant...planted by Lora's dad...that was a tiny plant...thanks to the glorious Florida climate for this wondrous plant that "cures all" it has so many good uses, including for your skin, and to drink a refreshing aloe juice that would cost so much to buy!

Another beautiful Sicilian plant...planted by Lora's dad (my ex-hubby)...he has the "green thumb" for plants, and so does Teresa...I just take care of these beautiful plants!

The Bougainvillea, we have to give credit to Fabrizio for! (Lora's hubby)...he plants them all over the house, and they just flourish...such happy, and beautiful plants....such a wonderful garden to relax, and enjoy!

Another Bougainvillea, in the back yard...also, one on the front, which I didn't even take photo of yet! A

bird of paradise tree behind it at Dr. Eric's yard...peeking through!

Just look at the swimming pool, Fabrizio will be proud when he sees that I make sure the pool gets well maintained. It has an automatic vacuum cleaner that cleans it every day...no chlorine used in this pool, it's salt added to the pool...automatically feeding in. Wouldn't you want to "house sit" under this kind of beautiful scenery every morning you wake up, "sunshine" greets you, birds singing, and such a quiet neighborhood!

This tropical beauty divides the property, from the back neighbor's yard...you can see a little part of the fence...otherwise it's all lush green!

There's no reason not to have beautiful herbs, plants, trees, when you live in a tropical climate as we do...it's a matter of taking care of them, and caring for them, as if they could understand that you do. Take care of

nature's glorious gifts...and you will be greatly rewarded by their abundance of giving you much more!

So Cara, who is more of a daughter than (d)-in-law, gave me yet, another huge eggplant, and I had no choice but to get my act together and make a nice batch of homemade sauce...mind you, this is still at Lora's house (cleaning out her cupboards)
found  a truck-load of canned tomatoes, and sauces that Teresa (Lora's m-in-law made before returning back to Italy to her home!




 

All you need is a nice large can of 28 oz. imported tomatoes, maybe 2 cans, and just pop it into the blender to blend for a minute. Home canned does the same, except the flavor is more intense!

I slice 3 med. large eggplants, not too thick, and soaked them in plain salty water for 30 minutes to get the bitter seeds out.

You don't have to do what I did, but I always have fresh parsley, and fresh garlic combined, in a jar with vegetable oil added to it to keep it moist. It has a lot of uses. All you need is a small or medium food processor to grind the combination up.
Strain the water from the bowl, and add a teaspoon of the parsley mix, and about 1 Tbsp of oil to mix the eggplant together, salt and pepper, and you don't need an egg batter to dip it in.

Add the eggplant slices, about 3 or 4 at a time to a mixture of equal amount of flour, and breadcrumbs. Have a large zip-lock bag ready and put the mixture of the flour and breadcrumbs in, and add your eggplant slices in the bag.







Just look, your hands don't even have to get dirty, give it a good shake.

Lift the eggplant slices out with a tong, and place them on an aluminum lined and vegetable sprayed baking pan.




Spray some more cooking spray on the tops of the eggplant slices, and bake for about 45 minutes on
375 degrees F. Do not turn over. I also added 
strips of green pepper to the batter, to bake alongside eggplants.

Now you are ready to layer the eggplant slices, the cheeses, and the tomato sauce. On the bottom of a lasagna pan, scoop 1 ladle of sauce, one layer eggplant, Parmesan, and mozzarella, than sauce, and repeat again.

Do not put mozzarella on the top when your are ready to bake it. Mozzarella should be under the layer of the sauce. Bake covered on 375 degrees F. for about the first 45 minutes, take off cover, and now you can add the grated mozzarella on the top and bake for an additional 25 minutes, until it gets nice and bubbly, and cheese will start to brown...but do not burn!

I have to admit, this was the best...ever, eggplant Parmesan I have made, eggplant NOT fried, but bakes, and it was light, and absolutely delicious with the homemade tomatoes...Grazie Teresa! ...thanks to Lora's m-in-law for canning all those beautiful tomatoes for us!