I'm Not Martha Stewart

Reasons why I will never come close to Martha Stewart's fabulosity:

• I don't garden
• I don't craft
• I don't sew (not even a button, peeps)
• I don't create works of art out of nothing
• I can't decorate baked goods to save my life

However, while I don't have much use for most of her tips, tricks and recipes, every once in a while I come across something that my simple self can at least attempt.

Today, that something was chocolate cake. I turned the "cake" into cupcakes to help with portion control. I'm warning you - it's not pretty.

Little lumps of... cupcakes?

The above is One-Bowl Chocolate Cake with homemade chocolate frosting (oh yes - I went there). Source: Martha Stewart Living, date unknown - I think late 2011. The frosting is extraordinarily sweet, so I used it very, very sparingly. The cake turned out moist and delish. Obvs. Because it's from Martha.

Don't come after me!

For dinner, I made:

Meatless Moussaka

Source: The New American Heart Association Cookbook, 7th Edition

Ingredients:

• 2lbs eggplant, peeled and thickly sliced
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 med garlic cloves, minced
• 14.5oz can diced no-salt added tomatoes (used puree - thought I had diced on hand. Oops)
• 6oz can no-salt added tomato paste
• 1 c. water
• 2 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley
• 2 tbsp fresh mint (skip)

Filling:

• 1lbs fat-free or low-fat cottage cheese
• 2 large eggs (or egg substitute equivalent -used real eggs)
• 2 tbsp shredded or grated parm
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• pepper to taste

1/4 c. shredded parm

Heart healthy ingredients: Tomatoes, rosemary, oregano, EVOO

Directions:

• Preheat broiler. Spray 13x9 dish with vegetable spray.
• Put the eggplant slices on baking sheets. Lightly spray both sides of slices with veggie spray. Brown about 6 inches from the heat for about 5 mins on each side or until eggplant is tender.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• In a large skillet, heat oil over med-high heat. Cook onion and garlic for 3 mins or until soft.
• Stir in undrained tomatoes, water, tomato paste and rosemary. Simmer for 10 mins. Add parsley and mint, remove from heat.
• In a medium bowl, stir together the filling ingredients.
• Spread half the sauce in the baking dish. Add half the eggplant. Spread the filing on top. Add the remaining eggplant, sauce and parm.
• Bake, covered for 45 mins. Uncover and bake for 10 mins or until heated through.

Yield: 8 servings
Per serving: 137 calories; 12g protein; 19g carbs; 5g fiber; 5mg chol; 2g fat (1g sat, 1g mono); 317mg sodium

Reviews:

This reminds me more of eggplant parm than moussaka. If you remember, I made moussaka (not meatless) a while back, and there doesn't seem to be tons of similarities between the two recipes. Oh well. Ultimately, this was easy to put together and since I pretty much am obsessed with eggplant these days, it was OK by me. A little saucy. The hubs liked it, and the kid forced in a few bites with no complaints.

Ranking:

Two forks - only because I thought it was going to be less parm-y, more moussaka-y.

Parm - right?