Balsamic grilled eggplant

Do you ever go to the store, pick up some produce and say to yourself "I need this. I will make something excellent with this." and then proceed to let it slowly die in your fridge?

Welcome to my life.

Eggplant

I always have GRAND ideas for this spongy, purple vegetable (fruit?).

But inevitable  it ends up staring me down each time I open the fridge. "What are you going to do with me?" "Stop neglecting me?" "I'm starting to go bad.... what a waste...."


UGH.

Okay. fine Eggplant. I will make something shmancy with you this time.

This is all part of my no-waste meal-planning, August.


Chowstalker has been a great resource for creative meals and happens to be how I discovered Life is Still Sweet's Balsamic Grilled Eggplant.

This recipe is everything this woman describes and more. The balsamic caramelizes, becoming sweet, a little crispy on the outside and soft inside. Amazing.

I actually made this for breakfast this morning paired with some eggs, diced tomatoes, and turkey sausage. Not having a grill readily available, I just fried these up in a pan and it worked just fine.
I altered the marinade a tad, adding 1 tsp of Dijon mustard to act as an emulsifier for the balsamic and olive oil.


I happen to have another eggplant hiding in my fridge... I definitely plan on repeating this recipe STAT.

Bacon Pumpkin Pancakes (Anxious for fall)

I stumbled upon Paleo Parents Pumpkin and Bacon Silver Dollar Pancakes the other day when I was bored    working really hard and simultaneously jonesing for fall. Pumpkin? Bacon? Two things I enjoy. Why not combine them?

This morning was the laziest of Sundays, so seemingly perfect for a lil baking adventure. 

unfortunately it is hotter than hell outside (broke 100F today) so I am still kicking myself for turning on the firey gas range in my 500 sqft apt. I really was just trying to channel fall by filling my apartment with autumnal scents of ginger, pumpkin, and coriander. Sadly I just made it feel like a fucking sauna. 

Admittedly, I did not do the best job on these lil pancakes. Although delightfully savory they were a bit crumbly. I assume this is due to my halving the recipe and screwing the up the wet-dry ratio. 

Still delicious, I paired them with some sautéed collards and tasty grapefruit wedges. 

I altered Paleo Parent's recipe---- I nixed the maple syrup, mostly because I didn't have any. And I added a 1 tsp each of ginger and cinnamon. Also I added in the reserved bacon fat in the mix, just to fully incorporate the bacony flavor.

Pretty tasty.