Top 25 Recipes From 2012

This year has been fun. I finished my first year of college and started my second year. I saw a bunch of concerts. I went camping a bunch of times…oh, and I got engaged.

I would definitely say that 2012 has been the best year for this blog as well. More people seem to be stopping by to say “hello” and check out recipes, and I’ve even made some new blogger friends! As we say goodbye to 2012, I thought I would compile a list of some of my favorite recipes from this year. Recipes that I will make again as we go into 2013, and recipes that I hope you give a chance too! Hope you all had a great holiday and ring in the New Year in style!

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread
Zucchini Sweet Potato Bread
Green Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie
Banana Almond Smoothie
Vegan Pumpkin Pecan Bread
Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
Whole Wheat Banana Bread Pancakes
Banana Sweet Potato Bread

Kick Ass Black Bean Skillet Nachos
Artichoke Feta Garlic Bread
Summer Veggie Rolls With Spicy Peanut Lime Sauce
Seven Layer Greek Dip
Roasted Corn Guacamole
Swiss Cheese Spinach and Mushroom Quiche with Crispy Potato Crust
Eggplant Marinara Flatbread
Roasted Garlic Hummus
Huevos Rancheros Wraps

Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
Tres Leches Cake
Rhubarb Crunch
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with Streusel Topping
Peanut Butter and Honey Popcorn
Double Fudge Oreo Cookies
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies
Rhubarb Muffins with Crumble Topping

Tres Leches Cake

Happy Birthday to me! 25 years old and I am not above eating cake for dinner.

This tres leches cake has been made for many birthdays and parties in my life. My fiance, my soon to be mother in law, my cat (it’s her favorite since it has a lot of milk products)…uhh, anyway, this actually wasn’t made for my birthday. But I’m baking my cake as I type this, so I’ll post about that later.

My lovely boy excitedly asked me what I would be baking for my birthday, and when I replies “a type of spice cake” he shouted: “you always make such weird cakes on your birthday”! Now what he doesn’t seem to realize is that it’s MY freaking birthday, and I want a damn spice cake and if you poo poo my cake choice, then you can’t have any! I assume he’ll eat two helpings and ask for more for breakfast…boys.

This cake is unreal. A top contender for my favorite cake ever so I’m super excited to share this with you. Shall we get started?! YES!

To start, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

Separate eggs. Have you seen this method?! So. Freaking. Cool.

Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture.

Stir very gently until combined.

Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.

Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface. Don’t worry that it looks weird. This is normal!

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.

Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. This is the magical stuff.

When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times.

Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.

It’ll look like this:

Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable. Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with maraschino cherries or toasted coconut. Cut into squares and serve.

Happy Baking!

Tres Leches Cake
Recipe from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:
1 cup All-purpose Flour
1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
5 whole Eggs
1 cup Sugar, Divided
1 teaspoon Vanilla
⅓ cups Milk
1 can Evaporated Milk
1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
¼ cups Heavy Cream

Icing
1 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping
3 Tablespoons Sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.

Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.

Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.

Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.
Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.

Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.

Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve.

Artichoke Feta Garlic Bread

As I cross “being vegan for a month” off of my 30 Things To Do Before 30 list, I am excited to get back to my old pals cheese and butter, but I’m extremely happy that I was able to consume animal free products for an entire month.

During the 30 days, I must say that my body didn’t feel any different than it normally does with a vegetarian diet. I expected a big change and surge of energy like a lot of the books I read said I would, but I simply didn’t. This could be because I watch what I eat, making sure to take in the right amount of protein, whole grains and nutrients from fruits and vegetables anyway. But it’s good to know that I must be doing something right day to day!

The biggest thing I learned after this process, was that reducing the amount of dairy I eat is definitely needed and that I need to cook more vegan foods! I experimented with a few, and was absolutely delighted with the results. Vegan cooking and baking is something I definitely want to get into more. Some of my favorite vegan recipes were my Kale Salad with Oranges, Almonds and Avocado, my Vegan Pecan Pumpkin Bread and Cheeky Kitchen’s Taco Pasta Shells.

Also, if you want to check out great vegan bloggers see:
Healthy Happy Life
Oh She Glows
Post Punk Kitchen

Anyway, the process was fun. And as I mentioned I’m super happy to get back to all things cheese and butter. This is a recipe I found on Tasty Kitchen and can genuinely say it is now one of my favorite foods. No joke. This is a MUST on your kitchen table.

To make this bread gather your fresh herbs. Our stars are parsley, dill, basil and chives (from left to right).

Throw the chopped herbs into a food processor along with the marinated artichoke hearts.

It’s time for feta, butter, and garlic. Oh my! Pulse that goodness until it’s nice and smooth.

Eat with a spoon. You’re done!…kidding.

Slice the bread in 1-inch slices, stopping before the base of the bread. Stuff the bread with the mixture. Wrap in the bread in foil and bake for 25 minutes. Serve while hot!

Love.

Artichoke Feta Garlic Bread
Recipe taken from Tasty Kitchen
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
½ cups parsley, chopped
¼ cups dill, chopped
8 basil leaves, chopped
¼ cups chives, chopped
6 whole marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
6 cloves garlic
¼ cups Feta cheese, crumbled
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 stick butter
1 whole Italian loaf of bread

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Chop the first 4 ingredients and place them in a food processor. Blend. Add artichoke hearts. Blend. Add the garlic, feta, softened butter and salt and pepper to the food processor and mix until smooth.

Slice the bread in 1-inch slices, stopping before the base of the bread. Stuff the bread with the mixture.

Wrap in the bread in foil and bake for 25 minutes. Serve while hot.

Banana Almond Smoothie

Here’s a way to traumatize your kids: take them to the Biodome/zoo/nature center, bring them to see the Beavers, and let them observe the dead beaver floating in the synthetic pond.

This happened to me this past weekend, and I am happy to report that the Beaver was not dead. It certainly looked dead, and stiff, and weird, but The Boy was talking about his horrible experience to a co-worker who assured him that Mr. Beaver was alive. Turns out that this is some sort of resting behaviour. Who knew?!

Something interesting always happens in Montreal, and I love spending time there. There are soooo many awesome food places to try, and can’t wait to keep visiting and trying everything out. When I return home though, I like to get back to a healthy breakfast and came across this awesome smoothie in my bookmarks. Thaaaaank goodness. This is hands down the best smoothie I’ve made all month. Keep in mind, I make a smoothie for breakfast every 20 out of 30 days…so that’s saying a lot! Plus it’s made with almond butter, which it totally delicious. Check it out.

All you have to do is toss all your ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.

Pour into a glass and enjoy.

Banana Almond Smoothie
Recipe lightly adapted from Cookie and Kate

Ingredients:
1 large frozen banana
1 tbsp almond butter
1 tbsp flax seed
1 cup vanilla almond milk (or other milk if you don’t have any)
1 tsp agave nectar (or honey if you want)
1/8 tsp almond extract (or vanilla extract, but the almond extract really makes it)!

Directions:
Toss all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.

Pour into a glass and enjoy.

Seven Layer Greek Dip

I never considered myself to be much of a cat person. I had a few growing up, but certainly didn’t consider having one when I was on my own. I liked them…but they seemed to be more of an expense than anything else.

Two years ago, my boyfriend and I decided that we should go to the local humaine society and look at the animals, and ended up coming home with Molly.

Am I a cat person now? YES! She’s fluffy and cute and her sole purpose of the day is to cuddle me all day long. It’s kind of the best.

But recently Molly has had a change of scenery. I moved into a house in Ottawa (with super cheap rent) and one of the conditions is that I take of the woman’s two cats. So I jumped from one kitty to three and am now an official crazy cat lady.

When you are a crazy cat lady you need to remember three things:
1. Keep up your social life with humans. You might forget that speaking baby talk to everyone is not normal.
2. There will be poop on the floor. Deal with it.
3. Don’t leave ANY cream or milk based dips on the counter. There will be PAWS!

This dip is one that I HIGHLY recommend (and so does Molly). It’s not your typical 7 layer dip, and includes homemade tzatziki, hummus, jalepeno feta dip, olives, artichokes, tomatoes, and cucumber. It’s a greek party pretty much and will make you scream for joy!…well I did.

To make this, begin by prepping the ingredients for the creamy feta and set aside. In a bowl, combine yogurt, dill, garlic, 3 tablespoons of cucumber, olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper and mix.

Grab a large bowl or plate and begin layering ingredients with the yogurt tzatziki first.

Then the chopped olives..

The hummus…

The chopped artichoke hearts..

And then add the crazy feta, and the tomatoes and cucumber. You can layer it however you’d like and use other ingredients to make it your own. Serve with pita chips and enjoy!

Seven Layer Greek Dip
Recipe taken from How Sweet It Is
Makes one giant bowlful and serves over 10 people

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups hummus of your choice
1 15-ounce can of kalamata olives, drained and chopped
1 15-ounce can of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1/2 large cucumber, peeled and chopped
1 batch of creamy feta (or 4 ounces of plain feta, crumbled)
1 1/3 cups greek yogurt
3 tablespoons fresh dill
1 teaspoon olive oil
3 tablespoons chopped cucumber
1 garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper

Directions:
Begin by prepping the ingredients for the creamy feta, if needed and set aside.

In a bowl, combine yogurt, dill, garlic, 3 tablespoons of cucumber, olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper and mix. Grab a large bowl or plate and begin layering ingredients: the yogurt tzatziki, the chopped olives, the hummus, the chopped artichoke hearts, the crazy feta, and the tomatoes and cucumber. You can layer it however you’d like and use other ingredients to make it your own.

Serve with pita chips or whatever you would like!

Summer Veggie Rolls with Spicy Peanut Lime Sauce

Yesterday I got stuck in an elevator with the WORST person to get stuck in an elevator with…ever.

Here is a small synopsis of the things this woman said to me in our 30 minutes together:
Woman after noticing we were stuck: Oh great, I have scoliosis.
Woman to the man outside the elevator calling for help: Hurry up! I’ve been in here for half an hour (it had been ten minutes)
Woman to me: My dog is going to pee all over the place.
Woman to me: I don’t think any air comes into elevators when they break.

WHY do these ridiculous things happen to me? And how on earth do these people exist? To be fair to the crazy woman, I too was a bit freaked out. I don’t like tight spaces without windows, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell her that to freak her out more. I wish I had cookies in my bag or something to calm her down with. But alas, I was on my way to pick up kitty food and only had my wallet and keys. FAIL!

Onto another completely separate note, I recently made these spring rolls for a party, and they were a total hit! Tofu rolls are always my go to appetizer at Thai restaurants, and I love that I can make them just as good at home. Hope you like these, and have a happy weekend!!

To make the sauce, process the garlic, sesame oil, peanut butter, lime juice, tamari, sugar and water in a food processor until smooth. Adjust to taste.

Mmmm…..

Slice your (pressed) tofu into long strips and julienne the vegetables (slice into long thin strips). Set aside, along with peanuts.

Set up a roll making station and gather all of your ingredients in one area. Place a tea towel on the counter and fill a very large bowl with hot tap water. Dip one rice paper wrapper into the water and carefully submerge it once it gets soft. Hold it under water for about 10 seconds, or until soft, and remove from water carefully. Place it onto the tea towel and unfold any corners that may have rolled up.

Add the filling ingredients in the centre of the wrapper. Be careful not to overfill or the wrappers will tear. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts.

Roll the two sides of the rice wrapper inward and then flip the bottom over top the filling and roll forward. Place roll on a plate and cover with damp paper towels. Repeat for the rest.

Serve the rolls immediately with the peanut dipping sauce. These are also awesome with hoisin sauce!

Summer Veggie Rolls with Spicy Peanut Lime Sauce
Recipe lightly adapted from Oh She Glows
Makes approx 8 rolls + 1/2 cup peanut sauce

Ingredients:
For the filling:
Spring Roll Wrappers (at least 8-10)
1 block extra-firm tofu
1/2 English cucumber, julienned
1 red bell pepper, julienned
2 medium carrots, peeled & julienned
2 green onions, chopped
3-4 lettuce leaves, julienned
Vermicelli noodles, cooked
1/3 cup roasted and salted peanuts

For the peanut lime sauce:
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 cup natural roasted peanut butter
1/2-1 tbsp peeled & roughly chopped fresh ginger
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 tbsp tamari (or soy sauce if you don’t have any)
2 tsp sugar
1-3 tsp water, to thin out as needed

Directions:
Press the tofu in paper towel while you prepare the filling and sauce. You want to press all of the water out of it.

For the filling: Julienne the vegetables (slice into long thin strips). Set aside, along with peanuts.

For the sauce: In a mini processor, process the sauce ingredients until smooth. Adjust to taste. You may prefer more sweetener, tamari, oil, or lime juice.

Slice pressed tofu into long thin strips. You likely won’t need the entire block.

Set up a roll making station and gather all of your ingredients in one area. Place a tea towel on the counter and fill a very large bowl with hot tap water. Dip one rice paper wrapper into the water and carefully submerge it once it gets soft. Hold it under water for about 10 seconds, or until soft, and remove from water carefully. Place it onto the tea towel and unfold any corners that may have rolled up.

Add the filling ingredients in the centre of the wrapper (see pictures in post). Be careful not to overfill or the wrappers will tear. Sprinkle with peanuts and a sprinkle of salt.

Roll the two sides of the rice wrapper inward and then flip the bottom over top the filling and roll forward. Place roll on a plate and cover with damp paper towels. Repeat for the rest.

Serve the rolls immediately with the peanut dipping sauce. These also taste awesome with hoisin sauce!

Note:
-Rolls will keep for 1-2 days in the fridge.
-Sauce should keep for at least a week in a sealed container in the fridge.

Kick Ass Black Bean Skillet Nachos

I feel like I’m getting on this train late, but have you noticed that pretty much anything can be baked in a well seasoned cast iron skillet?!

The idea is pure genius. I have an unreasonable amount of recipes bookmarked under “skillet meals” like this fun breakfast idea, this cookie and this monkey bread. People are freaking creative!

I’ve seen skillet nachos on blogs before, so I can not take credit for the genius behind this recipe, but I used what little knowledge I had about baking things with a skillet, threw some nacho fixings in a pan, and went to town.

There’s something about nachos that has me giddy. It must be the cheese, sour cream and salsa mixture with those salty tortilla chips…the other fixings are optional, but with the right ratio, this skillet recipe is deadly!

To make this, turn on your oven broiler. Using an 8″ cast iron skillet, place your tortilla chips across the bottom of your baking dish. Add the beans evenly across the chips, add the shredded cheese. Then add any extra toppings that you’d like to bake. I used sauteed onions, chopped green olives, and goats cheese.

Place your skillet in your oven and check frequently to make sure you don’t burn the cheese on top (it took me 5 minutes). Remove from heat, serve while hot and add your favorite cold toppings!

Heaven.

Black Bean Skillet Nachos
Serves 2
A Warm Vanilla Sugar Original

Ingredients:
2 Handfuls of good quality tortilla chips
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Nacho toppings to bake: jalapenos, chopped scallions, olives, corn, goats cheese and sauteed onions
Post oven toppings: avocado, salsa, sour cream, chopped tomatoes

Directions:
Turn on the broiler in your oven.

Using an 8″ cast iron skillet, place your tortilla chips across the bottom of your baking dish. Add the beans evenly across the chips, add the shredded cheese. Then add any extra toppings that you’d like to bake. I used sauteed onions, chopped green olives, and goats cheese.

Place your skillet in your oven and check frequently to make sure you don’t burn the cheese on top (it took me 5 minutes). Remove from heat, serve while hot and add your favorite cold toppings!

So easy, and so, so, delicious!

Green Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie

This past weekend the boy and I crossed the border to visit with the Grandparents. While in the States I saw some awesome State Trooper hats, a robbed bank, and the biggest supermarket that I’ve ever seen, but most importantly, I bought and tried Biscoff spread!

Along with all the awesomeness, the Grandparents made sure that Paul and I were well fed and had cookies and sweets at every meal (very important). I had the best time, but am now feeling like I need a day off “bad stuff”. So, this morning I blended together this beauty. A peanut butter and banana smoothie that tastes delicious, but is super healthy to boot!

To make this, place all ingredients into a blender with the heavy stuff on the bottom.

Blend on high until very smooth.

Enjoy! You’ll love it.

Green Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie
Makes 1 smoothie
Recipe taken from Healthy Food For Living
5 weight watchers points plus per smoothie

Ingredients:
1/2 cup milk of choice (I used 1%)
1 medium-sized ripe frozen banana
1/2 cup vanilla Greek yogurt (I used 0%)
2 Tbsp quick oats
1 Tbsp unnatural smooth peanut butter
2 big handfuls washed and dried baby spinach
a few dashes ground cinnamon, optional

Directions:
Place all ingredients into a blender and blend on high until very smooth.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with Streusel Topping

This summer has truly been a fairy tale. Three of my best friends in the world got engaged, I started a great new (summer) job, and my boy and I have been getting out and hiking at least twice a month.

On Sunday my boy and I went on our best hike yet. As we were sitting down to a romantic packed lunch of pizza buns and cheese curds (serious), he…wait for it…asked me to marry him! CRAAAAAAZY!!

This was a total, complete, unbelievably awesome surprise. After my good friends got engaged, I got all sentimental and girly and excited and now I can be all crazy whacko excited for myself! I’m seriously floating.

I couldn’t be happier, and with that, thought I’d share with you another rhubarb pie. A favorite. A beauty of a recipe. This will be the third on my blog! The streusel topping is unreal. It makes this dish a pie and crumble all in one. I wish I had a piece right now…it isn’t impossible to make that happen.

So, here we go! Chop up your rhubarb.

And slice your strawberries.

Then combine the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar and cornstarch in a medium bowl. Mix well.

The mixture should be thick and syrupy after being stirred well.

Roll out pie crust according to recipe and place in a 9-inch pie plate.

Pour the strawberry/rhubarb mixture into the crust to fill evenly.

In a small bowl, combine the flour and brown sugar. Cut the butter into pieces and using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut the butter into the flour/sugar mixture until it has the consistency of coarse crumbs.

Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the top of the pie.

Place the pie on a rimmed baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 50-55 minutes, covering the pie crust edges with foil halfway through in order to prevent over-browning.

Let the pie cool completely before cutting into pieces. Serve with a dollop of freshly whipped cream, if desired. Enjoy!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with Streusel Topping
Recipe taken from Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients:
Filling:
2-¾ cups Sliced Fresh Rhubarb, About 5-6 Medium Stalks
2 cups Sliced Strawberries
⅔ cups Sugar
3 Tablespoons Cornstarch

Streusel topping:
1 cup Flour
½ cups Brown Sugar
½ cups Butter (1 Stick), Cold And Cut Into Small Pieces
1 Unbaked Single Pie Crust (store Bought Or Your Favorite Recipe)

Directions:
In a medium-large bowl, combine the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar and cornstarch. Mix well. The mixture should be thick and syrupy after being stirred well.

Roll out pie crust according to recipe or package instructions and place in a 9- or 9.5-inch pie plate. Pour the strawberry/rhubarb mixture into the crust, using a large spoon to fill evenly.

For the topping: In a small bowl, combine the flour and brown sugar. Cut the butter into pieces and using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut the butter into the flour/sugar mixture until it has the consistency of coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the top of the pie.

Place the pie on a rimmed baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 50-55 minutes, covering the pie crust edges with foil halfway through in order to prevent over-browning.

Let the pie cool completely before cutting into pieces. Serve with a dollop of freshly whipped cream, if desired.

Eggplant Marinara Flatbread

The cool thing about working part time at a bookstore is that…well, you get to see all the new books that come out! You can talk to customers about good books they’ve read and skim through books from all different genres in hopes to find a new and fun read.

Recently this 50 Shades of Grey trilogy has blown up. Gone crazy. Made people mad excited. It’s cool, I get it, and since these books are my store’s biggest seller by far, I knew I had to read it. So, I did…and the book had me hooked.

It’s weird, the entire story is unbelievable, the writing is bad, the male character is seriously messed up and into painful sex, but there I was….reading my sexy book in the park while sipping iced tea, in bed at night while my boyfriend made fun of me, and in between baking times while my cookies were in the oven.

I guess I’m just like everyone else. I couldn’t get enough of it. The only thing that seriously confuses me though is when customers come into the store and say “the book is life changing” or “the best book ever” or “it has amazing writing and plot”….really?! Have these people ever even read a book before? Who knows. And if this book is actually life changing, I do not want to know what’s going on inside their bedrooms…or maybe I do. Creepy.

Anyway! On to flatbread. Delicious, amazing, chewy, flatbread. This appetizer seriously rocks my world, and will totally rock yours too. It has herbed goat cheese, mozzarella, marinara and buttery eggplant on ciabatta. YES!

Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Season the eggplant slices with salt and pepper. Lay the eggplant in the heated skillet. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, turning, until the eggplant is lightly browned on both sides, about 6 minutes total. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

Brush the cut side of the bread slices with the remaining oil and cook in the warm skillet on medium-high heat until golden brown, 1-2 minutes.

Lay the bread, cut side up, on a baking sheet. Spread a thin layer of the marinara sauce on each slice. Crumble the goat cheese over the marinara and sprinkle with chopped basil. Lay the eggplant slices on top of the marinara. Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella over the eggplant slices and dot lightly with remaining marinara sauce. Just like the picture!

Bake until the topping is hot and slightly browned, about 12 minutes. Slice into small pieces.

Enjoy!

Eggplant Marinara Flatbread
Recipe taken from Annie’s Eats

Ingredients:
4 tbsp. olive oil, divided
6 (1/3-1/2-inch thick) slices eggplant, about 4 inches in diameter
I loaf of ciabatta (or Italian), cut in half
Marinara sauce (about 1 cup)
1 oz. soft fresh goat cheese (I used herbed)
1 cup coarsely grated mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Season the eggplant slices with salt and pepper. Lay the eggplant in the heated skillet. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, turning, until the eggplant is lightly browned on both sides, about 6 minutes total. Transfer to a plate and set aside. Brush the cut side of the bread slices with the remaining oil and cook in the warm skillet on medium-high heat until golden brown, 1-2 minutes.

Lay the bread, cut side up, on a baking sheet. Spread a thin layer of the marinara sauce on each slice. Crumble the goat cheese over the marinara and sprinkle with chopped basil. Lay the egg plant slices on top of the marinara. Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella over the eggplant slices and dot lightly with remaining marinara sauce.

Bake until the topping is hot and slightly browned, about 12 minutes. Slice into small pieces.