A New Apron and a Recipe (no card)

Hi Everyone, 

 a little while ago my talented blogging friend Kim Heggins from Cupcakes, Cards and Kim made two gorgeous aprons - yes she sewed them HERSELF!!! and raffeled off one - and guess what - I was the lucky winner, hurrah!!!!

A few days later this lovely packet arrived at my doorsteps - she even made an adorable tag! Kim you are so sweet!

And here is her wonderful apron:

I am just pretend cooking on my deck, taking pics with the self timer - my kitchen is kind of dark and pictures taken with flash don't look too good...And what a lovely apron it is - in my favorite colors - I think Kim made that apron with me in mind..... just kidding...

THANK YOU KIM! 

You are the sweetest person in all of blog land!!!!

So to honor this occasion I thought I'll share one of my favorite recipes with you. Its gluten, soy and dairy free (my husband can't eat any of those things) and its not so easy to find tasty recipes without those tasty ingredients.....

Sweet and Sour Eggplant

(got that recipe from a book I borrowed from my local library. Unfortunately I can't remember the title or the author, but there were not many useful recipes in it anyway)

You need about 2 lbs of eggplant, slice them and sprinkle them with kosher salt and let them sit for about 20 minutes to draw out the water.

Meanwhile throw 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil, 7 cloves of garlic, 1/2 bunches of scallions, 1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley, 1/2 t kosher salt and a smidgen (or as much as you like) of Cayenne pepper into a food processor and puree until it resembles pesto

just like that:

By now the eggplants have been sitting around long enough, dry them off with a paper towel and fry them in Canola oil

then spread the "pesto" on them

Turn them over and fry again, to kind of "cook" the pesto through a bit.

Repeat with the other side - you want pesto on both sides. Transfer the cooked eggplant to a platter. Fry all the eggplant slices that way. Add enough Canola oil for frying. In between you may want to scrape out the pan, to not burn pesto that has fallen off. Don't throw it out, just put it on the platter where you keep you fried eggplant. Cut the eggplant into chunks.

Take a large pot, add 1 large can of diced tomatoes, 3/4 cup cider vinegar and 1/2 cup packe dark brown sugar. Stew for 12 minutes, add the eggplants and stir. I also add any left over pesto if I have nay to the pot.. Simmer for 10 more minutes, to cook off some of the liquid. Serve hot or cold.

I served mine with baked sweet potato fries, but rice work well with it, too.

Bon appetit, or Guten Appetit, as we say in Germany!

And you know what happened to my cruddy old apron - 

you guessed just right - it flew into the trash.....

Thanks again Kim to brighten my time in the kitchen!