Valentine's day. A holiday we would have normally celebrated with steaks and potatoes. In fact, it was with great sadness I cancelled the reservations I has made at Ditka's only two months ago.... Ditka's, my old favorite restaurant, the one that serves one of my favorite meat meals of all time. As I logged onto open table, it only took one click to see my dreams of old vanish, but I instantly felt relief.
It was sad, but I didn't really want to go out anywhere. Too soon, too sad, too much. Jeff suggested an eggplant parmesan, but I wasn't too crazy about the idea. One of the hardest things about trying to eat not just vegetarian, but trying to eat less eggs and dairy, is that I love cream based foods - Alfredo, creamy soups, cheesy goodness...and I wanted something like that for our special meal.
However, I was googling recipe ideas, and nothing really struck me. Jeff also wooed me by saying we could have fresh mozzarella with our eggplant, so again, I failed to hold true to the anti-dairy line. I'm calling myself out here, as usual, because I need to be honest with myself. I gave up meat, I don't know why it's so hard to just give up the rest, I think part of me needs something to hold onto still. One step at a time, it's my mantra...and I still feel good that I am eating far less dairy, and even a less amount of eggs, than I was consuming.
I'm glad I let him talk me into the eggplant - it was great. We've had it before, but this time it was exceptionally good. Jeff cut the eggplant into 1/2 inch slices, and fried it with bread crumbs and olive oil. Then he put one layer of the eggplant slices in the bottom of a baking pan. On top of the first layer of eggplant, we put fresh sliced basil, fresh mozzarella, and a sprinkling of diced onions. Then we did another layer of the same, eggplant, mozzarella, onion, basil. We bought a 32 ounce can of store bought Hunt's roasted garlic and onion tomato sauce. We could've roasted our own tomatoes and made our own sauce, but quite frankly, its a Tuesday. Who has time for that on a Tuesday. We poured it over the top of the eggplant layers, and tossed it at the oven at 350. We left it in there about 25 minutes until it bubbled, and then took it out of the oven and let it cool down for another 10 until serving it. It was so phenomenal I will definitely be eating the leftovers tomorrow.
Perhaps the best part of the night was my valentine's day gift from Jeff. I had a heart shaped cheese pizza delivered to him at work for lunch, but he absolutely one-upped me by special ordering me vegan cinnamon rolls from Cinnaholic bakery in Berkley, CA. These were the real deal! I may have a hard time giving up cheese, but I no longer have any excuses on eating non-vegan sweets. These things taste just as good as any regular cinnamon roll you might find. Now I just have to find a good vegan cupcake!
Regardless, the meal
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