Eggplant and Goat Cheese Strombolis and Spinach Sprouts!!

Yesterday was an odd day where my mood issues really got to me! We had a beautiful sunny day on Sunday, and that one really nice day of warm weather on Monday. Now it's been two days of rain. But I will say I'm GRATEFUL that it's not snow!!! It's always baffled me that I really have no control over this. I do practice positive thinking, keep busy, make the best of everything, look forward to my garden...but my emotions are still in tune with the weather! Therein lies the comfort food!!! I've figured out that there is no point trying to fight the depression when it wants to come back, so I just roll with it...and eat my way through it lol...:) Yesterday I made some more strombolis. We had some eggplant to use up, so I cooked that with bacon, onions, garlic and tomatoes. We also had extra goat cheese from pizza night, so I mixed that up with an egg white, some Parm and some herbs.

I made my thin crust pizza dough and then layered it the usual way with some shredded Mozzarella, the eggplant mixture and then the goat cheese mixture.

After 25 minutes on the pizza stone, mmm mmm good! :) Here's the recipe: Eggplant and Goat Cheese Strombolis. We used to make a similar filling with prosciutto and ricotta cheese for calzones, but it got a little soggy and the prosciutto got lost in the mix. Strombolis are rolled up into long cylinders, calzones are folded over into half-moons...and there is another similar type of dish called a Panzerotti, which looks like a calzone, but apparently it is traditionally fried. Those are just the Italian versions, then we have all the Mexican types like empanadas and flautas and fajitas....roll it up or wrap it up in baked/fried dough and I'm game! :)

We finished up the Boston lettuce with dinner so the lettuce is gone, so are the tomatoes. We only ate one of the strombolis, so we'll be having the other for dinner tonight! I just have to figure out what to serve with it...I was hoping to have some lettuce left, but now I must get creative! I have five days to go before my next shopping day and the fridge and freezer are looking quite empty! I'm happy about that though. No waste!

I wanted to use up the last of the frozen Phyllo dough, so I made more of those Nutella cigars. They are so good!

I sprinkle them with salt after they're done baking. I got this bottle as a free gift many years ago. Do you use fancy salts? Do you taste the difference? I know I have more of a sweet tooth, but I really don't taste the difference. I know there are many claims of different health benefits with seas salts though.

Window Garden Update!!!

My lemon is getting more and more yellow every day!! :)

My spinach seedlings are up after only planting them five days ago!! Well, two of the six little cups have sprouted, I'm so thrilled! I hope the snow really starts to make some progress melting soon so I'll be able to make some raised beds and place them in the right spot. How cool would it be to have fresh spinach by mid-May? :)

I wanted to post some pictures of my porch from last year. We were so broke after adding four rescue pets to our family of now six fur kids! All of the medical checkups, adjusting, food, accessories, toys and flea meds...turned us from just doing okay to downright paycheck to paycheck again. No complaints, we love the pets! But this brought my creative side out. I found an old dining shelter in the old shed and I turned it into a screened-in porch for myself. It got really damaged last summer with the wind and pets trying to barrel through it! So this year I budgeted for wood and screen, and Alex is going to make it permanently screened. We're even thinking of a screen door. You can't sit outside for more than a minute from May through to October without getting swarmed by black flies and mosquitoes in this area. You can see the real size of the porch. The side with the garden tools is barely wide enough to walk in, my "porch life" area is maybe 8 feet long by 3 1/2 feet wide. Trust me, I can fit a lot in that small space!

I had an old porch swing that I'd bought in 2007 that Alex put up for me last summer. You can imagine how we had to squeeze around it just to get inside! But it was so cozy. I spent 4 months on that porch swing with Jack sitting next to me and Alex occasionally coming down from his hammock paradise upstairs to join me! Alas, the seating ripped after so many years of use...one day I'd like to get another one though. I can't wait to get all of this set up again! Now though, I must whisper sweet nothings to my beet seedlings and let them know the spinach is winning! :)