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| The extreme heat we’ve been having here has called for lighter meals, lots of veggies, salads, and fruit desserts. So if you’ve gathered up a few eggplant from your garden or farmers market and are still thinking about what to do with them, consider making these eggplant patties. You can eat them like a burger with a bun or without, either way they’re chock full of flavor in every bite! |
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| They couldn’t be easier to make all you have to do is dice up 2 or 3 eggplants and place them on a baking sheet along with 2 minced garlic cloves, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in a 425 degree oven until soft with a little color, then let it cool down. Place in a bowl the cooled down eggplant, grated romano cheese, 1/2 diced red pepper, 1/2 diced onion, 1/2 cup of fresh or defrosted frozen corn, fresh basil, parsley, 2 eggs and a handful of breadcrumbs. My advice is to taste the mixture before adding the eggs so you can adjust all ingredients to your desired tastes, I never measure romano, I just sprinkle it in by the handfuls. |
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| Stir everything together, form patties and place on a silpat or parchment and drizzle the top with olive oil, bake at 425 until golden, turning over once. |
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| These are so good you’ll want to make them again and again! |
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| As far as desserts go, we have been obsessed with this grape salad, we had it at a party and it was a big hit, people go crazy for it, it disappears before your eyes! It’s so refreshing and cold, perfect for a hot summer day. The most time consuming thing about making this is picking the grapes off the vines. |
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| Use a mixture of green and red seedless grapes, make sure they’re really cold, I had a bag of each. In a bowl add 1 heaping cup of full fat Greek yogurt, squirt some honey in to it and sweeten it up. Now add 1 heaping 1/4 cup of softened cream cheese with a teaspoon of vanilla and stir everything together and then fold in your cold grapes. You can make this the night before but when you’re ready to serve add a sprinkling of brown sugar and toasted walnuts for garnish. Please make this for your next party, you’re guests will love it! |
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| Melons, I could seriously eat everyday, so refreshing! Try making cantaloupe ribbons they look so pretty on a platter with dollops of honey yogurt, blueberries, blackberries, sprigs of fresh mint and garnished with crunchy Marcona almonds. Cut a melon in half, scoop out the seeds, cut into wedges, trim off the rind then slice each wedge with a mandoline into ribbons. Do not use an overly ripe melon, the ribbons will be too watery, a little firmer is better. |
I’m Marie, a wife, mother, mother-in-law, and gramma of two beautiful girls. My passion is food, clear and simple but especially Italian food, hence the name of my blog, Proud Italian Cook. I want you to feel right at home here so grab a cup of coffee, I’ll get the pastries, take a look around and enjoy your visit! {
