First Day in the First Grade!

My little Jacey is a 1st grader!!! She had a great first day! When I asked her how her teacher was, she said, "AWESOME"! When I asked her how her day was, she said "AWESOME"! This year is going to be "AWESOME"!!!!

Roasted Eggplant and Chicken Parmesan

Eggplant is one of those vegetables that is so pretty but so many people have no idea what to do with it. Let me help you out! I lived in Italy for a year and a half where I served a mission for the LDS church (My name is Shalece Fiack, I love eggplant and I'm a Mormon....). Surprisingly I did not learn how to cook an eggplant there, I learned how to roast an eggplant from my dear Turkish friend Cigdem while our family lived in Seattle. THANK YOU CIGDEM!!!

Here I'm going to share a recipe for Eggplant and Chicken Parmesan. I'm making dinner for the missionaries tonight and this is what they are getting, so I thought I'd document it and share the recipe! Don't worry! It is all Weight Watcher's friendly!

You will need:

1 large eggplant
8 cups of pasta sauce (I make my own, but I'll save that for another day...)
1 8oz pkg shredded Italian blend cheese
1 8oz pkg shredded parmesan cheese
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup plain yougurt
1 cup bread crumbs (I toasted italian bread and then crushed it up in my food processor)


Roasted Eggplant Parmesan

pre-heat oven to 400. Place a large baking sheet with 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the oven while it pre-heats.

Cut the ends off the eggplant and slice it lengthwise into 1/2 thick slices and sprinkle with salt.

When your oven is pre-heated, lay the slices of egg plant on the hot baking sheet. Be careful not to burn yourself! I leave the pan in the oven and just slide the rack out as far as it will go. You may have to do this in 2 batches if you have a big eggplant. Let the eggplant roast for 10 min. Flip the slices over and let roast on the other side for 10 more min. Remove from oven. The eggplant should be a lovely golden brown color.

In a cake pan, lay slices of eggplant to cover the bottom of the pan (I only used half the pan because I am putting chicken parm in the other side of the pan...). Ladle sauce (1/2 to 1 cup of sauce) over the eggplant and spread evenly over the eggplant. Sprinkle 1/3 cup of italian cheese over the layer. Add another layer of eggplant and sauce and cheese repeat until you are out of eggplant. On the top layer sprinkle parmesan cheese and Italian style cheese. Bake uncovered at 350 for 10-15 min or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Chicken Parmesan

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup yogurt
1 cup breadcrumbs
2 cups pasta sauce
2/3 cup parmesan cheese

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Pound out 2 chicken boneless skinless chicken breasts (wrap chicken loosely in plastic wrap and use a meat mallet to pound it flat).

Dip chicken breasts into the yogurt and then breadcrumbs and lay in the bottom of a baking dish coated in nonstick spray. Bake for 30 min.

In a clean baking dish lay the cooked chicken and smother with sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bake for 10 min until cheese is melted and sauce bubbly.




WOW! You got 2 recipes for the price of one today! I hope you will try these recipes and let me know how they come out. (I am serving both of these dishes with linguini.)

-The Domestic Diva

The Kitchen Timer: A Mother's Best Friend

It used to take Jacey FOREVER to brush her teeth and get ready for bed! It got the the point that I dreaded bedtime because it was such an ordeal! Then I purchased a kitchen timer and the rest, as they say, is history!
We would set the timer for 5 minutes and try to "beat" the timer getting ready for bed. She loved it and it made my job easier!!!

The kitchen timer can be used for so many things! I find myself using it more OUTSIDE of the kitchen than IN!
Here are some of the things that we use it for...

Taking turns: We have 1 computer and 2 girls. This becomes a problem when they BOTH want to play "letter games" (on starfall.com). Instead of fighting over who's turn it is, we set the timer for 5 minutes and when it rings, the girls know it is time to switch places and set the timer for another 5 minutes! This also works when we have a toy that BOTH girls want at the same time.

Cleaning time: Let's see how many toys we can pick up in 10 minutes!

At the swimming pool: The girls love to swim but I don't always want to spend all day at the pool, so we bring the kitchen timer and set it for 60 minutes. When it rings the girls RARELY give me trouble about getting out.

Bath time: Audrey LOVES bath time and she would stay in there ALL day long if I would let her. I let Audrey know that she can play in the bath for 30 minutes "that's a long time". When the timer rings she knows it is time to wash and get out.

Using a timer with the girls, I think, has given them a sense of time and is also teaching them the value of time! I LOVE MY TIMER!