Yesterday was a day off from work, but there was still plenty of work to do. Those of you who are moms know exactly what I mean.
I had to get new brake pads on my car, do laundry, get the family room ready for the carpet to be cleaned, and take Michael to an appointment to get his prosthetic fixed.
I bought eggplants the other day at Kroger, with no clear idea what to do with them. Yesterday afternoon, after I'd prepared some ground beef to be made into meatballs, I decided to make Eggplant Parmigiana. [I will call it EP from now on so I don't have to type so dang much.]
The Zerorez folks were here to clean the family room carpet, which desperately needed it. I had a funny conversation with the technician, James, when he got there. He looked at the beat up, dirty rug - Coco spends a lot of time in there - and looked skeptical when I said the last time Zerorez was here they got it looking new.
After he had been cleaning it a while, I went over and checked it. It looked new. I pointed something out to James which I consider an important life lesson.
Never buy cheap carpet. It's not worth it, if you have kids or dogs.
Quality carpet can take a beating, and if you get it cleaned professionally it looks great. Cheap carpet will just look cheap and won't clean up well.
Fortunately, I live in Northern Georgia and there are tons of mills that make carpet nearby. I have a guy I've bought carpet from for more than twenty years, and I always buy remnants of really expensive carpet at deep discounts.
Anyway, I started making EP while he was working. It occurred to me I had no recipe. All the cookbooks are in the family room. The downstairs computer is in the family room. It's off limits. So I could either wing it, go upstairs (which I didn't want to do) or not fix the EP. I winged it.
I will make it again soon, and I'm sure I will figure out a better way to do it, but it turned out quite tasty. I sliced the eggplant, dipped the slices in ranch dressing, then breadcrumbs, and fried them in canola oil. Then I put them in a 9x13 pan and covered them in tomato sauce and parmesan cheese.
Now you can see why I don't take more photos of food. My food always ends up looking like some screwed up science project done by aliens on crack.
It was yummy, despite appearances. I baked it for 30 minutes at 350.
Michael ate one bite and said he was full. He's having it for breakfast this morning.
