Super Easy and Delicious Roasted Eggplant Parmesan

• 2 medium eggplants
• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 4 cups spaghetti sauce (jarred or homemade...I love Arrabiata sauce for some kick!)
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic (minced)
• 4 basil leaves chopped
• 1.5 cups shredded Parmesan
• Salt and pepper to taste

Set oven to 450 degrees. Slice eggplant and place on a cookie sheet. Mix 1 clove garlic and 2 tbs of olive oil, salt and pepper into a small bowl. Brush eggplant on both sides and bake for 20-25 minutes until the eggplant is easy to poke with a fork.

Meanwhile, blend bread crumbs, half the basil and 1 clove garlic and remaining oil in a food processor and set aside. Mix remaining garlic and basil into ricotta cheese and put in fridge until ready.

Once eggplant is done, take out of oven and let cool. In a casserole dish, pour a layer of sauce just to cover the bottom of the dish. Lay eggplant in sauce until bottom is covered. Top with 1 cup of ricotta cheese, and sprinkle half the Parmesan over cheese. Top with bread crumbs, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Repeat for second layer. Pour remaining sauce into dish covering the entire dish, sprinkle with more parmesan, remaining breadcrumbs, and pop that baby into the oven for 30 minutes!

This dish is soooo good. I have turned many people onto eggplant with this dish..its really easy, low in fat, AND perfect for a cold night! I love drinking a dry cab with this,  paired with crunchy french bread and a salad!

Enjoy...Happy Holidays

To drive, or not to drive...who cares!

So, I finally found them! They wrap my fingers so gracefully and look a-m-a-z-i-n-g. These Italian beauties are perfect for the cold, to drive, or just to look stylish. I am talking about the driving glove, and I am obsessed! I wanted a bright red pair so bad that I went all around Chicago trying to find the perfect pair. You would be surprised the amount of research that goes into finding the perfect gloves. I had my last pair for over 10 years before one of them went on a solo adventure somewhere between Jackson Avenue and Lake. I was so sad. They were the perfect gloves. I saw them in a Banana Republic window, and fell in love. Instantly. They looked like Missoni, but without the price tag; so I was heartbroken when I discovered that I lost one.

But alas, life does go on, and so I went on a quest for the perfect second pair. There are so many out there, and honestly, you need several because they have to go with the feeling of your outfit. If you are feeling cozy, leather may not be the option for you, as cashmere may not be suitable for a dressy jacket and party dress. So I found some perfect gloves for the season, starting with my new obsession: Driving Gloves.

These gloves are so European and remind me of heroines driving down the coast with scarves around their heads adorning beautiful driving gloves that wrap around the steering wheel of a convertible sports car. They just scream chic and sophisticated. 

These are the red beauties I picked up yesterday (and some other great styles). Totally worth the soggy shoes and rain drenched hair! Remember, leather gloves that are hand made will fit differently even if they are the same size, so make sure you try all of them on to get the perfect fit!

Sermoneta; $89

Aqua; $48

Burberry; $250

Ralph Lauren; $58

Saks; 78

modcloth.com; $50

Kendra

Tis the Season to be Thankful

Well, I cooked my first turkey without a hitch!! It actually came out moist, flavorful, and totally cooked!! I was scared, I can't lie that this venture was going to turn into a kitchen nightmare of the Ramsey kind. But alas, it was a success. A meat thermometer was my godsend. So, right off the bat...I am thankful for meat thermometers.

I woke up yesterday morning feeling ready to conquer anything my kitchen could throw my way. The soup was cooking on the stove top (yes, the butternut one) and the potatoes were beginning to soften in the pot when it dawned on me...I still need to cook the turkey!!! Sorry, but being vegetarian for so long, you forget about those types of things when you are used to baking a tofurkey for 1 hour in a toaster oven. So, a mad dash began to get our little bird into the oven by 1:30! it was 1:15, and I still had to butter the breasts and chop the veggies. Thankfully, my mom, sat and chopped the parsnips, onions, and carrots for me so that I could focus on this most important task. She was able to walk me through prepping the turkey as she has cooked many birds in her lifetime and is pretty much an expert in this department (she laughed at my meat thermometer and said she never used one of those...said she could tell by flexing the wing and knew it was done). By 1:53 the bird was in the oven! Whew...success. My heart rate slowed down a bit and I was able to focus on the rest of the food.

The beautiful thing about Thanksgiving, no matter which day you celebrate it on,  is that it always allows us to stop and think about all the wonderful things we are thankful for. This dinner would not have been successful if my husband didn't run to the store and grab my last minute items without a complaint, or my  mom who chopped my vegetables, and tutored me through my first bird, or my friend Demi, who as a guest, still offered to help me get the gravy done, or her fiance who walked us through how to cut a bird (no one had a clue!) and helped me move the table into the living room! A team effort made the the night successful, and when we sat down and reflected on all that we were thankful for, it didn't matter that it was Saturday and the official Thanksgiving day had passed. It felt like the genuine holiday right there in my living room, with people that I love and admire. I am thankful for these moments that make life so sweet.

Kendra