Two Nights, Two Dinners

Since I'd been itching for another excuse to use the sourdough starter that my pal Stephanie gave me, I just had to make Vegan Yum Yum's Rustic Bread and Eggplant Lasagna on Wednesday night:

She substitutes slices of sourdough bread for noodles. Those bread slices (mine was whole wheat sourdough) are layered with roasted eggplant, tomato sauce, and though the recipe did not call for it, I had to throw in some mozzerella Teese. Check out Vegan Yum Yum's recipe here.

Check out my awful plating!

First, I made the bread using the starter, but something went wrong on the second rise and it stayed flat as a board in my loaf pan. Since I knew it didn't really matter how dense the bread was for this (you are covering it in sauce so a sturdy, dense bread is actually perfect), I baked it anyway.

This dish is unbelievably good, as to be expected from the awesome Vegan Yum Yum. If you make it, use a sourdough loaf . The sour taste is a perfect complement to the smoky eggplant and garlicky tomato sauce.

On Thursday night, I took a cue from Skinny Bitch In the Kitch with this Spaghetti Squash with Braised Greens, Raisins, and Pine Nuts:

The greens are local rainbow chard from Dodson Farms, but the recipe is versatile. You can use kale, collards, whatever. This is so tasty and it felt like a really healthy week night meal. The greens are braised with chipotle pepper and garlic and served atop strands of baked spaghetti squash with pine nuts and plump raisins. I ate this with a slice of soy-buttered Ezekial bread because spaghetti squash tastes best when eaten with bites of buttery toast.

Hey tester friends! A new recipe is posted on the Cookin' Crunk tester site....