Crispy Eggplant Caprese Stacks

 Summer is the perfect time to enjoy fresh vegetables right from the garden. One of our favorites this time of the year is these crispy eggplant caprese stacks. Fresh eggplants, tomatoes, basil and mozzarella. These are simple and perfect for any occasion.

These are on the menu at a local restaurant we frequent. Fran ordered them last week, but they were out of the eggplant. She immediately called our daughter Jamie and said, we are making these tomorrow, and we did. Enjoy the recipe.

Eggplant Caprese Stacks Ingredients:

2 medium-sized eggplants (Peeled and sliced to 1/4-inch thick)

2 or 3 tomatoes (sliced 1/4-inch thick)

8 oz. mozzarella (sliced 1/4-inch thick)

Fresh basil leaves

Balsamic glaze

Ingredients for Frying the Eggplants:

2 cups or more of flour

4 large eggs (beaten)

2 cups or more of seasoned bread crumbs

Olive oil or vegetable oil for frying

Instructions for frying:

1. Add the flour, and bread crumbs into two shallow dishes, and the beaten eggs into a bowl.
2. Coat the eggplant slices in the flour, then dip them into the eggs, and then coat them in bread crumbs. 
3. Place the breaded eggplant slice on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
4. Prepare a frying pan with oil and heat to 350 to 375 degrees.
5. Fry the eggplant slices until they are golden brown on both sides.
6. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels.

Building the Eggplant Stacks:

Start with the first eggplant slice, then a slice of tomato, next a slice of mozzarella, and then fresh basil leaves. Repeat this 3 times for a complete stack. Top off the stacks with another slice of tomato and fresh basil leaves.

Drizzle the stacks with balsamic glaze and serve.

Slice the eggplant into 1/4-inch slices

Slice the tomatoes and mozzarella and set aside

Coat the eggplant slices in flour then egg, and then coat with bread crumbs

Fry the eggplant slice until golden brown on both sides.

We used a Hamilton Beech Electric Fryer

Fried eggplant slices on a paper towel ready to build the stacks. I like eating the eggplant just out of the fryer with a little salt and pepper.

Why You'll Love This Recipe:

Healthy and Light: Packed with fresh vegetables, this dish is both nutritious and satisfying.

Easy to Make: With a few simple steps, this is ready in no time.

Versatile: Serve it as an appetizer, side dish, or even a main course.

Flavorful: The combination of eggplant, juicy tomatoes, creamy mozzarella, and fresh basil is simply delicious.

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Simple Caprese Salad

 This simple Caprese salad is the perfect way to use up those fresh tomatoes from your garden.

Caprese Salad is an Italian favorite. Made with thick slices of fresh tomatoes, fresh slices mozzarella, and fresh basil leaves.

Topped off with extra virgin olive oil, Italian seasoning, Balsamic glaze, and salt and pepper to taste.

It is simple but oh! so delicious. Serve this salad with any meal or have it for a quick lunch. Your friends and family will be impressed.

You will want to use the fresh soft ball of mozzarella cheese for this, not the sliced mozzarella you buy in a package. 

• Cut thick slices of the tomatoes and mozzarella. 
• Layer them on a plate.
• Add fresh basil leaves.
• Drizzle olive oil and balsamic glaze, over the top.
• Sprinkle some Italian Seasoning over the top.
• Salt and pepper to taste.

There you go you have made the perfect Caprese Salad to serve to your family and friends.

Fresh Tomato Cucumber Salad

This is the time of year that we all enjoy the beautiful harvest form our gardens. This year Jamie planted a container garden with tomatoes, cucumbers, banana peppers, and fresh herbs. We are enjoying the harvest with this fresh tomato-cucumber salad.

We started by slicing eight banana peppers. You can also use bell peppers for this salad it really doesn't matter. If I were to use bell peppers I would have sliced them into squares.

We peeled and sliced two nice sized cucumbers. We Sliced them about 1/4-inch thick or more and then cut them into fours.

Five medium-sized tomatoes cubed. Now we have banana peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes all together in a medium-sized bowl. Oh, wait I forgot to tell you about the garlic, we chopped up four cloves of garlic and added it to the salad.

Mixing the Fresh Salad:

8 banana peppers sliced

2 cucumbers sliced 1/4-inch and then cut into fours

5 medium tomatoes cubed

4 cloves of garlic chopped

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup light olive oil

Chopped fresh basil (Add to your taste)

Italian Seasoning, Salt, and Pepper (Add to your taste)

Mix everything together well, cover, and place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to let all of the flavors meld together.

This is a perfect salad to serve with any meal. I always like having some fresh Italian bread handy to dip in the juices. Oh! that is so good!

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy it.

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Steak and Shrimp Salad

If you're looking for something easy, quick, and delicious to serve your family for dinner, this steak and shrimp salad is it.

Fresh crisp greens combined with tender strips of steak and hot french fries for the steak salad. On the other side, the greens are topped off with succulent shrimp.

Fran and I were looking for something a little different for dinner the other night and this was it. We put this together with everything we had on hand.

We started off with a huge plate of fresh greens. Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red, and green peppers.

We cut a thin strip steak into small strips. then, covered the bottom of our 10-inch non-stick skillet with olive oil (about 2 tablespoons). Added a clove of diced garlic and cooked over medium heat.

We thawed the frozen shrimp by running it under cold water. Cooking this in the same skillet as the steak until it was done. (about 5 minutes turning once).

While all of this was going on we had some shoestring french fries cooking in the oven. We assembled everything together and topped off with our favorite dressing.

I used ranch dressing for the steak salad, and Fran used a vinegarette for the shrimp salad. This salad was quick, easy, and made the perfect dinner for both of us.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy it!

You might also like some of our other favorite salads

Steak SaladA Summer Salad

A Summer Salad

Sometimes it’s just too hot to cook inside even here in Western New York. We needed to come up with dinner the other night so we put together this salad with whatever we had on hand.

Fran started off with a mixture of greens that were in the refrigerator, some romaine, leaf, and iceberg lettuce, and filled up a large bowl. Then she crumbled up four strips of crispy bacon on top.

Next, she added some red onions, diced tomatoes, sliced fresh zucchini, and cucumber just picked from our friend’s garden, and to top it off shredded cheddar cheese.

While she was doing all of that I fired up the grill and grilled a boneless chicken breast. We cut up the chicken breast, whipped up some ranch dressing and created a nice summer salad with whatever was on hand.

I went a step further with my salad and added fresh ground black pepper, almonds and some raisins.

This made for a nice meal for just the two of us. So if you’re stuck for a quick dinner just put together what you have.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed.

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Easy Light Lunch or Dinner

This is a quick and easy idea for a light lunch or dinner, with some leftovers that you may have in the refrigerator.

I call this mini crescent roll chicken salad sandwich, with broccoli salad. If you have some leftover chicken this is a delicious way to use it up.

Make your favorite chicken salad, I like a little crunch to my chicken salad, so I add some chopped-up celery and chopped almonds.

Pick up some Pillsbury Crescent Rolls and bake them according to the package instructions. (I know that I didn’t really have to tell you that, but just in case!)

Now how to make the Broccoli Salad:

8 cups of broccoli (Chopped Very Fine)

1 cup Miracle Whip Light Dressing

6 slices of bacon (cooked and crumbled)

½ cup of red onion (Chopped Very Fine)

3 tbsp. sugar

3 tbsp. white vinegar

Mix the Miracle Whip, sugar, and white vinegar until it’s blended. Now in a large bowl add the remaining ingredients, pour in the dressing, and mix.

Refrigerate this for about one hour and it’s ready to serve. Slice your crescent rolls and fill them with that delicious chicken salad and enjoy.

As always Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed this recipe.

Steak Salad

This steak salad is sure to please even the biggest of appetites. Steak salad is simply thin slices of steak seared on high heat and served over a bed of your favorite greens and veggies. I like adding french fries and heating up the dressing for my steak salads.

What a quick and easy meal to prepare, and it offers everything on one plate. Your greens, veggies, meat, and potatoes, what more could anybody ask for.

I've made this with New York strip steak, but I have to tell you I like it better with a nice Rib-Eye. If you don't eat steak try your favorite seafood or chicken. Steak salad is a wonderful meal made fresh to order or easily made from leftovers.


INGREDIENTS:

• 16 oz. New York Strip or any steak of your choice, this should make 2 or 3 salads
• Montreal steak seasoning
• 1 bag of steak fries, or French fries found in your frozen food section. (Best is Homemade)
• Romaine lettuce is enough for however many salads you want to make
• 1 bunch of green onions
• 2 or 3 nice tomatoes
• 1 bag of shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 or 3 hard-boiled eggs
• Sliced or chopped green and red bell peppers
• 1 bottle of sweet and sour or poppy seed salad dressing. Or any dressing that you prefer.

Cut thin slices of your favorite steak and cook it on high heat for about one minute per side or to your liking. Prepare your french fries and hard-boiled eggs and build your salad it's that simple.

Choose your favorite salad dressing and enjoy. A couple of my favorite dressings are ranch and blue cheese.

Garlic Bread Sticks


Try my easy-to-make Garlic Bread Sticks for a perfect compliment to your steak salad.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy it.

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