This afternoon I was working away at my computer when it hit me that I had no clue what to make for dinner. My creativity was no where to be found and none of my ideas sounded appealing.
I knew I had these ingredients waiting for my fridge. They needed to be eaten today or thrown away.
1/2 an Eggplant, Cherry Tomatoes, Mushrooms & 1/2 can of Chickpeas
I immediately turned to Twitter for advice and was bombarded by tons of tweets with great ideas. Got to love technology!
Here are some of the replies:
- @TadorTott Eggplant lasagna or parmesan
- @Lowandbhold check out The Life of Mrs. LC’s blog she had a great vegan eggplant roll up recipe on there recently that looked awesome
- @bamarunner Eggplant Parm?
- @SFBethT have you ever made moussaka? or pasta alla norma
- @MissyRayn Broil it with balsamic and olive oil and some tomatoes and then stack it with fresh basil and mozzarella
- @juliannem ratatouille!
- @runeatrepeat love garlic eggplant from chinese restaurants. I make it at home with my own sauce
- @balanceblog Bake it! egg wash and bread crumbs.
- @eatsleeplaugh eggplant and chickpea curry? eggplant and tofu thai stir-fry? lentil moussaka?
- And many more
I pondered my predicament while enjoying a snack of Peach Chobani and Crumbled Peanut Butter Granola bar.
I came home refreshed and renewed and was able to piece together some of the ideas to make a great meal.
The first meal ideas that popped in my mind and on twitter when i mentioned the eggplant were all marinara base; however I feel like I have been on marinara overload lately and wanted to branch out a little.
I ended up taking @Lowandbhold’s suggestion of Lindsay’s Eggplant Rollups, but instead of the marinara route, I took @MissRayn‘s idea of balsamic.
I started by grilling the eggplant slices for a couple of minutes on the george foreman.
I then topped the slices with a smear of Goat Cheese, Fresh Basil and Raisins.
I rolled them tightly and placed them on top of a mix of chickpeas, mushrooms and tomatoes that I then drizzled with balsamic vinegar.
I baked the perfectly portioned for one meal for 10 minutes at 420 degrees then served.
The roll ups were great! I loved the addition of the raisins to the goat cheese. It gave it a nice sweet touch.
Thank you twitter friends for giving me the basis ideas of a great meal.
For dessert I had my last piece of Sin Dawg.
RIP Sin Dawg. You will be dearly missed. *sniff *sniff
Someone posted a Sin Dawg recipe in my comments last night. Perhaps I’ll give it a shot this weekend?
Twitter is starting to replace google in my eyes. When ever I have a random question I always tweet away and get some great advice.
Do you tweet for answers? What have been some of your favorite twitter questions you’ve asked or have responded to?
{ 42 comments… read them below or add one }
Tweeting for dinner ideas is a great idea! I found like 3 meals to make out of the responses you listed!
OMG that looks awesome. I have never grilled eggplant! I really like Twitter too
Great for random thoughts and getting ideas.
The blog community is so awesome. That almost wants me want to get twitter. Almost, haha, I don’t think I need to get more into the internet and social network any more than I already am though or I’d have no time for school
Love the version of the eggplant rollatini you made – sweet, savory, salty, creamy..yum!
Tomorrow I’ll officially be joining the twitter world (didn’t earlier because my username is the same as the new site). So excited for tomorrow.
I haven’t jumped on the twitter bandwagon, but you got lots of great ideas for what to make!
Haha I love twitter. I am addicted to it right now!
I sometimes tweet a blog post if I have asked for advice. I think it can be helpful. I’m not a logical person and thinking about things from that perspective doesn’t come easy for me!
well i guess whenever i need a recipe i can always count on asking my followers for advice!
jenna
That roll up looks simply divine.
Ooh! Those rolls look amazing! I wish I could tweet at work
Wow thats awesome that you came up with a fun dinner like that just from a few random suggestions from people on twitter!! Talk about using all your resources!
YUM! Those eggplant rolls are a GREAT idea! I must try it!
Ohgosh, those look soooo good. I’ve used eggplant slices for many things, but never as a roll-up! I love tweeting about workout music
Your din looks so yummy and creative, great work!
I never tweet for answers, but I definitely should. I love all the great ideas you got. I’ve never grilled eggplant on my Foreman and now I’m definitely going to try it.
this looks amazing – I love the idea of stuffing it with raisins and goat cheese – yum! actually thinking about making this tomorrow night, thanks! =)
OKay so I do not tweet. I have never even been on the twitter website. GASP . . . I am so out of date aren’t I?!?!
no twitter for me, hehe. I love my google, plus i am trying the best I can to stay away from “tweeting” lol. I have enough with my reader, facebook, email, im, etc!!
Dinner looks delicious btw!!
I had eggplant tonight for dinner too, and i have plenty more that NEED to be used up, so i’ll def be trying this method!
http://saladdiva.wordpress.com
that seriously sounds SO amazing!
i need to make that!
I wish I like eggplant, it always looks so good!
Um, the only twitter I read is my husbands! In which he will tweet “my wife said she was giving me spaghetti squash. I thought she was kidding. She wasn’t!”
Okjay those definitely look WAY better than any type of eggplant lasagna or parmesan. Glad you chose the non-marinara route!
That looks delicious. I love the raisins and goat cheese inside.
I am addicted to twitter. it’s great for so many reasons!
I puffy heart egglant. Soooo good!! I can’t figure out how big your leaf plate is. Is it as huge as it looks? Was just trying to figure out the portion size. The eggplants I buy here are huge!
This eggplant was relatively short. I promise my plate isn’t very big at all. I tend to eat off of smaller plates to help with my own portion control
George Foreman to the rescue!
Never thought of using twitter to ask for reecipe ideas – what a great idea
Love the look of that meal – perfect for one!
I don’t think I’ve ever used twitter to get an answer. I’m actually not sure ahah But that definitely looks delicious!
Looks like a great dinner!
Just an fyi, I was always under the impression that you should never leave and open can in the refrigerator. Whenever you open a can and only use a portion you should transfer it to another container b/c the metals can interact with the food. Don’t have time right now to find a source…can anyone else back me on this?
I’ve heard this too….also, don’t leave anything acidic (like tomatoes or lasagna/Parmesan dishes with tomato sauce) wrapped in tin foil for the same reason.
i tried to find the recipe for the sin dawg and i couldn’t. can you post it sometime
@ Tami
go to:
http://www.everydaydish.tv/index.php?page=recipe&recipe=120
for the recipe and a video demonstration by Dave Dahl himself
I thought I would post an update comment on the Sin Dawg recipe.
I tried it out this weekend. Having never had one (but having drooled over all the blogged photos), I’m not sure how close I came to the real thing. It looked like the pics. What I made was delicious, but I did have problems with the filling quantities as written. I reduced the amount of oil called for. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp (which seemed a bit ridiculous) – I used about 1/4 cup, and still found it to be way too much. The filling mix ended up being really loose and ran out of the dough while I rolled it up. Next time I would probably just omit the oil and maybe add a tbsp or two of applesauce if it needed it.
Hope that helps anyone thinking about trying the recipe…
I love your dinner, and definitely am craving eggplant now, I love the idea with drizzling balsamic on it!
what a great dinner!
I don’t tweet
so I guess google is still my go-to!
Wow, those look delish!!
Glad I could help! Ain’t twitter grand?! The balsamic idea was great! I love bals vinegar!
Very interesting + creative meal!
Those look amazing. I think I would have skipped the marinara as well. Great choice!
What a great idea! I love eggplant, I bought one last week and it went bad before I could use it!! I love the goat cheese + basil + raisin combo. Yum!
Thanks for the ideas! I have some eggplant I need to use, as well as some chickpeas!
I keep getting eggplants in my CSA delivery, and my husband groans every time. Eggplant is one of the only veggies we both could live without. But that looks divine! I will try next week! (I never thought to put eggplant slices on good ol George Foreman… roasting in the oven takes so much forethought. George does not!)