I’m in a better mood.

Because of this dinner, but also because I’ve accepted the fact that I’m a grown-up and I’m embracing it.

Yesterday I made tomato sauce from scratch. Not the one my mom makes that takes four hours and cooks with yummy greasy meatballs in it and you can smell from the garage when it’s raining and and you get off the bus from school and you know your dad is bringing home bread from Columbus Bakery..

Grown-up. I’m a grown-up.

I made a simpler tomato sauce that doesn’t take as long but has all the essential flavors and is great on pasta, as pizza sauce, this eggplant parm, etc. Kelly ate it with a spoon last night and put it on her eggs this morning. Whatever floats your boat.

This is all you need:

If you’re super observant you’ll see that this picture was taken at home. The Wegmans brand tomatoes give me away. How I miss that place- Shoppers and Safeway and Giant just aren’t adequate substitutes. Anyway- I took these pictures that time I made pizza. But I made it again last night and it turned out equally delicious.

Onto the eggplant. Yesterday when I was checking out at the grocery store, the cashier was ringing up my produce she held up the eggplant and looked at the woman working at the next register and said “What is this?”

It devastated me. If I thought we could have a conversation over the meal I would have invited her for dinner just so she could experience this new food in her vocabulary.

I also almost got into a confrontation with a random fellow shopper who was ranting to her boyfriend about how the “new craze” over Greek yogurt is stupid and how it’s probably the same as regular yogurt and everyone who buys it is stupid. As I was reaching for my Chobani. But that’s another story.

See where I took a bite out of the brick of cheese? Don’t pretend you’ve never done it.

I had this for dinner last night and tonight. Partly because I wasn’t satisfied with the pictures I took last night, and partly because it’s so good and filling and another one of those meatless meals that makes me pretend I could go vegetarian.

Tomato Sauce:

2 tbs olive oil

1 cup chopped onion (about 1/2 of a large onion)

2-3 cloves garlic

2 large cans of tomatoes (I use whole, but you can use diced or whatever you like)

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Saute the onion in the oil until slightly translucent. Add your garlic and let it cook for 30 seconds or so, and then add the tomatoes. I usually squeeze the tomatoes and break them up with my fingers and add the juice, but it would probably be easier to just use diced. I complicate things unnecessarily. Add the red pepper flakes. Let it cook together for 20 minutes or so, then turn off the heat. Once it has cooled a little bit, pour into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. You can definitely skip this step if you like a chunkier sauce, or if you’re a lucky duck who owns an immersion blender use that. Pour back into the pot and let the sauce cook for another 15-20 minutes.

Eggplant Parmesan

1 eggplant, peeled and slice into 1 inch thick pieces

2 eggs, lightly beaten

seasoned breadcrumbs, about 1 cup

parmesan cheese, about 1/2 cup

2-3 tbs olive oil

tomato sauce (you can use jarred or whatever sauce you like, I obviously used the recipe above)

grated mozzarella cheese

Dip the eggplant slices into the egg and then coat with breadcrumb and parmesan cheese mixture. Lightly fry them in the olive oil until the breadcrumbs are browned.

Pour a thin layer of sauce into the bottom of a baking dish. Place your eggplant slices in and top with grated mozzarella and more sauce. Place in the oven at 350 or under the broiler until the cheese melts. Add some fresh basil on top if you feel fancy.

And then eat stale graham crackers and chocolate chips for dessert. Because you’re a grown-up.