This recipe was handed down from my grandmother. Whenever she prepares it, she says ‘This is your grandfather’s recipe…’ Eggplant caponata is traditionally (in my family, anyway) served cool with crusty Italian bread as an appetizer.

I happen to love it (as do family/friends) served hot over pasta. Pictured above (in the background) with linguine, it is also well suited for mezze penne – or any pasta for that matter. It also makes a great filling for a ciabatta sandwich. Truly delightful served as you fancy.

I paired it with Quick Pesto with Broiled Tomatoes (in the foreground), and some Bon Terra for an amazing meal that got rave reviews!

There is an interesting ‘need’ for bacon these days. It’s sold everywhere and it’s in everything. Really, is that necessary? Do people realize what they’re putting in their bodies?

At any rate, since we don’t eat little piggies or their parts, but do enjoy a good toasted sandwich, we needed an alternative to the traditional BLT. Enter: The ALT! Avocado is great substitute for the ‘fatty’ ingredient in a regular BLT, but with added nutrition and a far better taste. But that’s not the only great substitute! Since our garden was kind enough to provide swish chard, we switched out the lettuce and had a great pairing of creamy and bitter. Add thick sliced of fresh tomato and you’ll be dancing on your counter. We served ours with raw string beans instead of fries and were feelin’ pretty spoiled. Mmm!

We finally got around to making a vegan pizza with diaya ‘cheese’ and homemade dough. We’ll warn you now: you will not be able to eat just one slice…you will eat the entire pie. But, you’ll feel entirely free of guilt upon completion. Yes, it’s that good. Good for you, good for animals, good for the earth.

We used the dough recipe from the Vegan Family Cookbook with a little more flour, some leftover marinara sauce, and about 1/2 a package of diaya.

We must say a great big thank you to Chef Chloe for this awesome recipe. What a complete delight to make and eat. It really gets the gears turning for similar dishes.

We had to make a substitution due to a pantry malfunction. Pine nuts weren’t in our cupboard and a trip to our grocer left us wondering, “Where have all the pine nuts gone?” So, tahini stepped in – we have also used walnuts with great success. Mmm. We also amped it up a bit with more garlic. Double mmm.

We’ve been making boxed brownies for various family events and found that using the recommended additional ingredients (or its substitute) equals very oily brownies. Yes, we cheat and use the mix. Homemade brownie recipes don’t include hydrogenated oil – which I’m certain takes all the credit for the paper thin, flaky top I love! (Hence, the ‘naughty’ name.)

I thought I’d share what we found works well and save you the trouble of wasted time and brownies. You should note that we prefer chewy brownies, not cake-like, so you may need to alter these further to suit your taste.

We love making these for skeptics and watching their reaction when we tell them that they’re boxed brownies gone vegan. ;-)