I am ridiculously pleased about all the fresh produce I scored today at Sprout's market. You see, I live in an area with sub-par grocery store choices. So, when I branch out of my community and go to another part of the city, my first order of business is to sniff out their exotic (to me, at least) grocery stores. Usually, when I get to shop at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, AJ's, or Sprout's, I get very, very excited. Seriously, I love healthy, quality foods and specialty ingredients. My normal store usually does not carry any of lovely items that these stores have in stock regularly...at least, not for a reasonable price. Also, I love, love, love beautiful, farm-fresh produce for bargain-basement prices. My store carries some of the good stuff, but it is usually too expensive to even go near. Now, to be fair, we do have a Safeway in our neighborhood now. That is definitely a step in the right direction.
Anyway, I went to a groundbreaking ceremony this morning in another area of town, and I spied a Sprout's on the way. Two of my MOMS Club friends are business partners, and they are opening up a Goddard School. The ceremony was to mark the beginning of the construction on their school. Most of our friends were there, and my son had a blast playing in the piles of dirt at the site. It was a fun event, but I must confess, the lure of Sprout's made it excellent. Definitely too good to pass up a shopping trip! My friend, Claire and I must have been sharing a brain, because she said that she intended to stop at Sprout's too. We made it a joint-venture, and braved the store with our crazy kids. I am so glad we did, because they have awesome produce for really reasonable prices.
When I got home, I immediately rearranged my menu plan for today, tomorrow, and the rest of next week, to accommodate my new grocery purchases. One of the items that was on sale was eggplant. Since I was not crazy about the dinner I had planned for tonight, I just bumped it in lieu of PW's Pasta and Eggplant dish. This was really good the first time, so I am going to try it again. The only difference is that I think I will peel the eggplant this time. I just don't like the eggplant skin, no matter how long it cooks. I have been slacking this week on the vegetarian meals, so it's kinda nice to slip an unplanned one into the rotation at the last minute. I am now really looking forward to dinner!
PW's Pasta and Eggplant: A Variation
Yum! I don't think I am going to vary any ingredients from when I originally made this dish a few months ago. It was pretty much perfect the first time around. I do only have one eggplant today, but it should still be enough for dinner...that just means that there will not be as much sauce leftover.
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