What's Not To Love

It's no secret that I LOVE the Food Network and watch it as much as possible. My 2 favorites are Paula Deen and Ina Garten. I love Paula for her no-nonsense way of cooking. I love that she uses butter, oil, mayo and cream cheese in almost everything she cooks. So pretty much it's lard on top of lard cooked in lard and covered in lard--YUMMY!!

I love Ina for her down to earth and quite easy recipes. I love all of the salads she makes, her to die for brownies and I will be trying the Eggplant Gratin soon. I am always looking up her recipes on www.foodnetwork.com. She has kid friendly recipes as well as dinner party menus.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them both! I hope you all enjoy these two recipes that I included in the post. The Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies are to die for!!

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

1 (8-ounce) brick cream cheese , room temperature
1 stick butter , at room temperature

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (18-ounce) box moist chocolate cake mix

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner's sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and "gooey." Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Eggplant Gratin

Good olive oil, for frying

3/4 pound eggplant, unpeeled, sliced 1/2-inch thick

1/4 cup ricotta cheese

1 extra-large egg

1/4 cup half-and-half

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup good bottled marinara sauce

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Heat about 1/8-inch of olive oil in a very large frying pan over medium heat. When the oil is almost smoking, add several slices of eggplant and cook, turning once, until they are evenly browned on both sides and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Be careful, it splatters! Transfer the cooked eggplant slices to paper towels to drain. Add more oil, heat, and add more eggplant until all the slices are cooked.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together the ricotta, egg, half-and-half, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper.
In each of 2 individual gratin dishes, place a layer of eggplant slices, then sprinkle with Parmesan, salt and pepper and spoon 1/2 of the marinara sauce. Next, add a second layer of eggplant, more salt and pepper, half the ricotta mixture, and finally 1 tablespoon of grated Parmesan on top. Place the gratins on a baking sheet and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the custard sets and the top is browned. Serve warm.