Tonight we had baked eggplant parmesan, it was pretty good! It would be easy to adapt to a gluten free or dairy free diet, and it’s more waist line friendly than a fried version. Here’s my recipe!

Start out by peeling one eggplant, slice it to 1 inch thickness, and toss in olive oil. Season however you like, I used sea salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.

Then, top it with bread crumbs (omit for gluten free, sub ground up corn flakes) and drizzle with a little more olive oil. Bake for 15 minutes at 375.

While that is cooking, bring a can of diced tomatoes, two tbsps tomato paste, and a can of water to a simmer on medium heat. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, and dried herbs de provence. Simmer uncovered 15 minutes.

While this was all cooking, I buttered some leftover wheat hot dog buns and sprinkled it with garlic powder. Waste not want not!

After 15 minutes, pour the sauce over the eggplant and put back in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Top with cheese (I used romano instead of parmesan) and put back in the oven under the broiler for 5 minutes. Don’t walk off like me, it could have disastrous results.

Enjoy!

Hey ya’ll! For those of you dying to see pictures of the parsonage now that we’ve moved in (which is probably none of you) I decided to take some pictures today to share. (With my new camera- yaaay! 10 months without is too long. Thank you Lord for a sweet husband and a tax return.) Welcome to our home!

It’s not much, but it’s home! Someday we hope to paint it grey with white trim, and add red shutters. I planted bushes in the flower beds, the two tall ones on either side were already there but that was it. The new ones should get about 4ft tall, so that will look nicer as they mature. The flowering plants in the front are african daisies and will grow to a bush about 2ft tall.

Herbs in the first picture, and bell peppers, tomatoes, okra, cucumbers, and squash in the vegetable patch above.

Wide open spaces ya’ll. You can see the church over past the circle drive—talk about saving money on gas!

Come on in!

There’s a lot of light all over the house, which we love.

A friend of mine recently painted her parents formica countertop to look like granite, and it turned out looking beautiful and real! We may try to do that someday too. The kitchen has it’s quirks, but that’s what comes along with parsonage territory I hear! ;) 

We inherited the desk from the church, and got this table on Craig’s List. I’ve been thinking lately about painting them dark brown and then accenting with gold in the crevices and on the edges, but that would be quite an undertaking! I also would love to make some art for either side of the laundry room door. 

The junk room. Keepin’ it real people.

Our main bathroom.

Our bedroom. I need to find a matching curtain and rod for the other window. This room is small, and this is the only way all the furniture fits in the room. It doesn’t feel cramped, but there’s no way to avoid covering that window. Translation: you can only see 1/8 of the window, so I’m unmotivated to spend money on it. Bad reasoning I know!

The music room! It took a while to get the piano moved and tuned, but it finally happened and I love teaching in this space.

Welp, sans an empty guest bedroom and bathroom, this is where we live! I hope you enjoyed the sneak peek. Come see us sometime!

• We unclogged the bathroom sink, filled with someone else’s hair. It was gross, but I’m abnormally excited that the bathroom sink now drains.
• Andrew glued our loose dining room chairs. So wiggly you would think they were booby traps. We fell twice. 
• Made 2 new meals: Trinidad Chicken Stew (chicken we will do again, steam veggies instead) recipe courtesy of Giada, Creamy Chicken (name given by me, sour cream, parmesan cheese, and herbs spread on top of chicken, then backed) courtesy of pinterest—way delicious!
• Learning to simplify our lives and our finances. 
• Reading through Psalms. He has been blessing me so much!
• Cooper dug some holes.
• Holes so large he can stand them.
• And you can’t see his legs.
• It’s crazy. 
• Working in the garden. Our plants are beautiful due to all the rain! Unfortunately so are the weeds. 
• Been thinking about doubling the garden size for a fall garden, I want to start the seedlings in late July/early August. Wouldn’t it be amazing to provide most of our produce from the garden?
• Enjoying fresh eggs in exchange for a discounted piano lesson. Yum!
• Andrew and I have been golfing in the field around our house. We’ve plumb gone and become rednecks ya’ll!
• We took the dogs yesterday to the park (We now also have Bailey, Andrew’s dog, who is a 12 year old Basset mix) yesterday, and they hung their heads out of the truck the whole way. Bailey had so much fun that she felt young and spry again and tried to jump into the back of the truck. Poor girl fell straight down onto the concrete. We were scared at first, but she wasn’t fazed and it was pretty funny. At least she’s in touch with her youth!

We hope your week is going well too!