Things you will need  for making this delicious dish:

2 eggs – beaten

1 Tablespoon water

2 eggplants (medium) sliced to 1/4″ thick

2 cups Italian flavored bread crumbs

1 1/2 cups shredded Parmesan cheese (divided)

2 jars garden style pasta sauce

1 1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese

Things to do to ensure deliciousness:

Combine eggs and water in shallow bowl. Dip egglant into egg mixture and place on baking sheet (single layer), feel free to squish them on there. Bake eggplant at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

While the eggplant is baking, you will need to spread a little sauce on the bottom of a 13″ x 9″ pan (do not grease). Mix bread crumbs and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese in a medium bowl. When the eggplant is done baking it’s time to layer it up.

Layer 1/2 of the eggplant on top of the little layer of sauce. Then, pour 1 cup sauce over the eggplant followed by 1 cup of the bread crumb mixture. Repeat with eggplant, 1 cup sauce and the rest of the bread crumb mixture. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. I started cooking my noodles with about 10 minutes left of the 45 minutes. I used angel hair but I think it’s usually served with spaghetti noodles.Your preference really. after 45 minutes uncovered and spread the rest of the Parmesan cheese and Mozzarella cheese on top and bake until cheese is mealted and bubbly (about 10-15 more minutes).

You might want to heat some sauce on the side while it finishes baking. The sauce in the eggplant loses the water and gets thicker after baking. I would suggest plating noodles, a little extra sauce, then a square of the eggplant Parmesan then enjoy!

]]> http://www.kingsquared.com/2012/01/28/mmm-mmm-eggplant-parmesan/feed/ 0 http://www.kingsquared.com/2011/10/14/i-promised-photos/ http://www.kingsquared.com/2011/10/14/i-promised-photos/#comments Sat, 15 Oct 2011 00:13:00 +0000 John http://www.kingsquared.com/?p=2057 And I have one – there are thousands of others (literally) but I’m just going to upload just one.

We didn’t plan any activities ahead of time we just played it by ear. While there, we checked out the OKC Zoo. I was quite surprised by the size of the zoo and the collection of animals. All of the major players were there and we had a great time. Jessica tends to have better jokes than I do but once in a while I come up with something really silly and I get her to laugh. I was thinking about a sketch I saw a few days ago where all of the characters had names like in a Dick Tracy comic book. I saw the animal below and the first thing that came to mind was calling him good old zebra legs. Zebra legs, of course, isn’t the correct name but it was good for a laugh.

Aside from the zoo we stopped at the Oklahoma City Memorial. The memorial was on the former site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building that was one of the first cases of domestic terrorism that I remember in my lifetime. The site, as you might imagine, was quite a somber affair. The feeling I got was very similar to what I felt when I walked through the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

Jessica decided to treat me and took me to a place called Tapwerks. They had over 100 beers on tap or in bottles. Rather than ordering a specific beer I decided to let the bartender make the choice and I ordered mystery trays. It was quite a fun way to try out some new styles and flavors. At first the bartender did a fantastic job of serving me things that I’d never had before. I’m a beer lover so it didn’t take long before I starting getting repeats of things I’d had before but it was still quite a bit of fun.

Here are a few other random photos of the city. I was quite surprised. I had expected to find a place exactly like Des Moines but this was an actual city – not an overgrown suburb.

I can’t wait to head back home – only one month left.

There is no milk

I was amazed by the empty shelves. It’s as if they don’t expect to be able to leave their houses for weeks.

Snow is water...

While the temps are supposed to drop over the next few days I didn’t expect water to be in such short supply. Do pipes freeze this bad in this part of the country?

Chips are a survival item?

This aisle made me laugh – chips are a vital part of the diet of the local population. The only sections hit harder were the water, milk, and bread.

Lines? We know lines

For most people lines like this are normal at a Walmart . This place is an oddity because I’ve never seen lines like this. They had every single register open and the queue (good old British English) was quite deep.

Snow? Really?!?

I have a five hour class delay for this?

Just a little drift

Ok, there are drifts but this still isn’t that bad.

It's not that bad

A shot out of my front door. I didn’t venture farther because I didn’t want to put on shoes. I don’t think it’s any worse than what you can see out the door.

I think the response to this snow will be similar to the snowfall we faced two years ago in the Puget Sound. The city and county only had a few plows and we waited for days for the roads to be cleared. I’m sure that I’ll face a similar situation here. The difference is that there are no hills in this part of the country. The wind is moving briskly so there will be some drifts but I don’t think it will be anything to worry about.

This merchant really caught my attention. They had a massive building with literally hundreds of cars parked outside. The local populace seemed to love this merchant and their large selection of wares. Everything was so lavish and expensive. I don’t know how a man on a normal salary could afford anything.

I cherish all of the rights afforded by our constitution but I haven’t taken advantage of all of them – to my detriment of course. A gunsmith was in town offering all of the latest and greatest hand cannons. I heard a rumor that you could kill a man just because you thought he had the devil in him. This is bible country and we can’t have any of that evil down here. Luckily for everyone your local gunsmith is prepared to help eradicate evil. In the event of a zombie apocalypse don’t forget the rules. (thank you Zombieland)

In the vicinity of the gunsmith was the most amazing of all merchants. Creatively named stuff and junk they sold quite a bit of stuff and junk. There was some small stuff, big stuff, odd stuff, normal stuff, useful stuff, useless stuff, and a whole bunch of junk.

I really felt sorry for this insurance salesman. His name is a euphemism for a condom. What kind of parent would name their child Dick Coates? That’s terrible!

At the end of the day of exploring I was famished and I decided to be adventurous and enjoy the local cuisine. The lines were insanely long and they didn’t offer any table service. For such a fine establishment I assumed that a reservation would be mandatory. The service was so quick. Ordering was a bit odd as you picked your items off the big board based upon a strange numbering system. Never in my travels have I seen something so bizarre.

Obviously you can tell that there is nothing in Altus. It’s bigger than Knoxville but there is nothing worth seeing and hardly anything worth doing. I’m glad my childhood was tempered by boredom. At least it makes it easier.

At times I was bored of the scenery – miles upon miles of nothing. Notably eastern Oregon, northern Utah, and parts of New Mexico were the worst. There were times that I wanted to stop and other times I simply did. Our country is so diverse – it’s amazing. I know that there are parts that are far less amazing. I just hope to never live in those places.