Cold, Meditation, Flowers. Watch

It is cold, cold, cold round here. Mainly bad because it has been so windy. When it blows hard my bedroom windows seem like mesh instead of glass. It is also very hard to keep the apartment warm enough. I had to run a couple of errands in the morning and it was enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. Very refreshing mind you LOL.

I went down to exercise class early and sat there meditating for a while. Dan Harris on GMA has been talking about how helpful meditation is and I haven't done it for years, used to be part of our T'ai Chi lessons. It does help. As Dan Harris says - don't try to clear your mind, just concentrate on your breathing and if you drift off, come back to the breathing again. Nobody can just clear their mind completely according to him. Anyway, I agree it helps.

Our latest exercise instructor is a bit of a hoot. We do one exercise which is helped by the use of categories like naming countries. Today we chose flowers and ended up excusing him from naming them as he didn't know much about flowers. After 17 were named, he said he hadn't heard of half of them. We assured him by the time he got a serious girlfriend, he would learn. I dunno though, you can just go into a florist and point!!!

One bit of good news for us, Matt's Seiko watch packed up over the weekend. Took it to the jewellers expecting them to send it off for repair costing a small fortune. The saleswoman immediately said "battery". That hadn't even occurred to me. Cost about $14. Hooray. Matt is happy, he is lost without his watch. Silly really we have been retired for years and anyway there are clocks all around, and yet we both are lost without watches.

Here's an interesting concept. Not sure how much success I would have as my fingers are all thumbs when I try to do this kind of thing nowadays.

Eggplant Lasagna Rolls

Vegetarians and meat-eaters alike will devour these comforting lasagna rolls. We use thinly sliced

eggplant in place of pasta to cut the carbs. Pre-roasting the eggplant helps develop the flavor and softens the slices for easy rolling.

3 large eggplants
1/2 tsp salt, Divided
3 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 cups crushed tomatoes
½ cup chopped fresh basil, divided
3 tsp minced garlic, divided
1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed
2 ½ cups part-skim ricotta cheese
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ tsp ground pepper
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

1. Position racks in the middle and upper third of oven; preheat to 425°F. Coat 2 rimmed baking sheets with cooking spray. Slice each eggplant lengthwise into ¼-inch-thick strips. Discard any small or misshapen pieces. You should have about 24 strips. Sprinkle the strips with ¼ teaspoon salt and let stand for 15 minutes. Pat the eggplant slices dry and brush both sides with oil. Place on the prepared pans, overlapping the slices a little if necessary. Roast until soft and beginning to brown, swapping the pans from top to bottom midway, about 20 minutes. Let cool slightly. Meanwhile, combine tomatoes, ¼ cup basil, 2 teaspoons garlic and the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Spread ½ cup of the mixture in a broiler-safe 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Squeeze spinach to remove any excess liquid. Combine the spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, pepper and the remaining 1 teaspoon garlic in a medium bowl. When the eggplant is cool enough to handle, spread a generous tablespoon of the ricotta mixture on each slice. Starting from the narrowest end, roll up the slices and place in the baking pan seam-side down. Top with the remaining tomato mixture. Bake the rolls on the middle rack until the tomato mixture is hot and bubbling, 40 to 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and preheat the broiler to high. Top the rolls with mozzarella. Broil until the cheese is bubbling and beginning to brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining ¼ cup basil and serve.

Author: Hilary Meyer
Source: EatingWell

Have a great day