dinner and dessert for mommy <3

So I told my mom that I would cook for her last night because she always comes home so tired. But in order to cook something...I had to plan a menu! and it was:
Eggplant Rollatini with homemade roasted tomato sauce and Strawberry Scones for dessert (and breakfast!)

I began this cooking adventure busing and barting to Berkeley to go and buy groceries. I had lunch at Cafe Intermezzo with my sister and we had a massive veggie delight salad. Then we walked to Berkeley Bowl (top chef season 1 shopped there haha) to get ingredients for the roasted tomato sauce:
Ingredients:
-3 lbs of tomatoes (I used large ones and roma ones)
-1 medium onion
-2 large carrots
-4 cloves of garlic
-olive oil
-salt and pepper
-thyme, basil, rosemary

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Cut tomatos in 1/2 (remove the stems), slice the onion and chop the carrots into bite size pieces. Smash and mince the garlic.
3. Toss the vegetables together with olive oil to coat and season with salt and pepper and herbs.
4. Lay the mixtue onto a large flat baking pan with tomatos face down. Bake until the veggies are tender (45-60 min).
5. When tender, remove the skins from the tomatoes and put the mixture (juices and all) into a blender. Pulse until desired texture.

Then I placed the sauce into a pot, and tasted it...reseasoned it. I also added eggplant, zucchini, and mushrooms for an extra chunky sauce. and then I moved to work on the eggplant rollatini:
Ingredients
-large eggplant
-1/2 cup of part-skim ricotta cheese
-1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
-1 egg
-1 clove of minced garlic
-salt, pepper

Procedure:

1. Slice eggplant length-wise so that they are about 1/4 inch thick
2. Season w/ salt and pepper then steam them until they are pliable...pat dry
3. In a small bowl, mix together the ricotta and parmesan cheeses, egg, garlic and salt and pepper
4. In a baking dish, cover the bottom of the dish with the sauce.
5. Place a spoonful of the cheese mixture onto the eggplant slices and roll them up. Place the rolled eggplant onto the sauce in the baking dish, seam side down.
6. Continue until no more eggplant slices! Then top the eggplants with some more sauce.
7. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

MEANWHILE, I made spagetthi noodles to eat with the sauce and the rollatini. It was good :D But i wasn't able to take any pics b/c my hands were occupado. haha
and now...for dessert! Strawberry Scones:

or maybe another time!