Our First Christmas and New Years as a Married Couple

Being uncertain as to whether Alex would be able to come home for Christmas or not made all of us just a little anxious! We were told we would receive a phone call from our soldiers, letting us know their itinerary. Alex’s company was the last group that was able to purchase tickets, and I had been seeing all the other family members from other companies mentioning that they had heard back from their soldiers (on the facebook page). The day we were supposed to hear came and went, and the week Alex was supposed to be coming home came and went, without any money coming out of our account for the tickets and without hearing any word.  I got the information to call the travel agency they were going through and all they told me is he was coming home on Delta and his plane would arrive in PDX at 12:00.  Then she hung up.  I was relieved to know he was able to come home, but then I didn’t know if it was 12:00am or 12:00pm, so I emailed them and they sent me his itinerary! (It was pm) I was so thankful my sister, Katie, covered my shift for me at work that day so I could be there!

Alex arrived on time and even a little early! Both sets of parents and I were there to greet him! Best Christmas present EVER!

The very next day we ventured out and got our first Christmas tree! We had the best time picking it out, taking it home, snacking on hot cocoa and listening to Christmas music while we decorated together! Alex’s first requested meal was lasagna, so that is what we had for dinner!

We spent time with family, went to the Grotto’s Christmas festival of lights, finished last minute Christmas shopping, played Kinect, did A LOT of cooking and baking, watched "White Collar" and basically got to spend a lot of time relaxing. It was the best!

 Christmas Eve was spent at Alex’s Grandma and Grandpa’s, and I was able to open my present from Alex so I could wear them to Christmas Eve- a beautiful set of necklaces Alex picked out himself! So beautiful and special! Christmas morning Alex opened his gift, a knife! When we went on our honeymoon, Alex had to give his knife away because he had it in his pocket from cutting off the streamers and balloons from our car from the wedding. Thank you to David for picking out the right kind for him!

 On the 27^th we celebrated Rob’s birthday and made eggplant parmesan, even the pickiest eaters and the harshest critics enjoy this version!

For New Years, we went to our friend Jordan Harris’ performance at McMenamins in Wilsonville, it was nice to get to see friends and ring in the New Year with everyone! New Years Day we had waffles in the morning (my Mom’s gift to us was a waffle maker for Christmas) then in the afternoon we headed over to my parents to make the traditional Polish specialty, perogies! They were scrumptious like always! Everyone pitched in to share the work!

Alex had to leave the evening of the 2^nd. I was scheduled to work that day, and so Alex went and said goodbye to his family. Thank you again to my sister Katie, who came in to cover the last couple of hours of my shift for me! We’re still trying to get used to the goodbyes. We drove to the airport and stayed for about 40 minutes, I didn’t walk in with him, but we said our goodbyes in the parking lot.  We are so thankful to have each other and for the wonderful time we got to spend with eachother during our first married Christmas together!

Here is a recipe for one of my most requested meals! I have made it for 4 birthday dinners and counting! It is a lot of work, but the end result is well worth it! It really helps to have 2 people making it, one person breading while the other is frying, but it can be done with just one person as well!

Eggplant Parmesan:

2 eggplants

1 brick of parmesan cheese

6 cups mozarella

panko bread crumbs

Italian seasoned bread crumbs

6-7 eggs,

4 cups flour

oil for frying

For the sauce:

2 large cans of whole canned peeled tomatoes

5-6 garlic cloves

1 1/2 Tbs. Italian seasoning

1 medium yellow onion

1 Tbs olive oil

2 tsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp white sugar

spaghetti noodles cooked until al dente (I like whole wheat!)

Begin by peeling the eggplant, like a carrot.  Slice peeled eggplant to about 3/4 in. thickness. Place on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.  Let weep for 3-4 hours.  Eggplants with the most seeds are males, and will not taste as bitter compared to females. For this recipe, it doesn't matter if the eggplant are male or female just so long as they have sufficiently weeped (much water will come out of them!)

Meanwhile, in a large sauce pan, dice onion and crush the garilc and begin to simmer in olive oil. Hand crush the tomatoes into the sauce pan, (be careful, as they will squirt tomato juice all over you but the result in flavor is well worth the extra step of hand crushing them as opposed to buying already diced) Add the Italian seasoning and sugar. I usually add most of the juice from the cans as well as this recipe makes a lot and a lot of the sauce is needed. Let simmer. Salt and pepper to taste.

After the eggplants have sufficiently weeped, dry them with paper towels. Try and get them as dry as you can for the next step! (You will go through A LOT of paper towls doing this) Let me know if you know of a better way to dry eggplant!)

Set up a station. In the first bowl, place the flour and season with salt and pepper. In the next bowl, wisk about 4 eggs with 2 tsp of water.  In the last bowl, combine the Panko and Italian bread crumbs and 1c. of freshly grated parmesan cheese. (grate cheeses while eggplants are weeping) Have a plate ready for the breaded eggplants.

Cover the dried eggplant in the flour, next completely cover the floured eggplant in the egg mixture, then sufficiently cover the eggplant in the bread crumb mixture. Repeat these steps until all useable eggplants are breaded. You will need to replenish each bowl with fresh ingredients a few times as well as wash your finger tips multiple times!

In a large electric skillet, heat oil (canola works well) make sure the entire pan in covered and wait until the oil is very hot before frying the eggplant. Do not overcrowd your pan. Let eggplants fry until golden brown on each side. The key is to always have lots and lots of oil in your pan for frying so the bread does not burn!

In 9x13 pan, spread some of the sauce in bottom of the pan.  Layer sauce, fried eggplant and top with mozarella cheese. Repeat. You should be able to have at least 2 layers.

Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.  Prepare over the top of whole wheat spaghetti. YUM YUM!