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Lately I have been lessening my carbohydrate consumption and this recipe has emerged from this change. Lasagna is one of my favourite comfort foods and it is just so easy to replace the noodles with eggplant, and to be honest, I think I actually prefer it with the eggplant. Not only is it healthier, it has this, gentle sweetness and a light, moist, smooth texture that works so incredibly well with the other ingredients. Do not misunderstand, this recipe is not a “diet recipe”. This is a very rich, indulgent, completely wonderful meal, that happens to be pretty, not bad, for you.

This recipe will yield one lasagna that can be sliced into around 12 servings.

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Making hard boiled eggs is pretty straight forward, but the most difficult thing about it is cooking them just right, so that they are easy to peel. It really sucks to boil a bunch of eggs only to find, when you try to peel them, they get shredded into twenty little pieces because the shell just won’t let go!

Difficult to peel eggs are just going to happen sometimes, no matter what you do, but by using certain techniques, you can greatly lessen the chances of it happening. There is no one best way to cook hard boiled eggs, but most people who make them often have their favourite methods, and this is mine.

This method is designed for cooking large standard eggs. Smaller or larger eggs may require different times.

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Creamed chipped beef on toast is a popular breakfast dish in the United States. It is most commonly served in diners in the northeast, where I lived most of my life, though it can be found in other areas of the country as well. It consists of a form of dried cured beef swimming in a simple white gravy (which is similar to a bechamel sauce) poured over toast. Sometimes scrambled eggs are first placed over the toast and the creamed chipped beef is poured over top.

It seems to have originated at some point during World War II, when it was served to many military companies daily, and at times was served for every meal. The reason for this was that it was quick to prepare, and the meat was cured so it was easy to keep a large supply on hand without worrying about spoilage. Soldiers are said to have had a love hate relationship with it. Many of them enjoyed it but certainly got sick of eating the same thing all the time. These soldiers are said to be the people who coined the popular nickname of this dish “Shit on a Shingle”, because, as unappetizing as it may sound, it kinda looks like bird poop on a roof shingle. Please do not let this funny factoid scare you away. It is totally delicious!

Much to my dismay it is purely USA fare and I now live in Canada. It just doesn’t feel right to go out to breakfast and not see it on the menu. Luckily for me, however, it is super easy to prepare. The only problem is that the main ingredient, the dried beef, is also only sold in the USA. So, as with so many other foods, I must buy a bunch whenever I venture south of the border. Sigh. So if you want to try to make this, despite the lovely nickname, and you do not live in the USA you are probably out of luck, unless you can take a trip or have it shipped to you somehow. If you live in the USA you should have no problem finding dried beef in the grocery store.

This recipe yields four servings. Each serving consisting of one piece of toast and a quarter of the creamed chipped beef. Typically, each person is served two servings, so two pieces of toast and half of the gravy, but if you want more protein in your meal, and this is how I prefer to serve it, just serve each person one piece of toast, top it with scrambled eggs and then the gravy. So depending on how you are going to serve it, this recipe serves two to four people. Since simply serving it over two pieces of toast is the classic way, that is the style I will prepare for this article.