Dinner Inspiration

I've been having a tough time coming up with weeknight meals lately.  I don't know what it is, but I'm just out of ideas and tired of the same old stuff.  I hit the grocery store yesterday, to find something quick for dinner.  I had no clue what that would be when I walked through the doors.  But then I noticed some homegrown eggplant that looked really good.  So I tossed one of those in the cart, followed by portabello mushrooms.  Both sounded good, even if I didn't know what I was going to do with them. 

Then I saw this fresh pasta...

and this marinara...



and suddenly I knew exactly what I was making. 

I brought all of those goodies home, along with two chicken breasts from the meat counter, and made an easy and tasty pasta. 

First, I cubed the eggplant and mushroom caps and sauteed them in some olive oil.

Not just any olive oil though.  This stuff came from Italy, via my mother-in-law.  She recently spent a month there exploring.  Jealous?  Yeah, me neither.

I didn't take any other photos of the process, but basically I added some seasonings (salt, pepper, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes), shredded cooked chicken, cooked pasta, and the marinara sauce.  Then I topped it all with shredded parm.

In my husband's words, it was "popping with flavor".  Which is a pretty good, albeit interesting, review for a dish inspired by one little eggplant. 

Now what's for dinner tonight?  Grilled cheese.  Because inspiration doesn't strike everyday.