Ratatouille

I had to share this summer meal with you guys because we eat this at least once a week if not more. And you need to try it before all of these delicious summer veggies are out of season! I for one never thought I would like this dish. The name alone just doesn't sound appealing to me {pronounced rat-a-two-ee}. I definitely didn't think my husband would like it. But to my surprise he loved it and so did I! The following is a more traditional ratatouille recipe but read the notes below to find out how I tweak it...

Ratatouille

1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp garlic, minced
2 cups eggplant, diced
1 cup bell pepper, diced
1/8 tsp ground thyme
1 cup zucchini, diced
1 cup yellow squash, diced
1 cup tomatoes, diced
2 tbs fresh basil, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
fresh parmesan cheese, grated

In a large sauté pan heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic to the pan, stir occasionally. Sauté until the onion starts to become translucent. Add eggplant and ground thyme and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the bell pepper to the pan. Sauté another 5 minutes. Add zucchini and yellow squash to the pan and sauté another 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, fresh basil, salt and pepper and cook an additional 5 minutes. Serve over rice, pasta, crusty garlic bread or by itself! Then sprinkle {more like drown} the Ratatouille with parmesan cheese. Yum!

FYI: Our favorite way is over crusty garlic bread and eating it bruschetta style. But we've tried all 3 ways and each are delicious in their own right.

*Special Notes: The hubs and I don't like eggplant. So instead of eggplant I add an extra cup each of zucchini and yellow squash. I just didn't want to leave it out of the recipe for those of you who like eggplant or are feeling adventurous and might want to try it. If you plan on skipping the eggplant like we do, then just add the ground thyme with the bell pepper and then continue with recipe as follows.

Garlic Vinaigrette

I use this dressing mainly on pasta salad. It still has that same tried and true italian-ness to it that I normally associate with pasta salad but with a little something extra. And it's incredibly easy. It does have one weird ingredient but I promise totally worth it!

Garlic Vinaigrette

3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup rice vinegar
4 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp toasted sesame oil

Direction:
Add all ingredients in to a container that can be tightly sealed. Shake until well blended. Pour over salad.

Now that was totally painless right??

In case you wondered what we typically put in our pasta salad...

pasta
tomatoes
broccoli (fresh never frozen! The frozen stuff goes limp and nasty)
peas
cucumber
bell pepper
carrots
olives
Feta cheese (it is very important that you put the feta in very last right before serving. This way the feta retains its own flavor and doesn't absorb the dressing)

Black Bean Soup

This soup is souper simple! Ha get it? Ok. I know. That was lame. As a family we are trying to eat less meat. It's just a health thing my husband and I have decided on. We try to make sure that about 90% of our meals lately are meatless. It's been hard! But this soup is tasty and comes with a kick!

Black Bean Soup
adapted from Betty Crocker


1- medium onion, finely diced
1- large clove garlic, finely diced
1- tbs olive oil
1- large celery stalk, chopped
1- large carrot, peeled and chopped
2- 14.5 oz cans vegetable broth
1- tsp dried oregano
1/2 to 1 tsp red pepper flakes (depending on preference)
2- 15 oz canned black beans, rinsed and drained
Lemon wedges








In a large saucepan, add olive oil, onion and garlic over medium high heat. Cook until onion is tender and translucent. Once onion is tender and translucent pour in vegetable broth and add the celery, carrots, oregano and red pepper flakes. Heat until boiling and then reduce heat so that the soup is simmering. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until carrots and celery are tender and easily pierced with a fork. While the soup is simmering drain and rinse the black beans. Reserve some beans to be mashed with a fork about 3/4 of a cup. Once celery and carrots are tender stir in the black beans and the mashed black beans in to the soup. Let the soup simmer for another 5-ish minutes. Serve with lemon wedges.

Yum!

Serves 4-6

Honey Roasted Carrots

We make homemade potato wedges all.the.time as a side for dinner {recipe to come soon! sorry we've been slacking} I was getting a little tired of potato wedges all of the time. Luckily, I remembered this recipe for honey roasted carrots. Soo delicious!

8 medium sized carrots, peeled and cut into pieces {or what I estimated to be about 3-4 big handfuls of baby carrots}

1 tbs honey

1 tbs olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil {very important for easy clean up!}. Toss carrots with honey, olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread out carrots even on the baking sheet. Bake for 35 minutes or until browned and tender all way through. Enjoy!

Margherita Pizza

After a suggestion from Mallory, my husband and I sat down to watch the documentary Forks Over Knives. After watching the documentary Troy and I decided that we should go on a 7 day vegetarian diet. The documentary suggests to cut out all animal products, but I have a relationship with cheese. I love dairy, especially cheese. I don't think I could live a happy fulfilling life without it.

For our week long vegetarian diet we decided to make a Margherita Pizza. My personal opinion is that tomatoes, basil, and garlic is the most wonderful tasting flavor combination. Tomato + basil + garlic + pizza = ah-may-zing! The best part of this pizza would have to be the homemade sauce. I will never buy pizza sauce again. It's sooo easy and extra tasty!

Pizza Margherita
Slightly adapted from A Sweet Pea Chef

Ingredients:
1 pizza crust/dough

1 14oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, not including juices
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 ground black pepper

2-3 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
1 oz fresh basil torn in to pieces

Directions:
Preheat over to 450 degrees.

To make sauce. Drain tomatoes and puree in a food processor (or blender). Add olive oil, oregano, basil, garlic, salt and pepper. Pulse to combine.

Spread sauce evenly over pizza dough leaving a 1/2 inch border around the edge for the crust. Evenly sprinkle shredded mozzarella over pizza sauce. Add sliced tomatoes, creating a layer of tomatoes on top.

Bake pizza for 12-15 minutes or until crust turns a golden brown and cheese has melted. For an extra yummy crust mix a little olive oil, garlic powder and kosher salt together. Brush on the crust the last few minutes of baking.

Toss fresh basil over cooked pizza and let stand about 3 minutes. Slice and serve.

Makes 1 large pizza.


Notes: I'm sort of a cheater and I like to buy already made dough from my local bakery. Making dough intimidates me for some reason. One of the bakers let me in on a little pizza dough secret. When you're making pizza, if the middle of the crust keeps coming out doughy bake the dough for 5 minutes in the oven before adding toppings.

Butternut Squash Soup

I'm alive, I promise. And I have been cooking meals, but honestly nothing that's blog worth. We've been busy. The husband is interviewing like crazy. And so far has four more interviews that he has to fly to. So when he's gone I don't really make dinner.

A couple weeks ago we had a few days of cooler weather, like in the 60s. It was time for soup. Squash are my favorite vegetables. They are cheap, last a long time and you can dress them up so many different ways. This time I used a butternut squash. They are tricky to cut, so unless you are strong I recommend letting the husband/boyfriend cut it for you. This soup had a nice kick to it because of the jalapeno, but it's not too bad.

2 T butter
1/2 onion, diced
2 t ginger
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
1 butternut squash-peeled, seeded and cubed
2 c chicken broth
1 evaporated milk
1 t sugar
salt and pepper
1 c sour cream

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in onion, ginger and jalapeno pepper; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 7 minutes. Add the butternut squash and chicken broth, and bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until squash is tender. Stir in evaporated milk, sugar, salt and pepper. Cook and stir 5 minutes. CAREFULLY, pour soup into a blender. Hold the lid of blender with towel and start to blend. Puree in batches (I was able to do it all at once in my blender), or if you have a hand blender you can blend it in the pot. Serve with sour cream.

Black Bean Burgers w/ Guacamole

No one will ever be more shocked than I that I actually get to post this recipe as "Husband Approved". My husband really did say, "Wow, these are actually good!" He also really did go back for seconds. AND he really did ask, "when are you going to make those veggies burgers again? Those are good." So I did. Both times he gobbled them up. Shock and awe people. Shock and awe.


Black Bean Burgers

2 cans black beans, drained but not rinsed
1 to 1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
1/2 of a bell pepper, chopped up small (the color is up to you I've used red and green with great results)
1/2 cup onion, chopped up small
1 tbs chili powder
1 tsp granulated garlic
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 eggs
guacamole


Directions:
Drain black beans and place in a medium sized bowl. Using a potato masher, mash up beans well. Add in onions, bell pepper, chili powder, garlic and cayenne pepper and mash with the beans. The onions and pepper won't exactly mash up but it helps get the flavors incorporated in to the beans. Mix in panko. Add eggs and mash those in to the bean mixture as well. {In case you are wondering why eggs? The eggs help hold the burgers together during cooking} Once all of the ingredients are well incorporated. Make into burger sized patties. I like mine thick, about one inch.

You can either:
grill them like regular burgers over medium heat
bake them at 375 degrees for 10-12 min {flip them over half way through}
or cook them in a pan with a little oil over medium high heat for 10-12 min

I prefer baking.

Serve on whole wheat buns. Top with guacamole and any other desired toppings {cheese, lettuce, tomato, etc...}

Serves 4-6