not-quite ratatouille

Wasn't sure what was for dinner, had some summer squash and thought of ratatouille so I looked online.
Most recipes are for a sort of stew, but I had in mind something like the movie version :) and I found one. But I hadn't realized it was supposed to be based largely on eggplant, which I didn't have. I considered heading out to buy it, but no, I really didn't want to have to buy anything. So I took what I had and made something just as pretty and it was really delicious. I used a sweet potato sliced very thinly, a large tomato, and onion, a yellow and a zucchini squash. You sprinkle it with your favorite seasonings and cover with parchment paper to bake.
Here's what I based it on: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2007/07/rat-a-too-ee-for-you-ee/

You can serve it with crusty bread or over couscous or quinoa or whatever.


This post has been sitting in drafts for a while, about time to put it out there.....
Use What You Have!

Menu planning from an Aldi's ad

Having a good time with the ad and decided to record it.

Avocados 39 cents, Durk will get to have lots of bachidas (Brazilian avocado milkshake) but also we can have avocado-mango-tomato salsa on fish, simply chop all three and stir , together with a little olive oil and cilantro and Mexican seasonings. Put over baked fish. Serve with broccoli, baked sweet potato, whatever-
homemade guacamole on a fiesta dinner (oops, haven't ever finished that post, coming soon) basically it's onion, chicken, frozen corn, black beans, salsa, brown rice all cooked up together - or rice separate to put the chicken stuff on top of.

Multi-colored peppers 99 cents a package. Hmmm, good time for confetti spaghetti squash,
still have some sale asparagus from the other day and the canned black beans are only 59 cents, good week for black bean asparagus salad with red peppers and cilantro dressing.

Mexican style corn - good with cornbread mix and browned sausage from the freezer for a fast sausage-cornbread dinner, still have salad "kit" from big sale last week to go alongside.

That's four possible meals so far.

Cooked a ham today from last weeks amazing 59 cent a pound sale, so the rest of the week will be ham and angel hair pasta; ham-veggies-egg pie in potato crust ;  and split pea soup with ham. Seven days planned, hurray! Looks heavy on the Mexican so one day might turn into oriental veg and noodle stir fry with some ham (see yaki soba post).

Cheddar-Onion Bread

When you want something a little fancier and flavorful, here's an easy one to do when you are already making a batch of bread (and of course it will freeze for use on a busy day in the future).

Chop a large onion and cook it slowly in a little butter while making bread dough until golden and sweet.

Make your usual or favorite whole wheat bread dough (here's my recipe) and after the first rising, save out a portion - a large loaf's worth.After shaping any other loaves, take the reserved piece and knead in the onion and about 1 1/2 cups finely grated sharp or extra sharp cheddar (or other favoirte cheese). Let it rest 10-15 minutes.

Divide into three portions and roll each into a long snake, maybe about 14 inches. Braid them together and form into a circle in a greased 10" glass pie plate (or on a baking sheet). Let rise 30 minutes, put in cold oven on a slightly  lowered rack and bake at 325 for 30 minutes or until browned.
You can brush it with water before baking to help it get crusty.

This bread is great with broccoli soup, easy vegetable soup, etc.