Ratatouille

No, there isn’t a rat in this dish, nor was it prepared by one as in the popular Disney movie! It is a wonderful vegetable side though.  I found the recipe on allrecipes (of course).  I did make a few changes to it though.  I used Asian eggplant, since I had heard it is less bitter than the traditional eggplant you find (Most grocery stores carry them, but if you must use a purple one try to find a smallish one that will be less woody and taste less bitter). I also omitted green peppers.  Instead of layering them like the recipe called for I arranged them in a circle in the oval baking dish I was using.  I increased the amounts for more servings.

I liked this dish.  I may even like eggplant! It is a little time consuming to arrange it nicely, but if you are in a hurry arrange them however you wish.

Ratatouille

adapted from allrecipes.com

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1 Tbsp dried parsley flakes
• 2 Asian eggplants (larger than a cucumber, but much like the shape of one and a little more pinkish in color)
• 1 tsp Kosher salt
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 zucchini, sliced
• 1/2 of a sweet Maui onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms
• 3 large tomatoes, thinly sliced

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Spray the baking dish with cooking spray.

Heat the olive oil in a large non stick skillet.  Sauté the garlic until lightly browned.  Add the sliced eggplant and dried parsley.  Sauté until the eggplant is tender, but still holds its shape.  Season with salt.

Arrange the eggplant in an oval dish starting along the outside edge and working in. Alternate the slices of eggplant with slices of zucchini, tomatoes, onion, and mushrooms. As you work, add in more slices to make the vegetables almost stand on edge, filling in where you have gaps.  Sprinkle the the vegetables with Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

Bake in a preheated oven for 45 minutes.  Enjoy.

Printable Recipe

I will make the dish again with the changes I made.

Oregano Chicken

Those of you who follow my blog with a regular basis know that I love allrecipes.com.  For those of you not familiar with that site, there are recipes rated by members.  I typically pick 4 and 5 star recipes that almost always guarantee success.  I often will read the changes others have made and then decide if I will follow the recipe exactly or will add or take away or substitute ingredients.

Here is a recipe I have followed exactly on ingredients, but cooked at a different temperature and length of time because I was baking another dish at the same time (Ratatouille – posting that next).

Oregano Chicken (link)-source allrecipes.com adapted cooking time and temperature

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 6 skinless boneless chicken breast halves

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. (Originally 375 for 30 minutes)

Make a sauce, combining the melted butter, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, oregano and garlic powder.  Stir.

Arrange the chicken breast halves in a casserole (mine were quite large and took even longer to cook through than usual).  Pour the sauce over the chicken.  Place in oven.  Every 15 minutes open the oven door to ladle the sauce over the chicken from time to time.  Cook 45 minutes and test if no longer pink.  Cook longer if needed. Mine took almost an hour.  The sauce is tasty.  I served it with pasta and Ratatouille.

Strawberries and cream

This festive looking dessert is in the theme of red, white, and blue.

I cut the tops of the strawberries off and used canned whipped cream to decorate the cut tops.  Next, I dotted them with blueberries and carefully arranged them in dessert bowls.  It is a great and easy to make dessert (even kids could make).

Then the kids had a little fun with the remaining strawberries.  They made strawberry creatures… I am not sure if it looks like a dinosaur or not. You decide.  They cut a little mouth in the tip of the strawberry and then made small holes for the eyes and placed blueberries into the holes.  I thought it was cute enough to share!