Dinner

Ratatouille

Today was a shovel snow and then go to work at home day.  We decided the easiest way to cope with dinner was to make our "standard" "go to"  foods- which consist of ratatouille and polenta.  We also happened to have ribs in the freezer (from a buy one get one free deal two weeks ago)... so- we threw the ribs in the crockpot this morning with a bunch of seasonings rubbed on and a can of coke thrown in for good measure.  It worked-- not spectacularly-- but it was good for sure.  Then tonight made ratatouille with a lot of balsamic thrown on at the end. Yum.  One lesson learned in the making of our meal was that we like the Goya brand of corn meal and really hated the brand we had picked up last time.  So-- next time-- back to Goya it is!
here's how we did the ratatouille adapted from Tyler Florence's Ultimate ratatouille

Ingredients:
1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup evoo
1 small eggplant cut into 1 inch cubes
1 lb zucchini and yellow squash cut into 1 inch sections
1 onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
leaves from 1/2 bunch basil coarsely chopped
4 fresh thyme sprigs or a little dried if you don't have fresh
1 pint cherry tomatoes
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

line a bowl or platter with paper towels.  Heat 1/3 cup olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add the eggplant, season generously with salt and pepper.  cook down for 10-12 minutes.  Move the eggplant out of the pan onto the platter to drain. Cook the zucchini and squash together the same way in 1/4 cup oil, then add it to the eggplant.

Add another 1/4 cup olive oil to the pan, then onions garlic and herbs cook for 5-7 minutes at least until onions are carmelized.  Add the tomatoes and cook for 10-12 minutes until pulpy.  Return the veggies to the pan and then season with salt and pepper. Let cook for about 20 minutes until the mixture is soft, mushy and juicy.  Then stir in the vinegar-- can be served at room temperature or warm.


That's all for now... off to work a little more into the evening.  And find something for dessert (I'm imagining hot chocolate in an hour or two).

French Toast

Today we took Challah Bread with Raisins (a round loaf, though I wish we'd had a long loaf instead) and made our Stuffed French Toast.  Here's how it works:

Ingredients:
Bread
8 oz Cream Cheese
4 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 teasoons of Vanilla Extract
1 tsp sugar
(dash of cinnamon if you like it)

In a small bowl- take softened cream cheese and mix with 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 teaspoon of sugar.
In another bowl whisk together 4 eggs, 1/2 cup heavy cream, and  1 teaspoon of vanilla (and cinnamon if you like it)

Slice bread into half inch thick pieces.

spread cream cheese between two pieces of bread and make "sandwiches"
Dip them into the egg mixture
fry in a greased pan over medium high until done.
Serve with good quality maple syrup or powdered sugar or both! :-)

It's time

So, For months I've been reading Crashing the last supper and thinking that i need a place to explore food, communion (the food and the relational kind) and family type things. I also want to have a place to hold recipes and thoughts of where life is at, and this seems like as good a place holder as any.

Now that I am only working my "two" jobs, and am not trying to be in a Doctoral program too (while raising two small kids and trying to find joy) -- well-- now that I'm not doing that -- I have time to have hobbies again! Yay for cooking, knitting, playing, reading and blogging! It's a good day.

So today it is snowing beautifully outside. My kids bellies are full of bacon and stuffed french toast-- and all is right with the world. Pictures will come later in the day. :-)