Simple Ratatouille

All fresh ingredients for the ratatouille make for a delicious treat.

Ratatouille is a French Provencal vegetable stew featuring tomatoes, courgettes (zucchini), eggplant, bell peppers, onion, garlic, and herbs.  Usually served as a side dish, we love ratatouille as a meal with pasta, over fish or other proteins, and as a dip.  Very versatile, there are lots of ways to make this flavorful medley.  To keep things easy, we offer a one-pot recipe which is modified from a ratatouille recipe found on the Real Simple blog.  (They offer great recipes and food ideas.)

A quick note:  this recipe was made at around 7000 feet elevation.  Cooking times may vary (be shorter) if you live in the lowlands.

Simmering and softening the ingredients.

Makes 3 - 4 cups

3 Tblsp. olive oil
3 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
1 onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 bay leaf
1 large tomato, coarsely chopped
1 medium eggplant, top trimmed off, unpeeled, and cubed
1 medium zucchini, top stem trimmed off, halved lengthwise and then thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, remove stem and seeds, cut into quarters, then into thin slices
1/2 - 1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 - 1/2 C. chopped fresh basil
freshly ground pepper

In a large pan, heat the oil and saute the garlic, onion, and bay leaf over low to medium heat until the vegetables are softened, about 10 minutes.  Add the tomato, eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, and kosher salt, and cook over medium heat until the vegetables have softened (particularly the eggplant). Stir in the basil and add a few grinds of black pepper.  Remove from heat and serve.

A batch of ratatouille keeps in the fridge for several days.
 Use glass jars with lids for best results. 

One recipe will make six to eight servings.  The entire stew above offers approximately 580 calories, loads of vitamin C, manganese, and fiber.  Be cautious with your use of salt.  This mix is so flavorful, you really don't need to add very much while the mixture is cooking.  My first batch seemed to get saltier as it sat.

This recipe was made in the morning and it just seemed
too perfect not to use it for breakfast.  Voila, top with a poached egg!
The nieces all loved this.  Toast would be a great compliment.

- Kim Fielding

Tomato Gratin

Fresh end-of-season tomatoes

September is a fun month for me.  We get to enjoy all the summer vegetables and are tickled by those fruits which are starting to appear for fall.  As an instructor for how to incorporate vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, and nuts into your diet, this is the best time to learn how to do so.

Often times, tomatoes are at their prime in September and early October before the weather starts to change here in California.  But we can soon lose sight of their preciousness when we are faced with their abundance.  Creativity is the key.

This tomato gratin wowed our Healthy Living group and is super simple to prepare.

Servings:  6 - 8
Prep and cook time:  20 minutes

4 large tomatoes, sliced
several sprigs fresh basil, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove,  minced
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Slice the tomatoes and place in a 9 x 13 oiled baking dish.  Sprinkle with the basil and season lightly with salt and pepper. 

In a skillet, warm the olive oil and sauté the garlic until just fragrant.  Add the bread crumbs and stir to combine.  Add the Parmesan and take off the heat. 

Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture over the tomatoes and basil and bake about 15 minutes or until the topping is browned.

This smells yummy when it comes out of the oven. 
Use a large spoon to serve.

One-sixth of the recipe offers about 162 calories, 6 grams protein, 18 grams carbohydrates, 7.5 grams fat, and 2.5 grams fiber.  Each serving provides about 20% RDA of thiamine and vitamin C and about 17% RDA of iron.  To make this vegan, simply remove the Parmesan cheese.  If you are salt sensitive, don't add the salt.

- Kim Fielding

Guaco Garbanzo Salad

Have you ever ordered a chicken quesadilla with sour cream, guacamole, and salsa?  This is like that only without the cheese, tortillas, sour cream, and chicken.  My favorite part about a quesadilla has always been the condiments.

One of the great things about blogging food is that we meet really great people along the way who introduce us to even more foodies, and they are interested in even more different things than we ever conceived.  This recipe is the product of those associations.

We are blessed with an abundant garden.  For this salad we used kales, tomatoes, and basil from our plot.   A can of garbanzos, a couple of avocados, and lemons, completed the required ingredients for this recipe.  The inspiration for this is from http://www.glutenfreecat.com.  Check out the website if you are gluten-sensitive. 

Prep time:  15 minutes

Serves: 4 as a main dish, 6-8 as a side dish

2 tablespoons minced scallions or red onion

1 clove garlic

1/2 lemon, juiced

pinch of salt

handful of fresh basil or cilantro

2 avocados

1 stalk celery, minced

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

many handfuls of greens, your choice

1 cucumber, cut using a peeler or sliced into matchsticks

1 large carrot, cut using a peeler or sliced into matchsticks

several tomatoes, bite-size pieces

vinaigrette dressing or balsamic vinegar

In a blender or processor, mix together onion, garlic, lemon, salt, and 1/2 handful herb of choice.  Add one whole avocado and mix until almost smooth.

Finely chop the second avocado and add it to a bowl along with the ingredients from the blender.  Add in celery and garbanzos and gently stir to combine.

On a platter or wide bowl, place greens, cucumber, carrot, and tomatoes.  Drizzle with vinaigrette or just with balsamic vinegar as the original recipe suggests.

Our greens consisted of fresh lacinto kale, cucumber, and carrots

I like to use a mix of tomatoes and here we have cherry, grape, and roma tomatoes.

Top with avocado-garbanzo mixture and sprinkle with more herbs if desired.

Dive in!

Each serving, assuming four per recipe, offers less than 350 calories, 12 grams fiber (!), almost 9 g protein, your full compliment of most vitamins, and several minerals.  Potassium in this recipe reaches to 85% of your daily allowance.  Zinc and vitamin E are close behind.  Wow. 

- Kim Fielding

Cherry Tomato Salad

Vibrant colors, fresh produce, and a lively vinaigrette.
 This salad goes with any meal.

Cheery cherry tomatoes flourish in our gardens throughout the summer.  Because they are easy to grow, it seems everyone has a plant in their backyard this time of year.  Today's salad features simple preparation and presentation.  Using mixed color tomatoes or just a red variety is your choice.

Serves:  4
Prep time:   15 minutes

1 generous cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 recipe vinaigrette
1/4 cup torn basil leaves
Lettuces:  romaine, butter, green or red leaf, baby kales

Vinaigrette:
2 tablespoon light olive oil or canola oil, or one tablespoon of each
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste, approximately one pinch salt and two or three grinds of pepper
 

Try to make pieces the same size.  Larger tomatoes may be cut into thirds.

Wash and blot dry all produce.  Cut cherry tomatoes for the salad.  Prepare the vinaigrette.

Basic vinaigrette is a staple in European households.  No one need buy dressing when this is so easy to prepare.  Dressings keep in the fridge for weeks.

Whisk together vinaigrette ingredients.  Or, place ingredients in a lidded jar and shake to emulsify.  Adjust seasoning to taste.

I prefer a two parts oil to one part vinegar dressing.  However, others like a less tart vinaigrette. Add a little more oil if need be.  Be sure to season to taste.  Remember, if it needs more tart, add more acid - vinegar.  If it needs taming down, add more oil.  Once you get the hang of making dressing at home, you can experiment with added herbs and spices to customize the recipe depending on what you are serving.

Tear the lettuces and place on a platter.  Mix together cut tomatoes and torn basil.  Add half of the dressing to tomatoes to moisten and stir.  Spoon the tomato mixture over the lettuces and drizzle salad with remaining vinaigrette. A sprinkling of coarse salt and coarse ground pepper may be added if you feel it needs it.  Not necessary though.

Each serving using mixed lettuces offers 73 calories, just less than 1 g fiber and protein, and 10% of your vitamin E requirement.  If you use just kale as your lettuce, the salad offers 86 calories, 1.2 g fiber, and 1.5 g protein.

Baby kales are now available in pre-washed packages at Trader Joes.  Because they are so young and tender, they don't have the strong earthy or bitter taste that some people are turned off by.  Try these.  They are a super food.

Lettuces in the above salad feature heirloom butter lettuce, kale, and romaine from our garden.  Lettuces are prolific garden specimens.  Several adult plants each will keep you in leaves for at least a few weeks. Trim lettuces for eating from the base of the stem and work upward as the plants grow.

- Kim Fielding