[source]
No, not that kind of roast! This kind of roast:
Ever since I saw Chef Dennis‘ Ratatouille Confite, I knew I had to make it. Yes, I know I’ve been on a roasted veggie kick lately, but with the wonderful variety of fresh vegetables available during the summer, how can I resist?
For my roasted veggie mix, I used heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, onion, and garlic. I drizzled this delicious chaos with extra virgin olive oil and fresh thyme and popped it into the oven until the aroma of roasted vegel practically wafted from the oven. I roasted so many vegetables that the eggplant needed its own pan:
You guys know how much I love sausage, so the addition of chicken sausage will not surprise you.
Great recipe, Chef Dennis!
After such a rich meal, a little dessert was called for:
Dessert was a sliced Paula Red apple with dabs of white chocolate peanut butter and dark chocolate peanut butter. The white chocolate peanut butter is courtesy of my food processor. The dark chocolate peanut butter is courtesy of this little gem:
Unsurprisingly, my milk chocolate-loving husb doesn’t like this peanut butter.
Let’s get a REALLY close look at this fab peanut butter:
Smear that on anything, and you’ve got a treat.
Remember the goji plant we bought back in April? Under Peter’s tender nurturing, the goji plant has borne fruit! And when I say fruit, I mean “fruit” in the singular.
Yes, that ONE goji berry is our harvest.
I tried to split the ONE goji berry with Peter – I think we ate 2 molecules each. I’ve eaten both dried and frozen goji berries before, but the fresh berry seemed milder in flavor (?) It’s hard to tell, since I think my bite of goji berry didn’t even make it past the tip of my tongue. I hope next year’s harvest is more … fruitful.
Have a nice weekend, everyone!
Q: Do you have a garden and/or indoor plants? What are you growing?
Hi everyone! I’ve gotten so used to posting every day that the last week has felt very strange posting only every other day. Life gets so busy that I find it hard to take time out to do something that I really enjoy – but, it’s good to make time when I can!
Yesterday and today were very FULL days, so let’s run over the highlights. This morning, I tried out a new jam I picked up in Utah at the suggestion of these ladies a while back:
I was looking for a jam with minimal ingredients but rich, tart taste. This Crofter’s conserve definitely fits the bill! The ingredients are raspberries, sugar, pectin , vitamin C, and citric acid. The appearance and taste? Well, take a look:
Look at that gorgeous red. Trust me, it tastes as good as it looks.
I think I spent about 2.5 hours on my bottom in the car today. In the morning, I drove for an hour to set up a National Nutrition Month table with some of the other girls in the program at a DSS. Sadly, there were hardly any people around to talk with about healthy eating, easy recipes, and why the carrots and hummus we brought with us for them to sample are so darn tasty and good for you. No pics because, well, I forgot.
The afternoon was fun! We drove to another town about an hour away to teach a lesson on fruits and vegetables to a class of sixth graders. I was a little nervous about my first real teaching experience, but these kids were WONDERFUL! They were so nice and very sharp – when I was in sixth grade, I sure didn’t know the word “antioxidant”!
Teaching it up:
Yummy fruit & veggie cups for the kids:
Kaylan and I preparing the fruits and veggies:
Fun! I know that not all teaching experiences will be as easy or fulfilling, but this experience was a great introduction to the world of community teaching.
Since I’ve been so busy the past couple of days, Peter has been taking over the cooking. You know what he made today, master chef that he is? EGGROLLS. Yep.
Bowing to my need for veggies and my lack of need for anything deep-fried, he made a healthy version based on this recipe. The filling contains beef, chicken, ginger, scallions, and lots of cabbage.
Pressing the liquid out of the filling:
Filling the wrappers (Edited to add: 1/3 of the eggrolls had peanut butter in them, 1/3 had hoisin sauce, and 1/3 had extremely hot hot sauce in them.):
Ready to go in the oven:
The eggrolls came out of the oven crispy and flavorful (although they were not as crispy as deep-fried versions). The hot sauce eggrolls were a little much for me, but the PB and hoisin sauce eggrolls were delicious!
Served with a side of grapes (that may or may not be leftover from the teaching session today):
I’m so lucky to have a Peter to keep me awash in good food :)
Time to study for my Food Service midterm tomorrow … fun fact: did you know that the word “restaurant” originated in the 16th century to mean a food that “restores” and refers to a rich, highly-flavored meat-based soup thought capable of restoring lost strength? Me neither!
Have a nice evening!
Q: Here’s one we asked the kids today: what’s your favorite fruit and your favorite veggie?
