Classic Ratatouille

We belong to our local CSA, Fresh Fork Market and just LOVE IT. Wednesdays are my favorite day of the week when we get to head to the neighborhood truck and pick up our weekly share. The bags are overflowing with the most gorgeous fruits, veggies, and since we get the Omnivore Share, meats too. It's such a fun way to not only support local farms and small businesses, but also try things you may never have picked up at the grocery store on your own. It keeps meal time exciting for sure! 

But sometimes I gotta admit on weeks when we are particularly busy (like last week!) I have to play a game of catch up to use my veggies before 1) they go bad 2) we are hit with next week's share doubling our fresh food and loosing space to store it all in my fridge! In these situations soups, stews and stir-fry's are kings in our house! And Friday was one of those days. In my crisper was zucchini, patty pan squash, eggplant, a variety of peppers and my counter tops were full of tomatoes (just to name a few!!). What was the best way to use this all up? Ratatouille of course! 

Ratatouille is a delicious vegetarian stew from the Provence region France using the best of summers bounty. It can be eaten as a side dish, spooned onto nice crusty bread, served over rice, stirred into pasta, we love it over roasted chicken and as a base instead of sauce for homemade pizza; its uses are endless! I won't lie, it is a bit of a labor of love due to lots of vegetable chopping and sauteing in batches, but its a super easy dish to throw together and can be made in advance and reheated throughout the week.  I actually think Ratatouille tastes even better the next day because then all the flavors have had a chance to meld together. It also freezes wonderfully! This recipe has become a favorite and I hope you love it as much as we do. 

Ratatouille

Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 onions halved and then sliced into wedges
2 peppers, deseeded and chopped into 2" chunks
2 eggplants quartered and then chopped into 2" chunks
2 zucchini or yellow squash halved and sliced
5-6 tomatoes roughly chopped, juices and seeds included
1 can whole plum tomatoes or stewed tomatoes, undrained
4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
A few sprigs of fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
1/2 bunch fresh basil
2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and fresh ground black pepper

Heat a large stock pot over medium heat. Add 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil. Once oil is hot add your chopped peppers, zucchini, and eggplant and sauté until they begin to soften and brown a bit. Do not cook through. Work in batches if needed and transfer cooked veggies to a bowl. Set aside.

Add a teaspoon of oil to the stockpot along with the garlic and onions. Sauté for 15 minutes until soft and beginning to caramelize. Add the cooked vegetables, tomatoes- fresh and canned, whole sprigs of thyme and Balsamic Vinegar to the pot. Stir well to combine, gently scraping the bottom of the pot to incorporate the wonderful brown bits into the stew. Cover and turn the heat down to low. Allow to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add a good pinch of salt and fresh ground black pepper and stir well. Simmer for an additional 15-30 minutes allowing the sauce to reduce and thicken. The longer the veggies simmer, the softer and silkier they will become. Taste and adjust seasoning.  Remove the stems of the thyme and discard. Now you want to chiffonade the basil. You do this by stacking the basil leaves on top of one another and then roll up. Thinly slice the basil creating long thin strips. Sprinkle the basil into the ratatouille, reserving a bit for garnish. Stir to combine.

Serve alongside crusty bread, trust me you'll want it to sop up all the delicious sauce. Enjoy!

Incase you missed it!

My friends at New Day were nice enough to make me a YouTube video of my appearance yesterday so I could share it here for all of you. So just incase you missed it, or live outside the viewing area, here you go!




On a side note... do you follow me on Facebook or Instagram? If not, please come on over and add me to your favorites and I will be sure to follow you back!! If I am not posting on here, I am still most definitely posting on one or both of those places! I am a picture taking addict, so Instagram is my new favorite thing in the world. Instant gratification!  But I warn you, it is mostly pictures of my awesome boys and family; you can get a glimpse into my life through my photographs.  To find me you can either click on the links I just posted or look on the right sidebar and there are buttons over there as well.  I look forward to getting to know you all a bit better! Come and say hi!!

My New Day Cleveland Video with the recipe for Tortellini Soup!

What a rush! Those (almost!) 7 minutes go by so, so fast! LOL.  But today was fun, fun, fun and I am so thrilled I have been blessed with this opportunity to work with such a wonderful group of people.  I have decided that I could truly get used to this life (grin).

This video was made for me by New Day Cleveland website. Thank you!

And here is the recipe for my delicious Tortellini Soup from the show.  You will love it, I promise!

Tortellini Soup

3 cups beef stock (chicken or vegetable may be substituted, but the beef gives a nice rich flavor)
3 cups water
1 ear corn, kernals cut off and “corn milk” scrapped*
1 medium zucchini, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 package (9 ounces) refrigerated cheese tortellini
1 cup green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 tablespoon fresh basil, minced (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, minced (or 1 teaspoon dried)
salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste

*Quick tip to Easily cut corn off the cobb- A bundt pan is the best bowl for this job! It has a handy hole to hold the corn steady and then the bowl for all the kernels to fall into. Gotta love dual purpose items!

Turn your bundt pan right side up, place the cleaned corn cob upright with the tip of corn resting in the hole of the pan. Slowly slide the knife down the sides of the corn, cutting off a section at a time. Once all the corn is removed, turn your knife around so the flat side is facing the cob.

Repeat the process, scraping down on the cob collecting all the sweet corn milk in the bowl. This is special stuff, you definitely don’t want to just throw it away! It is sweet, juicy and will give a great added flavor to the soup.

Directions for the soup:
In a large stock pot over medium heat, add one tablespoon extra virgin olive oil and sauté onion and zucchini until tender and beginning to caramelize. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until vegetables are tender. Add tortellini’s and simmer 7-8 minutes or until they are fully cooked and floating to the top. Serve with nice crusty butter bread.

The original link to this recipe is here.

Zucchini Bread

When overloaded with zucchini, what's a person to do- bake zucchini bread of course!!

If you haven't noticed already from here, we are huge fans of quick breads.  First of all, well, they are quick! You get an almost instant gratification- stir a bunch of ingredients in a bowl, dump into pans, bake, cool and eat.  No special equipment required and they are perfect for little helpers in the kitchen because they can almost do the entire thing themselves!

This  recipe is one I borrowed from my Mother-in-law, Judy.  Every summer along with an armful of ripped zucchini's she also brings over a wonderful loaf of this delicious bread.  It never lasts long in our house!  It is so, so good!  It is lightly sweetened and studded with lots of raisins which is how we love bread in our house. We aren't big nut-in-bakery people in our house.  But of course you can go either way.  This year I asked if I could share the recipe with all of you, and you lucky people- She said yes!  Thank you Judy!

Zucchini Bread
3 cups All Purpose Flour
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups grated zucchini
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup nuts or raisins (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and flour just the bottom of two loaf pans.

Sift flour into a large bowl and add all dry ingredients and set aside. In a medium sized bowl cream eggs and sugar and then add all of the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix together well. Pour into the two prepared loaf pans.

Bake 1 hour and some minutes, (at least an hour, but the minutes will depend on your oven. Judy's cooks in exactly 1 hour while her sister's oven takes a bit longer) or until a toothpick comes out clean. Keep an eye on it.

Cool in loaf pans for 15 minutes. Turn out onto wire rack and allow to cool completely. Store in fridge or wrap well and freeze.

Tortellini Soup

Here is your new favorite, Go-To weeknight dinner.  It comes together super fast, less then 20 minutes from start to finish!  But thanks to the rich, full flavor of the beef broth it tastes like it has been slow cooking all day long.  It is wonderful for the end of summer, utilizing the last of the sweet corn, zucchini and green beans of the season.  But the nice thing with soup, frozen veggies will work just as well in the winter months.  This soup truly is yummy, yummy, yummy!  

Tortellini Soup
3 cups beef stock (chicken or vegetable may be substituted, but the beef gives a nice rich flavor)
3 cups water
1 ear corn, kernals cut off and "corn milk" scrapped*
1 medium zucchini, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 package (9 ounces) refrigerated cheese tortellini
1 cup green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 tablespoon fresh basil, minced (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, minced (or 1 teaspoon dried)
salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste

*Quick tip to Easily cut corn off the cobb- A bundt pan is the best bowl for this job!  It has a handy hole to hold the corn steady and then the bowl for all the kernels to fall into.  Gotta love dual purpose items!  Turn your bundt pan right side up, place the cleaned corn cob upright with the tip of corn resting in the hole of the pan.  Slowly slide the knife down the sides of the corn, cutting off a section at a time.  Once all the corn is removed, turn your knife around so the flat side is facing the cob.  Repeat the process, scraping down on the cob collecting all the sweet corn milk in the bowl.  This is special stuff, you definitely don't want to just throw it away! It is sweet, juicy and will give a great added flavor to the soup.

In a large stock pot over medium heat, add one tablespoon extra virgin olive oil and sauté onion and zucchini until tender and beginning to caramelize.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer until vegetables are tender. Add tortellini's and simmer 7-8 minutes or until they are fully cooked and floating to the top.  Serve with nice crusty butter bread.

Chicken and Summer Vegetable Stir-Fry

This recipe comes together so super fast, it makes it the perfect weeknight meal.  But the incredible flavors, easily knock it up to "Better Then Take-Out" quality.  When you are craving food from your favorite Chinese restaurant, make this instead.  It is very inexpensive, using up ingredients that you will already have in your fridge.  I called this a Summer Vegetable stir-fry, but honestly you can use whatever veggies you have on hand.  This is the perfect meal when you really need to clear out the crisper drawer!  A little of this, a handful of that- Be Creative!  

I borrowed the marinade from Aarti Seqeira.  She uses it for her Banh-mi Wraps, but I thought it would work out nice here, and goodness gracious I was right!  Yum!  If you aren't familiar with Chinese Five Spice or Garam Masala, don't be nervous.  You can find them both in either the spice aisle or International Food aisle of your local grocery store.  These are very traditional spices used in Chinese and Indian cuisine, that include cinnamon, fennel, ginger, cloves, star anise, pepper, cumin, coriander and cardamom.  I love how she blends of the two of them together- wow is this a flavorful stir-fry.  But not at all overpowering, I promise.  The sauce thickens up, thanks to the cornstarch, and adds a nice silkiness to the dish making it wonderful over a bed of rice.  

Both of my boys LOVED this and one is 4 years old and the other is 9 months!  Owen, my 9 month old, has been really into table food.  One of his favorites is brown rice.  Since we were having it with our meal, I gave him a little with some of the sauce to see if he would like it.  He not only liked it, he loved it, opening his mouth like a little birdie asking for more.  So more I gave him, but with some of the vegetables this time and he liked that even better then the first spoonful!  He just couldn't stop gobbling it up!  It just goes to show that you really need to not be afraid of giving kids different flavors then they are used to.  More times then not they will really love it.  You can always stir a little bit of apricot preserves to the children's serving if they like things with a little sweetness to them.  It blends nicely.

Chicken and Summer Vegetable Stir-Fry
1 pound chicken, cut into bite-size chunks
1/2 cup broccoli floretts
1 yellow summer squash, cut into 4ths or 6ths depending on size of squash
1 medium sized sweet onion, cut in half and then into wedges
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 bell pepper, cut into bite sized chunks
4 scallions cut into 1" pieces
1/2 cup peas (frozen work quite nicely)
*feel free to substitute any of the vegetables with whatever you have on hand. You honestly can't go wrong with a stir-fry!

For the Chicken Marinade: 
1/4 cup soy sauce 
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons sugar (splenda works great here)
1 teaspoon five-spice powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small shallot, minced (about 3 tablespoons)

For the Sauce: 
1 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Place the cut up chicken into a gallon-sized resealable bag. Add all of the marinade ingredints and seal bag tightly. Throughly massage bag to evenly distribute the marinade all over the chicken. Set aside on the counter top while you are chopping your veggies and making your sauce.

Once veggies are all chopped, using tongs, transfer your chicken to a wok or large skillet. Sautee over medium-high heat for about 4-5 minutes until lightly browned. Add the veggies, except for the peas and scallions, and continue to sautee until they begin to soften, about 4-5 more minutes.

In a small bowl, combine broth, soy sauce and cornstarch. Add to chicken and vegetable mixture and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium/medium-low, add in the peas and scallions and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes, or until sauce thickens.  Serve over rice or hot rice noodles and enjoy!

Mom's Zucchini Pancakes

Are there certain foods that take you back and remind you of a specific time?  Oh goodness, I have so many.  One of these is definitely my Mom's Zucchini Pancakes.  They are the definition of Summer to all of us and are a staple at many meals throughout the season.  The first time I remember eating these was while we were away on our very first family vacation to OBX (Outer Banks, NC).  We have since gone so many times and have made hundreds of wonderful memories there.  These pancakes are one of them!  I can't eat them without thinking of waves hitting the shore, the smell of salt in the air and laughing till our bellies hurt over delicious fresh fish the men just caught.  

These are an extra special family recipe, and you all should feel very lucky I am even sharing it on here.  (there may have even been a family meeting making sure it was OK for me to post...) It isn't like this is a complicated recipe- the exact opposite actually!  It just holds a special place in our hearts (and bellies!)  But it is one of those recipes that is so darn good, it is a shame NOT to share it.  It's a perfect use for all of those crazy zucchini's that are multiplying like rabbits in everyone's garden.  We double it all the time. Trust me, you will want to do the same.  These have a tendency to fly off the plate super fast and you will want the leftovers!   They are the very best eaten right away, the batter wonderfully fluffy and creamy.  But there is also nothing like having them the next day with breakfast or eaten cold layered in a turkey sandwich... yummmm!   

So please, enjoy this recipe with your family and hopefully it will become a summer staple for all of you as well.    

Mom's Zucchini Pancakes
1/3 cup Bisquick
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 eggs slightly beaten
2 cups zucchini, shredded
chives, chopped (optional)
butter for frying

Mix first three ingredients. Stir in eggs until moist. Fold in zucchini. Fry patties until brown.

*I like to keep an oven proof dish in the oven on warm and put the pancakes in there as they cook. Just be sure to keep them loosely covered with foil so they don't shrink up or dry out.  Diced tomatoes are also a nice addition.  Just be sure to deseed them. You don't want a whole lot of tomato, just enough for flecks of color and a bit of flavor.

Ground Meat Stuffed Zucchini Boats

I absolutely live for the overabundance of zucchini and yellow squash that come with the summer months. It may seem daunting at first, what to do with so many of these guys, many who are as long as your arm.   But for me, that is part of the fun; discovering new and exciting dishes to use them in.  Playing around in the kitchen tonight I put together this one, and we all loved it!

print this recipe

Ground Meat Stuffed Zucchini Boats
2 zucchini's or yellow squash, about 12 inches long (or 4 6-inch)
2 Tbsp olive oil
½ cup onion, chopped
½ cup banana pepper or green bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. ground beef or turkey
3 tomatoes, seeded and diced (I used my mom's wonderful canned tomatoes, but fresh would also be great here)
3 Tbsp chopped fresh Basil
1 tsp minced fresh Thyme
1 tsp minced fresh Sweet Marjoram (you can also use Oregano if you are unable to find Sweet Marjoram)
¾ cup Sun-dried Tomato Feta Cheese, crumbled (you could also use Parmesan or Mozzarella)
½ tsp Kosher Salt
½ tsp. fresh ground black pepper
Crushed Red Pepper Flakes, to taste
20 wheat crackers, chopped (or a ½ cup bread crumbs)

Directions:
Cut zucchini in half lengthwise. Scoop out insides, leaving a shell about ¼-inch thick. I liked using a mellon baller to do the scooping and then a spoon to scrape it smooth.  Reserve about half of the insides.

In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Sauté the onion and garlic until tender, about 4-5 minutes. Add the reserved zucchini insides to the skillet and sauté another 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Crumble in the ground meat and cook until lightly browned on all sides, stirring occasionally. Drain of any excess fat.  Stir in the cooked onion and squash mixture. Add the tomatoes, basil thyme and sweet marjoram. Simmer for a few minutes.  Remove from heat, stir in the cracker crumb and set aside to cool a bit.

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Once the meat mixture has cooled a bit, mix in the feta, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. Fill the zucchini shells with the mixture.  Place the filled zucchini shells in the pan and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, until golden brown.

Remove the zucchini from the pan and serve immediately.