Baked Ratatouille Salad with Feta

Inspired by Bon Appetit, August 2000

Ingredients:

1 12-14 ounce eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch-thick rounds

1 large tomato, diced into large chunks

1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise

1 red bell pepper, cut lengthwise into 6 strips

1 medium onion, cut into 1/2 inch thick rounds

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 cloves of garlic

2 to 3 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

2/3 cup crumbled feta or goat cheese

2 tablespoons slivered fresh basil

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Mix eggplant, tomatoes, red bell pepper and onion in a bowl. Add olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss to coat all vegetables with oil. Place oil-coated vegetables on baking sheet.

3. Bake for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes, remove baking sheet from oven and flip as many vegetables as possible. Then, return baking sheet to oven for 12 additional minutes.

4. Allow vegetables to cool for 5 minutes, then place in large bowl.

5. Drizzle vegetables with vinegar. Sprinkle with cheese and basil. Serve.

Variation: Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Place eggplant, zucchini, red bell pepper and onion on baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper; turn to coat. Grill vegetables until tender and tinged with brown, turning frequently, about 6 minutes for eggplant and zucchini and about 10 minutes for red bell pepper and onion.

Divide vegetables between 2 plates; drizzle with vinegar. Sprinkle cheese and basil over and serve.

Baked Portobello Mushrooms

Adapted from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 portobello mushroom caps

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, mix the balsamic vinegar, red bell pepper, garlic, oil, onion powder, salt, and ground black pepper.

3. Place foil on a baking sheet and lightly spray cooking oil on the foil. Place mushrooms on the foil. Spread mixture over gill side of the mushroom caps.

4. Bake mushrooms in the oven for about 15 minutes. Then, turn on the oven's broiler and broil for an additional 5 minutes.

Variation: To grill the mushrooms, follow step 2 as above. Then, spread the mixture over the gill side of the mushroom caps. Lightly oil grill grate and place the mushrooms over indirect heat. Cover and cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

Vegetarian Artichoke Spinach Lasagna

This is my favorite lasagna recipe. Don't boil the noodles; this recipe is so soupy that the noodles will cook in the oven. If you are nervous, you can use noodles that are specially marketed as "no-boil".

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

Cooking spray

9 uncooked lasagna noodles

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 (14.5 ounce) can vegetable broth

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

1.5 cups frozen artichoke hearts (or 1 14 oz. can marinated artichoke hearts), drained and chopped

1 10 oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

16 oz. cottage cheese or ricotta cheese (your choice!)

1 28 ounce jar tomato pasta sauce

3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

1 4 oz. package feta, crumbled

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

2. Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and heat on medium-high. Saute onion and garlic for 3 minutes, or until onion is tender-crisp. Stir in broth and rosemary; bring to a boil. Stir in artichoke hearts and spinach; reduce heat, cover and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in pasta sauce.

4. Spread 1/4 of the artichoke mixture in the bottom of the prepared baking dish, add 1/2 cup of cottage cheese; top with three uncooked noodles. Sprinkle 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese over noodles. Repeat layers two more times, ending with a final layer containing only the artichokes, cottage cheese, and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle crumbled feta on top.

5. Bake, covered, for 40 minutes. Uncover, and bake 15 minutes more, or until hot and bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

Chipotle Smashed Sweet Potatoes

I have always enjoyed sweet potatoes, but I believe that it was this recipe that started me on my sweet potato craze several years back.

By Alton Brown

Ingredients:

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 whole canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped*

1 teaspoon adobo sauce from can of peppers

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Put cubed potatoes into steamer basket and place steamer into a large pot of simmering water that is no closer than two inches from the bottom of the steamer basket. Allow to steam for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.

2. Add butter to the potatoes and mash with a potato masher. Add peppers, sauce, and salt and continue mashing to combine. Serve immediately.

*Tip: I can never eat an entire can of adobo peppers before they go bad without freezing them. Use what you need for this recipe, put the rest in a freezer bag and freeze until next time!

Enchiladas Calabaza

Adapted from Recipezaar.com

As my friends and family to whom I constantly gush about this meal know, I LOVE Enchiladas Calabaza. I love the combination of the sweet cinnamon with the spicy chili powder. I love the color of the butternut squash mixed with cream cheese. I love it all. Until now, whenever I had an itch for this meal, I had to buy it from my favorite restaurant in town (or politely ask for a free dish on my birthday). Therefore, having a recipe for this is a MAJOR success.

Ingredients*:

1 2-3 pound (large) butternut squash**

1/2 block neufchatel cheese (about 4 oz.), or more to taste, cut into chunks

4 green onions, sliced

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon salt

12 corn tortillas

12 ounces tomato sauce (approx. 1/2 jar)

approx. 1/2 cup spicy salsa

approx. 1 tablespoon hot sauce (more or less to taste)

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Optional toppings:

Lettuce sliced into small strips

Diced tomatoes

Plain nonfat yogurt or sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut butternut squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out stringy parts and squash seeds and discard. Score each half of the butternut squash using a sharp knife. Add approx. 1/4 inch of water to a pyrex baking dish. Place butternut squash in baking dish with inside of squash facing up. Bake butternut squash for approximately 1.5 hours, or until soft. When squash has finished baking, lower temperature of oven to 350 degrees.

2. After butternut squash has cooled enough to touch (or if you are like me, until the risk of burns does not outweigh your impatient urge to start cooking), scoop butternut squash from skins. Discard skins. Place squash in a large bowl.

3. To bowl with squash, add neufchatel cheese in chunks, green onions and all spices and salt. Start by mashing mixture using potato masher. Once the combination is beginning to combine, mix using an electric mixer, until smooth. Taste the squash mixture at this point and if necessary, add more spices, salt, or neufchatel cheese. Note: this mixture can be made earlier in the day or even the day before, refrigerated, and used as the filling when you are ready.

4. Place plain corn tortillas in oven-safe baking dish and place in oven for a few minutes to warm them so that they are pliable. While tortillas are warming, in a separate medium bowl, combine tomato sauce, salsa, and hot sauce to taste. The goal here is to create a "spicy tomato sauce". Stir until blended. If you'd like, add more salsa. Once tortillas are pliable (approximately 3-5 minutes), remove them from the oven but keep the oven on.

5. Assemble enchiladas by placing a heaping soup spoonful (approx. 1/4 cup) in each corn tortilla, rolling, and placing seam-side down in a baking dish. Cover filled tortillas with tomato sauce mixture. Sprinkle grated cheese on top.

6. Cover dish with foil and bake until warmed throughout, approximately 30 minutes.

7. Provide lettuce sliced in strips, diced tomatoes, and plain yogurt as optional toppings.

*My friends Heather and Andrea also love Enchiladas Calabaza and made this dish with a few variations. They recommend adding additional chili powder to the squash mix, adding enchilada sauce to the tomato sauce mix, and adding cilantro to the top of the enchiladas after they have finished baking. They also said that next time, they'd try putting some sauce in the bottom of the dish before adding the enchiladas to the dish. Thanks for your tips, Heather and Andrea!

**I haven't tried it but if you're short on time, I'm sure that you could substitute the whole squash with some frozen cubed butternut squash from your grocer's frozen veggie section. I would just spread the squash out on a baking dish and bake it or would boil it in water to cook.

Thyme-Roasted Sweet Potatoes

by Kathyrn Matthews from Epicurious.com

If you know me, you know that I love sweet potatoes. So, when Ben and I decided to make a two-person Thanksgiving feast in 2008, I knew that I had to find the perfect sweet potato recipe. After much searching through cookbooks and online, I came across the recipe below. I haven't altered it because it's great the way it is. Although it was our sweet potato masterpiece for Thanksgiving, when I made it at home for my family, we used it as a form of sweet potato fries. So clearly, it can go either way. Just make sure not to overcook this recipe. The picture above is from the first time that I made this recipe. They are slightly overdone, but delish!

Ingredients:
4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2-inch-thick rounds
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup fresh thyme leaves, plus 6 thyme sprigs for garnish (I have used dried as a substitute)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 450°F. In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and toss. Arrange potato slices in single layer on heavyweight rimmed baking sheet or in 13x9-inch baking dish. Place on top rack of oven and roast until tender and slightly browned, about 40 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature, garnished with thyme sprigs.

Lumpy Potato Burritos

Not many recipes make it into my cooking rotation, mostly because I don't have one. I enjoy trying new recipes and have never really overcome the feeling that there are 'so many cookbooks and so little time'. I think that this stems from my childhood goal of reading every library book that the library owned. Needless to say, I've long given up on my overzealous library goal (thank goodness) and although the now adult me recognizes that I will never cook every recipe that there is to be cooked, I can't give up without a good fight.

So, for me to temporarily set aside my goal of trying new recipes and to make a recipe not once, not twice, but many times, then it must fall into one of three categories: 1) It must be an extremely delicious recipe; 2) It must be fast and/or easy to make (bonus points for both); 3) It must involve ingredients that I usually keep around. Luckily, this recipe satisfies all three of the criteria. It's not exactly gourmet - it's only a burrito dish, afterall - but it is yummy, easy, and requires common ingredients (which are also cheap, might I add).

Lumpy Potato Burritos
adapted from Nancy O'Connor's Rolling Prairie Cookbook

Serves 8-10.

4-5 russet potatoes (approx. 1.5 pounds.), scrubbed and unpeeled

1 tablespoon canola or olive oil

1 medium-sized yellow or red onion, chopped (approx. 1/2-1 cups, chopped)
2 bell peppers, chopped (approx. 2 cups)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons dried parsley (or 2 tablespoons fresh, chopped)
2 teaspoons dried cilantro (or 2 tablespoons fresh, chopped)
8 to 10 large flour tortillas
1 1/2 cups refried black beans, or one can (can substitute traditional refried pinto beans)
1 1/2 cups grated lowfat sharp cheddar cheese (or other lowfat cheese)

Garnish (all optional):
2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
Fresh spinach or lettuce, cut into slices
Yogurt or sour cream
Salsa and/or hot sauce

Soak the potatoes and scrub them with a stiff vegetable brush to remove any dirt, then cut the potatoes into large cubes. In a large sauce pan, cover the potatoes with water and bring the water and potatoes to a boil. Boil the potatoes until they are just tender but firm. You should be able to pierce the potatoes with a fork but they should not be falling apart in the boiling water.

While the potatoes are boiling, heat the oil in a large skillet (I use my 12 inch skillet) over medium heat for approximately one minute. Add the onions and peppers to the oil and saute until just tender, then remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 350°F. When the potatoes are tender, drain them well and add them as well as the cumin, salt, and pepper to the onion-bell pepper mixture in the skillet. Continue to cook the mixture for about 7-10 minutes, or until the potatoes have a bit of color and the flavors have had a chance to combine, then remove from heat. Add the parsley and cilantro.

To assemble the burritos, lay out a tortilla, place 2-3 tablespoons refried beans down the center, top with a heaping helping of the potato-mixture, and sprinkle on 2-3 tablespoons cheese. Roll up the burritos by folding in the two short ends first and then folding over the long sides. As expected by the title of this recipe, they will be lumpy so do not fret. As you complete each burrito place it in an ungreased 9x13-inch baking dish and an additional 8x8 baking dish if you run out of room. Bake for 20 minutes, uncovered.

Provide the garnishes on the side, unless you plan on eating all of the burritos in one sitting. This will keep your burritos from becoming soggy. Serve the burritos hot, topped with the tomatoes, spinach or lettuce, yogurt or sour cream, salsa, and hot sauce.

Unhealthy, Delicious Potatoes

Ingredients:
4-6 medium to large potatoes
Milk
1/4 c. butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic salt
8 oz. sour cream
8 oz. cream cheese
2-3 Tbsp. chopped onion
2 tsp. parsley

Dice potatoes into cubes so that they will boil quickly and boil until tender. Drain potatoes, add milk until at desired texture, and beat. Add butter, salt, garlic salt, sour cream, cream cheese, chopped onion, and parsley. Mix well and place in glass casserole dish. Bake 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

These may be about the worst potatoes in the world for you, health-wise; they are also the most delicious.

Summer Squash with a Kick

by Laura Harrington

Ingredients: 

3 summer squash (yellow or green), thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp red-pepper flakes

1/2 tsp. salt

Heat garlic, oil, and red-pepper flakes in skillet over medium heat for 3 minutes, or until garlic begins to turn golden.  Add squash and salt.  Stir.  Cover and reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 15 minutes.  Uncover, increase heat to medium, and cook another 10 minutes longer, or until liquid is almost gone.

Steaming Green Beans

Ingredients:

1 lb. fresh green beans, with stems removed

1 diced garlic clove

1 Tbs. butter, cut into small chunks

Sea Salt

Combine green beans, garlic, butter and 1/4 c. water in a microwavable glass dish with lid. Season with sea salt to taste. Cover the dish and microwave on high until green beans are crisp, yet tender (approximately 6 to 7 minutes). Pour off any excess liquid.

Mom's Thanksgiving Sweet Potato Casserole

by Beth E. McDermott Harrington

Ingredients:

(Casserole Body):

3 c. cooked mashed sweet potatoes (approximately 5 potatoes)

1 c. sugar

1/4 c. softened butter

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. evaporated milk

(Casserole Topping):

3/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. flour

1/4 c. butter (melted)

1 cup pecan halves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the mashed sweet potatoes, sugar, softened butter, salt and evaporated milk. Mix until creamy. Spread into a buttered casserole dish. In a separate bowl, mix the brown sugar, flour, melted butter, and pecan halves. Crumble this mixture on top of the casserole. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Green Bean Casserole

by Beth E. McDermott Harrington

Makes "a ton" of green bean casserole

Ingredients:

3 Cans green beans

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can's worth of skim milk

Fried Onions (approximately 1 can's worth)

In a casserole dish, combine green beans, cream of mushroom soup, enough milk to fill one of the cream of mushroom soup can, and enough fried onions to fill one half of the cream of mushroom soup can. Stir. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. After the casserole has cooked for 30 minutes, sprinkle fried onions (amount as desired) atop the casserole. Return the casserole to the oven to cook for another 10 minutes.

Note: If you want a creamier casserole, you can make this casserole with a 2:1 green beans: mushroom soup ratio rather than 3:1. The 3:1 is the healthier version (and in my taste is still plenty creamy).