Ratatouille on Pasta

I found some eggplant on sale for $1. I've only had eggplant once before on a pizza and my husband and girls had never tried it, so we decided to be a little adventurous.

I decided to use my eggplant in ratatouille. Here's how I made mine:

You need:

1 eggplant

2 zucchini

1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes with garlic

1 can tomato sauce

olive oil

salt

pepper

pasta

Dice up the zucchini and eggplant. Because the zucchini will take longer to cook, add it to a large skillet and drizzle with olive oil and cook for about 3 minutes or so, until it starts to become tender and then add your eggplant. Drizzle with more olive oil and salt and pepper. Cook for another 1-2 minutes and then add diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. Bring to boil and simmer until vegetables are cooked through.

While cooking ratatouille, put on pasta to cook. I used miniature bow tie pasta and dittany, simply because that is what I had on hand.

The verdict:

My husband and I both thought this was very good. My girls refused to even try the eggplant, but really had fun with the pasta. I thought this would also be good with sausage.

Cheese Ravioli with Vegetables

Ingredients:

1 package frozen ravioli
1 medium zucchini, julienned
1 medium squash, julienned
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
garlic pepper
1/2t. basil
1/4t. thyme
olive oil

Directions:

Put water for ravioli on to boil.

Place 1-2 T. olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add vegetables and cook until done, about 4-5 minutes. (You may also grill vegetables, if you prefer. Just slice them in half and finish slicing them once cooked.)

Cook ravioli according to directions. Add ravioli to vegetables. Add another 1-2T. olive oil, cheese and seasonings. Stir to coat.

Serve while warm.

Spicy Lentil Soup

Since winter seems to have reemerged, here is a healthy and delicious soup to stave off the cold. I was given this recipe a couple years ago and it completely opened me up to lentils. It is from the Conscious Cuisine cookbook. Also, if you leave out the fresh vegetables, then it makes a good food storage recipe.

Ingredients:
1/4t. olive oil
1 cup chopped, peeled carrots (2 med.)
1 cup chopped celery (3 med ribs)
2 cups lentils (1 lb) washed
1 28oz can diced, peeled tomatoes in juice
1 cup chopped onion (1 lrg)
1/2t. ground cumin
1/2t. Cayenne
1t. minced garlic
8 cups vegetable stock
1t. Paprika
1 bay leaf
1t. chile powder
1t. dried basil

Directions:
Use olive oil to coat bottom of medium stock pot over med-high heat. Add onion, carrot, celery, and garlic. Cook until the onion has softened, about 2 min. Stir in the lentils, tomatoes, stock, bay leaf, cayenne, chile powder, cumin, paprika, and basil. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer until lentils have softened, about 20 min. Remove bay leaf before serving. Makes 12 servings.

(If you want it spicy, but not hot, then leave out the Cayenne.)