Take My Word for It ....

Yes, please take my word for it and make this!  You will not be disappointed - you will be in vegetable heaven.  Please, just make this and enjoy.

Vegetable Tian

 

 

 

2 tbsp olive oil (divided)
1 large sweet yellow onion cut in half and sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 russet potatoes, unpeeled
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
3 large Roma tomatoes
Sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
Dried thyme, to taste
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Coat a baking dish with olive oil cooking spray. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the onions and saute until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 60 seconds. Spread the onion mixture on the bottom of the greased baking dish.

Slice the potatoes, zucchini, squash and tomatoes in 1/4 inch thick slices. Layer them alternately in the dish on top of the onions, fitting them tightly into a spiral, making only one layer. Season with sea salt, black pepper and dried thyme, to taste. Drizzle the last tablespoon of olive oil over the top.

Cover the dish with tin foil and bake for 35 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Uncover and sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top and bake for another 25-30 minutes or until browned. Enjoy.



Recipe from: fortheloveofcooking

Photo from: recipebyphoto

Meanwhile ..... keep it simple and make it real.

Jeanne

Tips on Monday

Good Monday Morning!  Great weekend, I hope!  I thought I would post some tips about vegetables today.  I hope you get some use from them.  Take a look.

 
"To blanch (cook) vegetables, bring a pot of salted water to a boil, then add vegetables and cook until tender-crisp. Immediately transfer vegetables to a bowl of ice water to cool.

Revive limp celery by trimming the ends and sticking the stalks in a jar of cold water. Place the jar in the refrigerator for a couple of hours until the stalks are crisp.

Trim the woody ends off fresh asparagus then arrange in a tall vase or glass with a little water in the bottom. Loosely tent with a plastic bag and refrigerate until needed, refreshing the water every couple of days.

To clean leeks, cut them as instructed in the recipe, then place in a bowl of cold water and swish around until the sand falls to the bottom of the bowl. Drain carefully, then rinse again to remove any traces of grit.

Quick-thaw frozen spinach by placing it in a colander and running cool water over it until thawed. Squeeze out as much excess water as possible before using in recipes.

Peeling cucumbers is simple—just use a standard vegetable peeler to remove some or all of the green skin. You can also use the tines of a fork to make decorative "stripes" down the length of the cucumber.

When tomato season is in full swing and you can't use tomatoes up fast enough, freeze them whole in resealable plastic freezer bags. Pop a few frozen tomatoes into a pot of soup or sauce and simmer, breaking up with a spoon as they thaw.

Ripen hard avocados or green tomatoes by placing in a paper bag with an apple. The apple emits a gas that helps speed ripening.

Freeze extra tomato paste or chipotle chiles in a small resealable plastic bag, pressing the paste flat before freezing. When a recipe calls for a little paste or chile, just break off a chunk from the frozen block and refreeze the remainder for later.

When making guacamole, use a potato ricer to mash the ripe avocados. If you don't have one, mash the avocados in a bowl with a hand-held pastry blender."   Campbell's Kitchen



Have a great day!  I am off to a flea market.

Meanwhile .... keep it simple and make it real.

Jeanne

Vegetable Soup!

                                                      source:  pauladeen.com


Usually I make soup by putting together whatever I happen to have on hand.  I haven't followed a soup recipe in years.  The other day, however, I googled "vegetable soup" and found this on Paula Deen.com.   It is titled, "Bubble's Homemade Vegetable Soup".  I don't know who Bubbles is but she makes good soup. 

It is a vegetable soup but there is meat in it.  The recipe calls for ground beef but I used cut up bottom of the round beef because I wanted to use up the small piece I had.

The recipe also mentions throwing in a ham bone.  I didn't have a ham bone so I threw in a bit of bacon.

Bottom line .... it is delicious!  CH loved it and said that it was a "keeper".  That is his highest compliment for a new recipe.

Take a look: 

HOMEMADE VEGETABLE SOUP
1 pound of ground chuck
1 onion chopped
1 cup of chopped bell pepper
1 cup of chopped celery
1 (10 ¾ ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
1 (10 ¾ ounce) can cream of celery soup
1 (20 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (46 ounce) can V-8 juice
1 (16 ounce) bag of frozen mixed vegetables
4 potatoes peeled and cubed1 tablespoon sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste
(I had a ham bone left from Christmas in the freezer and threw it in along with any veggies that I had frozen)

Brown ground chuck, onions, pepper and celery. Drain off fat. Add soups, 1 soup can of water, tomatoes, V-8 juice and vegetables and ham bone. Add sugar, salt and pepper to taste. I cook mine on low heat for hours! Stir occasionally to keep from sticking to the bottom of the pot. I double the recipe so that I can have some for my neighbors, parents, and friends. One recipe will serve approx. 12 people You will not be sorry if you take my advice – DOUBLE!

I did not double the recipe.  There are only two of us, after all.    To see the full article click here.

This is a great belly-warming soup and I hope you enjoy it.

Meanwhile .... keep it simple and make it real.

Jeanne