Roasted Ratatouille

I came across this recipe in the "King George Farmer’s Market Fields to Table Cookbook". I fell in love with it the first time that I made it. It is a great way to use up many of your summer garden harvest and to eat lots of veggies at once. This is so yummy! I didn’t expect this to taste sweet, but roasting the vegetables brings out their natural sweet flavor. I served this hot over penne pasta. DELICIOUS!

Ingredients:
1 medium eggplant, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large sweet onion, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 medium zucchini, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
12 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
2 cups cherry tomatoes
¼ cup olive oil
2 teaspoons dried thyme
Salt
Ground Black Pepper

Directions:
Combine eggplant, onion, pepper, zucchini, and garlic in a large bowl. Add olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Transfer vegetables onto a baking sheet. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and set oven to 425 degrees. Place baking sheet into preheating oven. Roast about 20 minutes, until vegetables are golden brown on bottom. Remove pan from oven. Stir in cherry tomatoes, Continue to roast for about 15 minutes, stirring once more until tomatoes start to release their juices. Serve hot or cool to room temperature.

Black Bean and Chickpea Chili →

Now that we are firmly into winter, I will share a versatile and simple chili recipe with you. This can be made vegetarian if you use vegetable stock, or you can add ground turkey or beef and use chicken or beef stock. I have made it each of those ways and love it all ways! I have also used kidney beans in place of chickpeas with good results. I don't purée any of the mixture, but that is just a personal preference. I also use about 1/2 the spices called for before removing some for my kids and then I add in the other 1/2 of the spices at the end for the grown ups, otherwise my kids will say it's too spicy and won't eat it.

The other thing I love about this recipe is that it is easily adapted for the slow cooker. Just brown the meat (if you are using it), throw everything in the crock, set to low for 8 hours and dinner is ready when you get home from work!

I usually serve this with corn bread or corn chips. My kids like it sprinkled with cheese and topped with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt.

Pardon the not so great picture. I forgot to take one of the finished product until I had almost eaten all of the left-overs!