July 10, 2008
I was trying to figure out what we were going to have for dinner yesterday and I had a bunch of tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and basil to use. So I made soup. Now, we ate it hot, but we will eat it cold next time like gazpacho because it’s hot, hot, hot out and hot soup is not very appealing when it’s 108 degrees out. We were all sweating after we ate it.
The measurements are all approximate because I eyeballed everything and my recipe was doubled to feed all 7 of us.
Tomato Vegetable Garden Soup
4 C Chicken Broth (homemade is much tastier than store bought)
2 C Tomato Sauce (I used my homemade tomato sauce made with the tomatoes from my garden)
1 small Zucchini, diced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1 small Onion
2 T Honey or to taste (optional…my tomatoes were very acidic from my garden and needed this)
1/2-1 small Eggplant
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste (or use a hot pepper)
1-3 tomatoes, diced, depending on the size of tomatoes…use as many as you want if you are growing them! Use ‘em up!
Basil, a very large handful if you grow your own (I LOVE basil)
Directions:
Start heating up the chicken broth and then place the onion and eggplant in the food processor. Whiz them up unless you really like the texture of whole pieces of eggplant and onion in your soup. (My kids didn’t even know that eggplant existed after I blasted it in the Vitamix.) Add the eggplant mixture into the chicken broth along with the rest of the ingredients except the basil. Cook on medium heat for 20 minutes or so and then add the basil and cook for a few more minutes.
I served this with cheese toast, made in my on the counter toaster oven, and fruit. Quick, (after I enlisted the help of my children for grating cheese, picking basil and chopping), easy and healthy!
[ 1 Comment ] Posted on 07.10.08 under Eggplant, Recipes, Tomatoes, Zucchini & Summer Squash
What we did with the eggplants, zucchini, yellow squash and tomatoes…
May 22, 2008
We had Eggplant burgers (meatless),
fried zucchini and yellow squash,
and sliced tomatoes with basil for dinner last night.
It was tasty!
[ 4 Comments ] Posted on 05.22.08 under Eggplant, Recipes, Tomatoes, Zucchini & Summer Squash
Ratatouille Pasta Recipe
May 20, 2008
So I had these 2 eggplants and a bunch of zucchini’s to cook for dinner last night. I honestly didn’t know what to do with them so I went to allrecipes.com and typed in eggplant and zucchini in the ingredient search. I found one called Ratatouille Pasta. The recipe was for 3 servings and I think I tripled it to feed my crew and added some hamburger, so it basically turned out to be a spaghetti sauce with eggplant and zucchini. In my opinion, it hid the veggies very well. My kids ate it and said it was yummy. Here is the recipe for 3 servings:
Ratatouille Pasta
Ingredients:
- 2 cups diced peeled eggplant (I didn’t peel mine because they were so small and tender that I didn’t need it)
- 2 cups sliced zucchini
- salt to taste
- 1 1/3 cups uncooked spiral pasta
- 1 cup sliced onion
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil (I used a very large handful of fresh basil and added it at the end instead of dried)
- Dash pepper
- 1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
- (I added one of my jalapenos minced up from the garden instead of pepper)
Directions:
- Place eggplant and zucchini in a colander over a plate; sprinkle with salt and toss. Let stand for 30 minutes; rinse and drain well. (I skipped this part)
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet, saute the eggplant, zucchini and onion in oil until tender. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, garlic powder, basil and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cook, uncovered, over medium-low heat for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Drain pasta; place on an ovenproof platter. Top with vegetable mixture. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Broil 4-6 in. from the heat until cheese is melted.
We also didn’t have the mozzarella, but it would have been really good with it.
My kids diced up all the veggies, so maybe that’s why they liked it so much.
This picture didn’t make it look very good, but it tasted good and every single one of my 5 kids ate it and said it was good. I was completely amazed!
They said it was “thumbs up”.
My 2 year old even said it was “thumbs up”, in his own way of course.
[ No Comments ] Posted on 05.20.08 under Eggplant, Recipes, Tomatoes, Zucchini & Summer Squash
