Friday, August 22, 2008

Ratatatat and the Blues



Last night I made the most exhausting meal ever-- Dad's Ratouille. I had two light purple eggplants on the verge of being taken over by the mold creatures, a green and yellow bell pepper from the farmer's market, 2 zuccini, and 3 squash, and a beautiful red banana pepper a guy at work brought me that I had to use up, so this recipe just felt right. I need to stop living by "feelings" only. It looked a little time-intensive but I had no idea what I was in for.

I started at about 6pm and it was ready a few minutes before my husband got home from work a little after 9:30. All the prep and the fact that I don't have a dutch oven that will go from stove to oven made it a stressful experience... I had to sautee in batches, them dump into a cassarole dish, then strain over a pot, then reduce. I filled up the dishwasher-- completely-- and I am not looking forward to emptying it tonight.

The only modifications I made were salting the eggplant and letting them drain (this is my second time cooking with them and I heard it takes the bitter taste out), leaving out onions and adding dehydrated granuals because I didn't have a fresh onion, and adding some fresh oregano because my plant is becoming a bush.


The other night, I made my first attempt at scones. I must say, I impressed even myself!!! They were awesome! I used the scone recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance and tossed about a pint of berries in there. My hubby the superstar ate about 3 of them while they were still steaming. I left about a cup of the batter in the frig for about a week and I threw it in the oven last night and it was still delicious. I'm so at the downtown market in the morning to get about a pound of those blueberries buddy!



I feel bad posting photos after I read some "rules" on another blog about posting photos... I'm sorry I'm not a professional photographer with a million plates and lenses and a skill for placing cilantro in just the right area.... I'm new to food photograpy, vegetarian/vegan cooking, and blogging... so I'm learning here. I can take some pictures of cats though... I'm a pro at that... here ... see... gratuitous kittyness... Meet Earle

2 comments:

Rose said...

Hi, I just recently discovered your blog and love what I see so far! I'm also a Christian by the way :) Just curious...what's a netter?

VeganCowGirl said...

Hi Earle!

I love love love the look of those scones...I bet they tasted amazing.

Wow. I have never ever put that much time or energy into a ratatatat before :) But, I suspect your end product is loads tasty than my own.