I used this recipe, with most of the cooking done in the oven: Ratatouille Recipe
I baked it in two separate dishes, so after I took the first one out, I baked the other an additional 30 minutes, which made it well-done on top, but it was still soup underneath! Maybe I’ll keep it on the stove next time.
Hamburger and deep-fried mushrooms. Yum!
What’s for dinner tonight? Damned if I know! Bwahahahahaha!
When I’ve made eggplant parmagana I slice the eggplant, salt it on both sides, and place in a colander to let drain about an hour before I use it. It firms up nicely and gets rid of a lot of water.
The problem with ratatouille is that it’s also full of zucchini, tomatoes, and peppers, which also give off a lot of water. Pre-treating the eggplant seems like a fool’s errand to me, in those circumstances.
Tonight, chicken and couscous with jalapenos, carrots, and zucchini. 
Not completely. You can do the same with zucchini as well. Maybe roast the tomatoes and peppers to reduce the moisture content in them as well as giving them a nice, smoky flavour.
Homemade chicken pot pie for supper tonight with a spinach salad!
Spaghetti. It’s what we always have when I can’t decide what to cook and no one has a reasonable suggestion… (“I don’t know,” “Whatever you feel like,” and “How about [something that would have had to be defrosted two days ago and started six hours ago, like maybe osso bucco or pot roast]?” aren’t reasonable ideas!
Aw crap. It’s 4:10 and I still don’t know. Shit’s getting real.
Time to bust out the Breakfast for Dinner option! (Which, in my house, can mean anything from blueberry pancakes and bacon and eggs to eggs Benedict to “There’s Cheerios, corn flakes, or raisin bran. Help yourself!”)
Well, it won’t be a family meal night. Husband says he has a stomachache and doesn’t want anything. Preschooler is eating popcorn and drinking milk, which will pretty much set her up for the night (ohhhh welllll…).
I’m gonna throw a couple fried eggs and some cock sauce on leftover rice and call it bibimbap for myself.
Tonight is Chakhokhbili (Georgian chicken with herbs), made with yummy farmer’s market tomatoes. Gotta love a recipe that calls for “half a cup of whatever chopped fresh herbs you have around the house” (in this case, parsley, cilantro, and Greek oregano). Also sautéed broccoli rabe with more garlic, and rice on the side.
Shrimp in garlic sauce over angel-hair pasta, a dish of sliced home-grown cucumbers with a little salt, and homemade chocolate pie for dessert.
Manwich meat in a bowl with a spoon, no bun. A little Mozzarella on top. Still losing! Yay!
Tonight was collaborative: New Guy thawed some chicken breasts and made a nice pesto-based marinade while i was at work, and while he worked late, I started a garlicky tomato sauce to simmer and under boiled angel hair pasta so it could sit while I got him from work. (To under-boil angel hair, one simply looks at it askance.) Seared the chicken once he got home, threw it all together with some Parmesan (and capers for me) and OMNOMNOM it was good.
Got turkey cutlets for a leek/mustard sauce recipe I haven’t made in a long time, for tomorrow or maybe the next night, and eggs because I have a hankering for both deviled eggs and quiche. Oh, nuts, I forgot to get spinach for quiche. Oh, double nuts, I wanted tiny baby potatoes for the turkey/leek recipe. What else did I forget at the store today?
A mash-up of tiny red potatoes, green beans, and cauliflower with Cajun spices via a mix I bought called “Slap Ya Mama” and habanero mango sausage chopped in. Dessert was blueberries mixed with a couple spoonfuls of honey and chopped nuts. There’s leftover mash-up which will be reheated for breakfast with a couple eggs.
Tonight was a simple Sicilian sheet pizza with lots of extra virgin olive oil, a pinch of salt and crushed red pepper, hand crushed San Marzano tomatoes, imported Pecorino Romano, and in a nod to my Father green onion.
So simple and soooo good.
It’s my birthday, so my daughter is doing dinner: roast leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic, roast veggies (potatoes, pumpkin, carrot and onion) with minted, steamed green peas.
One of my sons has whipped up a chocolate mud cake for dessert…and I might make a blackberrry coulis for the topping!
I’m giving a lecture in about an hour’s time and then I’m going to be treated to something yummy at the University Club.
Happy birthday, kambuckta!
Tonight we are down to hot dogs or leftovers.