Ratatouille: The First of Three

 Nick has been home for the summer since late May.  He is a meat eater, and is often less than enthused about the plant based meals I have been making.  But for years, one of our favorite summer go-to dinners has been a nice ratatouille.  I have several recipes, and this is the one I made last week, and the one I probably make the most often.  Here it is, as promised!

INGREDIENTS:

        2 tablespoons olive oil

·         2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced

·         1 large onion, quartered and thinly sliced

·         1 small eggplant, cubed

·         2 green bell peppers, coarsely chopped

·         4 large tomatoes, coarsely chopped, or 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes (or a        combination of both fresh and canned)

·         3 to 4 small zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch slices

·         1 teaspoon dried leaf basil

·         1/2 teaspoon dried leaf oregano

·         1/4 teaspoon dried leaf thyme (or fresh if you have it)

·         2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (Or dried if you don't have fresh on hand)

Optional add-ins: A can of canellini beans, kidney beans, or chicpeas, rinsed and drained; some fresh cilantro; some steamed kale or spinach, chopped fresh basil, roasted red pepper... The possiblilites are endless!

Preparation:

In a 4-quart Dutch oven or saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and onions and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 6 to 7 minutes. Add eggplant; stir until coated with oil. Add peppers; stir to combine. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep vegetables from sticking.

Add tomatoes, zucchini, and herbs; mix well. Cover and cook over low heat about 15 minutes, or until eggplant is tender but not too soft.

This is great served over a nice helping of brown rice!

Serves 4.

(Adapted from the recipe I found at  About.com, Southern Food)

Since I started using the Forks Over Knives meal planner I've been doing a lot of cooking without oil.  When I made this ratatouille last week I used red wine and vegetable broth to saute' my vegetables.  The ratatouille turned out great, but it didn't taste quite the same.  When I drizzled a teensy bit of extra virgin olive oil into my helping... OH MY. It was HEAVENLY.  

Today is Ray's birthday, and Matt came home.  For the last week we've been putting junk into the dumpster that we rented, and it's already full.  There isn't much room for the stuff I wanted to put in the thing between now and Friday, when it's getting picked up.  There will definitely be some trips to the dump in the near future. 

You should see some of the stuff I've found.  In fact, stay tuned.  I'll show you in a future post.

Have a great week!

Facing FOMO: Just Say Yes. The Van Mingoh Edition.

Did you know that if you’re driving along I-70 near Goodland in western Kansas, you can visit a giant replica of Van Gogh’s “Three Sunflowers in a Vase” painting on an 80-foot tall easel? I didn’t, until after I had returned from my trip to Colby for the Mingo Madness geocaching mega event in May. I saw so many beautiful and interesting things that weekend, found some great geocaches and met some wonderful people. I can't believe I missed THAT!

I’ve learned to say “yes” to opportunities that may not come again. I remember the spring after Ray died, his brother Bill and sister-in-law Pamela invited Nick and me to join them at Pamela’s mother’s condo in Florida for a week. That year, my spring break fell the week after Easter, and happened to coincide with both Nick’s and my niece and nephew’s. My first response was, “Are you kidding? I don’t have time to go to Florida! I have to do report cards!”  Pamela reminded me that her mother had wifi and I could just as well work on them there as at home. At the time, being in my house was depressing. I was already starting to seize every opportunity I could not to be home. But leaving for a whole week when report cards were due? That would be just plain irresponsible, wouldn’t it?

Of course we went to Florida and had a great time. I did spend some days alone in the condo working while everyone else went to the beach, but I was probably more productive just being in a different setting. And I did get to go to the beach, go on some epic runs (I think I was training for some race or other) and find some geocaches. We visited Universal’s Volcano Bay water park. Aside from our return trip being a nightmare because of our flight getting cancelled, it was a wonderful week and I am glad I decided to go. 

(I got to see the sunrise when I ran 13 miles one morning, and isn't that beach pristine? I spent a lot of time on Sandy's screened porch with this view.)

I was nervous about travelling to Kansas alone to hang out with a bunch of people I didn’t know. But I went and was glad I did. I found “Mingo”, the oldest active geocache in the world, as well as a ton of other fun caches. I met a lot of really great people.  I discovered that Kansas isn’t all flat prairie and cornfields. There are beautiful canyons and badlands and cactus and pronghorn antelope. When I returned and saw other people’s photos of the giant sunflower painting I was kicking myself for not visiting that roadside attraction.

Recently Nick, Matt, and Matt’s girlfriend Andrea got to visit Bill and Pamela and the cousins at their home by Lake Norman in North Carolina. We played on their boat, relaxed at the pool, and hung out with Ray’s parents who moved there last fall.  We went to Carowinds, which was my go-to theme park when I was a teenager.  And when they had an extra ticket to the immersive Van Gogh exhibit in Charlotte, I jumped at the chance to see that.

Being surrounded on almost all sides with images of Van Gogh paintings, each one morphing into the other, accompanied by music, was definitely a unique experience.  I enjoyed it, and I imagine it might inspire a younger person to visit an actual art gallery to see some actual Van Gogh paintings.  

I am told there will be another Mingo Madness geocaching event in 2025.  I may get the chance to see that giant painting after all.

First Post, but Not the First Blog!

 Here I go again, people!!  If I'm counting correctly, this will be my sixth blog, and my third one on Blogger.  In January 2009, I published my very first post on my very first blog, Musings of a Catholic Mom. Mostly, the blog was about the joys and struggles of motherhood, marriage, and Catholicism.  Later I started another blog on the side, Cooking Nick's Books, a food blog inspired by Nicholas Sparks' novels.  (I had a lot of fun with that one, and don't be surprised to see the occasional book-inspired recipe here.)

(I used to make vegan food even before I went plant based!  My younest son Nick suffered from many food allergies when he was a child. He is still allergic to nuts.  Here are cakes I made for his first communion and a birthday, and a ratatouille I've been making for years. We sprinkled it with parmesan cheese at the time, but of course it's DELICIOUS without it.  I will share that recipe in a future post.)

In 2013 I migrated to WordPress, where I started another blog about family, faith, and food, called Eating Slowly, which I later changed to Eat, Pray, Work, Love.  December 2015 saw my next endeavor, Ramblings of a Runner Cacher, about my adventures in running and geocaching. Finally, in June of 2018, a little less than a year after Ray died, I started Running Bereaved as a place to share my journey as a widow, and how running helped get me through those dark times.

(We're making memories without him. He's still with us.)

I haven't posted on Running Bereaved in over a year, since the beginning of the Covid pandemic.  I suppose Instagram has been my blogging platform of late.  I mean, who reads blogs anymore?  Nowadays TikTok is all the rage, and Instagram is still pretty popular.  And anybody who is anybody has either a YouTube channel or a podcast or both.  But people still tell me how much they enjoy my blogs, so here I am again.  

Why didn't I just start posting again on Running Bereaved rather than starting yet another new blog? I think it's because bereavement no longer defines me and I'm moving FORWARD. 

What kinds of things will you see here?  Pretty much everything.  Food, running, geocaching, family stories, and boring things like moving house (which I'm looking forward to in the next several months  with both excitement and extreme dread).  

I'm still bereaved.  I miss Ray every day.  Since his death my perspective on life is vastly different.  I'm more cynical in some ways, but more hopeful in others.  I have learned to appreciate small blessings and different points of view. I don't take things for granted as much as I used to. I'm more tolerant of some traits in people, and less tolerant in others. I even see God differently.  Maybe you'll hear a little about that too.  

I hope you'll join me as I move forward and eat plants!

(Me and the Hiking Just For Fun group at Bear Church Rock, July 17, 2021!)