Ratatouille with Polenta

 

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We had such a great time with our family and ate way to much of course.  This ratatouille recipe is great way to get in a bunch a veggies after all the not so good for you holiday food.  It is very filling and warm, so perfect for the fall weather.  I baked mine in individual portions, but it would be just as great in a larger casserole dish.  The ratatouille could also be served on its own or with the polenta as a side dish.

 

Thanksgiving Menu

This year we will have 16 people here for Thanksgiving and the kids have been working hard on our decorations.  Our little house will be very full, but it is such a blessing to have everyone together.   I tried to keep the food very traditional this year, so everyone will have something familiar.  Here is the menu:

Meatless Loaf from the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.  I am going to wrap mine in puff pastry.

Traditional stuffing with apples

Greens beans with apple cider, carmelized onions and walnuts

Cranberry sauce

Roasted sweet potatoes with, cranberries, sage and walnuts

Mashed potatoes and gravy

Homemade rolls

Pumpkin Pie

 

Taco Salad Bar

Tonight I made a taco salad bar.  I just put out all of our favorite taco ingredients and let everyone make their own salad.  This was great for the kids.  They had fun making their big salads and then ate it all.  To go along with the salad I made chips.  I just cut corn tortillas into quarters, tossed them in a little canola oil and salt and then bake them at 375 for 8-10 minutes until they are crispy.  Just make sure you keep an eye on them, they burn fast.

 

For the taco salad I used:

romaine lettuce

tomatoes

black olives

black beans

Daiya cheese

salsa

guacamole

vegan sour cream

hot sauce

Minestrone Soup

I made this soup because my daughter loves it so much.  She asks for it all of the time, which is great.  It is super healthy and really cheap to make.  It cost me less than $5 for the entire pot and there is usually enough for more than one meal.  We ate it with homemade bread that had just come out of the oven.  It was delicious!

 

Stuffed Squash

Squash

This is the perfect fall dinner.  Today it was chilly out and all the leaves were coming down, so it seemed like a great night for this meal.  The rice stuffing is just as good on its own or it would make a great side dish as well.  The rice has just the perfect amount of sweetness from the apples and goes great with the roasted squash.  Tonight I served the stuffed squash with a spinach and orange salad with a balsamic vinaigrette.

 

Spicy Eggplant

Eggplant

 

This recipe is for my cousin Larkin.  We went to a Chinese restaurant a few weeks ago and ordered spicy eggplant.  It was so good, but I felt terrible after eating it because of all the salt and oil.  I felt even worse when I looked up the nutritional info and found out it had over 40 grams of fat and 3 days worth of sodium.  Larkin wanted to me to come up with my own version, so here it is.

 

 

 

Chef Brooke’s

I am finally home from Florida and my Mom is all settled in her new house here in North Carolina.  This last week has been so crazy, but it has been worth it to get my parents close by.  It is such a blessing to have family close to us again.

Before leaving Ft Myers I had to go to my favorite restaurant there, Chef Brooke’s Natural Cafe.  She always has the most beautiful, delicious food and the best vegan cupcakes.   My favorite are the raw nori rolls with sesame dressing.  I order them every time I go.  This time my husband and I shared the coconut mung bean dahl, nori rolls and the tofu platter.  Normally I am not a fan of tofu, but hers was so good.  My kids took a bite and kept begging for more.

Nori Rolls

Tofu Platter

Coconut Dahl

Vegan Cupcakes