Ratatouille

After having such a terrible experience cutting the hot peppers for this dish (which I didn't end up putting in here due to the heat!), it seemed fitting that I post the recipe this week. The irony being that my hands are still sore and I could barely type this up. But if you have garden vegetables that you are trying to use up, this recipe is for you!

Ratatouille is an traditional French end-of-harvest vegetable stew that can be served as a side dish, or on it's own with pasta, rice or bread.

It's a great way to use up all those tomatoes, eggplants, zucchini and peppers from your garden right now. This is some of the incredible bounty that we've collected from our garden and Garrett's parents. I was glad to find a way to use it all up in a delicious dish! (Please note the disasterous hot peppers on the left. I did NOT add them once I realized how hot they were.)

It was a great way to use up all those tomatoes as well! Anyone else dealing with a surplus of tomatoes right now?

Ratatouille is low in calories, but rich in flavour. It's easy to pull together and a great make-ahead dish that tastes even better the second day. Hot or cold - it's always great with a little Parmesan too.

It can be made in a skillet or dutch oven on your stove top, or baked in the oven for 3 hours if you have the time.

What you'll need:

• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• 1 large Onion, sliced
• 1-5 cloves of Garlic, crushed
• 1 small Eggplant, chopped
• 1 Bell Pepper, chopped (Red, Yellow, Orange or Green)
• 1 Zucchini, chopped
• 1 Yellow Summer Squash, chopped
• 1 Bay Leaf
• A few springs of Fresh Oregano
• 3 ripe Tomatoes, chopped (or about 1 1/4 cups)
• Handul of Fresh Basil, chopped
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Stovetop Method:

In a large skillet or dutch oven, heat half of the olive oil over medium heat. Saute the onion until soft and starting to turn golden. Add in the garlic and continue to cook for another minute.

Add in the eggplant and cook for another 5 minutes until it goes soft. Add more olive oil as needed to prevent sticking.

Add in the peppers, zucchini, oregano, bay leaf, salt and pepper and cook for about 10 minutes until everything is soft and starting to golden.

Add in the tomatoes and cook until the mixture is thick and most of the liquid has evaporated.

 Taste and season as needed. Stir in fresh basil before you serve.

Oven Method:

• Layer all the ingredients (except salt) in a large dutch oven or casserole dish.
• Press down if needed.
• Drizzle with 1/4 cup of olive oil, then cover and bake at 350°F for 3 hours. Occasionally baste when liquid starts to form.
• If there is too much liquid forming, uncover for the last hour to allow some of the liquid to evaporate.
• Mix gently and sprinkle with salt before serving.

Serve immediately or refridgerate overnight and allow the flavours to enhance.

Leftover Ratatouille is great as a pasta sauce, pizza topping, on bread with cheese or even part of a stuffed pasta like ravioli or canneloni.

Printable Version

An Award and Flowers

Earlier this summer, my mother was honoured with an award for her many years of dedicated community service. For as long as I can remember she has always been helping out at schools, participating in parks committees, spearheading environmental groups and being a great example of how volunteer work really can make a difference.

We were all so proud of her and the whole family came out to cheer her on.

So proud of you, Mama!

Afterwards there was a reception in a cute little hall down the street. There was cake, fruit plates, treats and raspberry ice tea. The cake turned out to be peanut-free, so I had a piece of the vanilla and then a little piece of the chocolate...and then proceeded to go into a sugar coma.

At every table there were these gigantic centrepieces overflowing with white flowers and little Canadian flags.

We we're lucky enough to take one home. Look at how massive it is!

The tendrils reached out to the edge of my parents' dining room table!

After deciding that it was way to big to leave on the table (where would they eat dinner?), we started taking it apart to get all the blooms. We had PILES of roses, hydrangeas, tall flowers, short flowers and about 10 perfect white orchids. My mom knew she wasn't going to use all of them, so she sent me home with a couple of bundles of my own.

And this is what I did with them. A small little vignette on the bookshelf.

I gathered flowers of the same varieties together and put them in various sized vases and glasses.

Hydrangeas have always been one of my favourites.

More orchids than I knew what to do with. I even made a couple little bunches of them for the entertainment stand and the desk.

A big container of white roses for the coffee table.

I love having fresh flowers around the house, but I tend to pick more vibrant colours. I have to admit that I really loved the elegant simplicity of bunches of just white flowers. I'll have to remember this next time I pick up flowers!

How I Ended Up In The Emergency Room After Cutting Hot Peppers

This week we were given a large bounty of homegrown vegetables from Garrett's parents, which I immediately planned to use to make Ratatouille.

They gave us eggplants, green peppers, onions and tomatoes. On a visit to our own garden I spotted those little green hot peppers on the bottom of the picture. After taking a little bite of one, I decided they weren't much hotter than a jalapeno, so I decided to chop some up to toss into the vegetable stew.

Within minutes of finishing chopping up the 5 peppers my skin started to burn. Similar to when you get salt or lemon juice in wound. I tried to wash off the oil from the pepper (which is what makes the heat) with some grease cutting dish soap, but soon the burning started to get worse.

Much worse.

The burning sensation started feeling like when you accidentally touch a hot pan, but instead of stopping, it kept getting hotter and hotter.

After quick dash to the computer, I identified the pepper as not some mild little hot pepper, but as a Scotch Bonnet. Which is 40x more potent than a Jalapeno.

Uh Oh.

 Now that I knew what I was dealing with, I searched up plenty of home remedies.

I tried soaking my hands in thick cream and then milk too, but as soon as the liquid started to get to room temperature the burn senstation returned with a vengenace.

I tried different methods of using rubbing alcohol, olive oil, vaseline and lemon juice.

I even tried brushing on mustard, but that didn't work either.

The only relief came from taking a couple of extra strength Tylenol and keeping my hands submerged in a bowl of ice water.

I found this photo on my camera this morning, which Garrett must have taken around midnight when I finally got a 30 minute nap before the burning sensation came back and woke me up.

After a quick call to Telehealth Ontario, I realized there was only one thing left to do....

...go to the hospital.

By 4:30am we were back home with a pharmacy bag full of Tylenol 3's, anti-inflammatory pills, steroid cream and an antibiotic cream to prevent infection. And a fast food burger because it had been 9 hours since we had the Ratatouille. Nothing like a burger in the middle of the night.

The pills thankfully gave me some much needed sleep, but I still had to keep my hands in an ice water bath even while I slept. As soon as the water got warm again, I'd wake up in pain.

After 24 hours of this cocktail of pills and creams, I finally started to feel normal in the early hours this morning. I still can't drive because of the pills, so even though I can use my hands again, I'm staying home from work today. Not exactly how I wanted to spend the last days of summer, but it could have been much worse.

I can still expect to feel sensitivity on my skin and nerve endings in the hands, but other than that, I should expect a full recovery.

So what did I learn from this?

ALWAYS WEAR GLOVES WHEN CHOPPING HOT PEPPERS

Even if you think you know how hot a pepper is, you can never be sure, until it is too late. I've already got "disposable gloves" on the shopping list this week.

Paleo Stuffed Peppers

It's great to be back in the kitchen again and cooking up a storm. Next time I have a hectic work week coming up I want to be prepared with dinners made ahead in advance. Especially ones that I can freeze either whole, or in pieces for when a crazy week shows up.

One of these awesome make ahead meals are stuffed peppers. You can make the filling in advance and then fill the peppers when you're ready to cook them.

They may not look like much, but inside they are packed with delicious ground beef and sauteed veggies. You can also add rice, but I prefer to keep these low-carb. The melted cheese on the top is my favourite!

What you'll need:

• 4 Green Peppers
• 1 lb Ground Beef
• 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1/2 Onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup chopped Cremini Mushrooms
• 1 can of Diced Tomatoes
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 1 tbsp Dried Oregano
• 1 tbsp chopped Fresh Basil
• 1 tbsp chopped Fresh Parsley
• 2 dashes Hot Sauce
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup grated Mozzarella or Cheddar Cheese

In a large frying pan, on medium heat, sautee the onion and mushrooms in olive oil for 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft.

Add in the ground beef and cook until no longer pink. Drain the fat and then return the pan to the stove. Stir in a can of diced tomatoes, including the liquid.

Add in spices, fresh herbs, garlic, hot sauce and salt and pepper. Simmer until the liquid is reduced.

Meanwhile, cut the tops off of the green peppers and remove the seeds and membrane. Stand up in a foil lined pan.

Fill the peppers with the meat mixture and bake at 375°F for 20-30 minutes or until the peppers are tender.

Top peppers with grated cheese and return to the oven until the cheese as melted, about 5 minutes.

You could serve this with a nice salad and a crusty bread, but I like to eat mine on it's own. Melted cheese first!

Printable Version

Returning from an Unplanned Blog Hiatus

You may have notice that I only posted once in the past 10 days. I wish that I could say that it was because I went on some really awesome trip to Hawaii or something, but unfortunately that is not the case.

Instead I got sucked into a 60+ hour crazy work week that involved an incredible amount of prep the week before. I've been so busy that I haven't even cooked in 10 days!!! (We lived off freezer finds, catering leftovers from work and a couple of dinners at family's homes).

The one post that I did do was on the Botanical Prints I put up in the bedroom. It wasn't until I hit publish that I realized that the pictures were uneven in the photo. Oops. Better some pictures than nothing, right?

I would have loved to have taken some new photos, but unfortunately I've been leaving the house in the dark in the morning (when did this happen?!?!) and by the time I get home there is barely any light left in our dark little bedroom.

Redoing these pictures is first up on my to-do list for the week!

Now that the craziness if over, I'll be back to my regular posting too! I've been missing sharing recipes, crafts, new decor and fun ideas for fall.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the last of the weekend:

A mini road trip with Whiskey.

Catching up on some magazine reading.

Hanging out at an end-of-summer corn roast.

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Botanical Prints in the Bedroom for $6

After months of talking about putting up artwork above the bed in the bedroom, I finally got around to doing it. Now I wish I'd done it sooner, because it really made the room feels like an (almost) completed room. As an added bonus, I was also able to do it under an hour and for only $6.

 I have always loved the look of a series of botanical prints.

Just to give you a recap of what we've done in the room, here is what it looked like after we installed wallmount lamps on either side of the bed and added a free headboard I found (score!).

In the spring, I updated the linens and pillows to cooler colours, bringing out the soft greens and blues in the duvet. The one thing that was missing was some artwork above the headboard, to help break up some of the blank walls.

There isn't much space between the headboard and the ceiling (we have a dropped ceiling in that room), so I went for a line of frames, instead of a square of frames.

The botanical prints I used are from a free antique German botanical field guide where you can download the PDF and take out the photos you would like. Below are the four that I chose.

Raspberry  |  Hollyhock

Yellow Flower  |  Cherry

Dina from Honey & Fitz has a great tutorial on how to take the photos from the PDF, including page numbers for various flowers and fruit prints.

To make the matting, I cut strips of dark green cardstock into one inch pieces to go around the edge.

To put the frames up, I used 3M Command Strips, which are like heavy duty plastic velcro. They are great for light weight frames, like these ones. They are nice because they keep the frame flush to the wall, which works well for a room like this, where you can see the side of the frame as you walk into the room, rather than seeing the hooks.

Here is a quick breakdown of the costs and supplies
Cost:
Frames: 4 x $1 = $4
Botanicals: free (and printed on good quality paper I already had).
Matting: free (using thick cardstock I already had)
3M Command Strips: 4 x $0.50 = $2

TOTAL: $6

Not bad for a quick project to add some interest to the walls. Now that the frames are in place with the Command Strips, I can easily swap out the artwork for something else later down the road.

Now I just need to work on the opposite wall! I've added the antique frame from the old apartment's living room and hung it above the dresser. Now I just need something in the right corner. Maybe a standing lamp with a chair to add some more light to this otherwise very dark bedroom.

I know someone who loves a good nap in this room when the sunbeams come in.