Ratatouille

Original recipe by smittenkitchen, altered by me

Ingredients
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
1 cup tomato puree (such as Pomi)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 small eggplant (my store sells these “Italian Eggplant” that are less than half the size of regular ones; it worked perfectly)
1 smallish zucchini
1 smallish yellow squash
1 longish red bell pepper
Few sprigs fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
Few tablespoons soft goat cheese, for serving

Altered:
I hate goat cheese so I took it out of my ingredients. I added mushrooms to the mix, instead of red peppers I substituted mine with green peppers.

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Pour tomato puree into bottom of an oval baking dish, approximately 10 inches across the long way. Drop the sliced garlic cloves and chopped onion into the sauce, stir in one tablespoon of the olive oil and season the sauce generously with salt and pepper.

Trim the ends off the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. As carefully as you can, trim the ends off the red pepper and remove the core, leaving the edges intact, like a tube.

On a mandoline, adjustable-blade slicer or with a very sharp knife, cut the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and red pepper into very thin slices, approximately 1/16-inch thick.

Atop the tomato sauce, arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping so just a smidgen of each flat surface is visible, alternating vegetables. You may have a handful leftover that do not fit.

Drizzle the remaining tablespoon olive oil over the vegetables and season them generously with salt and pepper. Remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs with your fingertips, running them down the stem. Sprinkle the fresh thyme over the dish.

Cover dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside. (Tricky, I know, but the hardest thing about this.)

Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, until vegetables have released their liquid and are clearly cooked, but with some structure left so they are not totally limp. They should not be brown at the edges, and you should see that the tomato sauce is bubbling up around them.

Serve with a dab of soft goat cheese on top, alone, or with some crusty French bread, atop polenta, couscous, or your choice of grain.

*I serve mine with brown rice or whole wheat pasta noodles. 

Wasabi Mayo Salmon

Ingredients
1 (3pounds) salmon fillet
1 cup mayo
1 tablespoon of wasabi powder
1 bag of crushed potato chips






Directions  
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). 

In a small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise and wasabi powder. Place the salmon on a greased baking tray, skin side down. Spread the mayonnaise mixture evenly over the top. Press crushed potato chips into the mayonnaise. 

Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until fish flakes with a fork.

Simply French Toast

Ingredients
6 slices of bread (any kind)
2 eggs
2/3 cups of milk
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
a dash of vanilla extract
salt to taste
powdered sugar (optional)


Directions 
Beat together egg, milk, salt, desired spices and vanilla. 

Heat a lightly oiled griddle of skillet over medium-high flame. 

Dunk each slice of bread in egg mixture, soaking both sides. You can choose to dip it whole or cut it into sticks then dip.

Place in pan, and cook on both sides until golden. Serve hot. Topped with powdered sugar(optional) or a side of fruits.

Tilapia with Garlic Butter

Ingredients   

2 tablespoons butter

2 cloves garlic, finely minced
dash pepper
dash salt
pinch dried dillweed or parsley
dash paprika
4 tilapia fillets

Directions

In saucepan, combine butter, garlic, pepper, salt, dillweed, and paprika. 

Heat over low heat until butter is melted and starts simmering.

Remove from heat. Brush a little of the butter mixture in the bottom of a shallow baking dish (line baking dish with foil, if desired) then place tilapia fillets on the buttered area. 

Brush top of each tilapia fillet with the seasoned butter mixture. 

Bake at 350° for 12 to 15 minutes, until tilapia flakes easily with a fork.

Serve with a side of vegetables your choice.

Yum Yum Baked Buffalo Wings

Ingredients

1 lb chicken wings, thighs or chicken breasts
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup louisiana hot sauce
1 tablespoon margarine

Directions

Fill a large pot half way with water and then add the first 4 ingredients.

Bring water mixture and wings to a boil and then boil for 15 minutes.

Transfer wings to an oven safe container coated with cooking spray. Bake wings on "Broil" (high) for 15 minutes on each side.(For crispier wings, cook longer on each side, maybe 20 minutes per side).

While waiting for wings, combine the Hot Sauce and Margarine in a microwave safe container and cook in microwave for 2 minutes or until melted. (You can cook the sauce longer for a thicker sauce).

When wings are done, shake 'em up with the sauce and enjoy!

You can serve them with celery, rice and ranch on the side for those  who can't take the heat.

Sushi Bake

This recipe was given to me by my dear friend, GayAnn. I had it at one of her Christmas gatherings and fell in love with it. I substituted some of the ingredients.

Ingredients
1 cup raw brown rice
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
1 lb.  real crab meat
1/2 lb. frozen, raw baby shrimp (chopped)
1 container of Furikake seasoning
1 – 2 pkgs of Japanese Nori seaweed
one 9X13″ pan or glass baking dish

Directions
Cook rice.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Boil raw baby shrimp for a few minutes, until the shrimp color turns pink.

Turn off the heat and remove cooked shrimp from water with a slotted spoon, leaving the hot water in the pot.

Chop baby shrimp into small pieces.

Combine crab meat, baby shrimp, mayonnaise, and sour cream together in a bowl and mix well.

Spread cooked rice onto 9X13″ pan.

Spread crab meat, baby shrimp, mayonnaise, and sour cream mixture over the cooked rice.

Then sprinkle Furikake over the dish.

Bake at 375 degrees (about 15 to 20 minutes).

Spicy Jambalya

Ingredients

12 medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped
4 ounces chicken, diced
1 tablespoon Creole seasoning, recipe follows
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped celery
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
a lot of hot sauce
3/4 cup rice
3 cups chicken stock
5 ounces Andouille sausage, sliced
Salt and pepper

Directions

In a bowl combine shrimp, chicken and Creole seasoning, and work in seasoning well.

In a large saucepan heat oil over high heat with onion, pepper and celery, 3 minutes. Add garlic, tomatoes, bay leaves, Worcestershire and hot sauces.

Stir in rice and slowly add broth. Reduce heat to medium and cook until rice absorbs liquid and becomes tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.

When rice is just tender add shrimp and chicken mixture and sausage.

Cook until meat is done, about 10 minutes more. Season to taste with salt, pepper and Creole seasoning.

My Own Creole Seasoning:

• 6 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons fresh minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon fresh diced onion
• 3 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly. Add more if you prefer different tastes.