Roast Vegetables in Pita

School started, and looking for a little convenience, I bought a tray of those pre-cut roasting vegetables in the produce department for the first time.

What's cool: when you toss them in a little olive oil, they completely loose that exposed-to-air look. I tossed in some fresh thyme and basil I had leftover, and salt and pepper. Into the oven for 30 minutes at 450F, more than enough time to have them well cooked.

Serve with pita bread, and a little whole milk yogurt for those who want some creaminess and more sense of the Greek. I offered cubed meat leftovers to add for the insistently non-vegetarian.

Okay, and what was in the tray of pre-cut vegetables? Carrots, green beans, zucchini, summer squash, onion, yam. I thought I would be sad I didn't have mushrooms, but really, I didn't miss them.

Vegetarian Enchilada Pie

This is my riff on a Utah standby Chicken Enchilada Pie, that my dear friend Nicole taught me how to make back in Ohio in 1995. The Chicken version layered tortillas with sour cream, cream of chicken soup, sauteed onions, cheese, and cooked chicken. My new version, adapted to vegetarian tastes and my progress at Weight Watchers (25 pounds down, yay!) is a different kind of yummy, and it has that quality I love about a good casserole: leftovers that last in the fridge, handy for lunching or snacks for me and other adults in the house for the days that follow.

I hear Nicole's in China now. She's lived around the world since our days in Ohio. She's such an excellent cook (and seamstress and business manager) I wonder what great things she's done since our daughters were small.

1.5 to 2 TB oil
1 medium summer squash
1 medium-small zucchini
1 red bell pepper
red or other onion, half a large
8-10 oz mushrooms
half a pound frozen corn kernels
2 1/2 cups shredded cheese
5-7 corn tortillas, which tend to be small.
28-ounce can of enchilada sauce, I like the green kind.

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F, because that's how to cook any casserole.

2. dice up small the vegetables, medium-high heat the oil in the pan, then add the vegetables and saute. Here you can see the proportions.

Oh, I forgot to add the mushrooms and corn. I buy the pre-sliced mushrooms, and then chop them further from there. The corn really ought to be microwave cooked first, but I just threw it in the pan, slowing down and reducing the quality of the vegetables cooking. Oh well.

Now it's all mixed together. I really love the colors--this is why one of my Christmas side dishes for years was zucchini-bell.pepper-corn.

Now that's cooked; it's time to layer. Cover the bottom of the pan with 1/4 of the sauce, layer two tortillas, half of the vegetables, and another dose of sauce, and some (1/3 of) cheese.

Let's peek ahead with this layers diagram for the finished casserole. The fraction is how much of that item to put in that layer.

cheese (1/3)

sauce (1/4)

tortillas (1/3)

cheese (1/3)

sauce (1/4)

vegetables (1/2)

tortillas (1/3)

cheese (1/3)

sauce (1/4)

vegetables (1/2)

tortillas (1/3)

sauce (1/4)

\________pan________/

Here I'm in process covering those first tortillas with my first layer of veggies.

Sauce on the second layer, and repeat as before.

Cheese going on just before another layer of tortilla. If I'm going to use cheese, I use real cheese, not reduced-fat stuff. It doesn't take much (relative to what I used to do, perhaps) to give it that cheese-in-mix taste. I would have loved a Jack cheese here, but was happy to use the sharp cheddar that was in the house. I think it really adds to the nourishing deliciousness of the meal to use what I have.

And on that front, I wasn't stopped by the fact I only had five corn tortillas in the house. I tore the last one into pieces and spread it around for the top layer thus.

Last layer of sauce and cheese.

Cover and bake the standard 350F for 30 minutes. This pretty dish (from IKEA years ago) didn't have a lid, so I used foil.

And it's done! I suppose you could remove the foil at the end, if you want the cheese browned as well as bubbly, but for me this is good. Too often I burn the cheese at the end trying to do that. Feel free to send me an acetylene torch.

Was delish, and delish as leftovers for a couple days. Loved and appreciated by everyone over the age of 16--probably could have won the heart of the younger teen if it didn't fall into the inaccurately-named category "Mexican Food." Apparently my love of all things bean, cheese, and tortilla more than met her quota five years ago.

But never mine.

Food Pairing from Belgium

Harvest is but a memory in the slough of winter, but what goes with zucchini? I would have said tomatoes, mushrooms, bell peppers and/or cheese. Also soy sauce--I had a friend who used to marinade long slices of zucchini in soy sauce, but frankly I would say the marinade never penetrated; she was kidding herself.

Now an outfit called "Sense for Taste" out of Belgium has an online food pairing calculator. Just the thing when I'm looking at the end-of-the-week ingredients that somehow didn't make it into any dinners. I'm intrigued but sometimes skeptical of the food pairing suggestions for zucchini, a food which can be a bountiful summer challenge.

http://www.foodpairing.be/FoodPairable.aspx?f=Zucchini

We'll be skipping the tea and Chardonnay, I add, wiping my hands on my apron.

Whether or not this internet toy leads you to your next culinary invention, or causes your frozen food conglomerate to hire them, Food Pairing is fun to play with. There is a long list of set foods, by category, on the right-hand column (you may have to click an arrow triangle to see them). The search box doesn't work for me and my machine--I don't know if that's because their coding is broken or because an ASPX database only interacts with Microsoft products.

Zucchini with ginger? maybe. Zucchini with apricot? Two Utah-ish ingredients I'd never have thought to combine.

Cooking after the holidays

We went visiting friends across country for their best New Year's Eve party ever. Great company, and great food. They were making assemble-your-won pizzas for a crowd, at least half of whom were vegetarian.

I arrived home lazy, unused to making dinner.

--I made that Indian tomato curry with Pulao Rice the day I got back, since it's a pantry meal.
--Then sloppy egg joes: fried eggs on a whole wheat buns, with sloppy joe sauce.
--then vegetarian enchilada casserole: zucchini, mushrooms and corn, layered between tortillas with jack cheese and canned green enchilada sauce.
--The swedish meatballs, meatballs optional. I should have come up with some kind of vegetarian meatless ball, but I have never solved that problem. Nevertheless everyone loves egg noodles with swedish cream sauce, and lingonberry jam. The sauce was from a packet from IKEA.
--running out of ideas, I made pasta wheels with marinara sauce. Tried to get the sometimes meat eaters to finish off yesterday's meatballs that no one loved.

I've got to come up with dinner for tonight and tomorrow. It all feels like pulling a full sled up a mountain. And since I've not come up with something, now tonight's shop, prep and serve is down to the hour between picking up little kid from her class, and taking the big kids to Young Women and scouts.

What are you making? And what's your go-to when you've got to come up with the no-idea dinner quick?

Veggie Casserole

My zucchini haters will eat this and like the dish. It's a good mix of veggies.

Veggie Casserole

5 C Zucchini, leave skin on and grate
1/2 Diced onion
1 C shredded carrots
2 cans of cream soup (mushroom, chicken, broccoli, or celery)
1/2 C milk
2 C cooked rice
1 C shredded cheese

Cook zucchini, onion, and carrots in water until crisp tender (3-5 minutes). Combine soups, milk and stir in vegetables and rice. Put in casserole dish and top with cheese. Back at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Veggie Quesadillas

Its me, the non-contributing contributor...I thought I might contribute something.

We love these and they are especially great on an evening when you need a quick dinner. Excuse my recipe...its not actually written anywhere (learned it from a friend) and so I don't have exact measurements. Its a prime example of how I cook.

Veggie Quesadillas

1 can drained/rinsed black beans
a bunch of frozen corn (however much you like)
1 medium zucchini, chopped
a good amount of salsa (whatever you have)
cheese, shredded (our favorite part)
whole wheat tortillas (we just like 'em better...use what you want)

mix the first 4 ingredients together in a bowl. place a skillet on medium heat and spray with cooking spray. place a tortilla in the pan, spoon some of the mixture onto half of the tortilla, sprinkle cheese over the mixture and fold the tortilla over. You can do a whole tortilla and use a second tortilla to cover it, but I find for the sake of flipping...half is better. heat until cheese melts.

Please remember I only feed 3 people in my household...and one of those eats only enough to not die. That said, we usually end up with leftovers.

Garden Vegetable Calzones

Everyday I ask my girls what they want for dinner. This is their first request!

Garden Vegetable Calzones

8 fresh mushrooms, sliced (3/4 cup)
1 small zucchini, halved and thinly sliced (3/4 cup)
1/2 red or yellow bell pepper, coarsly chopped (1/2 cup)
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp dried basil leaves
1 (10 oz) can Pillsbury refrigerated pizza crust (comes in a can like biscuits)
4 oz (1 cup) shredded mozzarella or provolone cheese
1 egg white, beaten

Heat oven to 425 and spray cookie sheet with nonstick spray.

In bowl, combine all the veggies and sprinkle with garlic and basil. Mix well.

Unroll the dough; placed on sprayed cookie sheet. Roll dough into 14-inch square and cut into 4 7 inch squares. (This is what the recipe says, but I just cut off some dough and roll it out and I make about 8 calzones with this (2 each because they want TWO)). Place 1/4 cup cheese on half of each square; spread to within 1/2 inch of edge. Top each with 1/4 vegetable mixture. (I don't measure all this out. A little of this-a little of that.

Fold dough in half over filling; press edges firmly with fork to seal. Brush each with beaten egg white (for browning-makes them prettier). Cut 2 or 3 slits in the top of each for steam to escape.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

We serve marinara or pizza sauce on the side for dipping.