A very button-soupey schoolday lunch

Today, I came home from school for lunch, only to realize I had very little in the way of ingredients. Not feeling like another peanut butter sandwich, I gathered a few ingredients and set to work improvising. I sauteed 1/4 onion(chopped) in olive oil until a little softened and starting to brown, added half a medium chopped tomato, and then added a couple handfuls of canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed, leftover from the ratatouille. I salted, peppered and garlic powder'd the mixture, and then let it cook away for about 5 minutes. When it was ready I grated some white cheddar over the mixture, and ate it spooned over pieces of a whole wheat tortilla. Mmm.

Next up: balsamic glazed brussel sprouts, thanks to a suggestion from my lovely friend and fellow blogger Karen over at Does That Make Sense. Stay tuned!

Ratatouille, Madrileño-style

I've loved ratatouille ever since I studied abroad, when Esperanza, the woman I lived with in Madrid, introduced me to it. I recently came across this recipe on Smitten Kitchen that looked like fun, and decided to adapt it. I wanted to make this a full dinner, so after a little debate, I settled on chickpeas to add protein, feeling inspired by another dish Esperanza used to make, chickpeas cooked in a tomato sauce. And the best part is, as impressive as it looks when it's finished, it took me 30 minutes to get it completely prepped and into the oven.

Recipe: Ratatouille Madrileño-style
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen's "Ratatouille's Ratatouille"

1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced, then chopped
14-oz can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 small eggplant, if you like. I didn't have one, so I skipped the eggplant altogether.
1 small zucchini
1 small yellow squash
1 red bell pepper (look for one of the longer, thinner ones)
1 14-0z can garbanzo beans
Whatever herbs you have around -I was out of fresh and used "italian seasoning" herb mix - rosemary, thyme and oregano.
Salt and pepper

Start by preheating the oven to 375 degrees.

Pour the tomatoes into a baking dish (mine was about 9x13) and mash with a wooden spoon or potato masher, just to break the large pieces into smaller ones and release some pulp. Mix in the chopped onion, garlic and one tablespoon of olive oil.

Next, slice the squash, zucchini and red pepper. I used the slicer on a box grater to speed up the slicing of the squash and zucchini. Slice the pepper as thinly as possible.

Next, start building your dish. Begin in one corner of the baking dish and start stacking the vegetables, one of each kind, then repeating, overlapping them so that only a small amount of the previous vegetable shows.

Continue around the corner. I ended up cutting a bunch of my pepper slices in half to make it fit better. At the end, when you've gone all the way around, you may want to add in more pieces if you have leftover and there seems to be space.

Fill the center of the dish with chickpeas. Sprinkle the remaining olive oil over all the vegetables, and salt and pepper the whole dish. Add the herbs. If you are using dry herbs, as I did, crush the flakes in the palm of your hand before adding them; this releases the flavors.

Cover the whole dish with tinfoil and bake 50 minutes. The mixture will be bubbly and the vegetables should look cooked but not limp. Serve over rice, making sure to spoon the tomato sauce in the bottom of the dish over the ratatouille. Bon apetit!