King St. Louis IX, French Food, & Hospitality

King St. Louis, Feast Day: August 25

St. Louis, king of France from to 1236-1270, was known for his generosity and hospitality. Every day King Louis had 13 special guests from among the poor to eat with him, and a large number of poor were served meals near his palace. During Advent and Lent, all who presented themselves were given a meal, and Louis often served them in person. To remember King St. Louis of France on his feast day let us recall his hospitality with a French dish.   Ratatouille is a hearty French dish and the vegetable ingredients are abundant now in late summer.  It seems a fitting dish to prepare in honor of King St. Louis and experience a little French cuisine.  And in the spirit of King St. Louis, invite some guests to share the meal with you. 

Easy French Ratatouille

Makes 4-6 servings

1 large eggplant
1 medium yellow onions
2 medium bell peppers
3-4 medium zucchini
2 large tomatoes
1 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs thyme
1/8 cup loosely packed basil, sliced into ribbons
Salt and pepper

Peel the eggplant (if desired) and chop into bite-sized cubes. Transfer them to a strainer set over a bowl and toss with a tablespoon of salt. Let the eggplant sit while preparing other  ingredents. Dice the onions and chop the peppers, zucchinis, and tomatoes into bite-sized pieces. Mince garlic. Veggies will be cooked in batches. 

Warm a teaspoon of olive oil in a large Dutch oven or pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and salt to taste. Sauté until the onions have softened and are just beginning to brown, (approx. 10 minutes). Add the peppers and continue cooking until the peppers have softened (approx. 5 minutes). Transfer the onions and peppers to a clean bowl.

Add another teaspoon of oil to the pot and sauté the zucchini with a generous pinch of salt until the zucchini has softened and is beginning to brown (approx. 5 minutes). Transfer the zucchini to the bowl with the onions and peppers.

Rinse the eggplant under running water and squeeze the cubes gently with hands to remove as much moisture as possible. Add 1 teaspoon of oil to pan and sauté the eggplant until it has softened and has begun to turn translucent (approx. 10 minutes). Transfer the eggplant to the bowl with the other vegetables.

During cooking, a brown glaze will build on the bottom of the pan. If it looks like this glaze is starting to blacken, turn down the heat. To dissolve the glaze between batches add 1/4 cup of water or wine into the pan and scraping up the glaze. Pour the deglazing liquid into the bowl with the vegetables.

Finally add 1 teaspoon of olive oil in the pan and sauté the minced garlic until starting to turn golden. Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, and sprigs of thyme. As the tomato juice bubbles, scrape up the brown glaze on the bottom of the pan.

Add all of the vegetables back into the pan and stir until everything is evenly mixed. Bring the stew to a simmer, then turn down the heat to low. Stirring occasionally, simmer for at least 20 minutes or up to 90 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Just before taking the ratatouille off the heat, stir in the basil.   Bon appetit!

St. Louis, Pray for us!

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St. George and the Dragon Veggie Platter

With the feast of St. George falling on Easter Wednesday this year, following a weekend filled with Easter and Birthday cakes in our home, I decided to make a Veggie Platter for the feast of St. George instead of a dragon cake or our Saint George Cookies. Our veggie platter was inspired by a couple snake themed veggie trays I found through a google image search, with the addition of some lettuce wings at the suggestion of Charlotte's oldest son.  I thought it turned out great and my children love it! We will devour the dragon this evening with dinner, after reading a couple new books (Saint George & the Dragon by Jim Forrest and The Saint Who Fought the Dragon: The Story of St. George - affiliate links) that one of our boys discovered in his Easter Basket! You can also read The Ballad of St. George by Eliana Murphy over at Shower of Roses.

St. George and the Dragon Veggie Platter

Ingredients:

• Cucumbers - I used 2 for the head and body
• Carrots - I used baby carrots
• Broccoli
• Tomatoes
• Olives - 1 can of black olives
• Lettuce - 2 leaves for Wings
• Veggie Dip of your choice

Directions: 

Using the end of one of the cucumbers and some carrot slices, create a dragon head.

Slice the rest of the cucumbers and shape into a body on a platter, wrapping around the dip bowl.

Add the broccoli, carrots, tomatoes and olives, along with the two leaves of lettuce for the wings.

Happy Feast of St. George! 

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Thanksgiving Turkey Fruit & Veggie Platters

First of all, thank you to everyone that participated in this year's Saint-O-Lantern Link up!  If anyone missed adding their link, or didn't have enough time, let me know and I can open it up for a few more days.

With Thanksgiving coming up in a couple weeks I thought I would share a fun veggie platter that I made with my kids last year, along with an Caramel Apple fruit platter (inspired by a pin on Pinterest, I couldn't find the original link) from this afternoon.   They were both very easy to make and the kids loved them!  They were gobbled right up!  ;)

Turkey Veggie Platter

Ingredients:

• Leaf Lettuce
• Cucumber, sliced
• Red, Yellow and Green Bell Pepper
• Baby Carrots
• 2 Black Beans (or Black Olives)
• 1/3 of Celery Stalk
• Toothpicks

Directions:

Slice the bell peppers crosswise and then cut each circle in half.  Set aside the bottom part of the green pepper and 1/2" piece off of both the red and yellow peppers to use for the face.  Slice the remaining peppers to use for the body.

Cover a platter with lettuce leaves.   Start with making the turkey's feathers by forming a circle with the cumber slices at the bottom of the platter, followed by semi-circles of the yellow, green and red peppers.   Place the baby carrots vertically above the last row of peppers.

Break two toothpicks in half. Put two of the toothpicks where the eyes will go. Push the black beans onto the toothpick making sure that the toothpick doesn't go all the way through. Cut a triangle out of the leftover bottom from the yellow pepper. Attach with a toothpick below the eyes. Attach the reserved red pepper piece to the left of the yellow pepper "beak".

Cut the piece of celery in half lengthwise. On each piece, carefully slice lengthwise from the end of the celery piece to almost the center. Do this twice on each piece. Place the celery in ice water and place in the refrigerator until the ends curl. (I didn't have time to do this step.) When curled, nestle the un-curled end under the cucumbers.

Serve with hummus or other dip of choice.

Caramel Apple Turkey 

Ingredients:

• 4 Apples (Red and Green)
• Caramel Sauce
• 1 Candy Corn
• 2 Chocolate Chips

Directions:

Pour Caramel Apple Sauce into round serving dish, top with candy corn (beak) and chocolate chips (eyes) and place on platter.   Cut apples into wedges.  Cut one wedge in half to use as feet and arrange the remaining apple wedges in a semi circle. 

Thank you, Father, for having created us and given us to each other in the human family. Thank you for being with us in all our joys and sorrows, for your comfort in our sadness, your companionship in our loneliness. Thank you for yesterday, today, tomorrow and for the whole of our lives. Thank you for friends, for health and for grace. May we live this and every day conscious of all that has been given to us.  ~  From The Catholic Prayer Book, compiled by Msgr. Michael Buckley

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Honey Glazed Carrots

Here is another new favorite Easter recipe.   These Honey Glazed Carrots were quick and easy to make, and looked so pretty!  The honey and lemon added a nice unique flavor to our usually plain steamed carrots.

Honey Glazed Carrots

Source: Food Network

Ingredients:

• Salt
• 1 pound baby carrots
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add salt and then carrots and cook until tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Drain the carrots and add back to pan with butter, honey and lemon juice. Cook until a glaze coats the carrots, 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley.


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An Irish Flag Veggie Tray

The last couple years, inspired by Charlotte, our family has enjoyed an Irish Flag Veggie Tray on the feast of St. Patrick!

There are a number of various vegetables you can use to make the Flag.   Charlotte uses Celery, Cauliflower with Ranch, and Baby Carrots.   Last year we used Cucumbers, Cheese and Carrots and this year we opted for Snap Peas (since my children will not eat celery), Cauliflower with Ranch, and (once again) Carrots.    It is such a fun and easy way to tie in some healthy snacks on this great feast day!

St. Patrick, Patron of Ireland, Pray for us! 

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Baked Rockfish for the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter

This morning as I was meditating on the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, this rockfish recipe came to my mind. It seems so appropriate to make fish today and since the name Peter means "rock" it would be the obvious choice for today. :-)

Ingredients:

5 cups fresh spinach

2 (6 ounce) fillets rockfish

10 cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup vegetable broth

2 tablespoons minced fresh dill

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

salt and ground black pepper to taste

2 lemon slices

2 onion slices

1 teaspoon butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

2. Layer the spinach in the bottom of a 2 quart baking dish. Lay the rockfish atop the spinach. Scatter the tomatoes around the fish. Pour the broth into the dish. Season the fillet with the dill, garlic powder, lemon pepper, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Place the lemon, onion, and butter on the rockfish. Cover the entire dish with aluminum foil.

3. Bake in preheated oven until the fish flakes easily, 20 to 25 minutes.

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Poor Man's Caviar

Photo: Michael Piazza

To celebrate today's Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, patron saint of the poor (novus ordo calendar) I am going to make this delicious Poor Man's Caviar.

Poor Man's Caviar

Ingredients:

• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can black-eyed peas, drained
• 1 bunch chopped, fresh cilantro
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix together onion, green bell pepper, green onions, jalapeno peppers, garlic, cherry tomatoes, olive oil, black beans, black-eyed peas and salt and pepper. Cover and chill in the refrigerator approximately 2 hours. Toss with desired amount of fresh cilantro to serve. Pin It

Tri-color pasta salad for Trinity Sunday

I came up with this recipe on my way to Mass yesterday morning. I was hoping to add three different kinds of cheeses, but I wasn't able to get the ones my kids liked, so I just bought one kind, although I included three of them in my recipe below.

1 box of tomato, carrot and spinach blend pasta
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 pound of Cheddar cheese, cubed
1/2 pound Jack cheese, cubed
1/2 pound Mozzarella cheese, cubed
1 pound of sliced boneless ham, cubed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Salad Supreme seasoning mix
2 tablesspoons olive oil

Boil the pasta, drain it and drizzle it with olive oil. Put it in the refrigerator to cool. Chop the peppers, cube the ham and cheese and add the remaining ingredients to the pasta salad. Enjoy! Pin It