Simple Ratatouille

It's hard to believe we haven't even been in our new apartment for a week! Just today a week ago Brett and I were driving up from Florida and stayed the night at my parents house. It was such a blessing to get part of a day with them before jumping into life in New York City. We packed a lot into that short day too. We napped, loaded up more furniture into our Uhaul and had a mini birthday celebration for my niece and sister-in-law at my brother's house. Gosh, I love my family!

My parents were so generous to us too. They too are preparing to move so they gave Brett and me a futon, coffee table, side table and a kitchen aid mixer! They also sent us out the door with beautiful squash and zucchini from their garden. 

Ever since watching the movie Ratatouille I've wanted to try making ratatouille. It always intimidated me though. So many colors and layers and I figured if it's made up of mostly vegetables, there has to be some intense process to make it taste so good. Wrong.

Ratatouille isn't hard at all and it's so fun to wow people with how pretty it looks when you pull it out of the oven. Since my parents gave us squash and zucchini before we left--and since I already had a jar of tomato paste, olive oil and homemade vegan parmesan in my kitchen--all I had to pick up at the store was an onion, eggplant, red pepper and garlic. Then I just had to thinly slice the veggies, layer them over some tomato paste and seasoning, and drizzle olive oil on top. Done and Done. 

Ratatouille

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 1 can tomato past (6 oz.)
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cups water
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 eggplant
• 1 zucchini
• 1 yellow squash
• 1 red bell pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme (or two pinches dried thyme)
• Optional: Vegan Parmesan Cheese for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Prepare your vegetables by thinly slicing them in circular disks
3. Spread the tomato past on the bottom of a 10x10-inch baking dish, or a dish similar in size.
4. Sprinkle on the onion, garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Add the water and stir well to combine.
5. Arrange alternating slices of the vegetables in the pan by starting on the outside and working your way towards the center until you fill the entire dish. 
6. Drizzle the top with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle with thyme and more salt and pepper.
7. Cover the vegetables by cutting out a piece of parchment paper to fit inside the baking dish. Bake for 35-45 minutes until all your vegetables are tender.
8. Garnish with Vegan Parmesan Cheese and serve warm!

 Notes: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple days.

Sorry for the poor lighting in these pictures!

Eat Consciously,

Faith

WIAW: The First Week in Our New Apartment

I love New York! We haven't even been here a week, but so far Brett and I are having a great time exploring different parts of the city and getting settled into our new apartment, which we couldn't be happier with. It's located right on the edge of Jackson Heights, a subway stop is literally right across the street, and there's tons of natural lighting from the wall to wall windows in our family room. Also, there is the best international food mart right across the street that has a wide variety of produce, cheap sushi and so many ingredients I've never seen or used before. The inspiration is endless and I've been cooking/baking up a storm since we moved in.  So today I'll share with you a day of eats and some of the different things I've been creating in my new kitchen!

Breakfast has mainly been different types of oatmeal. I've cooked rolled oats on the stove and made a few batches of muesli using steal cut oats. Brett is even starting to eat more oatmeal in an effort to cut back on sugar! We did have one special breakfast when I made Vegan Nutella Stuffed French Toast. I used homemade nutella and also prepared a strawberry syrup to top everything off. I'll share the recipe soon because it was amazing!

Oatmeal cooked with chia seeds and topped with banana, peanut butter and sunflower seeds.

Photo from my Instagram.

Lunches have been leftovers from the first meal I made when we got into town. I made a big batch of Asian Coleslaw Salad and it's been lasting us for days. We've been wrapping it up in spring rolls too which gives us some variety. 

Asian Coleslaw Salad with Edamame and Peanut Dressing

(Recipe coming soon!)

Snacks have been veggies and hummus (Sriracha Hummus!) and lots of different fruits. When we were in China we found our new favorite way to "eat" watermelon: blended! It's so refreshing and one of Brett's new favorite drinks.

Sriracha Hummus

Fresh Watermelon Juice!

Dinners have been quite varied. Last night we actually did a progressive dinner with 23 of our new friends and I was in charge of the main course! I made Massaman Curry over brown rice and Chapati (traditional Indian flatbread). Everyone said it was delicious, so I'd call that a success!

Massaman Curry with Sweet Potatoes

Chapati (You can find the recipe here!)

Another dinner we've been eating a lot of is Ratatouille topped with Vegan Parmesan Cheese. I'll be sharing the recipe tomorrow. It turned out amazing and was so easy to make!

Do you enjoy cooking or is it a chore?

What is your typical go-to breakfast?

That's all for now! I hope everyone is having a great week so far. If you need some inspiration for meals this week, check out Jenn's blog Peas and Crayons.

Eat Consciously,

Faith

Vegan Parmesan Cheese

We made it! After 23 hours of driving, spread out over three days, we are finally sleeping in our new apartment in Queens, New York. We couldn't be happier. Our apartment is everything we hoped for. The metro is literally right across the street, there's an amazing food market less than a block away, and there are all different kinds of cuisines to choose from at our fingertips. 

The view from our apartment our first morning. See the food mart?!

Breakfast my first morning in our new place. Chocolate mint oats with banana slices, 

almond butter and hemp hearts.

As for the interior of our apartment, we were unpacked in two days. I'm the kind of person that loves organizing and decorating, so to be able to start from scratch in a new, clean apartment was a dream. I spent all day yesterday working on the final touches and now we can just enjoy the open space, large windows and of course the kitchen!

This angle makes the world map look small and not centered, but it looks better in person.

At least I hope so.

Ah, the kitchen. It's good to be cooking and baking again. I'm actually amazed at all the different things I've been able to whip up in addition to all the decorating and unpacking I've been doing. I guess you could say I've been deprived. 

Since we got here on Friday I've made:

Peanut Butter Coconut Cookies

Asian Coleslaw Salad

Homemade Nutella

Homemade Tahini

Ratatouille

Nutella Stuffed French Toast with Strawberry Sauce

Couscous with Sautéed Veggies and Chickpeas

Watermelon Juice

AND...Vegan Parmesan Cheese. 

Yum.

If you follow me on Instagram, you would have seen my picture of the Ratatouille I made the other day. I said that I would be sharing the recipe today, but then I remembered that the recipe calls for vegan parmesan and I have yet to share that recipe with you. So, today I'll share with you how to make a dairy-free parmesan thing that's pretty close to the real thing. I really hope you try it out, whether you eat dairy-free or not. Brett gave this parmesan high marks and kept reaching back for more. But, the coolest thing about this faux parmesan for me is the way it melts like real parmesan cheese. When you sprinkle it on something warm, it seems to just melt away and marry with all the other flavors.  

Make this parmesan quick, because you'll want it to sprinkle on my Ratatouille, which recipe I'll share with you next!

Vegan Parmesan Cheese

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw almonds
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and process until a fine meal forms.
2. Store in an air tight container in the fridge.

Eat Consciously,

Faith