Ratatouille Sandwich

Oh mama, this was delish.  As I mentioned my family and I are staying at a sweet beach house in Oregon.  I love having a fridge, but needed to use up our veggies before we head out to a hotel tomorrow.  While this may not be an authentic ratatouille, it was damn good enough - and is an honorable first cousin of ratatouille:

Chop and slice up the following, 2 zucchini, 1/2 red onion, two handfuls of grape tomatoes, 1 red and 1 yellow pepper, 1 cup of any kind of bruchetta type concoction (I used up the rest of our pico de gallo, red onion, yellow onion, lemon juice, cilantro, garlic and jalapeno), 2 tbsp. of garlic salt, and a good sprinkling of lemon pepper (I'm using what I brought), then add about 1/3 cup of olive oil and about 8 tbsp. of red balsamic vinegar and toss with several sprigs of rosemary and thyme (about 4 each).  Slowly bake at 250 degrees for about an hour or so - actually as long as you like.  Then toast up your favourite bread and place prettily on a plate smothering ever so lightly with your favourite mayo (I perfer Hellman's half fat, but could only find Best Foods half fat....approximately 1 tbsp. on each slice....but know one is looking right?)  Then layer the veggies over each piece of toast and serve open faced using a knife and a fork to devour...of course an ocean view only adds to it's fabulousness!

Oregon Coast Potato Pancakes

I have no idea why I am posting this concoction, because there really are no measurements, but rather, whatever the hell you have in the refrigerator.  My family and I are staying at a beautiful little beach house on the Oregon Coast.  I love the beach house because I love having a kitchen and a front yard where we can bask in the sea breeze and sunshine.  Last night, after a filling lunch, we didn't bother stopping off at the store to pick up any more groceries - so I simply made due and felt quite damn proud of myself.  Left over in the fridge was a pile of cold mashed potatoes with corn mixed up in it (my kids like to eat it this way alright!)  Anyhoo, I had fun being creative and thought of how my Grandmother had to be equally if not way more creative feeding 7 children.  So I made the most gorgeous looking mashed potato pancakes and let me tell you the presentation was top notch with lemon slices and some left over pico de gallo (red onion, yellow onion, lemon juice, cilantro, garlic, jalapeno - I bought at the Thriftway). 

Add whatever you like, but go for it.  I added a can of tuna, shredded havarti, chopped red onion, fresh taragon leaves, garlic salt, lemon juice, lemon pepper, black olives, and one egg.  Mix up and make little cakes, the size you like, and pan fry until a crust forms on one side, flip over and repeat.  Serve with any kind of condiment, I perfer ketchup, but didn't have any.