Shopping adventures and ratatouille

Hi again, today I stopped by Winn Dixie, Publix, and Save-a-Lot in Lynn Haven.

Save-a-Lot's large green peppers are .59 each. When produce is sold by "each," rather than by the pound, be sure to get the biggest ones you can to get your money's worth. A 3 lb. bag of onions at SAL is $1.99. I was glad to get a large 46 oz. bottle of Hunt's ketchup for $1.79, because tomorrow I hope to make meatloaves. They have $1 Grey Poupon mustard coupons just inside the door on a display. I'm hearing from other shoppers about how sweet their $4.99 seedless watermelons are, too.

Winn Dixie's ground chuck is $1.89 lb., as I wrote recently. Their ground beef is also $1.89 and I'm sure lots of people are accidently buying it instead. Winn Dixie marks their meat down when it's close to the "sell by" date, labeling them "manager's specials," and you can get some great deals. I bought two slabs of spareribs for .99 lb.

When you enter Publix, the flier stand has other pamphlets, too, and some have coupons. This week those coupons are bogof on Kotex products and bogof on the 15 oz. can of Allen cut green beans, among others. Their Rico white rice is still .99 for a 3 lb. bag. Cascadian Farms granola cereal is bogof, with a $1 coupon attached--you would normally pay $8 but with the coupon you get the two boxes for $3. I was glad to buy eggplant, green beans, yellow squash, and zucchini on sale, some of which I used in tonight's ratatouille, pictured below.

Ratatouille (pronounced rat-a-TOO-ee)

Remove stem cap and chop an eggplant.

Chopped onions

Chopped garlic

Heat olive oil in a large pot, chop two onions and sauté for five minutes. Add a few cloves of chopped garlic.

You don't have to use six--I just like zucchini. Two or three is fine. 

Chopped zucchini

Add it all into the pot, first onions, then garlic, a few minutes later, the eggplant and cook it a few minutes. Then add zucchini, cook for a couple of minutes, and add tomatoes. I used two cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes, but fresh is great if you have them. I usually love to use fresh plum tomatoes but I didn't have any today. Season with salt and pepper.

Last, I use a couple tablespoons of basil that we grew and chopped, which I keep in a tub in the freezer. Dried herbs such as oregano and fresh parsley at the end would be good, too.

BTB, RTS. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer. Cover and let cook until vegetables are tender. Salt and pepper, eat with a crusty chunk of French bread. Even better for lunch tomorrow.

For dessert, I made apple crisp. I bought eight pounds of Granny Smith apples for .49 a lb. a few days ago. Here's a picture of some of them them, sliced in the baking dish, ready for a crumble topping of oats, brown sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon. The aroma of fall is in the air. Thanks for reading! And by the way, not a spoonful of this was leftover. Who can resist baked apples?