Eggplant with Butter Beans and Plums (from 1,000 Vegetarian Recipes)

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

6 cups cubed eggplant*

1 cup chopped onions

1.5 cups coarsely chopped fresh plums

1 cup chopped tomatoes

1 tablespoon soy sauce [or Bragg's]

1.5 cups cooked butter beans (cooked from dry; or canned, drained)

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro or parsley [we used cilantro, and I HIGHLY recommend it]

salt, to taste

1. In a 4-quart sauce pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the eggplant and onions; cook, stirring, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add the plums, tomatoes and soy sauce. Bring to a boil. Cook over medium heat, uncovered, 15 minutes.

2. Add the butter beans and vinegar; simmer 10 minutes longer. Add the cilantro and salt and simmer 3 minutes longer.

Serve over couscous or rice.

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Now, if you’re like me, you’ll take one look at these ingredients and go Bzuh?

Of all the things I would never, ever have thought to combine, “soy sauce + balsamic vinegar + cilantro + plums” has to be right up there. As it was all simmering away on the stovetop, I updated my Facebook status:

Emily will say this for tonight’s meal: if it’s good, it will be very good…and if it’s bad, it will be horrid.

Mom took one bite and simply said…

“I love Lent.”

*recipe notes: I kept things simple and didn’t really bother to actually measure the fruits and veggies. I chopped up one large eggplant, one large onion, three plums and three plum tomatoes.

I think I may have found my new favorite food.

This recipe was in Yankee magazine a few summers ago, and can easily be made on the grill or (as we did) in the oven. The smell of roasting bell peppers and fresh basil are enough to make you forget that, yes, it is still February, and yes, there is still snow on the ground.

And the taste. Did I mention the taste? Let’s just say that my sister, who is not traditionally a lover of vegetable-based dishes, was eagerly piling on the peppers and asking for more.

J’ADORE.

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Another dish that has gotten our non-vegetable lover to ask for seconds: Cabbage-Vegetable Soup. All of the flavors in the soup come from the vegetables themselves and it is so, so yummy. I made it on Wednesday night and we ate it so quickly that I forgot to take a photo. Served with a warm loaf of bread it is the perfect comfort food: healthy and hearty.

Occasionally – and it’s usually between bites of food – my family will ask what they will ever do for dinner if I ever move away.

Simple: do what I do and read the book.

This notebook contains every recipe I’ve ever printed off, written down or torn from a magazine. The recipes are organized into sections: Breakfast, Sides, Soup, Meat Dishes, Vegetarian, Veggies, and Snacks/Desserts/Drinks.

Near the end of each month, I’ll weed through the recipes and remove the ones we didn’t like. I also make sure to incorporate new recipes with our old favorites when I plan out all of the meals for the coming month in my handy-dandy Day Planner.

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The other night we had this Mushroom Quinoa Stew. Both of the times I’ve made it, it’s been a vegetarian dish, omitting the chicken and substituting the butter and chicken stock with Earth balance and veggie stock, so I’m not sure how it would taste with meat. As a vegetarian soup it’s healthy and delicious: very light and very earthy. I like it.

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some of my favorite sources for yummy recipes:

- Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food (I have yet to make one of her dishes that we don’t all LOVE)

- smitten kitchen

- For The Love of Cooking

- Fatfree Vegan Kitchen

- Organic & Thrifty

- Simply Recipes