Back at last!

Hi friends!
So my cooking hiatus took a lot longer than I had initially planned, but I am back!  Keeping things simple in this triumphant return, I made a Summer Vegetable Tian that I had spotted on Pinterest awhile back.  I had initially planned to make it as a side to serve with chicken, but I failed to defrost it in time.

My meal planning isn't the only thing that's gotten rusty, either.  I purchased a mandolin slicer and was excited to use it for the first time today and subsequently almost cut my fingertip off trying to slice a potato.  Yowch!!!  Several paper towels later, I washed the whole slicer again and started over...much more carefully this time!

This was a great recipe to get back on track with because it's pretty much the simplest one I've ever made!  Plus, with all but the yellow onion and potato coming from my share, it was pretty cheap too.

I suppose if you were buying all your veggies from the supermarket, or even the farm stand, you could select ones that are all around the same size.  Since I didn't have the luxury if choosing mine the tian slice sizes were all over the place.  The yellow squash and potato were much larger than the zucchini and the tomato had to be sliced into much smaller slices to fit.  Basically, this is my excuse as to why my tian doesn't look nearly as lovely as the one in the photo.  I don't mind, though...it's the taste that counts, right!?

Everything is pretty straight forward, saute the yellow onion and garlic in some olive oil and spread it out in the bottom of the pan.  Then, layer in the veggie slices vertically, add some salt, pepper and thyme, cover with aluminum foil and bake.  The recipe calls for baking it for 30 minutes before adding the cheese and baking for another 15-20 minutes.

I really should have baked it for much longer than the initial 30 minutes because by the time I took the final product out of the oven, the potato still wasn't cooked as much as I would have liked.  I ended up popping it back in the oven for another 20 minutes or so to try to cook the potato more.  I added a little more cheese before putting it back in and it was much better.


 
Overall, this was delicious although I would have really preferred to have it as a side instead of a main dish.

For tomorrow, I plan on making a chocolate zucchini bread, so be on the lookout!