Rad Ratatouille

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: A quick ratatouille tossed together from what we had on hand. More specifically, tomato sauce, eggplant, bell peppers, onions, garlic, and herbs made a lovely medley for our sauce, and the savory main was served over an amaranth polenta. Today's simple salad was made extra garlicky with garlic-rubbed croutons and a lemon-garlic dressing.

The Goods: Sometimes we can all use a new grain in our lives. While Elizabeth is a committed pasta lover, the amaranth called to her today. Though she had imagined more of a fluffy, rice-like consistency, the more-porridgy dish that she ended up with was a pleasant surprise. Moral of the story? Don't forget the lesser-loved grains: amaranth, teff, and quinoa!

Unparalleled Polenta

The Chef: Lisa

The Menu: Crispy Baked Polenta Triangles with (almost) Garden Fresh Ratatouille. If that sounds like more of a serious recipe title than our usual lunch descriptions, you're on to something, but more on that later. Today's intensely flavorful meal combined warm, lovely baked polenta with a sensational ratatouille of eggplant, zucchini, onions, garlic, and green olives. A light salad that featured avocado and grated carrots and was topped with Lisa's signature blended garlic-Balsamic dressing perfectly complemented the savory main.

The Goods: Yep, you guessed it, you'll be able to find this very recipe (our version today subbed green olives for capers since we were out!) in our quickly forthcoming May+June issue of VegNews! While the veggies weren't fresh from our personal gardens at home, they were fresh from our local produce delivery service, Organic Express. There was an extra-special surprise after lunch today, as Frankie tried her hand at a luscious blueberry cheese(less)cake. It's a good thing we took a photo before the cake was cut, as things took a turn for the messy once we dug into this delightful dessert: