If you are craving something versatile, filling, and adaptable whose preparation won’t heat up the kitchen too much, try the following recipe. Although it does take about an hour from start to finish, most of that is cooking time leaving you blocks of time to complete the other components of your meal. If you have a counter top oven, use it to prepare this recipe.

Greek Eggplant and Potatoes  (Serves 4-6)

Ingredients
1 cup olive oil, divided
1 yellow onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
15 ounces of crushed or chopped tomatoes
1/2 bunch of fresh parsley, finely chopped
kosher salt
2 medium eggplants, sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
6 large Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/4 rounds
2 teaspoons dried oregano
kosher salt snd pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a medium saucepan, add 1/2 a cup of olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and stir often until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.
3. Add a lid, turn the heat to low and simmer while preparing the vegetables.
4. Place the eggplant in a layer on a sheet pan and drizzle 1/4 cup of olive oil over the eggplant slices, brushing them evenly with the oil. (Eggplant will absorb the oil very quickly.) Sprinkle with kosher salt and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes until golden.
5. Put potato slices in a bowl with 1/4 cup olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix until the potatoes are evenly covered with seasonings and oil.
6. Pull the eggplant off the sheet pan and evenly spread the potatoes rounds on the pan. Put the eggplant back on the pan and generously spoon the sauce over the eggplant.
7. Bake everything for another 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Notes: Suggestions for serving: use as an accompaniment to a main course; add tofu for protein; serve over pasta (bowties look nice) or rice. Finish with chopped fresh basil.

Use less oil if you prefer. Eggplant soaks it up like a sponge.

Could be prepared in a large casserole dish.

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Celery is having a renaissance. It’s hard to believe that celery used to be considered a fancy hors d’oeuvre. By mid-twentieth century, it had become a lunchtime favorite finger food stuffed with peanut butter and topped with raisins, called ants on a log. Today dried cranberries or cherries frequently substitute for the raisins.

Often hidden in soups and casseroles, celery’s crisp personality still shines on relish trays, now known as crudite platters. Celery’s more modern persona exchanges the peanut butter or cream cheese for other fillings and the toppings for more modern items. The fillings are as endless and varied as your pantry and imagination.

Stuffed Celery

Ingredients
celery, washed and cut into 3-4 inch pieces and then…

• hummus and olives : stuff celery with hummus and top with chopped or sliced olives
• cream cheese, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, everything bagel seasoning: stuff, top and sprinkle
• almond butter, dried cranberries: stuff celery and top with cranberries
• lime guacamole, black beans: stuff celery and top with black beans
• cream cheese & paprika/olives: Softened cream cheese blended with pimento-stuffed olives or topped with paprika.
• cream cheese, chives, onion, or dill: a classic combination. Mix all and stuff celery.
• cream cheese and ranch dressing season mix: combine cream cheese with ranch mix
• labneh, roasted chickpeas, za’atar: fill celery with labneh and top with chickpeas and za’atar
• goat cheese and toasted almonds: fill celery with softened goat cheese, top with toasted almonds and a drizzle of honey
• bleu cheese, hot sauce, pumpkin seeds: Mix bleu cheese with a little hot sauce; top with pumpkin seeds

Note: Use a butter knife to fill celery pieces or turn a plastic bag into a piping bag by cutting off a small piece of a corner.

With all the celery that you’ll now be eating, there will be lots of root bases leftover. A fun project for kids-and adults-is to regrow more celery from the root base.

1. Cut off the bottom 2-3 inches of the celery. You may pull off the 3-4 tough outer stalks, leaving the more tender light green ones.
2. Put the root base in an inch of water. Change the water every couple of days to kept it clean.
3. In a few days, small roots will form from the bottom and you’ll see new growth from the center of the root base..
4. Now is the time to plant the celery in a gallon container filled with rich potting soil. Leave the top part exposed but make sure the root base is covered with soil. Water well. Celery loves water.
5. Celery can be grown inside or outside. It is a cool weather plant so in summer it might do better in a sunny window.
6. The fall would be a perfect time to grown some celery outside and watch the magic happen.

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Summer screams salad. We love salad in my house. I grew up with salad. But much as I like crisp romaine, spicy arugula,  or Plain Jane iceberg, it gets a bit boring and new salads are always welcome. You might like one of these while summer’s salad bounty is still around

Cucumber-Radish Salad (Serves 6)

Ingredients

Vinaigrette
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar or honey
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
kosher salt to taste

Salad
6-8 cucumbers, thinly sliced
pinch of kosher salt
1 watermelon radish peeled and julienned
small handful of micro greens or pea shoots
1 scallion, thinly sliced
toasted sesame seeds.

Directions

1. Whisk together vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil. Season with salt.
2. Sprinkle cucumbers lightly with salt to draw out some of the water. Set aside for 5 minutes. Pat dry with paper towels.
3. Put cucumbers, radishes, greens and scallions in a bowl. Lightly toss with vinaigrette. Garnish with sesame seeds.

Notes: If watermelon rashes are not available use daikon (mild) and/or red radishes (a little spicy)

This salad pairs nicely with that last-minute take-out sushi.

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Tomato and Burrata Salad with Chile Crisp

Ingredients
2 pounds tomatoes cut in chunks
8 ounces burrata, drained
2-3 tablespoons chile crisp
salt and pepper
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
2 scallions thinly sliced

Directions

1. Place tomatoes on a large platter
2. Tear burrata over tomatoes.
3. Drizzle chile crisp over all.
4. Season with salt and pepper. Scatter cilantro and scallions over the salad.

Note: For those of you with the soap gene, the following are good substitutes for cilantro: flat leaf parsley plus a squeeze of lime juice (optional); equal parts parsley and mint; fresh or dried oregano.

This eclectic salad works nicely with Mexican or Italian food, including plain pasta.

A bed of arugula might work nicely with the combination of bland and spicy.

As with anything, make these recipes your own. Don’t hesitate to change seasonings or ingredients to suite your taste.