Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween everyone! I'm about to go make the kiddos some orange scrambled eggs (a couple drops of red food coloring mixed in) with "pumpkin toast" (pumpkin cookie cutter to cut the bread). We are excited for some trick or treating tonight (I've had a bunch of orange burlap that I bought on sale a while ago, and decided to make the kiddos their own bags to hold their treats...) and then home to make our caramel apples (we didn't get to this on Saturday). I hope you have a festive day, and here is our meal plan for the week!

*Monday: Growing up my Mom always made soup/chili/stew on Halloween night. We always had to fill our tummies up with dinner before heading out to collect treats. I like that idea. So tonight we'll have our leftover Chili & Cornbread.

*Tuesday: Black Bean Pie (with avocados)

*Wednesday: Baked Potato Night

*Thursday: Orzo with Roasted Vegetables (see recipe below)

*Friday: Leftovers

*Saturday: Date night. FINALLY! We have several restaurants we've been itching to try...

*Sunday: Nachos (like these) have become one of our favorite "fast meals". Trader Joe's has some yummy refried Black Beans that we love. Topped with some good salsa, peppers & avocados, I hardly even need the chips!

Orzo with Roasted Vegetables

Ingredients:

• 1 small eggplant, peeled and diced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 yellow pepper, diced
• 1 red onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/3 c olive oil
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 lb orzo
• 4 scallions, minced
  
• 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
• feta cheese
• fresh basil for garnish (optional)

for the dressing:

• 1/2 c fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp kosher salt (or less)

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 425*. toss eggplant, peppers, onion, garlic, olive oil, S&P. place on baking dish and roast for 30-40 minutes, until browned.

2. meanwhile, cook the orzo according to directions. drain and transfer to large serving bowl.

3. add roasted vegetables to the orzo, scraping all the liquid and seasonings from the roasting pan.

4. combine all the ingredients for the dressing and pour over orzo. let cool (room temp) and add scallions, pine nuts , feta and basil.