Solstice

My schedule has been so crazed as of late that I can count on one hand the number of times I've made myself dinner at home in the past month.

Total count? 1.

One Tuesday, the longest - and one of my favorite - days of the year, I had no post-work commitments. I knew I should go to the gym or my yoga class, I should run errands that have been neglected for weeks. But all I really wanted to do was hurry home, soak up the extra long daylight, enjoy my back porch, and eat a home cooked meal.

Most of you know that when it comes to meals I'm not really the world's greatest chef. I don't know what it is, but I just don't get that excited about cooking. It's like I'm missing that gene or something. Still, on Tuesday I was desperate to make a healthy, easy, tasty, summery meal. Thankfully, one of my favorite friends had prepared a meal for me a few weeks earlier - which I loved - and as I watched her make it, knew it was actually something I'd be able to handle making myself. (Many thanks to Beth for turning me on to what has become my go-to summer dinner!)

Start with veggies. Pick your favorites or whatever is in season. I chose eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash & tomatoes.

Chop up veggies and put them in a frying pan with EVOO - extra virgin olive oil. Cover until soft. I added a pinch of sea salt..and wish I'd added a tiny bit of garlic. (But of course, I was out of garlic.) I left the tomato out of the frying pan for fear of it getting too soggy.

While I waited, I snacked on a few slices of pepperoni and sipped some red wine. How European of me.

While veggies are cooking in the frying pan, toast two slices of bread in the oven at 400. When vegetables are soft, pile them atop the bread and add one of man's greatest inventions, mozzarella cheese.

I used sourdough bread, because that's what I had, but I think any type of bread would do. This is also the step where I added the tomatoes. Put the whole tray back in the oven at 400, toast until the cheese gets melty. (Extra bonus - you can keep any extra veggies that you don't pile on the bread with plans to toss them into pasta for your next meal.)

Remove from oven, head out onto porch, and enjoy a surprisingly filling, tasty, and healthy dinner.

It's sort of a glorified open faced sandwich, but I'm telling you, it's quite delicious. And if you ever come to my house for dinner this summer? It's pretty much guaranteed this is what I'll serve you. Bon Appetit!