Ahhhh Monday.....

Usually my weekly routine is pretty structured. At the end of the week I get my daughter-in-law's schedule for the next week which dictates when I will have the children and I plan from there. The first thing I generally look at is which nights I will have them and thus need to feed them dinner, and then I look at the extra curricular activities to see if those coincide and dinner needs to be a quick affair or we can relax and linger. Somehow this week didn't happen in that fashion so on Monday late afternoon I stood strumming my fingers on the counter top trying to figure out what we'd be eating, which of course, if anyone has a 6 year old, also includes trying to balance what is available in the house with what that 6 year old will actually eat. It can be quite overwhelming as I suggest things to him and he stands shaking his head no at most offerings. The 2 year old is a piece of cake because she has been with me every day since about the age of 3 months, so she has always eaten the way I cook. All of that leads me to what was for dinner last night. I had another large pile of veg from my garden so I decided to make a Spring Veg Tart. I can put most things under a crumb topping and my grandson will eat it. For a "wing it" recipe, it came out really good and the only change I would make would be to pre cook the potatoes slightly. Here's the recipe with the added instruction of precooking the potatoes:

Spring Vegetable Tart

1 piecrust (your favorite recipe or store bought)
Olive Oil
4 oz Toffuti Cream Cheese
1 tbs finely chopped basil
1 med onion sliced thinly
1/2 red bell pepper sliced thinly
1/2 green bell pepper sliced thinly
2 small/med red potatoes sliced thinly
1 small zucchini sliced thinly
1 Japanese eggplant sliced thinly
4 roma tomatoes
1 1/2 tsp Herbes de Provence
Salt and Pepper to taste

Topping:
1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbs melted vegan margarine

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Spray a baking sheet and lay potato slices in a single layer, drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Bake for 10 -15 minutes, until they are just slightly brown and softened. In a saute pan with about 2 tsp olive oil cook the onion, peppers and garlic until golden brown.
3. In small bowl combine all topping ingredients.
4. Lay your pie crust into a pie pan and flute edges. Prebake for 10 minutes.
5. Mix cream cheese and basil together until very soft, spreadable and combined. Spread on bottom of prebaked pie crust.
6. Layer the vegetables in this order sprinkling a little Herbes de Provence, salt and pepper between layers, onion pepper mixture, potatoes, eggplant, tomatoes and then zucchini. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover, top with Panko topping and bake for additional 25 minutes, until golden brown and bubbling. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 15-20 minutes. Slice and serve.

This was a really tasty, fresh dinner. While the prep and cooking times are a bit long, once it's in the oven you've got time to carry on with other things, in my case, setting the table, getting the kids baths and after dinner we had time to read books on the porch, which we always enjoy. Although my granddaughter seems slightly confused, I was reading O Magazine and she kept pointing to Oprah and saying "Mama". Is there something I don't know?

In any case, another Vegan Monday down, with only minimal effort. Yay Monday!!!