Face it. Most “healthy” meals are not “I crave” delicious. And none of “you get used to it after a while and you’ve adapted to a healthier lifestyle” shit. One never “craves” kale, carrot juice, squash, potatoes without butter, omelets without cheese, life without bread, pancakes without bacon, a DIET, and I could go on.
Recently at my casa, we have failed attempted to start eating healthier, and one of the veggie meals I made for dinner the other night, while visually pleasing, and wonderful to whip up for: the inlaws, “meeting of the parents,” grandparents, someone trying to watch their weight….it isn’t anything anyone will ever ask for on death row, their birthday, etc.
Here is the original inspiration picture I “re-pinned” on Pinterest and decided to recreate:
AND my version with a few tweaks:
Ingredients:
- PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees
- 1 green zucchini
- 1 yellow squash
- 1 red potato
- 1/2 cup chopped onions
- 1 tablespoon of EVOO
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
- dash of salt & pepper to season
Note to reader: We aren’t fans of tomatoes so they were omitted. However, the juiciness that comes from those little red sun lovers, was definitely missing in “our vegetable medley”. If made again (probably not), I would add a little butter to the bottom of glass cookware (for flavor) and instead of parmesan, I would opt for mozzarella. The parmesan did not bake as prettily (as I think mozzarella would) or as the cheese in the PINTEREST picture, and was on the slightly crispy side! Lastly, as there are only two of us in la casa…I only used 1 vegetable each, and we had leftovers (which went in the trash), that could have fed another 3 guests. I would suggest adding 1 of each vegetable for 5 or more individuals.
1. Gather all ingredients. Slice & Chop
2. In a bowl, take your salt, pepper, rosemary, and 1/2 of garlic measured- tossing your vegetables with EVOO so as to be coated evenly. Next take sliced zucchini, squash, and red potato along with your chosen cookware. Alternate slices to make for a splendid photo opportunity, to trick the children into thinking its going to be the best vegetable dish they’ll ever eat, or show the in-laws that you really are the ideal American Mrs.
3. Sprinkle remainder of garlic, all of onions and cheese (of choice) on top of sliced produce. 
Bake at 350, covered, for 20-40 minutes (this depends on your oven temps)
Lastly, IF YOU TRY IT, I am open to suggestions on making this dish more flavorful. Like I mentioned above, we are trying to eat healthier on a daily basis 🙂
mrs. and the misc. 
Good to know! I wanted to make this. I pinned it too. Recipe tweak suggestion: Make it Greek style with hummus in between some layers and feta cheese … olive spread or diced olives sprinkled on top … choosing appropriate veggies to fit the Greek flavors. I think I might make this with potatoes, portabella mushrooms, onion, tomato, bell pepper … kind of like a healthier kabob? michael would love that! PS: i love your line … “we had leftovers (they went in the trash)” LOL
Did you cook the red potatoes first because once i cooked everything together for 30 mins and was done, the potatoes was not cooked fully… what was your method?
Don’t use pre shredded cheese, it has plastic (cellulose) to prevent it from caking. Fresh cheese makes the world of difference.
1st off: thank you susssanachristiansen for the idea.
Here’s what I did this evening. Annnnnd, it took a while: between wine-selfies & snapchats, & let’s not lie… Facebook. I was drinking a bottle of yummy French Bordeaux… so time reeeeeally didn’t matter. I didn’t follow the directions, generally I don’t. (but respected all the ingredients & design) & I used WAY more garlic. (I roasted 2 cloves & almost used one entire clove for the recipe) I used one entire sprig of r-mary plus a bit of another. I used 3 toms on the stem. 1 yellow squash. 1 zuke. 3 red taters. I added a handful of crimini shrooms (sliced ’em). PS I lightly boiled the taters first to make them a little tender so they could be finished with the rest of the more sensitive veggies like Brianne.
In one bowl, I squeezed a full lemon, drizzled a hefty amt of EVOO, Salt n Pepa’d like I was back in THEIR prime (included is a video incase you need a dance break.) http://youtu.be/4vaN01VLYSQ -continued: mashed up my roasted garlic, threw in some chopped r-mary. This is tedious… but I dipped every lil’ circular veg in my marinade. Stacked ’em in rows in my glass pan.
All said n done, Salt N Pepa rockin my entire experience: I threw in the rest of the chopped onions, that had been sitting in my marinade, plus the rest of the garlic in my empty spaces. (BTW… my zuke, tater, tom, squash slices were not magically the same size WTF??… which is where the shrooms came in handy. It’s a lil’ puzzle. Pretty cute, in fact. Especially after the 3rd glass of wine.) Nothing was even. IN FACT, I couldn’t remember what order I was putting that shit in (ehmmmwine)… Yellow zuke, Green squash, Red tater/tomater, roasted garlic that squirts out like toothpaste (fun times… good thing I wasn’t with anyone, my pores are going to emit garlic for days), AND the shrooms…. Threw the gar, chopped onions & the rest of the marinade on top like it was NYE *confetti!* Let’s not forget about my freshly grated parm to finish.
With all that said, I baked it on 350, for about 20ish minutes… let it go whilst checking it every now n then (between my drunk birthday roomie showing up from some show in Seattle, a cigg, & yes still my wine).
Last I checked, I wanted that shit to look crispy on top. I hit broil like it’s hot – because well, it’s actually hot – & made that medley crispy.
I ran downstairs to get my other not-wasted roomie to try it. He went for seconds immediately…. It’s DAAAAAMN tasty!!
Last trick: getting it into tupperware so it still looks pretty. I did it. I knew y’all cared.
Thanks for listening to my ramble. Wine helps. It turned out great. Happy Hollandaise!
Also- spelling correction: Thank you susannachristensen (so many s’s in the shout out)
Sorry but I dont know what EVOO means!!!
extra virgin olive oil
Rainbow! U totally shook up this recipe, rockin w’Salt&Pepa’
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horrible background. cant read this
Rainbow dear! Love the shout out. Thank you for trying and pleased you enjoyed your medley crispy 🙂
Laveda! I love the idea of avocado…a great healthy fat, and substitution. I also try and use things out of the cupboard- and why not?: it saves a trip to the store. Andrew Zimmerman makes me laugh- he says pretty much EVERYTHING is good, and I’m not buying it, lol.
I dont care for rosemarry to much, I will try substituting that with thyme! And not so healthy add in but for a dinner party or entertaining it wiuld be good as a topping on crostini.
I often do something similar – with polenta sliced instead of potatoes , use Italian seasoning & coat the whole thing in a light cream sauce ( milk , Parmesan and pepper ) before baking – it’s almost like a no-noodle lasagna that way.
So my potatos wouldnt cook. No matter how long i left it in for even at just at a lower temp. Literally for two hours. Not cooking n still crunchy? Wtfffff??? Ive never made potatoes before but all my friends asked how did i expect to cook a potato the same amount of time of a zucchini n squash?.. . so confused here. What did i do wrong? Should i cut the potato extra extra extra thin…?
because the liquid-content of a squash/onion/tomato is high they cook quickly, vs. the density of the potato is much different and has less liquid percentage-wise so takes about 3 times as long to cook. To correct this problem in this dish you’d need to either slice the potato 1/3 as wide as the other veggies or simply pre-cook the potato 2/3 of the way – for ex. nuke it for 2 min., or boil it for 5, etc..
Hi! I found your post via Pinterest and just wanted to mention that I have made this recipe from Pinterest. It is very similar to one my Italian step-dad made when I was growing up. What I did different was that I sliced a block of fresh mozzarella and placed it between slices with the rest of the layers…as well as putting some on top. I realize this makes it much cheesier and less healthful if you are trying to avoid cheese, but it is craveable good this way. The tomatoes are very important to the flavor, but if you don’t enjoy tomatoes you could probably put some tomato sauce in the bottom of the pan and get the flavor that way.
I’m going to try something like this using yours as inspiration. I am adding rutabaga and a sin of half and half. For your comment about losing the juiciness of the tomato, you could try splashing the veggies with a broth. Wish me luck.
I found your recipe on Pinterest. Sounds fantastic! My husband might even have some! lol.
I can’t have potato, so I am going to try thin sliced sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes.
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As a professional executive chef, I love how visually appealing this dish is! Here are my suggestions (and what I will do when I recreate this): after slicing all of the vegetables (I will use parsnips, carrots, zucchini, golden beets, russet and sweet potatoes to my medley), toss them all in a bowl with ROASTED GARLIC infused olive oil, additional minced roasted garlic, fresh thyme, rosemary, s&p, a splash of balsamic vinegar and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. I would also lightly butter the pan prior to arranging vegetables and I would suggest topping with a mixture of seasoned panko bread crumbs mixed with finely grated parmigiano reggiano
I made this for lunch today. I used a tomato. I sliced my onion into rounds and just added it as a layer. I also used mozzarella cheese. It was juicy and so yummy. I did spray my pan with butter flavored non stick spray. I baked it for 45 minutes covered and 15 minutes uncovered. My family loved it. No leftovers at my house.
Came here from Pinterest and am disappointed to see that you used this image and not only didn’t credit back to its owner, but also didn’t link back to the original recipe. I’ll look for the original… this is very misleading.
What is EVOO?
I made it . good flavors and texture, however with my busy life i mixed all the veggies ib a bowl, and olive oil inatead of ovoo (I dont know what that is).
Try a little Mrs. Dash, she is my go to girl when needing a bit more flavor!