Italian Vegetable Bake

today I made a vegetable bake from the egg plants and other vegetables that are producing abundantly in the garden

Egg Plant
Banana Peppers
Onion
kale
fresh basil
goat cheese
white cheddar
roasted tomatoes
marinara sauce
oven 350
large baking dish

Slice egg plant  1/4 inch , salt egg plant for a few minutes prior to assembly to draw out extra moisture
layer all ingredients in the bake pan
i did it like this: roasted tomatoes, eggplant, marinara sauce to cover egg plants, onion, peppers, kale, goat cheese,basil, next layer of eggplant, remaining marinara, onion and grated cheddar on top
make sure you cover the egg plant completely with the marinara sauce, this gives it a wonderful flavor

this dish was pretty tasty, i actually served it with angel hair pasta, i cooked it for one hour at 350 and that made the eggplant done just right.  my onions i did in rings, but they seems kinda chewy, so i would either pre-cook or maybe chop them up next time.  i did the rings thinking it would complement the round egg plant

This dish was very pretty and tasted great.  I put some in the freezer to see if it will hold up being frozen and reheated.  I will update once we try the dish from the freezer.

I also read the book The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
this book is a fictional work about the civil war as lived through the thoughts and actions of one young soldier

It reminded me of myself in some ways.  The character was always trying to figure out everything in his head and when he didn't try and figure it out and just did it he seemed to have a much better outcome.  Lately that is something the LORD has been speaking to me about.  About being less in my head and more in the doing.  Sometimes we can be the opposite, too much doing and not enough reflection about what our life is about.  The LORD is trying to help me find this balance.  If we look at the life of Jesus as recorded in the gospels he was certainly a man of great action, but he also had times of prayer, when he would go off alone to pray.
the word talks often about feeding the hungry, like when Jesus fed the 5000.  I find that He was very practical in the ways that he helped people.  Not with great ceremony, He just helped people and was concerned for them.  This drove some of the religious leaders to hate Him.  That is one of the traps of religion the great "ceremony" of it all.  This book touches on that as well as we see the young soldier going off to war and the great and swelling words and hospitality shown to the men and how it impacted the pride of the young man.  They love the greetings in the market place Jesus would say of the religious leaders of His day.  Do we also love the greetings, the long prayers, the ceremony of our chosen religion.  Or are we content to reach out to those around us and let those around us reach out to us in ordinary ways.  I believe that the most extraordinary events have happened to me in the normal course of my days.  Very rarely have these things happened in a formal church setting...although some have happened there too.  We have the opportunity to be Jesus' hands and feet everyday he gives us breath.  Won't you let Him show you how amazing your life can be?