What do bagels and ratatouille have in common?

Absolutely nothing. :-p

Sometimes I get overly ambitious with my cooking adventures, and New Years Day was no exception. Woke up that morning to no internet, but had a random craving to tackle the challenge of baking bagels. After consulting Julia Child's The Joy of Cooking, I also realized that a day off equated to a perfect day to try out crock pot cooking with a ratatouille recipe. After spending about $30 at Shaws, I was ready to cook! The item that took me 20 minutes and three Shaws employees to find in the store this time? Crisco. It was in the salad dressing aisle, not in the baking aisle as everyone would expect. Shaws, I will never understand you. 

The bagels took a surprising amount of time to make. For places like Dunkin', I'm sure they used an abridged or mass-producing recipe, but if you're making them at home, plan on devoting a solid two hours of labor to them.

Starting to make the dough

Rolling the dough

Sources tell me that there are about six slices of bread for every bagel, which became clear when making the dough. 3-4 cups of bread flour were required for the dough, which resulted in a elastic-y, smooth texture. The dough was then divided and rolled into long snakes, affixing the ends to each other to form the bagel like shape. 

Finally all done!

After waiting a few moments for the yeast to activate, the bagels were dropped in boiling water until they floated. I'm not exactly sure of the science behind this step, but the bagels came out of the water hard and sticky (twss). 

Floaters and sinkers

Decorating

All done!

I wanted to make everything bagels, so I topped each bagel with sesame seeds and garlic powder. The bagels then went into the oven for about half an hour, until they were toasty brown. I've never actually had a warm bagel before, but gee golly wiz are they delicious! I brought the leftovers to work the next day, my biggest food critic and boss gave a few thumbs up despite their staleness. 

All toasted

All buttered up!

The ratatouille was easy peasy lemon squeezy. Eggplant, zucchini, onion, crushed tomatoes, garbanzo beans, and red, yellow, and orange peppers, topped with spices. I bought mineature sweet peppers on sale for a dollar a bag, and they make a delicious snack on their own! I'm not sure I will ever cook something overnight in a crock pot, but would rather save crock pot cooking for a lazy Sunday. This crock pot meal probably cost 10 bucks to make, and could last probably close to 10 meals as it is so filling. Definitely freezing some to have later.

Also, on this very same productive new years day, I watched the Hangover and exchanged some Christmas gifts at Urban Outfitters for FLEECE LINED STOCKINGS! I certainly did not know that those existed before Jan 1st. How incredible and comfy!

Crock Pot'n'

 Also, found this gem in the snow on the way home from Nathalie/Sarah's house that night. 

'Til next time, little chefs!