Friday, September 7, 2012

Summer Vegetable Ratatouille

With all of my farm loot, I needed to find a relatively simple way to combine lots of vegetables into one dish this week.  I thought about making a soup... but I don't find soup to be filling enough to keep me satiated throughout the day or evening.  I thought about roasting a batch of vegetables... but eggplant and tomatoes don't roast as well when combined with other veggies.

Then I remembered two things: one, my mom made a really great ratatouille that she froze in batches and brought to me in Maine, and two, I had bookmarked a summer ratatouille recipe sometime this summer and had yet to try it out.

My ratatouille was born.

Summer Vegetable Ratatouille
adapted from Oh She Glows

  • 1 T olive oil
  • One red onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 1 large eggplant
  • 1 large zucchini
  • 2 bell peppers, any color
  • 3 large tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
  • 1 T Bragg Organic Sprinkle (or Herbamere or Mrs. Dash)
  • Pinch of salt
Heat the tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet or pot and add garlic and onion.  Cook for 5 minutes.
Add zucchini, eggplant, and peppers to the skillet, mix together, and cook for about 10 minutes.  


Stir in tomato, basil, spices and salt and cook for another 5-7 minutes.  


This smelled and looked awesome!


You can serve ratatouille with just about anything: mixed with rice, quinoa or potatoes, with croutons on top, or as a side dish.  I've been eating mine with baked rice balls that I made this week with brown rice and organic beef:


This is such a simple recipe because if you have more or less of any of the veggies, it doesn't matter, you can use however much you have.  It also freezes really well, a plus for anyone who doesn't have a lot of time to cook but wants to have healthy meals on hand.  And only one pot to clean!  Once I perfect the rice ball recipe, that will be ready for sharing as well!  

2 comments:

  1. I just made my own ratatouille after a trip to our farmers market...$12 for 13 items. It always amazes me. I came across your blog when I was searching for ideas to add richer flavor to my recipe. I am a family doc and I loved the little house on the prairie books as kid too! I have the little house cookbook!

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    1. I had no idea there was a cookbook, I'll have to put it on my Christmas list! Welcome to the blog, thanks for reading :)

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