Ratatouille!

Been a while, but I'm baack. Life threw me for a loop while I was gone, but I'm back in the swing of cooking and ready for some more posts! There isn't going to be much of an order to these, or a posting deadline, but it'll be updated more often than it was in the last couple months ;)

One of the dishes I made during my healthy eating spree (which is fairly over now, back to my comfort foods) is ratatouille, and I had enough of the ingredients left over to make it again, this time getting some pictures so you can all can see how pretty it is! Now most of these ingredients aren't totally in season yet, if you don't have a garden and grow them yourselves you can still buy them, just a little more expensive right now. If you want to try it though, keep it for later when they're cheaper! The sauce on the bottom is amazing for dipping, or if you double it, you could save what's left for later and put it on pasta, with all those awesome veggie tastes in it.

I got this recipe off a site called http://www.budgetbytes.com/ which is wonderful and has a ton of awesome recipes, including this one. Check it out if you get some time, lots of options and she prices down everything for you, focusing on budget friendly meals.

Oven Baked Ratatouille

• 1 cup marinara sauce 
• 1 small yellow onion 
• 1 small eggplant 
• 1 medium zucchini 
• 1 medium yellow squash
• 3 medium roma tomatoes 
• Pinch of salt and pepper 
• ½ tsp dried basil 
• ½ tsp dried oregano 
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Spread 1/2 cup of the marinara along the bottom of a pie plate, reserving the rest for later. Thinly slice your onion and sprinkle it over the marinara. Thinly slice the rest of the vegetables, halving or quartering the ones that are thicker, as you're aiming for a similar sized slices, both thickness and diameter (Math terms in cooking, yuck). Layer them in the pan, starting from the outside and working your way in, alternating vegetables to form a pattern. Great for sight as well as making sure everyone gets a little bit of everything in each bite. Sprinkle the top with the seasonings (you can also just use italian seasoning) and the remaining marinara sauce. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. After that point, remove the foil and sprinkle the cheese on top, then return to oven and cook for 10-15 more minutes, making sure the cheese doesn't get too dark!

This is wonderful, it ends up being almost like a veggie crustless pizza with the sauce and cheese and spices. I'm not a huge veggie fan, but the sauce and cheese definitely help to cut down on that Ewww veggie feeling, and I really enjoyed it. A wonderful summer side and it looks BEAUTIFUL in the pan if you're having company over!