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Adventures in Cooking- Ratatouille!

I will be the first to say that eating vegetables is not my favorite thing. And by "not my favorite", I pretty much mean that I hate them. There are a few exceptions, as there is to everything, but I try to avoid the majority and stick to the three I actually enjoy (asparagus, peas, corn). 

However, since life is long and I want it to be longer by being healthy and eating nutritious meals, I better learn to like something else. I decided to try something inspired by the movie Ratatouille and use my newly acquired mandoline

I used a recipe I found online to make this, though I only used it as reference and to make the sauce. I didn't end up making as much as I could have. I didn't want to make too much and have this warm veggie stuff and just throw it away after all that extra work. 

First I prepped the veggies! And with all cooking I do now, I rinse them in a vinegar/water bath. I do a decent sized splash of vinegar and at about half a sink full of water.


After all the veggies were clean, I used my awesome mandoline on the bell peppers, zucchini, squash, eggplant, and a little onion!

Then I got the sauce prepped. It was tomato paste, garlic, some onion, a little olive oil and water mixed up. This is what it looked like before I added the water and oil.

Then came the next fun part (this whole thing was a blast really though!). You got to lay all of the veggies out and stack them in a pretty pattern. Once the pan was full, you sprinkle a bit of thyme and drizzle olive oil all over it. Then you're supposed to cover it with parchment paper (who just has that lying around their kitchen??) or tin foil will get the job done and cook it at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes.


And when you finish, this is what it will look like!


Yes, it really does that look good and the even more surprising part is that it tastes that good! It was INCREDIBLE. We ate ALL of it and would have eaten more, but I didn't make ENOUGH. I didn't make enough veggies. I didn't even know that was a thing. But now I know.

I will definitely be making this again and often. I think it would be a really great dish to take to a potluck or family get together, like Thanksgiving. It is really healthy, apparently only a few hundred calories for a serving (which the whole recipe makes 4 servings) so it is a lot of veggies for about 300 calories or less.




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