Skip to main content

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.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

3 Day/Military Diet

I realize that this is a "fad diet". But I'm going to try it. It's only for 3 days for one thing. If it doesn't work, ok. If it does, then I can use it as a tool to kickstart my weight loss and/or metabolism and then continue eating my healthier eating habits to continue losing weight.  UPDATE: Here is the link to my RESULTS :)  The diet is as follows (with no exceptions or substitutions supposedly, although there are multiple versions of the 3 day diet):  Day 1 Breakfast Black coffee or tea with Stevia 1/2 grapefruit or juice 1 slice toast with 1 tablespoon peanut butter Lunch 1/2 cup of tuna 1 slice toast Black coffee or tea with Stevia Dinner 3 ounces of lean meat or chicken (any kind) 1 cup green beans 1/2 banana 1 apple 1 cup regular vanilla ice cream Day 2 Breakfast 1 egg 1 slice of toast 1/2 banana Lunch 1 cup cottage cheese or 2 oz cheddar cheese 1 hard boiled egg 5 regular saltine/soda crackers Dinner 2 beef/turkey hot dogs 1 cup broccoli 1/2 cup c...

3 Day Diet-Day THREE

Finish line in sight! :) Breakfast was pretty good, although when I looked at it, even after the previous days of eating so little, it looked pretty meager.  It was crackers and cheese and apples. I've seen my grandma eat this a lot lately, she's all alone now and doesn't like to cook for herself, so I totally understand why this would be easy and fairly nutritious! It just doesn't seem like a lot at first... Black coffee or tea with Equal or Sweet & Low 5 regular saltine crackers 2 oz. cheddar cheese 1 apple Let me tell you, this is actually a pretty hearty meal! It's so yummy and cheese and crackers always go together. And of course, so do cheese and apples. I really enjoyed it. Protein, and cheesy and crunch and crack. It is a little odd to eat as a breakfast, though it is filling. For lunch, another one of those hard boiled egg things. It was another great meal! 1 hardboiled egg 1 slice toast Black coffee or tea with Equ...