Ratatouille

French cooking is not usually my forte or my favorite, but I'm really into stewing my own tomatoes. Canned tomatoes contain more BPA than any other canned good and, predictably, homemade just tastes better anyway. Summer is the best time to stew, while big juicy organic tomatoes are cheap cheap cheap. This ratatouille made a yummy main course comprised entirely of fresh vegetables.

I also had fun dabbling with eggplant, a vegetable that normally kind of scares me. All those tales of bitter seeds, salting and rinsing and tough skin make me balk at baba ghanoush. I suppose I'll tackle it sometime for that very reason. At any rate, I used two small Italian eggplants with tender skin for this ratatouille so as not to necessitate the salting and hullabaloo.

This meal had a total of ten ingredients, including brown rice, a plum and some almonds.

7-Ingredient Ratatouille
Total Kitchen Time: 30 Minutes. Serves 4.

1 onion
1 green bell pepper
1 zucchini
1 small to medium eggplant
2 large tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, grated
2 Tbls. butter or extra virgin olive oil

Free Spice Blend
1 tsp. herbs de Provence
salt and pepper to taste


Chop all vegetables into bite-sized pieces and place in a pot with spices and butter.

Stew covered on med-high heat 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.