Easy Ratatouille

 I'm not at all a vegetarian as I dearly love meat, but every now and then I want a dish that's light and not as heavy as a traditional meat dish. This is where ratatouille comes in! This dish contains a handful of flavorful vegetables paired with a tomato sauce which is just fine as a meal all by itself, or it can be served alongside your favorite meat dish.

The secret to a good ratatouille (in my opinion) is the evenness of the sliced vegetables. If they aren't sliced evenly, they won't cook evenly. Make sense? A mandoline slicer makes this task a breeze.

Let's get started.

What You Need:
1 large eggplant
1 large yellow squash
1 large zucchini
1 large red pepper (or a mix of red, yellow, and orange)
1 1/2 cups good tomato sauce (I prefer homemade)
a couple sprigs of thyme
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
salt and pepper to taste

How To Make It:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Slice all of the vegetables into even slices with a knife or mandoline slicer.

3. Coat your casserole dish/cast iron skillet with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, and spread the pasta sauce in the bottom.

4. Arrange the sliced vegetables in the dish/skillet in a circular pattern on top of the sauce.

5. Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the vegetables, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Lay the thyme sprigs on top.

6. Loosely cover with foil and bake until the vegetables are tender (45 minutes to an hour, depending on how thin they are.)

Serve with crusty bread!