Baked Quinoa Ratatouille

Total Time: 55 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced (i processed the garlic and onion in my food processor)
• 14 1/2 ounces diced tomatoes (with the liquid, don't drain)
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (i used powdered because that's what i had)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (i used dried because that's what i had)
• 1 large eggplant, cubed (i did not 'sweat' this, nor did i remove any skin)
• 1 green pepper, thinly sliced (i did not know what this meant, so i cut it in roughly square pieces like you would for stir-fry)
• 2 zucchini, sliced (do not peel)
• 1 summer squash, sliced (do not peel)
• 1 cup cooked quinoa (cooked according to packaged directions, i used pre-rinsed quinoa in a box from the grocery store.)
• 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 375 degrees f.
• 2 heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.
• 3 add garlic and onion.
• 4 saute until softened, about 5 minutes. (the onion starts to turn clear).
• 5 stir in tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, basil, thyme and parsley. continue to cook for 1-2 minutes.
• 6 remove from heat.
• 7 layer half of the tomato and onion mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish (i sprayed mine with pam first).
• 8 top with all of the uncooked vegetables.
• 9 add the remaining tomato and onion mixture and spread over the top.
• 10 spread the cooked quinoa on top, then sprinkle with cheese.
• 11 cover with foil and bake for 40-45 minutes.
• 12 remove foil for the last 5 minutes of cooking.
• 13 when i made this, my vegetables must have been larger than the recipe-writer's, as by the time i chopped up all those veggies, i had too many for my pan and ended up making 2 batches. i had to make a second full batch of the sauce to make 2 pans, so you might want to adjust.
• 14 also, the sauce seemed too scanty when i spread it in the pan, barely enough to very thinly 'cover' the vegetables, but there must be a lot of moisture in the vegetables because the sauce was a perfect proportion for us when it was cooked.
• 15 lastly - i goofed, never having cooked quinoa before. my box said 1 cup quinoa to 2 cups water - the recipe said 1 cup cooked quinoa - but really my quinoa made 3 cups once it was cooked. since i made 2 pans of this recipe, it worked out okay, but you might want to double-check your quinoa directions and proportions.
• 16 one more thing - the recipe as written in the grocery store ad says 4 servings - we got probably closer to 8 to 10 servings of this. however, for my family, this would not be a 'main dish', but rather a yummy veggie 'side' to go with some type of meat because we're utter carnivores.
• 17 i hope you enjoy this as much as our family did! it has loads of good-for-you stuff in it, it looks pretty and colorful and tastes like a 'fancy' dish while being actually quite easy. it is also vegitarian and gluten-free, which is cool for those folks who need that stuff.