Roasted Vegetable Ratatouille w/ Chicken Basil Sausage

Something interesting has been happening to my tastebuds over the last couple weeks... Somewhere between the removal of sugar and all refined carbs from my diet and my doctor's strict instructions to chew my food more thoroughly (apparently this is much more crucial to healthy digestion than most people know), my sense of taste seems to be sharpening. I am becoming increasingly sensitized to flavors and textures and I am starting to enjoy certain foods that I used to blow right past.

Here is my theory. I think perhaps we were hard-wired to enjoy eating. Perhaps this is one of the gifts the Lord gave us when he knit our little baby bodies together. Although my food choices are incredibly restricted right now, my tastes are shifting to accommodate and I am beginning to seriously enjoy really simple ordinary foods like vegetables and nuts or a good apple.

The recipe below is an example of this to me. I've never before been a huge fan of zucchini squash or yellow summer squash and I've never in my life even attempted to prepare an eggplant. The only way I would eat zucchini as a child was in sweet bread or if my mom would slice it in 1/2, smother it in jack cheese and broil it. But then, you could smother almost anything in jack cheese and it would be probably be pretty tasty. But I digress...

This Ratatouille recipe is what we prepared a few weeks ago in the cooking class I volunteer with and I was shocked at how delicious it tasted to me. I went home and prepared it myself, adding in some Chicken Basil sausage for protein. I've been eating it either plain or over some brown rice. In our class, the students ate it over Couscous. I think it would be pretty tasty over some pasta as well. Here you go!

Roasted Vegetable Ratatouille

1 small red onion
1 small eggplant
1 medium zucchini
1 medium yellow squash
3 T canola oil
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 - 14oz cans diced tomatoes
Fresh pepper to taste

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Dice onion, zucchini, yellow squash and egg plant. (I really liked a fairly small dice on this. So aim for pieces that are about 1/2 inch squares).
- In a small dish, mix canola oil and herbs. Add to veggies and toss to coat.
- Roast in a 9x13in baking dish for 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and add garlic and tomatoes (with liquid).
- Stir and roast for another 20 minutes until all veggies are tender.

*If you want to add some sausage, brown it in a pan ahead of time, but don't cook it all the way through. Then add to the veggies just after tossing them with the oil and herbs.

For being such a simple dish, I thought this was completely wonderful! I'm on my 4th day of leftovers and I'm not tired of it yet!

And if any of you are interested, you can read about the Cooking Matters program HERE. I have totally loved getting involved with them over the last 9 months and they have chapters in quite a few major cities. They are a program that teaches basic cooking, nutrition and food budgeting/shopping skills in low income populations. Super fun!!

Happy Sunday to all of you!