Ratatouille

Since my mom was busy preparing food all last week to feed our family on Christmas Eve/Day, I offered to make something on Thursday night so she did not also have to feed us every meal throughout the week. I chose Ratatouille because it's delicious but also relatively healthy and could satisfy the vegetarians in the house. The general consensus was that it tastes like a crustless pizza. Yum!


Ingredients
1 head garlic
2 tbsp. each fresh thyme, rosemary and parsley
1 yellow onion
1 baby eggplant
2 zucchini
2 bell peppers
1 quart baby Portobella mushrooms
3 Roma tomatoes
Shredded cheese (for efficiency's sake,  I used Sargento's 6-Cheese Blend)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper


Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Chop the fresh herbs and combine in a small bowl. Set aside.

3. Mince the garlic and place in a small bowl. Set aside.

4. Dice the onion into large strips and spread across the bottom of a 9x13-inch casserole dish. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with herbs, garlic, salt, pepper and cheese.

5. Skin the eggplant using a vegetable peeler, cut in half lengthwise and dice into half-moons. Arrange the eggplant over the onion layer in the casserole dish. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with herbs, garlic, salt, pepper and cheese.

6. Skin the zucchini with a vegetable peeler and dice. Arrange the zucchini over the eggplant layer in the casserole dish. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with herbs, garlic, salt, pepper and cheese.

7. Seed the bell peppers and cut into strips. Arrange the bell peppers over the zucchini layer in the casserole dish. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with herbs, garlic, salt, pepper and cheese.

8. Wash the mushrooms with a damp paper towel (do not soak in water or the mushrooms will retain a lot of that water and become mushy during baking). Remove the stems and discard. Slice the mushroom caps into small slices. Arrange the mushrooms over the bell pepper layer in the casserole dish. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with herbs, garlic, salt, pepper and cheese.

9. Slice the tomatoes, discarding the ends. Arrange the tomatoes over the mushroom layer in the casserole dish. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with herbs, garlic, salt, pepper and cheese.

10. Bake the ratatouille for one hour or until the cheese is melted and the casserole is cooked through.