Roasted Ratatouille

Sorry for my lack of blogging =) But raising a family takes a lot of work therefore I've been MIA with the posts! When I can find the time to blog, I will for sure do it!! I've made a number of meals over the last week or so and couldn't decide which one to write about. I finally decided on a pasta dish of ratatouille. I was apprehensive making this dish because usually pasta is so heavy and since its been so hot outside, a heavy dish is not appealing by any means! Well, this was not the case with this recipe =) It was great and light, perfect for summer! I also loved the idea of making my own pasta sauce!!

- Ingredients -
1 small eggplant unpeeled and cut into cubes
sliced green, yellow, and red bell pepper
1 medium red onion - chopped into 1inch pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt
black pepper
1 teaspoon of garlic
Fresh Tomato Sauce with Penne
Shredded fresh Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. You are going to roast all of the veggies =) Spray your roasting pan with olive oil. Combine the eggplant, bell peppers, red onion, olive oil, salt, black pepper and garlic in a large roasting pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Stir and bake an additional 5 minutes. While the veggies cook, prepare the pasta and sauce.

Fresh Tomato Sauce with Pasta
6 ounces uncooked multigrain penne pasta
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 (8oz) tomatoes, cored and chopped
1/3 cup fresh basil (this herb packs a lot of flavor, I added more)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
a pinch of salt

Cook pasta and drain (whole grain pasta takes longer to cook than regular). Heat oil in a skillet. Add tomato and cook 4-5 minutes until tomato is tender and forms a chunky sauce. Add basil, vinegar, and salt. Cook 1 minute. Stir in pasta well.

Combine roasted veggies and pasta in a large bowl. Serve and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese!

Enjoy!! This dish makes great leftovers as well =) BONUS!

- Health Info -

Eggplant - Eggplant is an excellent source of dietary fiber. It’s a very good source of vitamins B1, B6 and potassium. It’s a good source of copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, niacin, and folic acid. Nasunin, an anthocyanin from eggplant peels, is a potent antioxidant and free-radical scavenger, and has protective activity against lipid peroxidation.

Bell Peppers - Bell peppers are packed with several nutrients. They are a good source of vitamin C, thiamine, vitamin B6, beta carotene, and folic acid. Bell peppers also contain a large amount of phytochemicals that have exceptional antioxidant activity. Those phytochemicals include chlorogenic acid, zeaxanthin, and coumeric acid. When comparing the nutrient values of the different bell peppers, studies have shown that red bell peppers have significantly higher levels of nutrients than green. Red bell peppers also contain lycopene, which is a carotene that helps to protect against cancer and heart disease.

Tomatoes - One of the most well known tomato eating benefit is its' Lycopene content. Lycopene is a vital anti-oxidant that helps in the fight against cancerous cell formation as well as other kinds of health complications and diseases.
Free radicals in the body can be flushed out with high levels of Lycopene, and the tomato is so amply loaded with this vital anti-oxidant that it actually derives its rich redness from the nutrient.