Quick & Easy: Ratatouille with Roasted Red Pepper Quinoa

There have been some awesome things coming out my kitchen lately. I've got a LOT of updating to do on the blog to catch you up on some new amazing recipes I've found. This post is the first of a series of posts I'll be doing every once and a while called "Quick & Easy." These posts are going to highlight some of the dishes I make during the week when I'm having those I-really-don't-wanna-cook-anything nights, but don't want to eat fast food or a frozen pizza. Because let's be honest... we ALL have those nights.

This dish I'm about to describe is perfect for several reasons...

1) It's EASY - all it requires is that you know how to use a knife and for you to plan ahead 3-4 hours before your meal.

2) It's COLORFUL - there is a gorgeous variety of fresh veggies in this vegetarian dish.

3) It's really FILLING - just because this dish is meatless doesn't mean it won't leave you feeling stuffed! Veggies can be just as hearty as meat. Trust me, I was a vegetarian for 5 years and wouldn't have lasted if I couldn't discover ways to make all vegetable meals filling!

4) It's loaded with VITAMINS - the more colorful your plate, the more vitamins! This dish is full of good things. I'll go into it in depth later in this post.

Crockpot Ratatouille with Roasted Red Pepper Quinoa

Isn't it so colorful?! This dish was particularly easy for me since I already had most of the ingredients. And I love using my crockpot during the week. There's just something wonderful about being able to leave the kitchen and know that your food is still cooking. I'm all about making things easy. So here's how I did it...

Crockpot Ratatouille with Roasted Red Pepper Quinoa

(modified from aubergines.org)

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant, peeled and cut into small chunks

1 cup red onion, chopped

3 tomatoes, chopped, fresh

1/2 green bell pepper, cut into small chunks

1/2 red bell pepper, cut into small chunks

1/2 yellow bell pepper, cut into small chunks

3 medium zucchini, sliced and halved

3 Tablespoons light olive oil

3 Tablespoons dried basil

5 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

1 can tomato paste (6 ounces)

1 handful green olives, drained and chopped

1 Tablespoon fresh basil, chopped

Directions:

Prepare all vegetables according to directions in the ingredients. This is literally the most time consuming part of the whole recipe. Pretty easy! Place the eggplant chunks into a colander in the sink and allow them to sit and drain excess moisture while you prepare everything else. Are you ready for the best part? Put all ingredients into your crockpot, expect for the tomato paste, green olives, and fresh basil. Mix well and cover. Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 7 hours. That's IT! In the meantime, go read a book, take a walk, do something else because your meal is cooking itself. Can you tell that I absolutely LOVE my crockpot?

About 15 minutes before you sit down to eat, prepare the qunioa. To save time, I chose a brand that has a seasoning packet in it. While it does add to the sodium content, it contains about 400 mg per serving. This is about as high as I would go in one serving, so I felt comfortable with it. Nutritionally, it is packed with fiber (4 gm per serving), protein (8 gm per serving), and this brand has a good bit of Vitamin C and A. So here is the brand I used:

Prepare the quinoa according to the package directions. It takes about 15-17 minutes to cook. Once you've finished this, you can finish up your Ratatouille by adding the tomato paste, olives, and fresh basil to the crockpot. Now, you're ready to eat and only had to do about 30 minutes of prep overall! Put a bed of quinoa on your plate or in a bowl and top with the Ratatouille. 

Here's the finished product! It made a ton of leftovers and reheated very well the next day for my lunch. I am all about leftovers!!

As you can see, this dish has earned my husband's seal of approval. 

Nutritional Side Note

I mentioned that this dish is packed with good things and wanted to tell you a little bit more about the elements that make this dish so good for you... specifically for your eyes, immunity, and long-term health. The tomatoes and tomato paste are loaded with Vitamin C and Lycopene (which helps to aid good eyesight and has cancer fighting capabilities). The bell peppers are loaded with Vitamin C and A, which are known for their antioxidant functions. Vitamin A is also directly involved in promoting eye health, specifically the retina. The eggplant is low calories, a great source of fiber, and contains some folate (good for women who are of child bearing age). The zucchini is high in Vitamin C, Manganese, and Molybdenum. Manganese is a mineral that is very involved in the metabolism of carbs and fats,  helps the body absorb calcium and regulate blood sugar, and helps the brain to function properly. Some studies say that Manganese can help ward off osteoporosis and arthritis, as well as improve PMS symptoms and help diabetics control their blood sugar. You can also find this mineral in nuts and whole grains. Molybdenum is involved in complex reactions that assist metabolism and use of energy by the body. It is described as an essential trace element... in other words, it's really important and you need it to survive in small amounts. In fact, it is rare that a person would become deficient in this element. So no need to go grab supplements! 

On that subject, it is easy to meet all your daily needs for vitamins and minerals for optimum health if your diet is full of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and dairy. My quick soap box on supplements is this: your goal should be to get all your vitamins from fresh foods instead of using a supplement to replace these foods in your diet. Unless you have a medical condition requiring you to increase your intake of certain vitamins or have a condition limiting your absorption of certain vitamins/minerals, you most likely do not need to take a supplement. However, if you have certain food aversions (you don't like vegetables, don't consume dairy, vegetarian/vegan diet, etc.) then you may need a supplement. 

Final Thoughts

There are plenty of manufacturers that would love to convince you that you need their new, shiny supplement that will cure cancer, ward off heart disease, increase memory and energy, save the world, and bring about world peace. I want to encourage you to be skeptical of all claims made by supplements. This includes claims made on TV shows by popular MD's (don't get me started on this one... I could go on and on), websites, and claims on the bottle itself. Here is my tip for how to find credible resources... when you are looking up information, look for websites that end in .org or .edu or .gov instead of .com or .net. I never use information from sites that are not backed by research. This dish that I featured on this post is so full of goodness... plenty of vitamins, minerals, low in calories, high in fiber, and it's so filling and satisfying! When I eat a meal like this, it makes me feel like I'm making every bite count. Like with anything in life, you can take the easy way or put a little effort in and find out that it was worth it in the end. It's so tempting to just grab fast food when I'm tired and don't want to cook... and sometime, I do. But I'm always more satisfied when I know that I'm eating foods that are energizing my body with the nutrients it needs. To me, that beats out a supplement any day. 

References:

http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/manganese-000314.htm

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/minerals/molybdenum/