Twice Roasted Ratatouille

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Prepare 2 or 3 baking sheets with tin foil for roasting. Peel eggplant and chop it in half lengthwise. Slice eggplant into ¼” lengthwise pieces. Chop the ends off all the squash and slice them the same way as the eggplant.

Cut the tomatoes in half and coarsely chop the mushrooms. Slice the red bell pepper into fajita-style slices (strips). Spread all veggies out on the baking sheets and lightly drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper over vegetables and roast in the oven about 20 minutes. After 10 minutes, check the vegetables and flip them over.

Once vegetables are roasted, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for handling purposes. Using tongs, squeeze juice out of the tomatoes and remove the tomato skins. Coarsely chop the tomatoes.

Turn the oven heat down to 350 degrees. Pour a little of the tomato sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish and spread around to lightly coat the dish.

Begin layering the vegetables in the casserole dish, starting with the eggplant on the bottom. Sprinkle cheese and spaghetti sauce between layers and finish with cheese and spaghetti sauce on top.

Bake in the oven for 45 minutes. Serve the ratatouille by itself or with rice, quinoa or bread.