Oven-Baked Ratatouille

This was a great meal to make! I had to catch up from a couple of weeks ago when I wasn't feeling well and I am so happy that we made this meal! It was great to smell while it was baking and great to eat! :) Another must make!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 medium onions, cut into wedges

6 cloves garlic, smashed

1 tablespoon herbes de Provence (we couldn't find this..so we used Italian Seasoning - it had a lot of the same ingredients)

1 bay leaf

2 zucchini, cut into wedges

1 small eggplant (1lb) unpeeled, cut into wedges

1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1 inch wide strips

1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1 inch wide strips

10 canned whole peeled tomatoes

1 tablespoon kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil (I forgot to buy fresh so we used dried)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat leaf parsley (I forgot to buy fresh so we used dried)

Preheat the oven to 400 degress. Heat the oil in an ovenproof Dutch Oven over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, herbes de provence (italian seasoning!) and bay leaf, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, breaking the tomatoes into rough chunks with a spoon (I used my hands!). Once the vegetables sizzle, put the ratatouille in the oven and bake, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and browning, up to 1 1/2 hours. (we only baked it for 45 minutes and it was great!) Remove from the oven and stir in basil and parsley.

Enjoy!