Rat-a-tat-touille Tuesday!

Another day of double workouts! But I planned for evening runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so dinner was an easy fix. I wanted to use up the rest of the eggplant, as well as zucchini and yellow squash I got at the farmer's market last weekend so by internet magic I came across ratatouille (pronounced "rat - ah - too - ee" in case you haven't seen the Disney movie). Speaking of which... tonight's dinner was based on the namesake dish they serve in the movie, with some crabby modifications, of course!

I started out with some veggies: half a yellow squash, half a zucchini, half a LARGE eggplant (one small one would have been good), half a small onion, half a red pepper, and one whole beefsteak tomato (I think it was already sliced by the time I took this picture). The red pepper was left over from last night's egg scramble. If you have more than two mouths to feed, by all means use whole veggies!

I diced the tomato and red pepper coarsely, and the onion finely. I mixed them in a bowl with FIVE CLOVES of garlic minced. Mr. Crabs was happy to hear that. I drizzled with a little Herbs de Provence olive oil, and mixed well. Then I sliced my squashes and eggplant. If I had a small skinny eggplant, I would have kept it in round slices like the squashes but alas, it was a fattie, and I had to cut the slices in quarters (so the slices were about the same size across the cutting board).

Now it's time to layer! The tomato-pepper-onion-garlic mixture goes in your baking dish first, with a third of a cup of water. I used an 8-inch or so round Pyrex bowl, with sides about four inches high.

Next, add the sliced squashes and eggplants in a scalloped pattern, starting from the outside in, and alternating vegetable. I actually placed a layer of eggplant (since they were not round on all sides) then placed my zucchini and squash slices. Here I have the eggplant layer and part of the squash layer done.

I put al the squash on, but still had some eggplant left, so I placed those around the edges. Cover with a parchment paper "blanket" and bake!

Voilà!

You can serve this over pasta, but tonight I went for my (100% whole wheat) copy-cat Olive Garden Breadsticks. Yum!

Bon Appétit!

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Besides my two-mile run after work (check that off my goal!), I went to my usual 5am workout:

Warm-up:
500m row
Dynamic stretching
3 rounds:

• 10 wall balls (I did 10lb instead of 14lb - they changed our target height from 8' to 10'!)
• 20 double unders

WOD:

10 rounds, for time:

• 5 deadlifts (Rx=130 / I did 115lb)
• 5 box jumps (18")
• 5 burpees

Finished in 12:14!

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Ratatouille

Ingredients

1 beefsteak tomato, coarsely diced
1 red bell pepper, coarsely diced

1/2 small onion, finely diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup water
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 small eggplant, trimmed and very thinly sliced
1/2 zucchini, trimmed and very thinly sliced
1/2 yellow squash, trimmed and very thinly sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil, or to taste
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, or to taste (I used dried thyme I found in my spice cabinet, about 1tbs)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Mix tomato, bell pepper, onion, and garlic with 1 tbs olive oil and spread into the bottom of a 8" round baking dish. Stir in water until thoroughly combined. Season with salt and black pepper.
3. Arrange alternating slices of eggplant, zucchini, and yellow squash, starting at the outer edge of the dish and working concentrically towards the center. Overlap the slices a little to display the colors. Drizzle the vegetables with 3 tablespoons olive oil and season with salt and black pepper. Sprinkle with thyme leaves. Cover vegetables with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until vegetables are roasted and tender, about 45 minutes.