Summer Squash Ratatouille

This meal is great for using up copious amounts of summer squash–add in more than this recipe call for to make a bigger batch.

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 zucchini. sliced into 1/2-inch circles
• 1 yellow summer squash (such as goldmine or zephyr), sliced into 1/2-inch circles
• 1 eggplant, sliced into 1/2-inch circles or crescents
• 1 lb mushrooms, sliced
• 2 red peppers, diced into pieces roughly the same size as the other vegetables
• 1 yellow onion, diced into pieces roughly the same as the other vegetables
• 1 garlic bulb, separated into cloves
• 1 26-oz jar pasta sauce of your choosing
• 1 log of ready-made polenta, sliced into 1/2-inch circles*

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a 9 x 13 inch baking pan (such as Pyrex). Stack the zucchini, yellow summer squash, eggplant, mushrooms, red peppers, and yellow onion in the pan like dominoes, alternating between vegetables.
3. Disperse the cloves of garlic throughout the pan so that garlic flavor gets dispersed evenly. Drizzle the pan full of vegetables and garlic with the can of pasta sauce. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes.
4. Remove the foil and bake another 15-20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
5. While ratatouille is cooking, drizzle remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a sauté pan and sauté polenta circles until crisp, about 3-5 minutes on each side.
6. When ratatouille is done, serve over polenta crisps.

*Ratatouille is also delicious with angel hair pasta or rice. Serve as is for a vegan dish, or with grated parmesan cheese for a vegetarian dish.