Cooking: Ratatouille with Quinoa & Lentils

Earlier this week, I decided to be a real adult and cook the one meal I seemingly know - ratatouille with quinoa and lentils. I like making this meal because it is so simple and foolproof (at least so far I haven't screwed it up). I'll tell you what I do to make this dish, but as a disclaimer, I have no clue what I'm doing so you should probably look up a recipe from a more credible source (unless you're lazy like me).

Ingredients

1 green pepper

1 onion

1 zucchini

1 yellow squash

1 eggplant

1 can of diced tomatoes

Dashes of seasonings (basil, marjoram, garlic powder)

Instructions

1. Wash your veggies. Dice up the onion and green pepper and put to the side in a dish. Slice the zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant into half circles or quarter circles depending on your preference.
2. Add a splash of oil to a large pot. Swish it around so it fully coats the bottom of the pot. Turn the stovetop heat to low and wait for the oil to heat up a bit ( about 30 seconds). Then add the diced onion and green pepper. Mix them around so they begin to soften.
3. Add the zucchini and yellow squash  to the pot. Mix around with the onion and green pepper.
4. Add the eggplant and the can of diced tomatoes. (note: you can use 2 fresh tomatoes instead of canned. I just find cutting up tomatoes to be impossible and far too messy). Add a dash of garlic powder, basil, and marjoram. (Alternatively, just season with what you have around the kitchen or not at all. Already told you I'm not an expert at this.) Mix contents of the pot.
5. Cover and let simmer until it comes to a boil. Check to see if all the vegetables have softened. If not, let sit for a little while longer until you are too hungry to wait anymore. Voila!

Ratatouille close-up

For the quinoa and lentils, I follow Whole Foods' instructions for how to cook quinoa. Rinse, put in a pot with a 2:1 water to quinoa/lentils mix, bring to a boil, wait 15-20 minutes until all the water is absorbed. You should start the quinoa and lentils around the same time you start putting the onions and green pepper into the ratatouille pot. They'll be done cooking around the same time. And voila! Serve some quinoa & lentils into a boil and add the ratatouille on top.

Quinoa & lentils close-up