Smothered Eggplant

Last night, I was going to make ratatouille and started to do so only to discover that my children had eaten the zucchini and all the red bell peppers. (I guess I shouldn't be mad - at least they ate something good for them.) This is why I usually pull out ALL my ingredients before I start the dish. :^/ Oh well....so, I went with what I had and this is what I came up with. Not quite my beloved ratatouille, but it was very yummy and completely disappeared. I served it over whole wheat couscous that I cooked in veggie broth instead of water.

2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large eggplant, cut into 1 1/2" pieces (I sweat my eggplant with salt for 20 minutes before cooking it to pull out the bitterness - rinse well before adding to the dish if you do this)
1 yellow squash, cut into 1" pieces
3-4 roma tomatoes, diced
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried marjoram
1/2 tsp dried thyme
pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil to shimmering. Saute' the onion over a medium-low fire, stirring very frequently, until it starts to caramelize. Add the garlic and saute' about 2 minutes, bringing the heat up to medium. Add in all the vegetables and herbs; stir and cook, covered, about 15-20 minutes or until vegetables are soft.

Yield: 6 servings (if served over couscous)

Calories 103
Carbs 14
Fat 5
Protein 3
Iron 4
Calcium 14