After 3 glorious snow days (I am counting Sunday because I knew I wasn’t going to work on Monday early on in the day AND I didn’t leave the house) I have to go back to work today.

I am thankful to go back to work and get back into my usual routine, but I am also SO thankful I had those 3 extra days to get caught up on everything and really put some actions into my 2014 goals.

Here is a little picture of what my work station looked like during those 3 days…

Don’t worry! It’s all cleaned up now! I may be a messy worker who loves to spread out, but I also LOVE a tidy home so I spent a good amount of time tidying everything up too 🙂

Slow Cooker Ratatouille

One of the tips the Whole 30 experts suggest is to plan 3-4 dinners for the week and make one larger dinner at the start of the week as a quick go-to for those days when you get home from work and are tired and hungry (I call it “hangry”).  I really took this tip to heart, and last week I made my Vegetable Shrimp Curry Crock Pot Meal which was a complete life saver to have on hand.

This week, I made another slow cooker dish…Ratatouille!

I absolutely LOVE that I can throw the ingredients in the slow cooker, literally forget about the meal (aside from the delicious smell that fills the house) and then have a dish all ready to go when dinner time rolls around…for several days!

This dish is kind of magic, because no water or liquid is added aside from some extra virgin olive oil but when the dish is finally cooked it is almost like a stew or a thick spaghetti sauce!

I enjoyed my ratatouille with a piece of salmon.

Brian enjoyed his ratatouille over whole grain spaghetti with baked chicken.  We both enjoyed our delicious dinners 🙂

I hope you enjoy this easy, nutritious week night meal as much as we did!

Slow Cooker Ratatouille

Ingredients

• 1 eggplant, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 4 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 zucchini, chopped
• 6 oz tomato paste
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in the crock pot, and cook on low for 7-8 hours or warm for 10 + hours!
2. Serve as a side dish, serve as the main dish, or however you like.
3. The end result will be a thick and delicious vegetable stew. Enjoy!

Question of the Morning:

• When you “work” do you like to  spread out and take over the entire table, or do you keep things neat and tidy?