Ratatouille

When I was pregnant, everyone kept telling me how much my life would change when the baby was born. They were right. It was boring before he was here, but it was also easier. Every day feels like I'm running a marathon. I get up much earlier than I used to, my apartment is messier than before, I have a hard time keeping in touch with people, my clothes are stained and I've needed a haircut for a few months.

The one thing that no one mentioned was how different (and difficult) cooking would become. When Sebastian was a baby, making dinner was a breeze. I just sat him in his bouncy seat and talked to him while I cooked—it was fun. But now that he's a toddler...

I admit the struggle is mostly self-induced. I want us to have a traditional family dinner where we all sit together and eat the same meal. (My mom, mother of five, managed it every night and she always cooked from scratch.) But the timing is tricky. Sometimes we get home late and I only have half an hour to get dinner ready before bedtime. Sometimes the baby and I are home in time but Stephen isn't and I have to try to cook with Sebastian crawling around at my feet.

It would be easier if I just fed him when we got home and then ate with Stephen later, but somehow that just doesn't feel right. First of all, I hate seeing Sebastian sitting and eating all alone—meals should be communal. Secondly, when Sebastian eats before we do, I feed him differently. He ends up eating little cubes of food—a few vegetables, maybe some toast or leftover pasta and diced chicken sausage. Boring. When he eats with us, his diet is far more varied and that's important.

It finally occurred to me that the problem isn't the time we get home, or how distracted I am. The real problem is that I've been putting too much pressure on myself to put something really interesting on the table every night.

We've been brainwashed by all the cooking shows we watch, the food magazines we read and the restaurants we eat in. Food used to be less complicated. My mother didn't worry about putting a chipotle rub on the pork chops; she just sprinkled them with salt and pepper.

So I've decided to turn over a new leaf. From now on, I grab some ingredients, throw them in a pot and see what I get. Maybe it will be really great, maybe it will be mediocre —either way it's homemade and (mostly) healthy, and that's what really matters.

And on that note, I threw together some ratatouille on Sunday night and we all thought it was pretty good.

For the ratatouille: Dice five cloves of garlic, one medium onion, one small eggplant, two bell peppers, one or two zucchini and four medium ripe tomatoes. Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy pot, add the diced vegetables (except for the tomatoes) plus salt and black pepper to taste and about one teaspoon of dried thyme. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are soft (should take around 20 minutes). Then add two to three tablespoons tomato paste and the diced tomatoes and cook covered for another ten minutes or so.

Serve over whole grain pasta and garnish with a spoonful of goat cheese.