ratatouille and yoga.

Oh my god. I made some ratatouille the other day. I've been craving it, but it surprisingly is not well-represented in my rather large collection of cookbooks. Finally, I decided that satisfying the craving was more important than doing it "right," so I went to the store for supplies based on the one recipe I had. YUM.

There were a few problems:

1) Thyme is a spice frequently used in French cooking but the recipe didn't call for it.

2) Ratatouille usually has EGGPLANT in it, which I hate, as those of you who know me know.

3) When I last ate it, it was wrapped in a crepe with goat cheese. I'm not ready to make crepes.

Solutions:

1) After smelling fresh thyme in the store, I realized that this was definitely a spice I wanted to incorporate into my spice cabinet, so I bought some. I later discovered that thyme is actually an important component of herbes de provence, named after the area where the dish originated, it being a "provencial" dish. :)

2) Ratatouille originally only had zucchini, tomatoes, green and red bell peppers, onion, and garlic. That's exactly what my version had, except I used yellow instead of red peppers, and I added carrots and yellow squash.

3) I ate it in the provencial style, with crusty bread, and added crumbled goat cheese.

YUM. And it's so easy! You should try it.

Charity's Vague Outline of Ratatouille

(All vegetables should be chopped rather largely.)

Soak garlic in olive oil. Saute onions and carrots until onions are clear, adding thyme (largest proportion), basil, oregano, salt, and pepper. Add yellow pepper, green pepper, one big zucchini, and one yellow squash. Saute for a few minutes, until the veggies start to get a little tender. Add a big can of crushed tomatoes and a touch of sugar. Bring to a boil, and then simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Add more seasonings (listed above) to taste during the simmer.

Serve with crumbled goat cheese and big slices of crusty bread and make sure you are wearing your elastic waist britches!

Oh, and I've been trying to bring yoga back. I have been enjoying the work I've been doing lately to learn to let go, and yoga is part of that. I've also been doing Tai Chi, and working on clearing out my apartment of accumulated un-necessities. Anyway, the cats are enjoying it, too, and Sam is even starting to participate...



Charity :)