Cook early (and often)

Late afternoon is a stressful time at our house.  I guess it's been that way for a while, but Agatha (age 1) is now in that awful transition period from two naps to one, and so she is pretty loud and cranky by 4 pm or so.  She needs a lot of attention, which makes it very difficult to be chopping onions or something.  Plus, she goes to sleep at 6, and Henry at 7, which means we eat EARLY, at 5 or so-- this is possible for our family since Michael and I share one job and live walking-distance from work (for those of you who don't know us).  Anyway, it sometimes seems like no matter how early dinner is ready, it's not early enough.  (Michael is as bad as the kids, getting hungry and grouchy.)

Every few months I rediscover the crock pot as a solution to this problem, and I fall in love with it for a while, but soon everything starts tasting the same.  But readers!  I had a new and successful attempt to solve this today.  I made a casserole during Aggie's nap and put it in a slow oven (about 300) around 1:30.  Then I did a few things while she napped, went to pick up Henry at school at 2:30, drove out to get our car out of the shop-- you get the picture-- we finally all returned home at 5 pm and voila! there was dinner, warm and fragrant!  I took a baguette out of the freezer and made a salad.  Very nice indeed.

Here's today's casserole, although I think I will try any old combination of things that I happen to have around in future attempts:  two eggplants, three red bell peppers, three cloves of garlic, two scallions, half a can of crushed tomatoes, and a small chunk of crumbled feta.  Slice, layer, salt the eggplant and sprinkle some oregano in there.  Cover and bake for 3 and half hours or so at 300.  It's dinner!