Lunch time

I've been a stay at home mom for a few months now, a very new and educational experience for me. Although I've spent long maternity leaves with each of my children, there was never a doubt that I'll go back to work. For years my kids spent the lunch hours at various child care facilities and babysitters, while I would usually eat my lunch in front of the computer at the lab, trying not to let my sandwich drip on the keyboard. I welcomed the change in my employment status because I finally had an opportunity to spend more time with the kids and pay them a lot more attention. At first they were ecstatic about the fact they will go home after school and not to any of the child care places but then when they realized that the supervision on TV time, homework and piano practice got a lot tighter the enthusiasm waned.  One of the most important issues is of course their diet, and as one of my daughters has celiac and the other is lactose intolerant we have to be creative and very meticulous about what we feed them. Now that I'm home I find it challenging trying to prepare them tasty and healthy food every lunch. The following pasta dish is a great success. It's an adaptation from a recipe by Beth Elon (an Israeli cookbook writer). The best thing about this recipe is that it's very easy to make. Only a few months ago I took pride in the fact that the only thing I cook is hardboiled egg and now the fact that I cook this dish on regular basis to my household liking, is pretty miraculous in my view.   

No pasta sauce can be complete without onion (Yahud Ashkenazi market)

Ingredients:

1 package of gluten-free pasta (we use the whole rice one)

1/4 cup olive oil

3 medium size onions chopped

2 grinded carrots

2-4 chopped garlic cloves

800gr of pureed tomatoes (either fresh or canned)

2 table spoons of tomato paste

Salt, pepper, a few chopped basil leaves

Preparation

Place the oil in a medium size cooking pot and add the onion, garlic and carrots. Sauté the vegetable till the onion softens.

Add the tomatoes and paste and boil the sauce on high flame for 15 minutes than lower the flames to the lowest fire and let it simmer for an hour.

Add a pinch a sugar and the basil.

Take the sauce off the fire and mash it using a hand blender, turn the fire on again and let it simmer for 10 more minutes while adding the salt and pepper.

Cook the pasta as instructed on package and serve.

Bon appetite!