These are the days when eggplants, cucumbers, and okra fill the fridge; literally overflowing, jumping out, begging to be made into something healthy, flavorful, and interesting. Babba ganoush? check.
Or, if you've had a particularly humiliating work out at the gym (Cardio Strength class, anyone?) you come home and drown your sorrows in something delicious and only vaguely disguised as healthy: Herbed Ricotta and Heirloom Tomato Tart in a phyllo crust.
Since you have to brush the individual sheets of phyllo with oil before cooking, you lose a lot of the "healthy" aspects to this dish. After a workout that nearly brought me to tears reminding me of how hard I'd worked in the past, and how all that work was now a distant memory, I wanted something comforting. The phyllo was store bought and I roasted the tomatoes while sauteing leeks for the herbed ricotta. I basically followed David Lebovitz's directions, but topped the ricotta with roasted tomatoes and just the slightest layer of shredded mozzarella.
Afterward, I guiltily added up the Weight Watchers points and realized it wasn't awfully bad for me. Even though I left halfway through the class (I couldn't hang, I was the weakest link!) a brilliant twitter friend (thank you Emily!!) reminded me to put it all in perspective:
