This luscious dish of Italian sausages, mozzarella cheese, and roasted vegetables seemed to call out for an elegant baking dish. And so I began arranging the ingredients carefully in a ceramic dish made in France.

I soon saw that was a mistake. I needed more room!

Consulting Big Daddy, I learned that my chunks of zucchini, peppers, and onions had to be in one layer to brown properly. Packed too closely, they would steam.

Out came the sheet pan.

This is a heroic old sheet pan I’ve had for a long time. And someone else had it a long time before I did. At church coffee hour, one of my fellow parishioners looked at it with admiration.

“That,” he said, “is a very, very, VERY old tin pan.”

For the thousandth time, it did its job.

Next time when I’m roasting vegetables, I’ll know enough to reach for it again.

Lesson learned from Big Daddy — vegetables need room.