Do NOT try this at home

Seriously. If you have little children, that is. Or a lentil-loathing spouse. Or an aversion to curry. Or a predisposition to gagging on spinach.

I made what I thought was a wonderful supper the other night, but the shine was taken off by the gagging, sighing, eye-rolling, moans of "Do I have to finish this?" and general stirring around of quickly cooling off "mush" (this was not my word, by the way).

Does it really look that bad?? It was rather delicious if I do say so myself...I'll stick the recipe at the bottom of this post for those of you brave enough to try it.

Conversely, last night's dinner was a roaring success - oh, except for my contribution to it. Who would dare complain about penne with Nonna's sauce?? Squishy fresh French bread from the store?? Cold glasses of milk & soy milk from the cow & the fields?? A couple of glasses of robust red from Mike's dad?? Homegrown basil, zucchini & tomatoes sauteed with store-bought olive oil, garlic & mushrooms?? Bingo. That was the one. I would have happily traded all other parts of dinner (except for the wine...you knew that!) for a big dish of that zucchini. And a wee piece of bread to mop up the juiciness. And a nibble of the penne. I had milk on my cereal, so I wouldn't have to have that...

At any rate, Jordan piped up between mouthfuls of yumminess, "You should put your recipes into a cookbook, Mom!" Yeah, the shovelling in of the zucchini saute and washing it down with a gulp of milk by one kid and the plugging of the nose and minutes long chewing of the zucchini by the other would be ringing endorsements for my new book. We joked about what we would call it...Stuff Not to Feed Your Kids and Don't Use These Recipes if You Want Your Kids to Eat were clear winners. Peals of laughter and general silliness ensued - not a bad thing. Sure beats the tears and bribery that have accompanied several other of my creations as of late.

I don't recall, but I am told that I wouldn't eat my liver one evening and was, therefore, not allowed to join my mother on a neighbourhood walk canvassing for the United Way. Apparently, I was sobbing about her going off to the United States and leaving me behind. Not wanting to break tradition we told Maya that she was not allowed to go casting in the green space the other night until she finished at least some of her dinner. Through tears and wails of, "I...want...to...go....caaaasssstiiiinnnngg....", she managed to gag down some of her cold supper and daddy relented. I sit here and wonder why we forced the issue. To prove a point? To avoid throwing out yet another plate of food? It certainly wasn't to get the peace and quiet I was craving!

Here, as promised, is the loosey goosey recipe for my Curried Chickpeas and Lentils. I promise not to make it when you come to visit :)

1 cup dried green lentils - rinsed and sorted

4 cups of water

3 cups of vegetable or chicken stock

a splash of canola oil

1/2 small onion - diced

2 cloves garlic - diced

2 tbsp freshly grated ginger

1 tbsp curry powder

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp coriander powder

1 can chickpeas - rinsed and drained

1 can diced tomatoes (I used Muir Glen's Fire Roasted)

1/2 bag of spinach - destemmed & roughly chopped

Cooked basmati rice

Soak the lentils in the water for an hour. Drain and place in a large saucepan with the vegetable stock.

Bring the lentils to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and let cook about 45 minutes until tender.

When the lentils are cooked, saute the ginger, onion and garlic in the oil until the onion is translucent. Add the dried spices and saute another couple of minutes.

Add the tomatoes (undrained) and chickpeas.

While those simmer, use an immersion blender to roughly puree the lentils and stock. Add these to the pan when you like the consistency.

Toss in the spinach and stir until wilted.

Serve over bowls of basmati rice.