A Meal That Brian Really Liked: Spinach Lentil Ragout Over Pasta

In case you don't know, I like lentils. I've extolled their virtues before so I won't do that now, but that's why this recipe caught my attention. We have some form of beans usually twice a week. This was a good change from classic beans and rice because not only does it have lentils, my favorite legume, it has vegetables, lots of them, and it has pasta instead of rice, although you could easily serve the ragout over rice.  The original recipe is from a meatless cookbook, but I found it on this website and changed it up a little.

Spinach Lentil Ragout Over Pasta

1/4 t cinnamon

1/2 cup dried brown or green lentils

8 oz ziti, penne, or similar pasta

1 T olive oil

1/4 c diced onion

1 medium-size carrot, peeled and diced

1/4 cup chicken stock or broth (or water with bouillon)

1/2 t Italian seasoning

1 can diced tomatoes

1/4 tsp cayenne
4 cups spinach, washed thoroughly, stems removed and finely chopped, or 1/2 bag frozen spinach

Ground black pepper

Salt

Mozzarella cheese

Cook lentils in water, at least a cup, with cinnamon 35-40 minutes or until tender. Drain if needed. Meanwhile, saute onion and carrot (you could add celery, but I sure didn't) in oil until tender, 5-7 minutes. Add chicken stock to deglaze pan. Add seasonings and tomatoes. Let simmer to reduce. Meanwhile, cook pasta in another pan. Add spinach to the vegetable mixture and cook until wilted. Stir in lentils and cayenne. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over pasta, or mix in the pasta. Top with mozzarella cheese.

Too bad I didn't take a picture because it was a very pretty dish, but this post is more of a way for me to document the recipe so I know where it is and what changes I made. Brian really liked it and said his family would like it. I'm not sure why; something about it being like baked ziti. I liked it too, but it gave me terrible heartburn, so that dampened my enthusiasm. After baby brother is born, I will definitely make it again. The one downside is that it uses three (3) pans, and that is a lot. Here is my advice: only make this meal when your husband is going to do the dishes that night.

Keeping It Real

My last few blog posts make me look a little like supermom. Lest you think I always spend my time sewing quilts and making gourmet meals while Camille reads books and quietly nurtures her baby doll, let me keep it real for you. It's long, so read at your own risk.

Camille woke up at 1:30 am. I've been exhausted lately, plus I've had contractions every evening, so normally I would have Brian take care of her if she didn't go back to sleep on her own. Brian is in Las Vegas still, so I got up. Long story short, she slept for a total of two more hours during the night, and I tossed and turned for a couple more hours.

I got us presentable and took Camille to playgroup in the morning. After an hour of her avoiding all the other kids, she realized that if she said she had to go to the bathroom, I would take her away from playgroup to the bathroom where she could have my undivided attention. After three false alarms of crying potty, she starting melting down, so we left.

She refused to take a nap like she has been doing the past week. There is seriously no way to make her sleep. When she started dismantling her room instead of having quiet time I intervened, and she said she had to go potty again. She didn't go yet again, but she did get her wish and got out of her room.

Camille proceeded to have three accidents over the course of the afternoon/evening. I'm attributing it to the fact that she was beyond tired, but I know it is just an excuse to make me feel better.

I tried to get her ready to go to the grocery store because we basically have no food in the house, but she fought it, and I was too tired to try and drag a fighting, peeing toddler all through the store anyway. She basically was only happy if she was watching Curious George except for when she took a break to throw blocks at me.

I was tempted to order pizza for dinner, but it's expensive, especially for delivery. Instead I dug out the frozen piroshki I was saving for when I have the baby. They were dry, and Camille just ate the bread part and let the filling fall all over the chair she had previously peed on.

I wanted to give her a bath, but she just screamed and tried to climb out of the bath tub. She went to bed at 5:50.

Well, that was therapeutic. I want to just eat a half gallon of peanut butter cup ice cream from the Creamery while I buy things online, but I was asked to teach Gospel Doctrine on Sunday and I need to prepare for that. Plus I don't have any ice cream, or donuts, cake, cookies, brownies, or anything else that sounds good. And we try and save our money. It's days like this that I get tired of being a responsible, independent (interdependent with Brian, independent of parents/others) adult.

My Little Girl Is Growing Up...

but she is still pretty little, tipping the scales at an estimated 22 pounds.

I've always tried not to baby Camille too much, but it's gotten serious lately as we've tried to get her ready for baby brother's arrival. I read something about how you should get your child off all baby things before the new baby comes so that the older child doesn't resent the baby for "taking" the crib, bottle, etc. I felt validated in that moment, although I'm sure Camille will still be quite resentful about what the baby is taking--Mommy! Attention! Attention from Mommy!

Step one: Wean from bottle. This was easy, and it happened last summer. It's also the only thing I've ever had my doctor ask about getting rid of, so I'm glad we did it when we did. I'd like to get her off sippy cups, but after cleaning up too many liquids from the floor the past couple of weeks, I think the sippy cups will hang around a little longer.

Step two: Wean from pacifier. This was a big one for Camille. She loved her paci, and even now, seems to have a strong liking for sucking things. We started by only letting her have the pacifier to sleep. She slept so well that I was reluctant to ruin that, but after she left her paci at church one day, we took the plunge. We hid the extra pacifier and told her that since she lost the pacifier at church she had to sleep without it. The first night she was really tired, so she didn't cry very long before she zonked out. The next nights and naps were rough, but after a week or so, she never looked back. She still doesn't sleep as well as she used to though.

Step three: Move to big girl bed (and room): I thought Camille would have trouble transitioning, but once she got her new bed and we told her this was her new room, that was it. She loves her bed. I love it too. Many thanks to Brian who yet again built something awesome. Hooray for Brian!

Brian used these plans from Ana White

We bought a mattress online that came vacuum packed like this.

Ah, the bed with the quilt

The gutter bookshelves have been a huge hit. Another project done by Brian! They were also supposed to help contain her books, but it looks like a significant portion aren't in the picture... 

Step four: Potty train. I had toyed with the idea of potty training, but I decided to wait because it would be easier to have Camille in diapers with a needy newborn around, plus I wouldn't have to worry about potty regression. But, Camille is a strong willed girl. She was throwing huge tantrums about wearing diapers, to the point where it took two of us to change her: one to pin her down, and the other to diaper her. This wasn't feasible since Brian is only home for an hour or two when Camille is awake. After getting kicked in the belly and face too many times while trying to change her, I decided we had to potty train her. And we (I mostly) did. The first week was pretty bad, but she is daytime potty trained now. She still is strong willed. Two days ago she blatantly peed on the floor because she didn't like that I asked her to go sit on the potty when I knew she had to go. But we are to the point now where when we are out, she will tell us when she has to pee and can hold it till we get to a potty. Three cheers for Camille! 78 more cheers for Camille! Now we'll see what happens when baby brother comes.

Apparently this counts as sitting on the potty?