You Have to Have a Thick Skin to Cook for Toddlers

Oh, it is a thankless task to cook for toddlers at times. Today was one of those days. I made pasta with lentils (see below), which I thought they would like--there's pasta, tomatoes, and salt. With those ingredients, who could be bothered by some lentils? Well, I found out. DD didn't want the tomatoes or the lentils and only tolerated the pasta (which is rice pasta because of allergies)--she even learned to say "don't like it." Yippee. Then she asked for "smooshed fruit" (aka Fruitabu). DS liked the pasta with the flavor of the sauce but not any of the actual ingredients of the sauce, which he then smeared on the top, edge, and underside of our thick, butcher-block table (which was better than his sister's technique, which was to try to feed the circling kittens--black cats look funny with lentils on their heads. Oh, the hilarity.). He did have two bowls, though, joining DP when she ate. Ah, the power of persuasion. Then he wanted a fruit snack too.

Final note, as DD was finishing her fruit snack, she noted it was "sticky, like raisins." And then she began to sing . . . . Laurie Berkner's "I'm a Mess."


Pasta e Lenticchie
A recipe from “Molto Mario,” this is a cross between a soup and a pasta. It was one of our favorite dishes before children, but we hadn't had it in awhile. It’s too big a recipe to double effectively, though it freezes well, without the pasta, which can be cooked and added when you want to reheat. Tonight I made it sans red pepper flakes and with rice pasta, serving it more like a sauce with the pasta cooked separately.

5 cups water
3/4 cups lentils
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil1 cup chopped canned plum tomatoes, with some juice
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
1/2 pound vermicelli, or small tubular pasta, or pasta mista
2 rounded tablespoons finely cut or snipped parsley
Optional: extra-virgin olive oil and hot red pepper flakes or hot pepper oil, for garnish

In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a rolling boil, add the lentils, and cook, covered over medium-high heat, until nearly but not entirely tender, about 20 minutes. Add the garlic, the olive oil, the tomatoes, the salt and the pepper. Reduce the heat, cover and continue to simmer briskly for another 10 minutes, stirring a few times, or until the lentils are fully tender.
If using capellini, break it into 2 to 4-inch pieces and add them to the lentils. Cook, covered, at a steady simmer, stirring several times and scraping the bottom of the pot when you do. Cook until the pasta is just done, stirring more frequently as it gets closer to the point of being cooked. If using a small tubular pasta or pasta mista, cook the pasta at least halfway in plenty of salted boiling water. Drain the pasta, add it to the lentils and simmer to finish cooking the pasta.
When pasta is cooked to taste, remove the pot from the heat, stir in the parsley cover the pot, and let stand about 5 minutes before serving. Serve hot, passing hot pepper oil or the best-quality extra virgin olive oil for drizzling on top.

“Molto Mario” Batali, on the Food Network