V-I-C-T-O-R-Y-!!!!!

(if I sent you a message on your blog about an award, please scroll down to the "Friendship Award post! thanks!)

(this is not a photo of our actual dish, but our's was pretty identical to this one, without the fancy garnish)

I have to share the awesome dinner experience we had tonight!!!! It all started yesterday...around 1:30pm..I decided I finally wanted to try making the dried lentils I had in the cabinet. It was a bag with a seasoning packet included...but called something like "confetti lentils" or something like that. Anyway, I threw them in the crockpot but of course by 6pm they were no where near done and tasting not very good at all! I had added some frozen carrots, vegetable broth, dried onions, and turned it on high. Well, we went out out to eat instead and by the time we got home after running by Kroger, they were smelling pretty good!

Today, I got them back out, put them on the oven and added some frozen spinach, ground beef, as well as some more spices (savory, garlic salt, onion powder). When it was all said and done, the stew was DELICIOUS! It had the flavor sort of like a beef stew but more like a bean/minestrone twist. I also made buttermilk biscuits to go with it which actually turned out to be GREAT! My first success with homemade biscuits!!!

AND....the BEST IS YET TO COME!!! GUESS WHO ate SIX bites of the lentil and spinach stew!!!????

NOAH CARTER THOMPSON!!!!!

We have a new initiative around here where he is required to eat six bites of whatever vegetables we are having for dinner. We discussed it with him and he knows it is just expected...I told him it is now his job to eat bites of vegetables because we are his parents and we have to make sure he is eating healthy foods and he just doesn't have a choice. The first night was BAD! It took a very long time for him to eat his 6 bites of chicken pot pie with vegetables it it.

Tonight, he was awesome! He came in while I was cooking the stew, and as you can see from the photo above the stuff doesn't look very appetizing. It actually doesn't have a super pleasant smell either. But he did it, though he got very sluggish with the last 3 bites, he actually said that "the last two bites were easier than the first bite." No tears or complaining. It may have helped that he lost his games for an entire day last time because he pitched such a fit and he also ended up having to eat about 12 bites because every time it was a major ordeal of talking back over a bite we added another bite to the requirement....but ....ANYWAY.....

We were all so proud of him! No tears and no feeding it to him, he did it all by himself and I do believe that is probably the most of any green vegetable his body has ever had in it at once!!! His stomach may go into shock!!!