The Spinach Standoff

I've never pushed to post a daily blog... far from it. But it seems of late once-a-week blogging has become my new phase. My life has not become less boring, but in fact, with the swirl of people and imagery around me, with the cacophony of China and... let face it... sometimes the din of daily life with kids, I'm finding it harder to distill out small snippets to share here.

Let me share, at least, about the Spinach Stand Off of last week...

The day I sought to try out the first of three new dishes (three delicious, savory dishes with simple, wholesome, can-get-it-in-Zhongguo* ingredients). *Zhongguo literally translates Middle Country or Kingdom, and is the Chinese word for China. The Chinese word for Chinese is pu tong hua, in case you were wondering!

In October Real Simple published an issue of with "A Month of Easy Dinners," on the cover, complete with specific shopping lists and precise direction. Last week we sampled Beef & Bok Choy Stir Fry, Spicy Orange Glazed Drumsticks with Green Beans (much to my surprise it was the green beans that caused quite a stir... "These are lovely, dear, how did you prepare them?" asked the adoring Mr. Johnson. "More beans please," came the chorus from the book ends whilst my doesn't-like-to-try-things-that-much middle child was content with two servings of the drumsticks... thank you very much.

So imagine my surprise when all three of our children, who usually are up to try a number of new things, snubbed their noses at the simplest staple of the garden... fresh spinach. It was Chicken with Spinach and Mushrooms night, and you'd have thought I asked them to eat nails. They were each given a small morsel they were required to consume. Oh, the tears, the agony, the drama over vitamin K and beta carotene rich spinach.

Later that night I asked our oldest to rifle through the 20 recommended recipes and select ones she thought sounded good.

She marked with a marking pen the following, reminding me that she's a pretty good sport to try things, afterall. As long as its not dark green, cooked and rhymes with Kucinich:

• Roasted Pork with Brussels Sprouts and Apricots
• Pork Chops with Garlicky Broccoli
• Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Onions
• Meatballs with Sauteed Chard (which mind you is practically spinach!)
• Seared Lamb Chops with Minted Spaghetti Squash
  and
• Quick Beef Tacos (of course)

I'll keep you posted on how those go for us!