Learning from Little Children

There are a couple things that has happend here in our household that I thought I would share. The first thing that is a cute little story is about Baby Boy. He absolutely loves to eat. Everyone that knows him, knows he loves to eat. He eats a whole bowl...adult size bowl...of homemade oats with a fruit in every morning. He eats a whole adult size yam along with peas, carrots, and apple sauce. It is hard keeping up with him. I make it all. If it was those jars already made up, I don't know how many we would go through in a day. You can tell when he eats that he is so thankful for it. He would always "yummm" every bite along with letting out little squeals when I would ask him if he is ready to eat. He is a cutey. When he would see his food being made, he expected to start eating immediately. You don't do anything else. I always had to feed him first and then eat my dinner or whatever. Well, now is a different story. He loves to pray. He isn't saying words, but he folds his hands, gets all serious faced and does a sound like he is praying. It is so cute. The problem or actually lesson in this is that he wants to pray before every bite. lol So we stop eating on every bite and say, "THank you, Jesus for the food. Amen". I was talking to my husband the other day about this and I said, "you know, it is like what Jesus says in the Bible to be like the little children. We need to probably thank Him for every bite we take. How many times do people sit down, do their wonderful prayers and then not even totally remember if they prayed or just said it out of habit and not really meaning it?" So, now in our household, we think about our food and how thankful we are for every bite we take.
Another thing that took place just last night is I was taken back by my daughter. She is 10 and a very picky eater. She doesn't like food like my son. Anyway, we have had to start eating vegan style because of my husbands health and so I have had to find recipes and make up recipes to make sure we are getting what we need each day. It really hasn't been as bad as we all thought and my daughter even said the other day that she didn't mind eating vegan. Well, I got the surprise of my life last night because I made a meatloaf without meat. I found a new recipe and thought I would try it out. She took a bite and gasped! I thought...here we go. She doesn't like it. She said, "Wow! This is great, Mom! It is even better than Connie's meatballs!" I about fell out of my chair. Connie is a friend of ours who makes really good food and Little girl thinks she is the best cook in the world I think. Well, last night I topped her. Little girl ended up eating three pieces of meatloaf, a yam, and corn. I can't believe it, but am very thankful. So, in our household we have been over joyed and very thankful for our meals. lol

Really Good Vegetarian Meatloaf (Really!)

2cups of water

1tsp. of salt

1cup lentils

1small onion, diced

1cup quick-cooking oats

3/4 cup grated cheese (cheddar, swiss, jack or american)

1egg beaten

4 and 1/2 ounces spaghetti sauce or tomato sauce

1tsp. garlic powder

1tsp. dried basil

1Tb. dried parsley

1/2 tsp. seasoning salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

• Add salt to water and boil in saucepan.
• Add lentils and simmer covered 25 - 30 minutes, until lentils are soft and most of water is evaporated.
• remove from burner
• Drain and partially mash lentils
• Scrape into mixing bowl and allow to cool slightly
• Stir in onion, oats, and cheese until mixed
• Add egg, tomato sauce, garlic, basil, parsley, seasoning salt, and pepper.
• Mix well
• Spoon into loaf pan that has been generously sprayed with Pam or well greased
• Smooth top with back of spoon
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes until top of loaf is dry, firm, and golden brown.
• Enjoy!