Here's one of my favourite Spanish dishes - Although I have been making it for years the way a Spanish cook once showed me, this time I followed the preparation seen recently on a Spanish Cooking TV channel. Their ingredients included a small piece of or pork fat and a stewing chorizo (chorizo para guisar). If choosing a chorizo for this dish, be sure it is the right type which has the red pimiento colour. The small piece of tocino can be seen just to the right of the sprig of rosemary. Stewed Lentils (Lentejas Estofadas) 350 grams (1 1/2 cups) of small dark lentils - put them to soak the night before in water to cover 100 grams (3.5 oz) red stewing chorizo sausage - lightly pricked over with tines of a fork 50 grams (1.7 oz) salted tocino pork fat - cut into large diced pieces 1 TBSP flour 2 carrots diced fine 2 medium leeks, using only white stems sliced finely in rounds 1 lg clove garlic (this was optional but I wouldn't leave it out) - pass through garlic press 2 cups beef broth (I used 2 Knorr cubes) 1 bay leaf fresh rosemary - small sprig olive oil - about 1/4 cup 2 cups extra water to add after 1st hour 1. Soak lentils the NIGHT BEFORE in water to cover. * Note this if now often unnecessary with newer fast cooking lentils. 2. Next day drain and rinse lentils, put aside. 3. Heat olive oil in heavy cooking pot. When sizzling, add carrots, garlic and leeks. Lightly brown while stirring. 4. Add 1 TBSP flour and keep stirring for about a minute. 5. Add lentils, beef broth, whole chorizo, tocino, laurel and rosemary 6. Put on lid and simmer very gently for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Check after 1st hour and add up to 2 more cups water as needed. 7. Adjust seasoning and serve. ***************************************** Lentil & Potato Potaje (Potaje de Lentejas y Patatas) 3 cups of presoaked lentils 4 medium potatoes - cut into large dice 2 slices of stale bread 3 cloves garlic vinegar salt Put lentils in large pot, cover with water and begin to boil. As soon as lentils have begun to cook do the following: In a frying pan with 1/2 inch of oil brown the garlic and then add the bread and fry until brown. Remove garlic before it's too dark. Put browned bread and garlic into a mortar and grind to a paste. During the early part of cooking the lentils add the paste from the mortar to the lentils together with the oil that's left in the pan After about half an hour and before lentils are tender, add the diced or quartered potatoes, salt and finish cooking until all is tender. Check and correct salt and a dash of vinegar before serving. Source: A cook friend from Mallorca. *************************************** LENTIL & VEGETABLE SOUP Ingredients: lentils - 250 grams (slightly over 1 cup) garlic - one whole head onion - 1 large - quartered Kasseler smoked pork chop - 1 large (or 250 grams other smoked pork or bacon) ham or pork bone as for making stock 4 medium carrots - sliced into coins 2 stalks celery - diced 5 medium potatoes - peeled and cut into 8ths 6 flowerettes of cauliflower green beans - handful sliced tomato puré - small 4 oz tin olive oil - 4 TBS fresh garden herbs: 1 bay leaf, several sprigs thyme, Italian flatleaf parsley 2 or 3 sprigs chicken stock 1 liter (4 cups) or water and 3 Knorr chicken stock cubes salt & fesh ground pepper water to cook lentils vinegar - 1 teasp garlic croutons - optional garnish Method: 1) Turn on oven to 350F. Put lentils in large heavy bottomed stew pot with water to cover plus about 2 inches, bring to boil and simmer 45 minutes. Check water level and add more as needed. 2) Meanwhile put whole head of garlic into shallow baking pan together with quartered onion, Kasseler or smoked pork and ham or pork bone, drizzle with olive oil and roast in oven at medium heat about 45 minutes. 3) Remove baking tray from oven when all is nicely browned and cut meat into small dice and add to lentil pot along with onion. Squeeze garlic from skin into lentil pot, adding ham/pork bone along with oil and juices scraped from roasting pan. 4) Add rest of vegetables to lentils, chicken stock (or water and stock cubes), tomato puré, fresh herbs and bay leaf, parsley - reserving one sprig, fresh ground pepper. Bring to boil and simmer about 1 hour until vegetables are done, adding more water if needed. 5) When vegetables are tender, remove ham/pork bones and any bare thyme stems from pot, check for flavour and add salt as needed. Add vinegar and stir. 6) Serve with a bit of chopped parsley and more fresh ground pepper. Homemade garlic croutons are also nice as a garnish. Source: Recipe as I learned from a Mallorquin housewife years ago. ******************************* Lentil Purée Convert leftover stewed lentils into a delicious purée by putting them into a food processor and adding the following: 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth 2 lg cloves of garlic crushed and browned in 1/4 cup oil in small frypan 2 slices brown bread broken in small pieces and fried in the garlicky oil until brown Processed the above until smooth and then heat it gently. Dice more pieces of brown bread and toasted them in the frying pan with oil and garlic salt for the croutons. SharonCb

I did some volunteer work in Haiti one summer. Goat was by far more available than other meats, and I developed a taste for it. Good stuff. I once cooked some goat without any recipe, but it came out great: parboil the pieces in some water in which I added lemon juice and onion for about a half hour, then grill over charcoal with barbecue sauce. It was to be an appetizer for a large crowd waiting for a pig to be roasted, and the goat was devoured completely with great approval. That may have been due to my culinary skills, or it just may have been proof of the adage that 'hunger is the best sauce'.

Clare, My mom & grandmother would make the most delicious banana squash fritters. They combined grated banana squash, potatoes, apple, & onion with some flour & an egg. Kind of like a banana squash latke. Anyhow, I loved them so much that when I'd come home from college, that would be one of the dishes I'd ask my mom to make for me. Our local grocery stores sell squash portions from time to time, and now that's when I make them. I've never seen a whole squash "in person." I bet it's something to behold!

I was not a picky eater as a child, but now I am. I don't like certain textures, things like Jello will make me fight to swallow instead of gag. Neither of my kids were very picky, but Ashley liked (and still likes) more sweet stuff and processed food than her sister. She'd do things like sit down with a can of cream of mushroom soup and eat it right out of the can. She still prefers white bread and would be as happy living on fast food as she would be with filet. My granddaughter first ate everything, then became very picky, now she's becoming more adventurous again. I told her to try new things, if she didn't like it she could spit it out, she didn't even have to swallow. That got a lot of new foods into her mouth and she liked some of them. She just wanted to know that she had the option, I guess. She is also funny about texture, even when she was a baby things like pudding and mashed potatoes would make her gag. She still won't eat mashed potatoes. My grandson is an eating machine. He'll eat anything except green beans, he hates those. His problem is that he will eat until he gets sick, if it's one of his favorites. So what to feed picky eaters? I'd start with what they like, and try to branch out. He likes chicken? How about some BBQ sauce? I ground Doritos in the food processor and made chicken nuggets, those Doritos became seasoned bread crumbs. He likes pasta? What does he like on it? If it's plain, could you get away with some cheese? That cheese could eventually include some seasonings, maybe some bacon. I never met a kid who didn't like bacon, for some reason. Many kids like things they can dunk. My granddaughter still won't dunk a french fry in catsup, she hates sauces. My grandson dunks everything in catsup, BBQ sauce or ranch dressing. I think it depends on the child. I wouldn't fight over it, but if you can ease some new things into his diet, he might not even notice. Or, you might get lucky like I did on Halloween. I made some butternut squash bread, which both the grandkids love. There was some squash left over. Amanda came in, added some butter and brown sugar and heated it in the microwave, then ate a bowl of it. Bud suspiciously eyed what was left and asked me what it was. I told him that it was so good that his mother didn't share it, she was being selfish. He took me very seriously and quietly finished off the bowl, then told his mother that he'd eaten the rest of "her" squash. She told him that was OK, she'd make more for HERSELF tomorrow. He promptly announced that he'd eat that too, LOL. Sometimes a kid just wants to be obnoxious. (grin) Annie