And as quick as you can say JINX… oh dear.

The components:

* A dastardly forty minute wait in a queue at the IKEA checkouts (yes I complained to the manager and he promised he'd fire someone.)

* I bought a wonderful Manduca baby carrier at the Organic Expo on the weekend, and Ivy hates it. Something about the way her legs and hips work. She cries every time I put her in it. Back to the sling for a while. (Which is a shame because the carrier is terrifically comfortable.)

* I was running errands all day and ran out of time for lunch. Headache. Idiot.

* I burnt the dinner. Burnt it.

LUCKILY there was leftovers of this:

Spinach and Barley Dumplings!

Based on a recipe from Laurel's Kitchen (love that cookbook) you basically mix up a cup of cooked barley with a cup of cooked chopped spinach, add 2 eggs and some herbs and seasoning and then flour as needed to bind (use barley flour if you have it, I used wholewheat, about half a cup I think.)

To cook the barley, you toast it first in a large heavy pan until it turns golden and fragrant. Then cover the barley with water and bring to boil, once boiling, cover it/ put the lid on and take it off the heat. That's it. This amount of cooking and then the cooking it does in dumpling form is the perfect amount – not mushy, not hard at all. Perfect.

Roll the little devils in some more flour…

then chuck them into a pan of stock.

Cook for about 8 minutes.

I made a tomato sauce with onion, garlic and about 8 chopped tomatoes. Cook for about 10 mins then add a tin of beans, any kind you like – I like cannellini – and cook for another 10 mins.

We're getting gorgeous Jap pumpkins in season round here, so I roasted some in the skin to serve with.

Really delicious.

And all together a wonderful backup when the house smells of smoke and the mushroom and leek pasta is cremated.

xxx