Healthy Dinner Exchange Gone Bad

I think I just threw up in my mouth. If I didn't know the reason for the nausea, I might think I was pregnant. But I don't normally actually get sick when I'm pregnant. No, I feel much worse.

I'll tell you why...but I might seriously lose some friends. Actually, I think I sort of already have.

Crap.

About two years ago, a friend and I started a dinner exchange. I would cook for her family one night, and she would cook for us another night. I loved the exchange so much, I asked another good friend if she'd be interested in joining. I trusted these girls...their taste in food, their cleanliness in preparation, their healthy eating habits. Plus, they are really good friends. I knew they would understand the occasional breakfast-for-dinner nights on the days I just didn't have as much time as I thought.

But we've been on a little dinner-exchange-hiatus. For me, summer happened. A big move happened for another. And a complicated-bedrest-sort-of-pregnancy happened for the third. But as fall approached, I was excited to start back up. The first friend is still mid-move, but the other friend is back on her feet and wanted to exchange. Woo hoo! One less night to worry about what the heck is for dinner!

Today, the first day of Fall, was the first day of the exchange. I made Moroccan Chicken (the winner of last year's healthy recipe contest) with brown rice, and delivered it to my friend. I sat down with my kids, and they amazingly ate every last bite. As I was clearing the dishes, my good friend--who'd just eaten my dinner--called.

"Hi!" I exclaimed.

"Hey!" she replied. "Dinner was really good. I need to get that recipe from you."

"Oh good! I'm glad you liked it. I had to change it up a bit. I added black and kidney beans, and did green peppers instead of red."

"Yeah...it was so good."

"I also added some tomatoes that I canned last week with my mother-in-law."

"Oh...that made it really good!"

My dear friend had me feeling pretty darn good about the dinner I'd delivered. She's really nice that way. But before hanging up, she had a little more to say.

"Ummm....Robyn?"

"What's up?"

"You might want to check your rice."

"Why?"

"Well...there are little worm things in it."

"(Silence)"

"It's not a big deal! I didn't even notice until I was almost done. I figure a little extra protein never hurts anybody. I just wanted to let you know in case you haven't fed your kids yet...you could make some new rice."

At that point, I headed over to the stove to check out the rice. I couldn't believe it. She had to be mistaken. Brown rice has lots of weird looking grainy things, right? Plus...it was stored in the fridge! But to my dismay, there one was. Some sort of dead meal worm right in the brown rice that I'd just eaten, my kids had just eaten, and my neighbors had just eaten!

I am still so grossed out, I can hardly stand it. And I actually can't believe I'm blogging about it. If you hear of the strange deaths of two neighboring families in your local news, you'll know why! And don't be surprised if I don't invite you to dinner anytime soon. I'll be busy throwing all our food away! Gross!