I have a copy of The Family Dinner, a book by Laurie David that I bought when Toddler was a fetus, and it’s all about the virtues of dining as a family, promising ”great ways to connect with your kids, one meal at a time.” As a couple, Spouse and I would eat on the couch and watch our stories and grow slumped and occasionally inebriated as the evening and several episodes of The Sopranos would wear on. When we were about to be three, I found the book and figured it would help me help Spouse make the transition to the table, and then when the fetus hatched we’d have these animated family dinners where we’d talk about our day and current events and definitely not the different farts we’d felt and smelled that day. We were definitely not going to raise a serial killer! I was optimistic.

Fast forward three years and a bit, and family dinners are a thing we’re still trying to get right. We sit at the table! But I’ve let go of some of the idyll I’d once hoped for. I didn’t expect there to be so much bargaining, or such devastation. And oh my god, so much fart-related discourse. But we are making progress. After serving the dish that follows, I presented Toddler with his plate and he offered his usual objections: ”I like Honeycombs! Honeycombs cereal please, mum.” But then he looked closer. ”I like hot dogs, mum! Thank you!”

This is not hot dogs. And I know we’re not supposed to lie to them (for reasons I still don’t really understand), but it’s hardly lying to call a sausage a hot dog, is it? Whatever. Maybe I’ll get my money’s worth with that book when he and his father are older.

Recipe perks: gluten- and soy-free (check the label on your sausages and chicken stock to be sure), whole grain, high fibre. This is best with a Dutch oven or other heavy, oven-safe pot with a tight-fitting lid.

One Pot Sausage and Brown Rice Pilaf

2 slices of bacon, finely chopped

6 pork sausages

1 onion, finely chopped

4 celery stalks, finely chopped

1 medium, firm-fleshed apple (such as Braeburn), diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

½ cup dried cranberries

3 tsp. fresh thyme leaves, divided

2 cups long-grain brown rice, such as basmati

1 tsp. coarse salt

½ tsp. ground black pepper

1 bay leaf

4 cups low-sodium chicken stock

Preheat your oven to 375°F.

In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, cook bacon until crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan, leaving the fat behind.

Brown sausages. Don’t worry about cooking them through, as they’ll get theirs when they get into the oven. This is about aesthetics and the Maillard reaction. Just brown them.

Remove the sausages from the pan. Drain and discard all but two tablespoons of the rendered bacon and sausage fat.

Add the onion, celery, and apple to the pan, and cook until just softened, about two minutes. Add the garlic, cranberries, two teaspoons of thyme, and the rice. Cook for another minute, until rice begins to toast.

Add salt, pepper, bay leaf, and chicken stock. Add cooked bacon back to the pot. Bring the pot to a boil.

Nestle sausages into the brothy rice and cover. Place in the oven and cook for 45 to 55 minutes, until rice is tender and has absorbed the liquid in the pot. Serve with a side of lightly dressed greens and a splurtch of grainy mustard or, if you are of a certain age, ketchup.

Emily Wight is a working mom, author, and the blogger behind Well Fed, Flat Broke (wellfedflatbroke.com). Her cookbook, “Well fed, flat broke: Recipes for modest budgets & messy kitchens,” from Arsenal Pulp Press will be available in stores in April 2015. She is tired.