Renee thought up a menu this weekend, and we picked up the ingredients for it so she could cook and serve her own personal dinner tonight. Fortuitously enough, one of the staples was ground pork, so we just got more when getting my maxed-out meatloaf fixings. Jean already had it cooking on the stovetop when I got home from work.
Renee practically jumped on me: "Dad! Would you like to help me make my dinner tonight?"
"Just let me put away my gear, and I'd love to help out." I swear she was bouncing up and down like a maniac.
So here's the menu:
Stuffed Tomatoes
- Hollow out two tomatoes. Her original plan was to use the tomato innards as part of the stuffing, but once she saw the seeds embedded in the gelatinous guts, she discarded that plan.
- Fill about two thirds full with pre-cooked ground pork.
- Add diced onions
- Add a small amount of garlic
- Mix ingredients
- Place tomato 'lids' onto stuffed tomatoes and put tomatoes onto a greased cookie sheet.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven (350) for fifteen minutes.
While that was cooking she had me help her assemble, on three separate plates:
Nachos
- Lay down a layer of grocery-store tortilla chips.
- Distribute a light layer of ground pork.
- Drizzle home-made salsa (made by Dad over the weekend) on top.
- More of those diced onions...
- Hand sliced olives are added next (Renee did this with a small knife, but it was sharp, so I was nervous--turned out okay)
- Finally, add slices of cheese on top, microwave each plate until the cheese is melted.
Renee set the table while I cleaned up the counters and loaded the dishwasher. Jean and I were each given stuffed tomatoes (that was the grown-ups only portion of the meal, apparently), and we all got her pork nachos. Honestly, it was very tasty, if very rich.
Renee asked leading questions which amounted to "how much do you love it?" We gave appropriate praise, and she just beamed. I expect her to come up with other recipes in the future.
I had a great time working in the kitchen with her.
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