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Cooking with Kids—The Letter S

You don’t have to write for a living to know that inspiration can come from random events. Such is the case with this next blog. Yesterday I was cleaning out one of the drawers in the kitchen when I ran across the following recipes. Each features my mother’s perfect penmanship and all three ratty looking recipe cards quickly caught the eye of my preschooler who can spot grandma’s handwriting a mile away.

She picked them up and stared at them for a while then very matter-of-factly asked if we were having an “S dinner.” When I asked her what she meant she noted that each of the recipes began with the letter S and wondered what occasion precipitated a meal featuring dishes that all started with the same letter. Frankly, I hadn’t noticed that all three dishes shared the same first letter, but that’s not all they share in common.

Each is very easy to prepare. So easy in fact that I promised my 4-year-old that next week she and I would make them together (though, not on the same night) so that we could have part of an “S dinner” after all.

So here they are–the famous S dishes: Spanish Rice, Sesame Snow Peas and Salad Stuffed Tomatoes. I wouldn’t suggest serving them during the same meal, but they are all terrific in their own right.

SPANISH RICE

Ingredients:

2 slices bacon, chopped

1/2 pound ground beef

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 bay leaf

2 cups canned whole tomatoes with liquid or 1-1/2 cups tomato sauce

3 cups cooked rice

Directions:

Saute bacon, beef, onion and green pepper; drain fat.
Add salt, pepper, bay leaf, tomatoes or tomato sauce.
Simmer 5 to 10 minutes. Remove bay leaf. Stir in rice until heated through.

SESAME SNOW PEAS

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 pound snow peas, cleaned

1 tablespoon black and white sesame seeds

1 lemon, juiced and zested

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions:

Place sesame oil in large pan and heat.

Add the snow peas and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add the sesame seeds and toss well.

Add the lemon juice and zest and season with salt and pepper. Garnish with parsley.

SALAD STUFFED TOMATOES

Ingredients:

6 cups coarsely shredded romaine lettuce

1/2 cup bottled Caesar Dressing

4 large (3-inch) round tomatoes

1 bag garlic-flavored croutons

Directions:

Add the dressing to the lettuce in a large bowl and toss until evenly combined.

Slice each tomato into 8 wedges, cutting to but not through the bottom to keep the wedges attached. (Pat the tomatoes dry if they are very juicy.)

Place the tomatoes on salad plates and spread the wedges. Mound each tomato with 1 cup of the lettuce mixture and top with croutons.

Related Articles:

Making Dinner with Your Kids

Kids in the Kitchen–Turkey Wraps and Hamburger Cookies

Kids in the Kitchen: Sweet and Simple Strawberry Treats

Summer Fun with Kids–Making Tanning Teddy Bear Cupcakes

This entry was posted in Side Dishes and tagged , , , by Michele Cheplic. Bookmark the permalink.

About Michele Cheplic

Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism. She spent the next ten years as a television anchor and reporter at various stations throughout the country (from the CBS affiliate in Honolulu to the NBC affiliate in Green Bay). She has won numerous honors including an Emmy Award and multiple Edward R. Murrow awards honoring outstanding achievements in broadcast journalism. In addition, she has received awards from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association for her reports on air travel and the Wisconsin Education Association Council for her stories on education. Michele has since left television to concentrate on being a mom and freelance writer.