“Chips and salsa?”

This is the way we are greeted by Abby as we walk in the door after a day at work. (To which a grown-up inevitably replies: “Thanks for asking! My day was great!”)

In theory we will be sitting down to dinner in 30 minutes, and in theory the girls should not be filling up on chips and salsa when it means broccoli consumption will surely suffer. But in practice, we — the starving grown-ups — can’t say no ourselves. So the four of us stand around (or sit on) the counter and wolf down a bowl of chips like wild animals. We’ve tried to leverage this weakness into something positive. There’s our “Chips-for-Details” deal which requires the girls to share one detail about their days (who they sat next to at lunch, what they chose at “free choice,” who was a cop at recess and who was a robber) before they are allowed to start dipping. And more recently there is our effort to capitalize on their love affair with the snack and roll it right into a healthy dinner. This entails assembling a spread like the one shown above (chips, salsa, shredded cheese, limes, avocado, cilantro) which will serve as the toppings to what they now call “taco soup.” The girls are allowed to grab one or two chips while I get the dinner ready:

Brown two chicken breasts in a medium saucepan, about 3 minutes a side then remove. (They don’t have to be cooked through.) To the same pan, add a little oil and sautee 1/2 chopped onion and 1 crushed garlic clove, 1/2 minced jalapeno pepper (plus and salt, and pepper) over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Add chicken stock, (if it’s homemade, all the better), 1 15-ounce can hominy (optional, found in international section of supermarket) add back the chicken, plus a dried chili pepper, and simmer for 15 minutes. When the chicken is cooked through, remove and shred it, then return to the pan. Ladle out servings in bowls and add your toppings at the table. Do not be stingy with the lime squeezing. (That’s what takes it to the next level.) And if Abby decides to forego the soup part of taco soup? I let it go, as long she dishes out some good bus gossip.

One dinner, two ways

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