Thursday, April 7, 2011

A welcome dinner guest

It doesn't happen often that I get casual, hang-out time with my family.  With the exception of the year that one of my sweet nieces lived 4 miles away from me, I live at least 30 miles from any of my sisters, and 50 from my parents. 

But as fate would have it, my mom needed a day away from her house, so after spending some time with my niece this afternoon, my mom came up and visited at my house for a while.  We drove the kids to their karate classes.  We stopped at the library for two of my holds (I am Number Four and The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, in case you wondered).  I made some cookies and cooked dinner while she played dominoes and slap jack with Ben.  It was awesome.

I loved the casualness of it.  I loved Ben showing her magic tricks and Thomas showing his sparring moves.  It was fun talking about the snow storm (April 7th and snowing for crying out loud!) and the possibility of rag quilts with half square triangles (oh the madness!)

It was fun.  We ate chicken tacos and cookies and listened to my kids make inappropriate comments during dinner.  I liked having her make memories with us at our house, all unplanned, all unscripted.  I liked making dinner for her and having her eat with us.  (I made a lame attempt at a vegetable by sticking some baby carrots in a bowl on the table.  My mom never cooked a meal without a vegetable, so I was feeling a little self-conscious about my lack of edible greens on the table.) 

Sometimes it's nice to just have fun with your mom, right?

And, just in case you ever want an easy taco recipe, try this one:

Easy Chicken Tacos

1 large can chicken (I like the Sam's Club kind.)
4-6 ounces (or so) salsa
2-3 ounces sour cream
1 packet of Uncle Ben's Mexican Rice
Cheese
Soft taco shells
Angel hair cabbage

Drain the chicken and put in in a skillet pan.  Add salsa and sour cream, cook until warm and bubbly.  Cook rice according to the directions on the package.  Layer rice and chicken mixture in a soft taco shell with cheese, olives, cabbage (I prefer the angel hair cabbage to lettuce.  It give a most satisfying crunch!), and anything else you like on tacos.  They are warm and smooth and yummy on a cold, snowy spring night.  My kids tolerate them, but Shane and I (and I think my mom!) love them.

2 comments:

Melanie said...

Mmmmmm. Sounds yummy! I'll have to try this!

Amy Sorensen said...

Awwww...that is sweet. I'm glad this happened for you. unplanned, unscripted, unstressed. Just hanging out. That doesn't happen often for me either.