I have been focusing on spending quality time daily with the girls as I have discussed in previous post. As I have been reading different articles and blogs about parenting that parents need to develop individual relationships with each of the children. Since I realized that I could do much better with giving the girls their individual time, I have been looking for ways to make this happen daily. Let me just say that it is not the easiest of activities as most of the time, all the girls want to be around whenever you are trying to accomplish things.
I am not going to say that I am winning the battle on making this happen everyday, but I am making a conscious effort to try and give the girls their own Fire Dad time. A couple days ago, I found that we had some excess avocados and tomatoes and decided that I would make some guacamole. Instead of doing it myself, I asked the girls if they were interested in being my assistant chef. Milana’s eyes lit up as she raised her hand and came running over to help. To make it more special, I recently bought a chef hat that I said she could use. She quickly ran upstairs and came back down donning her chef hat asking what she could do. Since this was our first time cooking together, I wanted to take it slow with her. I found that she was very capable and willing to do everything and anything that need to be done.
Step 1: Cutting the avocados – I figured that I would take the lead on this one as a knife in her hand might not be the best decision to make as a father and did not want to have a visit from DCFS. We split the avocados in half and plucked the seed out of the center. While she was interested in doing the cutting, I reassured her that I recently had cut my finger pretty good and that I wanted her to have all her fingers and toes when we were finished.
Step 2: Avocado Digging – Milana stepped up for this activity. I gave her a spoon and told her to scoop out all the avocados and dump them in a metal bowl. She was really quick doing this activity and actually caught a couple stems that I had left int the avocado.
Step 3: Garlic Press – This was relatively easy. Put a clove of garlic in the press and squash it. Milana tried it but she was not strong enough to do the job so this was mine. We definitely want fresh garlic. I am a garlic fan and might overdo it. In the receipe below, please reduce the garlic if you are not as big of a fan. Just FYI, after eating some of the guac, I had some of the worst burps ever. I STUNK! It probably even oozed from my pores.
Step 4: Stir and Lime Juice- Milana stepped up here and went to mixing the garlic and avocados together. As she was stirring, I added some salt and pepper to my taste level. Need some lime juice for flavor and help the avocados from browning up.
Step 5: Cut Tomatoes – Again this was a Fire Dads job. I cut them all up, removed the seeds and then chopped them up a little bit. Asst. Chef Milana then added it to our bowl.
Step 6: Chop Cilantro – Another knife job that I handled. I chopped it up pretty fine and then Milana added to the mix.
Step 7: Mix Again – Once all the ingredients are in….Mix to your desired consistency. I like having some chunks of avocado so I do not mix too much.
Recipe:
7 – Medium Avocados
4 – Medium Roma Tomatoes
4 – Cloves of Garlic
6 – Teaspoons of Lime Juice or 2 fresh limes
1 – Teaspoon of Salt (to taste)
1/2 – Teaspoon of Pepper (to taste)
Milana did an excellent job and we had a good bonding experience. I got to enjoy here in her element where she was “calling” the shots on the guacamole. What was interesting….She does not like eating new things especially when they are green. She went ahead and asked for her own small bowl and some chips….and she ate them. My belief is because she was part of the process. It was great to see.
If you are looking for some easy guacamole to make and have an assistant chef to help, give this a try and let us know how it goes!