Sundays at our house, revolve around church in the morning and an afternoon spent together. Years ago Valarie picked up a slate magnet for the fridge that states, “Time is the Best Thing to Spend on a Child.” That has been our top priority even with our other business Dale Environmental and all our other endeavors, God and family first.
As our food interests in recipes and cooking have grown, Valarie has made an effort to teach the kids more cooking skills, but more importantly an appreciation for new and different foods that are most times out of their comfort zone. What better way to spend an afternoon with each other cooking, taking photos, tasting great flavors and using our creative abilities to come together as a family. This afternoon was also special as Vania, our current exchange student from Mexico was with us to experience an afternoon with the Nats.
We didn’t start the day with a particular menu in mind, but we had planned to prepare and shoot several dishes for the blog. Our menu for this shoot ending up being pico de gallo, pasta salad, and chicken taquitos in no particular order. It was just an afternoon that unfolded organically; not one that was micromanaged and over planned. A relaxing afternoon spent together, enjoying each other’s company centered around food. Food always brings people together!
Valarie’s pasta salads vary, but one of her signature pasta salads is a tri-color rotini which includes cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, corn, broccoli and Italian dressing. Sometimes it includes black olives, but we did not have them on hand this particular Sunday. After the pasta salad, she prepared a fresh pico de gallo, a family favorite now. Our kids love to scoop up the pico de gallo with their favorite organic blue corn chips or during this shoot Xochitl, Topos de Maiz (White Corn Chips). Finally, we experimented with several different versions of chicken taquitos, but we seemed to follow the great recipe for “cream cheese and chicken taquitos featured by Kristen at www.lilluna.com. The taquitos as you can see by the photos were kid tested and kid approved. Everybody loved them.
We featured a few behind the scenes shots as well so you can get a idea of how we create so many dishes around the island in Valarie’s Kitchen for our blog and other social media outlets. This afternoon of recipes and cooking was truly a bonding moment both for us, the kids and their new Mexcian sister, Vania.
We believe God has placed unique gifts, talents and abilities inside all of us and it is our responsibility to seek out and develop those gifts. Through and afternoon of cooking, lighting and shooting images, we got all the kids involved in cutting, mixing, food styling and most importantly; “exploring the world, one dish at a time.”
Enjoy yourself, its later than you think
The Nats