416 Thursday Nights in the Making

It's been eight years since we started full-fledged KICK'N. Flash started helping with dinner much earlier in life, but around seven he started putting dinners together. They started simply enough, just mac n' cheese out of the box or simple pasta, but as he became more capable he ...well, he slacked off and he grumped about it and it became one more point of contention most weeks. He forgot until the last minute most nights, or he complained that there wasn't anything in the house to cook. There was always a battle and I have wondered more times than not if it was even worth my while to try to get my child be competent and confident in the kitchen.

Until now.

For the past two weeks, Flash has actually planned ahead. There have been mysterious items on the grocery list. Last week there was a request for dijon mustard. This week he wanted sundried tomatoes. Last week, without complaint or fanfare, Flash grilled up some pretty decent chicken and had two side dishes to finish off the meal.

On my way home tonight, however, believing last week to be a fluke of nature and surely not something that would ever be repeated, I actually stopped at the grocery store and picked up Plan B. Flash has been cranky this week (marching in the rain every afternoon will do that to a teen) and I figured he would forget about dinner as per the usual and I'd be left to starve or conjure up my own plan. I decided to pick up something simple, and if he was still his cranky self (as his text messages had suggested) I would just make something simple for us both and let it go knowing the battle over band might be a bigger hurdle tonight than dinner needed to be.

I walked into a kitchen where fresh basil from the herb garden was picked and on the counter. I set my grocery bag down next to marinating chicken. I looked around to make sure I was in the right house. Flash helped me put the groceries away and asked how long until I would be hungry for dinner.

Huh wuh? Wow. Um, I mean....

I changed my clothes, put in a load of laundry and saw Flash out lighting up the grill. Before long, he came in and said it would be two minutes until dinner, a missive that usually means it'll be two minutes until he realizes he's a) ruined dinner, b) forgotten dinner or c) completely messed dinner up. I was wrong again. Within two minutes, if not before, he was setting before me a dinner plate with steamed corn and stuffed, grilled chicken breasts that smelled divine. I mean, d-i-v-i-n-e. We both laughed at the bowls of applesauce. I used to joke that he wasn't allowed to count that as a side dish anymore.

In any case, for dinner tonight, I enjoyed an amazing dish of chicken stuffed with cheese, basil and sundried tomatoes, roasted in a balsamic vinegrette that was to.die.for. good.

Ya'll should have been here.

Or not. There's more left over for me!!

Oh my! I just sneaked a peek at the grocery list. He's added, "steak, bacon, spinach and lemon pepper". I can't wait for next week!!

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