Kenny was having a bit of a tough few moments this afternoon, thinking about a stressful (to him) event coming up later this week.
As a fellow sufferer of panic attacks and extreme anxiety, I wanted to help him out using one of the go-to tools in my arsenal – distraction.
I asked him to come downstairs, cuddled with him and reassured him for a few moments, then hopped up and decided to continue doing dishes, while getting him to put together our supper for tonight.
First up I had him grease the slow cooker pot with some grapeseed oil, although I gave him the option to use peanut if he’d prefer, but he didn’t think it made a difference.
Then he dumped in the hash browns.
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| Frozen hash browns as the base. |
Next, some salsa.
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| Mama’s favourite condiment – SALSA! |
Followed by nacho cheese dip. About half of the smaller jar. The rest gets set aside for real dipping of nachos.
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| Nacho cheese. A guilty pleasure for our whole household. |
I suggested lots of mozarella cheese, as well as the last of some plain yogurt we had. Then pepperoni and some spices (including nacho cheese popcorn spice).
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| Now we’re getting somewhere! |
Kenny mixed it all together and was ready to smile for the camera by this point.
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| Feeling better now that he’s on a mission. 🙂 |
Then he took the camera to take a picture of me checking the computer, as well as a picture of my butt.
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| At first I wondered about the physics of this position, then realized I had my other leg extended out behind me. |
I asked him to cover up the casserole with more mozarella – I told him to pretend the dish was poo in the toilet, and the cheese was sawdust – I wanted a good blanket!
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| A good amount of cheese. Has anyone EVER said “Oh, this dish has too much cheese”?! |
He then set up the cooker, and put the pot into it on low.
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| Like lobsters in the pot! Note the extra cheese on Aunt Vicki’s placemat. Daddy can clean that up. |
Talk about some real-world applied knowledge! We often bake together, but this was one of the first meals he’s helped with that didn’t use any measurements.
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| Cook faster you slow cooker! |
So hungry now!
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| Minutes before the bowl was empty – it was FANTASTIC!!! |