Southwestern Hash

Every night the boyfriend and I sit down to dinner together. And while we're not married or have children yet, a nightly family dinner is something we want to continue. It's not often easy to coordinate dinner plans. I'm done with work at 4:30 p.m. and he's done at 6 p.m. I'm starving when I hit the door around 5-ish, and I've still got an hour and a half before dinner — sometimes more if he ends up working late.

But dinner together is always a priority. Sometimes dinner lasts for hours — we'll open a bottle of wine and get lost in our conversation. And a lot of our conversations revolve around family traditions we remember from childhood. Most recently we found ourselves discussing our favorite dinners from our childhood. I remember loving my grandma's steamed buttered carrots (I was an odd child) and picking the broccoli out of meals my mom made (she refused to be a short order cook.. if we didn't like something we had eat around it). Although I'm not so sure any one meal stands out.

The boyfriend remembers breakfast for dinner. The full spread — pancakes, eggs, bacon — the works. I don't often make breakfast for dinner. Which is suprising because I heart breakfast foods. When I do make breakfast for dinner it's something like this Southwestern Hash. It's usually something spicier because spice is usually not something my stomach likes first thing in the a.m. But at dinner time, I'm all for it.

Taking a cue from my mother, I didn't leave out the black beans (although the boyfriend won't eat beans of any kind). He can eat around them. Plus, I'm not-so-secretly hoping that if he tries enough meals with beans they'll grow on him.

After all, the tactic worked for my broccoli aversion. I still can't say I crave broccoli, but at least I can eat it without gagging.