Dinner Conversation: Ranch & Bacon

Last night, C took S for the evening, while I had the four younger kids at home.  I made a simple dinner of taquitos and beans that they all seemed to enjoy.  I let them watch a Christmas movie before bed and they each devoured a movie-treat bowl of Tostito's brand tortilla chips in their Limited Holiday flavor edition of Cinnamon.*

Anyway, J opted out of the beans -- even though she normally likes them -- because she wasn't very hungry.  She loves to know when she's eating healthy, so I tried to encourage her by reminding her that the beans were the healthiest part of the meal.  "They're the vegetable in this dinner," I said.

H went the guilt-laden route and said, "I guess J doesn't like to eat vegetables any more..." (insert disapproving head shake here).

But Z came to J's defense.  He said, "That's okay, even though she doesn't have beans, she still has a vegetable."

I looked at him, completely puzzled by what he said, "Huh?  She doesn't have a vegetable on her plate."

He said, "Well, what do you call Ranch?!"

I replied, "Not a vegetable."

He looked stunned, "Oh."

I guess in all the times we've served Ranch dressing with salad, we forgot to explain to Z that the stuff under the dressing was the vegetable and not the dressing itself.  Now Jesse had a spot of it on her plate because she likes to dip her taquitos in it.

I thought the matter had been put to rest when Z asked, "Well, what does Ranch come from then?  It's not like beef from a cow... it's not a plant, like a vegetable... so...?"

After explaining the horrible truth about where the goodness of Ranch dressing comes from (and just blew Z away with too much learning during a single mealtime), J and O started debating about where other foods come from.

"Nuggets come from a chicken," O said.

"Yes, and pigs come from bacon," J said.

Before I could stop laughing at the mix up, H corrected her matter-of-factly, "Actually, bacon comes from pigs."

"Oh yeah!  I almost forgot," J said.

Dinner with our kids is sometimes incredibly entertaining.  Their ideas about the world are just topsy-turvy and fun.  The irony is, when the bacon comes out, I become a complete pig -- so in a way, J wasn't too far off.  Bacon does make at least one pig. :)  I try to resist, but I'm only human.

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* That's my free product placement because I enjoyed them, too, and if you're looking for a new way to enjoy chips ... it's fun for the holidays.  But try as I might, I can't provide a product-link for you -- they must be very limited.  Anyway, I found our bag at our local Super Target (in the Christmas section, back by all the candy and ornaments).

P.S. Tortilla chips probably don't really count as a vegetable either -- even though they come from corn. So sad.