(bright music) - [Announcer] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

(screen whooshes) (bright upbeat music) - I'm gonna win.

- Oh, who's winning?

- Me.

- Oh, always.

We're back here on another episode of "Dapper Dad's Dinner Table", and today I've got two very special sous chefs that will be helping me in the kitchen.

Sebastian and Brooklyn.

You guys hungry?

You guys wanna help me in the kitchen today?

- [Both] Yeah!

- All right come on, let's go.

Well, we've made it to the kitchen.

Like I said, I've got my two wonderful sous chefs here, my daughter Brooklyn, and my son Sebastian.

Today we're gonna make some stuffed peppers, Italian style.

Now the cool thing about this is it's kind of like a layered dish, and it's also a very kid-friendly dish.

So when you're thinking about things that you can do in the kitchen with your kids to help you out, lots of things that are fun are getting messy, getting their hands involved, as well as, you know, mixing things.

And I like to have things a lot of, pre-made, pre-cut, pre-diced, whatever, so that way they can help me scoop them in.

Now a couple other cool things to have in the kitchen are some knives.

This is a safety knife.

It is serrated, but it's safe.

I don't have to worry about him slicing a finger off while he's helping me with the peppers, and the same thing with Brooklyn.

I'll do all the big chopping with my knife over there.

Okay.

Are we ready to get started?

- [Both] Yes!

- All right.

Okay, cool.

So first things that we're gonna do, what have we already done?

What do we do before we ever come into the kitchen?

- Wash our hands.

- Wash our hands, that is great.

So I want you to pick a bell pepper.

What color do you want, Sebastian?

- Um.

Green!

- You want the green one?

And you, Brooklyn?

- The yellow.

- You got the yellow one.

Okay.

I'm gonna show you what to do first, and then you're gonna copy me, okay?

And this is your knife.

You're right-handed, so you're gonna use that one.

Now, what we're gonna do is we're gonna take our knife, and we're gonna cut the top off, just like that.

You think you can do that?

- [Sebastian] Yeah.

- No, no, no.

You wanna hold it with this hand.

We're gonna use this hand, we're gonna keep our fingers back, and we're gonna cut.

Now you've gotta kinda saw a little bit, 'cause this is serrated.

There.

Perfect.

You need a hand?

- That's a lot of seeds.

- It is a lot of seeds.

Here.

Ready?

You cut right on the thing there.

And we're gonna take this out, and I'll throw it away over here.

Now, what we're gonna do is Daddy's gonna get the sharp knife, and we're gonna cut the seeds out.

Cut around it with your knife, like so.

And then pull it out.

So hold on.

- I'm already done.

- Okay, yeah, you're done.

Hold on a second.

So we're gonna cut that.

Cut that.

Cut that.

Now reach in with your hand and pull that out.

Just like this.

Two hands, hold the pepper in one hand.

And pull.

Ta-da.

Now take it.

Put it upside down, give it a couple good taps, make sure you got all the seeds outta there.

Oh, you had a lot of seeds in that one.

So the cool thing is, I don't know about your kids, if you have kids, or your grandkids.

These guys, they do fight all the time.

But one of the times when they don't is when they're in the kitchen helping me.

I think it's just that it gives them something else to focus on, in helping each other, and it teaches them a few things in the kitchen, too.

You can start with simple stuff, like weights, measures, even fractions when it comes to pizza shapes and pizza cutouts.

We're gonna set these aside.

All right.

Yours is good.

Let me clean off your cutting board there for a second.

Get some of those seeds off.

All right.

The great thing about these is that you can also meal prep these ahead of time, and we can have them later.

Start 'em off one day, and get 'em ready to go in the oven the following day.

I'm using your knife.

- [Sebastian] Hey!

- Now that we got these cleaned out, we're gonna go ahead and set these aside for the minute, okay?

So let's all put them on one cutting board.

Now we're gonna move onto some of our other ingredients.

Now what we've got here, we've got some Parmesan cheese, we've got some basil and oregano, some garlic, some onions, some parsley.

And what's this, Sebastian?

- A brain!

- No, it's ground beef.

And this parsley right here.

So what I'm gonna go ahead and do, I'm gonna go ahead and turn on the range, and we're gonna go ahead and saute our onions, okay?

Now another thing that we can do, this is not gonna stand up in the pan like that, so what do you think we can do?

- Put it- - Flip it upside-down.

- Flip it, but if we flip it upside-down, we can't put our filling in there.

What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna cut a little bit off the bottom.

Just a little bit, to make it flat, and that way, it'll stand up very good on its own.

- But mine stands up already good.

- Yup, it's got a pretty flat bottom, so that's pretty good.

You're good to go there.

So what do all these colors remind you of?

- A rainbow.

- A rainbow?

Very cool.

- Primary colors.

- Some of your primary colors are in there.

Did you know something?

Did you know that all bell peppers start out green?

And the longer that it stays on the vine, on the plant, it ripens more and more and more?

And it goes from green, to yellow, to orange, to red?

So technically, those are all green bell peppers.

Just like your peppers, right?

Your peppers, what color are they when they start out?

- Uh.

- [Both] Green.

- And what color do they turn when we take them off to make your spicy sauce?

- Red.

- Sebastian grows peppers.

He's the farmer.

Brooklyn grows all the flowers, 'cause she loves butterflies.

But yeah, Sebastian's got a gang of peppers outside.

He's got some cayenne, some serranos, as well as some jalapeno peppers.

And we use them to make spicy sauce.

Hmm?

Oh you're right, we got banana peppers this year, too.

Forgot about that.

All right.

We're gonna put a little bit of olive oil.

Get our pan up to temperature.

And we're gonna start with the onions.

I'm gonna use this one.

We're gonna go ahead and saute these just 'til they soften up a little bit.

We don't want them to get too cooked.

We're gonna season with a little bit of salt.

What do we do with the salt?

We always hold it up high, right?

And some pepper.

So once we get this going, we're gonna go ahead and add the ground beef.

Can you pass me the ground beef, Brooklyn?

So what's your favorite part about being in the kitchen with Dad?

- Helping you.

- Helping me?

What's your favorite thing to make when you're in the kitchen?

- Buttered noodles.

- Buttered noodles.

What about you, Sebbies?

- I like trying new foods.

- You like doing what?

- Trying new foods.

- Trying new foods.

All right.

While we're letting that brown, we're gonna go ahead and get our tray set up here.

We're gonna go ahead and put our peppers in here.

They fit pretty good.

I'm gonna move your cutting board out of the way.

We won't need that anymore.

What we've got here is we've got some rice, some precooked rice, and we're gonna bring our sauces over.

Actually, I'm gonna leave them on your side, 'cause you're gonna add some of them, you're gonna add them to the- - Ketchup!

- No, tomato sauce.

It's very close.

- [Sebastian] I thought ketchup and tomato sauce was the same thing.

- Ketchup and tomato sauce are kinda the same thing, except ketchup has different seasonings in it, and I think ketchup is probably just a little bit thicker than this.

- Yeah.

- But it all comes from tomatoes, so that's good.

(bright upbeat music) Again, I think it's important to get kids in the kitchen, especially at a young age, so they're not scared, and they become familiar with different kitchen utensils, different spices, different seasonings and flavors, and it helps them develop their own palates very young, of what they like, and what they wanna try, and by making them try different things, it kinda opens up that doorway to where they're not scared if they go to a friend's house, and their mom or dad are serving something different than they're used to.

So we have, what's our rule in this house?

- Try one thing, try a new thing at least once.

- You gotta try a new thing at least once to figure out if you really like it or not.

But we also don't stop there in this house.

If we try something and we don't like it, I ask them what they don't like about it.

Was it too spicy?

Was it too salty, too sweet, too crunchy, too soft?

And that way, you can also help you as a parent figure out what kinda foods that you're not gonna be wasting your time or your money on if they're not gonna wanna eat it.

All right, I just need a couple more minutes on this.

Sebastian is gonna be six.

He loves playing soccer.

He does karate.

He is the, he's the crazy man.

He loves anything sports.

He's a rambunctious boy.

Brooklyn is my daughter.

She is nine.

She's going into fourth grade now.

She just loves art and math, and she's definitely the academic out of the both of them.

But you know, they love being in the kitchen with me and doing stuff, and Mom's out of town this weekend, so whenever Mom's out of town, it gives me an opportunity to get them in the kitchen to help out and do some of the chores and learn some stuff, right?

- Yeah.

- All right.

Okay, this is almost done, so I'm gonna go ahead and let that cool.

I'll use that as a towel.

Salt and pepper out of the way.

All right.

So Brooklyn's got a joke for us.

Let's hear it.

- What do you call a cow with no legs?

- A cow with no legs.

Sebastian, what do we call a cow with no legs?

- I don't know.

- I don't know either.

- Ground beef!

- Ground beef.

That's a good one.

I like that.

All right.

Our ground beef is done.

So what we're gonna do is I'm gonna bring it over here, and we're gonna put it in the bowl, and then we're gonna start mixing things, okay?

All right, ground beef is done, so I'm gonna bring it over.

I'm gonna put it in the bowl, and I want you to be careful, Sebby, 'cause it's gonna be very hot, okay?

- [Sebastian] It's pretty hot, too.

- Gonna put that in there.

Yeah, that's the steam.

Watch out, we're gonna put it there.

All right, now we're gonna go ahead and start to add some of our ingredients in.

Brooklyn, go ahead and grab the spices.

Right there, we've got oregano and basil.

Go ahead and dump that in.

- All of it?

- All of it.

Nice, way to spread it out.

- That's a lot.

- We'll get the garlic.

And you can use one of your spoons.

Some minced garlic.

All right.

Let's go with the shredded Parmesan, or the, yeah, the shredded Parmesan.

All, good job.

And then- - Looks like snow.

- Can you use two hands and grab the tomatoes?

All right.

We are gonna put all these crushed tomatoes in there.

Diced tomatoes.

And last but not least, well not least.

I'll go ahead and put this in, 'cause we're not gonna use all of this.

This is the tomato paste.

Or sorry, the tomato sauce.

We're gonna save a little bit of that for our pan sauce.

And then last, we're gonna do the parsley.

I got a joke for you.

What's green and sings?

- I don't know.

- Elvis Parsley.

No?

- Can I pour it?

- Bad joke.

Bad dad joke.

- Can I pour some?

- Yeah, you go ahead and throw the rest in there.

That's enough, that's enough.

That's enough, okay.

Can you begin stirring.

And what I want you to do is I want you to put one hand on the side of the bowl.

And hold it, and I'll help you hold it, and then stir it.

Round and round.

Yeah.

Get it.

Round and round like that, all right.

This recipe, like all of our recipes, can be found on PBSCharlotte.org.

Please check them out, give it a try, give us some feedback, how you like it.

Add some of your own things.

One of the other things, you don't have to use just ground beef.

You could use ground turkey.

Wild game, use some ground venison.

Add some Italian sausage to it for a little flavor.

All right, that's good.

We're gonna stir that up.

Good job.

And now we're gonna add some rice.

We've got some precooked rice, just to make it a little easier on us.

Add that.

And can you stir that up for us?

- Yes.

- Okay.

Now one of the cool things about this to think about with kids helping is layering.

This is lots of different layers, layers of flavor, layers of ingredients.

And now what we're gonna do is we're gonna take all these layers that we've mixed in here, and we're gonna go ahead and scoop them into our- - [Both] Peppers.

- All right.

So I want you to use this spoon.

(bright upbeat music) - Can I use this one?

- Yep, and you use that spoon.

I'm gonna put it here.

And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna put the green one in front of you, and I'll put this one in front of you here.

Now what I want you to do is go in here, scoop some of that out, and put it, fill it up.

Fill it to the top.

There you go.

Keep going.

All right.

Good job.

Other great recipes with kids are any baking.

Kids love baking.

They love sweets.

Breakfast is also a good and easy recipes for kids, teaching them how to make their own breakfast, something else than just cereal in the mornings.

These guys love eggs, they love pancakes.

Sebastian's cooked pancakes with me before.

Brooklyn- - And waffles!

- Oh yes, that's what I was about to say, waffles.

Go ahead and fill it up.

You wanna fill it up to the top, and then mash it down just a little bit.

And we've got one more, Sebbies.

Wanna use the big spoon and fill it up?

- Yeah.

- Go ahead.

Is this fun, guys?

- [Both] Yeah!

- Awesome.

Oh, that's a big scoop.

All right, that's good, Brooklyn.

Let me take that one from you.

All right, we're gonna put this in here.

Oh.

I'll finish it off for you.

Now what do you think these are gonna kinda taste like based on the spices we put in there?

We put some Italian spices in there, we put some crushed tomatoes in there.

- Um.

- What kinda, what do you think it's gonna taste close to?

- Sweet and spicy.

- Sweet and salty.

- Nice tries.

- Sweet and salty.

- Sweet and salty?

We didn't really put that much salt in there.

Okay, what kind of food?

Like, I don't know, like Italian food, maybe?

Like kind of like a spaghetti sauce, kind of?

Close to that, you think it'll taste kinda close to that when we're done?

- Yeah.

- Okay, great.

Now, what we're gonna do with the rest of this sauce, we're gonna add this sauce to our pan, to our baking dish, sorry.

And along with that, we're going to add some beef broth.

Now this is going to do two things.

It's gonna make a little bit of steam to help this cook along and not dry out.

And it should cook down a little bit while we've got it baking.

That way, it will make a nice little sauce we can put over it.

That's enough.

We're gonna go put this here.

The last thing that we're gonna do is we're gonna go ahead and add a little cheese on top.

Do you wanna take a little sprinkle, sprinkle some cheese on top?

- Yes.

- Well you gotta have a little bigger sprinkle than that.

That's not enough cheese.

There we go.

- Can I do it?

- Yeah, you can do it, too.

Hold on.

Let me get Sebastian done.

Here, I'm gonna put it there, and put this there, and you guys sprinkle away.

- Can I have some in my mouth?

- [Tim] No, you can't have any in your mouth.

(Tim chuckles) - But I love this type of cheese.

- You love this type of cheese?

What kind of cheese is this?

- Uh- - Shredded.

- [Tim] Very good.

- I call it noodle cheese, because it looks like noodles.

- Okay.

That's a good one, too.

It's Parmesan.

I think that's enough.

Here, let me get another little, put a little bit there, little bit there, little bit there.

(Tim chuckles) - Smells like noodles.

- No it doesn't.

Okay.

And now, we're gonna go ahead and put this in the oven.

It's gonna be in the oven for about 30, 40 minutes.

(bright upbeat music) As we mentioned inside, as the peppers are cooking in the oven, it's gonna take a couple minutes, so I figured I would share with you our little pepper garden, our potted pepper garden, so to speak.

So we grow these from little plants that we get at the hardware store, and we grow them, we water them.

It's great 'cause it gives the kids a little responsibility.

It's their responsibility to make sure they get watered if it doesn't rain, and we kinda get to watch in how it grows, how they flower, and then how they turn into peppers.

They start off bright green, and then we know they're ready to go when they're what?

- [Both] Red!

- Bright red.

Okay.

So what we've got here, we've got some banana peppers.

We've got some mammoth jalapenos, as well as some good old cayenne peppers, which I like to pickle and make some sauce with 'em.

You guys, why don't you guys go ahead and pick some to cut?

Now you'll notice, we do let our jalapenos go until they are nice and ripe, and they are super red.

Uh-oh, grab that one.

You want me to see that one?

So yeah, I leave the jalapenos on the vine until they're super red.

This is actually how srirachas are made.

Srirachas are made from jalapenos, and they are made from red vine ripened jalapenos.

It's what they make sriracha out of.

Go ahead, clip some more.

You just watch your fingers.

Okay.

And we've got a lot.

And it looks like we've got some little flowers here that have just budded, so that means those are gonna be more baby peppers that are gonna grow right there, right?

- Yes.

- Yes.

- Good deal.

Do you guys like working in the yard and helping out with the peppers, and growing some flowers and stuff?

- Yes.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

We keep some flowers in the front yard for the pollinators.

We got some butterfly bushes for the bumblebees and the butterflies.

Good job, good job.

We planted these in the spring.

So it's pushing middle of the summer right now.

This is as tall as they're gonna get, and we've probably, like I said, we've got some more buds on here that just flowered.

So we've probably got another round of peppers that come off here, and then these will be, we'll set these pots aside, and use them again next year.

We've had other things in our garden.

We had a garden in the back corner of the yard.

We had tomatoes, we tried to grow carrots before.

What else have we tried to plant, Brooklyn?

- Blueberries!

- Blueberries, but all the birds kept getting to our blueberries before we could even have enough for a bowl.

So yeah, tried some strawberries one time.

Tried different things.

We've tried several things from seeds, but most of our flowers that we plant, the wildflowers and everything, are from seed.

But all of our vegetables, we just get the little sprouts, little seedlings.

I got 'em.

(bright upbeat music) All right.

Well let's grab a couple more of these.

I'll help you out.

And then we'll go in and our peppers should be about done in the oven.

All right.

So our peppers are almost done.

Are you ready to try them?

- Yes!

- Yeah!

- Okay, that's great.

Now, what is your favorite thing to make with me in the kitchen?

- Noodles.

- Noodles?

- Cheese noodles.

(laughing) - Cheese noodles?

Oh, that's a new one for you.

I think I remember the first thing that I ever cooked with Brooklyn when she was little was probably, and it was baking.

I think we made some cookies, or something.

And then I know with you, we've made some pancakes, and I know you love some waffles and stuff like that, and everything.

But we're kinda branching outside of breakfast and simple baking stuff like this, and teaching them how to make some more dinner items, and how to help in the kitchen.

So, okay.

After dinner, who's gonna help me do all these dishes?

- Brooklyn.

- Brooklyn?

- No.

- No?

Well we have a dishwasher, so.

Who's gonna help me load the dishwasher?

- Sebastian.

- Sebastian, okay.

Great.

(laughing) All right.

Let's see if we're ready to go here.

Oh gosh, guys.

What do you think?

- Good.

- Looks good, huh?

All the cheese is melty.

We're gonna go ahead and set this right here.

Watch out, it's very hot.

And there we go.

We have our stuffed peppers.

All right, so let's go ahead and get some plates, and we'll get- - The cheese.

- We'll let this cool off for just a bit, 'cause it just came out of the blazing hot oven, and then we'll get these served up, okay?

(screen whooshes) All right, so everything's cooled off.

We're ready to eat.

I hear you have a joke.

I hope it's better than the last one.

(laughs) Let's hear it.

- What did the ketchup say to the mustard when they were having a race?

- What did the ketchup say to the mustard when they were having a race?

- Have a ketchuppy day?

- Have a ketchuppy day?

- No.

- Hmm, I don't know.

- Catch up.

(giggles) - Okay.

We're gonna work on your jokes before we come back to the next episode, but I like where your head's at with the food, the themed jokes and everything.

So that's good.

Catch up.

Do you get it, catch up?

- Yes.

- Okay, good, good, good, good.

- Catch.

- So hey- - Up.

- You know, school's back in.

What is your favorite part of going to school?

- Reading.

- Reading?

And Sebastian, what's your favorite part of school?

- Uh, coloring?

- Coloring?

Making friends?

- Yes.

- Playing?

- Yes.

- How's the transition that there's no more nap time at school?

How are you liking that?

Do you miss nap time?

- (giggles) Not really.

- Not really?

That's good, you're growing up.

You don't need to take any nap time.

All right, Sebastian.

I think you had the green one.

(upbeat music) Wow, look at all that sauce.

Brooklyn had the orange one.

There we go, let you give it a try.

Okay.

Your silverware, your silverware.

I'm gonna go ahead and cut it in half so we can see how delicious it looks.

Oh yeah.

I just butchered that one.

There you go.

All nice and steamy, cheesy, ricey, tomato-y.

How's that?

- Can I eat it?

- Yes, you can eat.

Give it a try.

The top's so nice and crispy.

How are you liking it?

- I don't know yet.

- You don't even know yet?

You haven't tried yet?

Dad's gonna try his, too.

Oh, this one fell over.

We gotta save him.

Blow on it if it's hot.

- I love it.

- You love it?

It's kinda cool, right?

You've got your vegetables, your starch, and your meat, all in one little cup, little bell pepper cup, huh?

What do you think, Sebastian?

You love rice, so I don't want to hear it.

- 50-50.

- 50-50?

That's all right.

It's a new flavor for you.

You know what I think it needs, though?

- What?

- I think it needs a little salt, and then you should try it again, and that way, you can see how salt might improve it.

Grab the salt for us, Brooklyn.

Now remember, sprinkle high, not too much.

You can always add more.

Let me see.

I think you need a little more than that.

There we go.

You want some of the sauce?

- Yeah.

- Yeah, let me get you a spoon.

Bring your plate over.

All right.

What was your favorite part of helping put this together?

- Cutting the peppers.

- Cutting?

Learning how to cut?

- Yes.

- What about you, Sebastian?

What do you like the most about it?

- Trying it.

- Trying it?

Well hey, I'm happy that you tried it.

I get it that it's a 50-50, but we'll try something different next time, and maybe we'll get two thumbs up, okay?

I think it tastes really good.

- Like what?

- I give it 100.

- Okay, well here's a question.

You give it a 100, and I really like that.

What about it do you like?

Tell our friends.

What about it do you like the most?

- Everything.

- Everything?

The flavor, the texture.

I mean, it's not mushy.

- I love everything.

- You love everything?

Easy enough.

Mm.

I think that's really good.

You know what I like the most about it, Sebastian?

- No.

- The cheese on top.

Got all melty and crispy.

But I know you don't like melty cheese.

Try a little bit of melty cheese right here.

- Okay.

- Hmm?

Wait for it, ladies and gentlemen.

- Needs more salt.

- Needs more salt?

Thank you for joining us at my dinner table again.

I hope you've enjoyed this episode and this recipe, and I really hope you give it a try.

Check out PBSCharlotte.org for this recipe, and all of our other recipes, and please, drop me a line and let me know which one's your favorite, or even drop me a line and let me know something you'd like us to try on the show.

Thank you two for helping me out.

I hope that I can have you on the show with me again.

Did you like being on the show?

- Yeah.

- Yes.

- Awesome, great.

Well, we'll think of some other kid-friendly recipes in the future to try, and we'll have them back with us.

Thank you all very much, and you're always welcome at our dinner table.

(bright upbeat music) (bright music) - [Announcer] A production of PBS Charlotte.