The silly Dutch guy cooks?!?!?

Now don't be too shocked, the man actually does some things in the kitchen!  9 times out of 10, I'm the cook in the family.  He's quite content on me making the majority of our meals but, every once in a while, he gets a wild hair .. and comes up with something great.

You see, Richard and his uncle Leo would have these movie marathons at home many moons ago during the VHS era.  Since they would usually get the munchies late at night, they used to gather up all sorts of edible items from the fridge and cupboards and throw them together to see if they could actually produce something edible.  In the Netherlands, this is usually referred to as kneuter koken, in which, kneuteren can easily be translated into nothing else but 'messing stuff up'.

So, one night after I came home from a long, hard day at work, I found Richard busy making this dish.  My jaw dropped immediately and I asked him what he was doing and he told me, 'It's none of your business' so, I had to wait it out.  Needless to say, I was a bit skeptic about the dish once he produced it.  He sat me on the couch (we don't own a dining table and chairs anymore), brought me this big full pan of food and told me we were going to eat out of it.  He got comfortable on the other end of the couch and with the pan between us, we dug in.

I couldn't believe it .. it actually worked out!  It was so tasty, I didn't want it to end!  Needless to say, this dish has cropped up many times in the last few months and will continue to do so ..

1 19 oz.can of chili

1 small onion, diced

1 roma tomato, diced

2 c. instant mashed potatoes

2 c. colby jack cheese, shredded

1 handful bread crumbs

In a greased 8 x 8 baking dish, layer in the order of ingredients listed above.  Put into a 400F oven and cook for 25-30 minutes until cheese is melted and a crust has appeared on top.