Once upon a time I tried my hardest to get my boys to nap at the same time.

Once upon a time I let tomatoes burn to ash.

And, once upon a time I gave up on nap time.

It’s been a few months, actually, almost half a year – Wait, can that be?! Man does time fly! – since my toddler has taken a nap at home in his bed.

You see, my son hates sleep. He always has. It’s one of the most frustrating things about the kid! I would spend anywhere from 30-90-120 minutes of my day desperately trying to get him to fall asleep. He’s never taken a nap willingly and I’ve always had to practically trick him into it – reading books, rocking, singing, stroking his hair/arm/face. Often there’d be screaming and tears coming from both of us. All of that effort for what would end up being a 45 minute nap. A nap from which he’d wake up grumpier than before!

I spent a lot of days trying to decide if it were time to give it up. But kids need naps, at least that what all the parenting literature says.

The day I tried making this dip was the final straw.

I tossed some tomatoes in the oven and went downstairs to get the kids ready for nap. With the door closed and kids screaming, I never heard the timer going off. I’d obviously forgotten about the tomatoes entirely and after 2 hours, I gave up! Opened the door and was hit with the smell of the oven and the sound of a beeping timer. Definitely didn’t help improve my mood!

I gave it a couple of weeks and tried again. And I’m so glad I did. This dip is a great way to change up your game day watching spread. Serve it with pita chips, fresh pita, pretzels, or veggies.

Roasted Tomato Tahini Dip

Ingredients:

• 2 C grape tomatoes
• 1/2 C roasted almonds
• 1 tbsp tahini
• 2 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1 tbsp olive oil, plus more for roasting

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.
2. Place tomatoes on the prepared baking sheet in an even layer. Drizzle with a little olive oil and season with S+P. Roast 45-50 minutes, or until the tomatoes burst. Let cool.
3. When tomatoes have cooled slightly, put them and their juices in a food processor. Add the remaining ingredients, except for the olive oil. Pulse the tomatoes until combined, while the machine is running, pour in the olive oil until the mixture becomes smooth. Season to taste with S+P.

*This recipe is adapted from Tara at http://tarasmulticulturaltable.com/secretrecipeclub-roasted-tomato-almond-and-tahini-dip/*