Friday Food: Randomness Abounds

I don't feel I was really at the top of my cooking game this week. Whatever that means. But we all ate, so that's a win.

Friday

Short version: Fajitas, green salad

Long version: I actually had bell peppers this time, which is why I made fajitas with my thin steak instead of just plain tacos.

And then, of course, the children refused to eat the onions and peppers anyway, so I may as well not have bothered.

Saturday

Short version: Party crashing food

Long version: There's a ranch in the vicinity that was having a centennial celebration and a big family reunion. Apparently, this is a small enough community that they ended up just inviting the entire population for the festivities. So there was a story-telling event where a bunch of the older people talked about the history of their families and ranches. Then there was a dinner catered by the local restaurant--featuring green and red enchiladas and spanish rice, among many other things--and then there was a street dance with a very good live band.

The band was in a tent, but the dancers were literally in the street. It was a small side street. I guess the dancers just stopped and moved aside if a car had to go by.

There was also a bouncy house, where our children literally jumped for two hours straight. Craziness.

Anyway. Upshot was, I didn't have to cook. Yay.

Random photo break!

Just hangin' out.

Sunday

Short version: Signature sausage skillet, sauteed zucchini/tomato/onion

Long version: Yeah. This was random. Some of that too-spicy sage sausage A. bought that I browned in a skillet with diced onion and garlic, then some tomato juice, then some of the chicken broth that didn't seal, then rice. I simmered it, covered, until the rice was cooked, then added some frozen green peas.

I don't know what it was, but everyone ate it. Even though it was still too spicy. I cannot subdue the New Mexico chili peppers, so we'd all better just get tougher mouths, I guess.

Monday

Short version: Scrambled eggs, leftover mashed potatoes with cheese, tortillas and cheese, cucumbers

Long version: We got back at 3:30 p.m. from our Labor Day outing. I spent the next hour cleaning out the van and cleaning up the remains of Charlie's vomit. And then it was time to make dinner.

Uncharacteristically, I hadn't taken any meat out to thaw, so we had eggs. The mashed potatoes microwaved with cheese made the eggs much more exciting.

I mean, as exciting as eggs ever are. Which is not very. Especially for my children. Luckily, I had a giant bag of parade candy with which to bribe them into eating their unexciting dinner.

God bless America and giant bags of candy.

Tuesday

Short version: Pork steaks, potato chunks, pan-fried sweet potatoes, cucumber/tomato/asadero salad

Long version: The oven in this house has a literal broiling drawer. It's weird.

Low-down pork.

The broiler pan fits on a track in the drawer, and that's the only place with a broiling element. I find it disconcerting to be cooking my food at foot-level, but I suppose that's what people did with open fires for thousands of years.

I made some random zucchini and onions in the sweet potato pan after they were done because there was still quite a bit of olive oil, and we had a visit from Rafael earlier in the day. Thus, I had a LOT of zucchini on hand.

Also cucumbers. Two of which I put in the salad, leaving me with . . . still a lot of cucumbers.

People can joke all they want about too many zucchini and cucumbers, but those people probably don't routinely have a refrigerator that looks like this. There have been many times I would have given a lot for a zucchini in my refrigerator, and I'm sure there will be times in the future that I'll think wistfully of my glut of cucurbits.

Wednesday

Short version: Barbecue meatballs, roasted potatoes, roasted carrots and onions, cucumbers with salt and vinegar

Long version: Boy howdy, I sure do have a lot of time to do things with all three boys in school all day. On this, Jack's first day of school, I vacuumed, mopped, defrosted and cleaned the freezer, and made meatballs for dinner.

For the meatballs, I mixed together some of the overly spicy sage sausage with ground beef--about a third sausage with two-thirds beef--in an attempt to tame the spice. I also mixed the slightly-too-spicy Texas barbecue sauce with ketchup for the same reason.

The diluting of spice seems to be a recurring theme in my kitchen lately.

The meatballs were still a little too spicy, but not a single child remarked on it and they all cleaned their plates.

Maybe their palates are adjusting to their new, spicier environment? I can only hope.

I made the carrots because I realized I had two and a half bags of carrots in the refrigerator. Carrots are nice to have on hand in quantity because they last forever, but that seemed like an excessive quantity. So I roasted the half bag, leaving me with only two.

The cucumbers were mostly for Charlie, who refuses cooked carrots in any form. I wouldn't hold my breath on his palate changing that much.

Thursday

Short version: Bunless cheeseburgers, hot dogs, fried leftover potatoes, assorted vegetables

Long version: I found the package of hot dogs when I was defrosting the freezer. A. bought them when he was here at the beginning of July moving most of our things into the house. I thought I should use them up. I don't like hot dogs--neither does Charlie--so I made the cheeseburgers too.

We all had different vegetables. A. ate the remainder of the leftover cucumber and tomato salad. The kids ate frozen peas. I finished the leftover zucchini, carrots, and onions.

It was a very customized meal. Which is, of course, a fancier way of saying random. Definitely this week's theme.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?