Friday Food: And Then There Were Three

A. left last Thursday with the older two for a driving trip to New York, leaving just me and the younger two. And it was really hot, so I cooked as little as possible this week. But still! There is food to list!

Friday 

Short version: Fried pork, spaghetti, carrots, chocolate cake

Long version: Poppy requested "pork and spaghetti" for this meal, and I was happy to oblige with commodities canned pork fried with spices, and spaghetti with the last bit of a can of commodities spaghetti sauce, the last two frozen cubes of pesto from last summer, and a bit of cream. 

This year's basil is hiding in a row partially under the still-blooming hollyhocks, and looks really good. I think it might like the shade in the afternoon here. I have hopes for lots of good pesto this year.

Our neighbors had a small family birthday celebration for their daughter, who was turning six. They asked us to come so there would be some other children there, and that is where the cake came in. It was a homemade, very dense chocolate cake--almost like a flourless cake, although there was some flour in it--with a ganache poured over the top, and it was very good.

Not to be obnoxious, but it's rare that I eat anything baked by someone else that's as good or better than what I make, so that was a nice treat.

Saturday

Short version: Leftovers

Long version: There was leftover spaghetti and pork, and also leftover cake. The neighbors gave us the leftover cake because they were leaving this day for a two-week roadtrip. My children were delighted to have the cake. It really was good cake.

And now, do I have a treat for you! When I was at my parents' house, I went through the photo albums and took some pictures of our childhood pictures to show my brother and his daughters when we went up to his house. Quality is less than ideal, but this still make me laugh.

My very curly hair was a trial to my mother for my entire early childhood in the very humid deep south.

Sunday

Short version: Tuna salad sandwiches, raw snap peas, chocolate pudding pops

Long version: When there are only three of us, I can get by with one 12-ounce can of tuna, rather than three cans. Incidentally, I always eat tuna salad in an actual salad, with the addition of shredded cheddar cheese, pecans, and dried cranberries. I'm not a huge fan of tuna, so I like it better when I can taste a lot more than just the fish.

The lettuce for my salad came from the neighbors' garden that I was watering for them while they were gone. They told me to take anything in it, since it's mostly for their guinea pigs anyway (I was not taking care of the guinea pigs, though), so I harvested one of the two giant heads of romaine.

I thought the snap peas in the garden were done, but they're producing more flowers and peas now. I think maybe because I interplanted them with green beans, and now that the green beans are bigger, they're shading the snow peas. Or something. Nice to have more snap peas, though. The kids love them raw. I do, too. I rarely cook them.

I used this recipe for the pudding pops again, and again I used more cocoa powder than it called for. I made a half recipe, and still got four pudding pops, and man, they really are so good. Waaaaay better than the store-bought ones. A bit of a pain actually cooking the mixture before putting it in the molds, but definitely worth it.

Monday

Short version: Beef and bean soft tacos, raw radishes and carrots, more pudding pops

Long version: I made the taco meat--two pounds ground beef and one can of black beans--in the morning before it got hot, then just microwaved corn tortillas with cheese and meat at dinnertime. Carrots from the garden, radishes not.

Being the only two kids at home means that when there are four pudding pops, you get to have a pudding pop for two days in a row. Whee! Crazy how little food we consumed this week with the three biggest eaters gone.

Tuesday

Short version: Pizza, raw carrots and snap peas

Long version: Jack had been asking when it would be cool enough for pizza, and I guess this was the day since it was a chilly 85 degrees. This was the only day in two weeks that wasn't over 90 degrees, though, and I was making bread anyway, so I made the pizza. Just one: half with just cheese, half with some of the leftover taco meat.

The kids ate the vegetables in the garden with me while I was getting basil for the pizza. I love garden-produce season so much.

Wednesday

Short version: Steak, fried potatoes, green salad with vinaigrette, zucchini bread

Long version: I made the zucchini bread because I had two bags of shredded calabacitas (an immature squash almost exactly like a zucchini) left in the freezer from last year, and I'm just now getting the first calabacitas on the plants in the garden. Those two bags had exactly enough calabacitas for the zucchini bread. Unfortunately, it turned out sort of wet. 

I had a completely solid lump of dried brown sugar that turned out to be exactly one cup when I softened it in the microwave. And I needed one cup of sugar total for the zucchini bread recipe. But that was supposed to be half white sugar, and I think maybe the extra molasses in the brown sugar contributed to the extra moisture. I think also when zucchini is thawed it needs to be drained a bit more to make good bread than I drained this.

Oh well. The children didn't notice. And it can always be toasted.

I have to note that it's so weird cooking for only me and the two youngest. I made one New York strip steak that was just under a pound, plus two diced potatoes (baked in the morning while the zucchini bread was in the oven), and it all fit in just one 12-inch skillet. Quite different from my usual musical burners with three big skillets on the stove at once to fit all the food needed.

The salad was exciting because it was the lettuce from the neighbors' garden, plus a cucumber, a tomato, and a carrot from my garden. Again, I just love garden-produce season.

Thursday

Short version: A harvest feast, tortillas and cheese, vanilla ice cream

Long version: I went out to the garden in the late afternoon to see if there were any ripe tomatoes for my salad, and I came back in with five small tomatoes, about a pint of snow peas, several tiny carrots that were hiding under the peas, and five eggs. I mentioned to Jack that I could make dinner just out of what I had brought in. "Are you going to?" he asked. "Do you want to?" I asked in turn.

The answer was yes. And it occurred to me that really, this was a meal so simple to prepare that the younger two children could do it. And without the older two kids here, I could actually supervise the two small ones cooking without a crowd in the kitchen.

So that's what we did. They washed all the vegetables, snapped the stems off all the snow peas, and chopped everything up. I turned on the burner, but they added the butter to the skillet, and then the vegetables to cook, and then salt, pepper, and garlic powder (a bit too much garlic powder, but these things happen). Then they cracked the eggs into another pan with butter and fried those, taking great delight in the flipping of said eggs.

They served themselves, and they cut up their eggs themselves with butter knives. It was all very satisfying, and they were so proud of themselves.

(Here is where I really wish I had some very cute photos of the two small ones cooking and proudly holding up their plates of food, but I don't, because A. took our shared cell phone with him on his trip. So you'll just have to take my word for it that it was adorable. And that is not a word I use very often.)

I added the tortillas and cheese for them because while I'm fine with just eggs and vegetables, children need something a bit more filling.

We got the ice cream at the tiny store in the village when we stopped in for something else. There is very rarely ice cream there, but there it was. And it was 93 degrees outside. I decided it was fate and bought the ice cream.

A highly satisfactory meal all around.

The three travelers are supposed to return tomorrow, so my kitchen will get a lot busier. As it should be.

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