Friday Food: Fishing and the Fair

Friday 

Short version: Barbecue bull, boiled potatoes, raw green beans

Long version: I should probably be saving the easy things--like the already-processed bull meat fried with barbecue sauce--for the beginning of the school year, when I have much less time. But, well, I didn't. And there's plenty of bull still in the freezer.

Saturday

Short version: Meatballs, garlic bread, tomato and cucumber salad

Long version: I had to bake bread, so while that was in the oven, I also roasted a small pan of tomatoes and a few cloves of garlic. Then I used my immersion blender to puree that with fresh basil and balsamic vinegar, and that was the sauce for the meatballs.

I had a mostly empty bottle of mustard, so I added olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper to that bottle and shook it all up to make a salad dressing. That's what I used for the tomatoes and cucumbers. Yum.

Sunday

Short version: Steak, mashed potatoes, carrot sticks with curry dip, brownies

Long version: I don't know why mashed potatoes seem like a cold weather sort of food, but I certainly don't make them much in the summer. Maybe because all that mashing makes me too hot.

Monday

Short version: Pork, leftover mashed potatoes, tomato and cucumber salad

Long version: Pork country ribs cooked in the morning in the oven (along with some blueberry/oat muffins), then fried in their own rendered fat at dinnertime.

I am very happy it's the season for tomato and cucumber salad. It's one of those things that is really not worth making with the tasteless produce from a grocery store.

Tuesday

Short version: Tuna/rice skillet, apricot popsicles

Long version: We went fishing!

This big lake is an hour from us, but only about fifteen minutes from Cubby's friend's house. He stayed there Monday night, so we took everyone--including his friend--fishing after we picked him up on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, the only fish caught was a small catfish, so we had canned fish for dinner instead. I didn't actually plan that, but I'm always wrecked after a fishing expedition, and tuna is easy.

All I did was dump some cooked, frozen rice into a skillet with a bunch of butter and bacon grease and fry that with two cans of drained tuna and some frozen peas. And then mayonnaise and shredded cheese. Sorta white and bland, but serviceable.

Wednesday

Short version: Barbecue stir-fry, fresh bread and butter, carrot/cucumber sticks and raw green beans

Long version: I had taken out beef stir-fry meat, but didn't actually have the motivation (or the appropriate vegetables) to stir-fry. So instead I marinated it in the last of the mustard vinaigrette, fried it in butter, and added barbecue sauce.

This is the time of year when our vegetable is whatever I pull from the garden, usually raw. Although when I start to get calabacitas in greater numbers--like next week--there will be more cooking of vegetables.

Thursday

Short version: Pork tacos, cucumbers, canned peaches

Long version: We spent over five hours at the county fair, watching animals get prepared for showing, viewing the horse show, and running around like maniacs with friends.

Well, that last one was what my kids did. Despite my lack of actually running, I was still totally wiped out when we got home. The fair has that effect.

Maybe I should have taken a break midday like Jack did.

So all I did when we got home was fry a can of commodities pork in butter with garlic powder, chile powder, and cumin, then put that in corn tortillas with cheese.

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