Friday Food: Asparagus, Yay!

Friday 

Short version: Scrambled eggs, garlic bread, still-frozen green beans, baked fruit

Long version: I had actually planned on making a cheese pizza for our meatless Friday, since I was baking bread anyway, but then I was up much of Thursday night with a fever and was not feeling well this day. I still had to bake the bread, but instead of wrestling with pizza dough, I made some of the dough into garlic bread, which I served with scrambled eggs.

While I was baking the bread, I also baked the last bag of peaches from the freezer, along with the remaining cranberry sauce and some peach jam. We had that with cream poured over the top.

Saturday

Short version: Cheeseburger casserole, raw radishes, fruit crisp

Long version: I used a bag of ground elk to make the casserole, along with potatoes, ketchup, mustard, diced dill pickles, onions, a few pieces of diced bacon, pureed calabaza, cheese, milk, cream, and a couple of eggs.

I had over-sweetened the baked fruit the night before, so I added some plain frozen strawberries to it and then topped it with an oat and flour topping.

Sunday

Short version: Mostly-potato soup, leftovers, faux fondue

Long version: I had a quart container of chicken soup in the freezer, without any rice or potatoes in it. Since I was still not feeling well, and a couple of the kids weren't either, I decided to use that. I added to it some diced potatoes and a lot of sour cream. And then to thicken it a bit more, I added some instant potato flakes.

Except I added too much of the flakes and then it was too thick and I had to thin it out more. So it ended up being a very potato-heavy soup. Tasty, though.

A. also had the rest of the leftover meatloaf, and the soup-hater had the last of the cheeseburger casserole.

I hadn't made dessert, so everyone got a little bowl of chocolate chips and coconut oil melted together--maybe a quarter cup of chocolate chips and a quarter teaspoon of coconut oil--into which they dipped marshmallows.

Monday

Short version: Combined cans and boxes

Long version: We had eaten most of the leftovers the night before, which meant I needed to figure something else out for after work. I used two boxes of macaroni and cheese, but only one of the cheese packets for it, plus a can of chicken, two pesto cubes, some garlic powder, and butter to make pasta for the children.

A. had a can of beef stew we got awhile ago from the excess commodities. He used to actually buy canned beef stew when he lived alone, so I knew he'd eat it. He also had bread and butter and cheese.

I had leftover potato soup. Which is also what I had for lunch at work, but oh well. I was too tired to care. 

Tuesday

Short version: Elk tacos, leftover pasta, asparagus, yay!, hot cocoa

Long version: I would normally cook something more substantial on a day off of work, but I spent much of the day running hither and yon, so I just took out a small bag of elk meat that had been cut very thin, like fajita meat, and fried that with spices and canned kidney beans. That was the taco filling.

Some had the tacos, some had the leftover pasta. And then I made the cocoa because it just wasn't a particularly inspiring meal.

Except for the asparagus! I personally always find the first asparagus of the year to be very inspiring.

Happy spring!

Wednesday

Short version: Lamb chops, beans, rice, carrot sticks with curry dip

Long version: I went to the chaotic chest freezer in the morning prepared to do battle to find something that would be easy to cook after work, and what to my wondering eyes should appear as soon as I shifted one box but a bag of lamb chops. Yay.

I wasn't sure the lamb chops would be enough, so I used the half can of kidney beans left from the night before, plus another can, heated up with lots of butter, garlic powder, and a bit of vinegar, to mix with the rice.

Thursday

Short version: GIANT lasagna, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: My sister drove to us from Colorado this day for Easter weekend. She very kindly made a lasagna to bring with her so I wouldn't have to make dinner. She arrived around 3 p.m. with literally the largest lasagna I have ever seen.

The jar you can barely see next to it is a pint jar.

It was delicious. We ate about half of it and can have the other half for dinner on Saturday, so she actually provided two meals for us.

Refrigerator check:

Lots of milk and LOTS of leftover lasagna.

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

About that Church

I post a lot of photos of our church. Partially that's because I'm there a lot in my role as mayordoma. But mostly, it's because I love it.

The very old pump organ that is no longer played.

We go to church in a village about ten miles from our house, in the same village where the children go to school. That's why we go there: Because it is our community church. The Mass is the Mass no matter what building it is in, which is one of the great things about the Catholic church. But I realized when Poppy asked me last week what my favorite church I've ever been in is, that it is, in fact, this tiny church in the middle of nowhere, New Mexico.

New Mexico has no shortage of historic churches. We've been to many of them. And while I can appreciate their history and the faith that built them, I am not really enamored of their aesthetics. They tend to be quite heavily decorated in bright colors, with folk-art statues and paintings. I guess I prefer a more French style, which is also not that uncommon in New Mexico, thanks to the French missionaries that are a part of New Mexico's Catholic history.

The blue ceiling is a classic of the French-style churches.

I also appreciate the cruciform layout of our church, which means the footprint forms a cross. So at the front door of the church, you're standing at the foot of the cross.

From the front looking up the aisle.

This style lends itself to symmetry, which I have always preferred.

I particularly appreciate this because, although the church is fairly old--built I think in the 1920s--it was at some point renovated with truly hideous brown paneling all behind the altar, ugly carpet on the floor, and weird doorways on the altar leading to the sacristy. It was a victim of the 1970s, and it looked it. I've seen pictures, and it was appalling. It was renovated again to its current state in the 1990s, and I am forever grateful to the congregation and priest at that time for making it the way it is now.

The colors in our church are quite muted, which means that when the altar colors are changed, it has more of an impact.

Purple for Lent. (The Lenten altar does not typically include flowers, but there was a funeral this day, hence the flower arrangement on the altar.)

Last year's Easter altar.

Also, something you can't see in the photos is that is completely silent in this church. We have no sound system, no plumbing, nothing except the heater in winter makes any noise. I have grown so accustomed to this that I find it very distracting to be in a church with microphones or water fountains humming and switching on and off.

For that reason especially, this is my favorite church to pray in. I will stop when I'm in the village for something else just to go sit in there. Perfect silence is so rare in our modern world, and so appreciated.

This is a church I am happy to take care of, even if I sometimes find my role as mayordoma to be a lot on top of everything else going on in my life. I will remind myself of this as I clean the church, change the altar linens, buy and arrange flowers, and otherwise prepare the church itself for Easter Sunday.

Waiting on its transformation.

Caring for this building so it can offer to others the same peace I have found there is one of the most important things I do. I am so thankful to have been brought here to this unlikely place so I can do just that.

Snapshots: Flowers and Veils

It's Tulip Time!

And still daffodil time, too.

An animal face-off.

I've had this pepper grinder for about seven years now, and just now saw this little joke on the bottom.

And last, Poppy and I veiled all the statues at church in anticipation of Holy Week. Which means Easter is almost here!

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.