Friday Food: Custom Potatoes

Friday 

Short version: Sausage and potatoes, leftover baked beans, leftover pulled pork, tomato salad

Long version: I had made the sausage and potato skillet with leftover sausage, thinking A. could take it when he went hunting with one boy. They didn't go this day, though, so I just served it for dinner. Those for whom the sausage was too spicy had the leftover pork.

I finally got enough tomatoes for a salad, too. I think the chickens got after the tomatoes, because I didn't have any ripe ones for several days. I managed to scrounge up enough for a small tomato salad this night, though.

With basil.

Brown, brown, RED.

Saturday

Short version: All over the place

Long version: One boy was gone on an FFA trip and ate on the road. 

A. and Poppy were gone on a hiking/fishing excursion and ate at a restaurant. 

I was on my way back from flag football at dinnertime with the sandwich-loving boy, so I stopped at Subway on the way home and got him a 12-inch sub for dinner. I had made myself a cheese omelet before I left that I brought along and ate during the games, plus I ate some of the beef jerky and store-brand Oreos I had brought for the football player.

The eldest son was the only one home. He made himself spaghetti with marinara sauce.

It was quite a day.

Sunday

Short version: Meatloaf, customized potatoes, green salad with vinaigrette, apple crisp with vanilla ice cream

Long version: My family does not agree on the best way to eat potatoes. I have one child who dislikes mashed potatoes entirely. Two children prefer their mashed potatoes to be actually pureed with no lumps. The remaining child likes slightly lumpy mashed potatoes.

I do not usually indulge this ridiculousness, but this time I did take a few pieces of potato out of the pot after I added butter and before I mashed them for the mashed-potato-hater. I then mashed the potatoes with my potato masher. And then, since I had the immersion blender out from pureeing some tomatoes earlier, I removed one portion of these potatoes and pureed the rest.

It really is ridiculous, and I will most likely never do that again, but everyone was happy.

A plate with the pureed potatoes, I believe.

I made the apple crisp with one of my bags of frozen apple slices. It's always worth it to prepare and preserve fruit.

Monday

Short version: Quadruple-chicken fried rice, chocolate chip cookies

Long version: I made chicken stock with a bag of frozen bones, etc. that I wanted to get out of the freezer. I used the stock to cook the rice. Then I used the chicken fat to cook the onions and garlic. The meat I picked off the bones went into the fried rice, as did eggs, of course.

Four kinds of chicken products in one meal. Maybe a record. 

Tuesday

Short version: Soup, leftover fried rice, ice cream

Long version: I made soup with some of the chicken stock, plus the last piece of meatloaf, diced fine, tomatoes, collards, potatoes, carrots, green chile, and sour cream.

I asked all the kids--except the soup hater--if they wanted soup or fried rice, and they all asked for both. Thy will be done, children.

Ice cream because a meal of mostly-vegetable soup and leftovers is always better tolerated with a dessert to follow. Also, Poppy informed me that Windows said it was National Dessert Day. Far be it from us to not celebrate such an important national holiday.

Wednesday

Short version: Pork chops, chicken-y rice, frozen green peas

Long version: I marinated the pork chops--both sirloin and center cut--in soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, and garlic before browning them in a skillet and then baking them to finish cooking them. They were good.

Rice made with the chicken stock and finished off with an entire stick of butter.

Thursday

Short version: Fast sandwiches, a salad, leftovers, concession food

Long version: I had about twenty minutes after the children got home on the bus to get Poppy ready to cheer at the volleyball game. The youngest boy and his friend had flag football practice, conveniently at the same school Poppy was cheering at. They didn't really have time to eat at home, so I made everyone cheese sandwiches to eat in the car. They also all brought money to get food at the concession stand.

I had a salad before they got home with some pork in it, plus feta cheese, leftover peas, pickled onions, and tomatoes.

Pretty.

Those at home had either sandwiches or leftover pork chops.

Refrigerator check:

Lots of eggs and milk.

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

The Sharp-dressed Cowboy

One of the many things I have learned since coming here to cattle country is that cowboys are very particular about their clothing. Not, of course, when they're working. When they're out branding or fencing or rounding up cattle, they wear their old, worn-out jeans and shirts*. But if they're dressing up for church or a school event or even a rodeo?

Then it's Starch Time.

Starch is a very important part of the cowboy's dress clothing. They still wear the same kind of jeans or shirts, they're just in good condition and, most importantly, they are heavily starched and ironed. And I do mean heavily. The laundering happens preferably at an actual laundry, because they don't use the spray starch. They actually dip jeans in a vat of starch before pressing them. This results in a starch so heavy that the jeans will literally stand up on their own and the owners have to "break" the legs of them before they can put them on.

I have listened to half-hour conversations among ranch wives about which laundries use enough starch and get jeans starched enough that they will stay creased properly through four wearings. It's a big thing.

I have never visited any of these laundries, and don't usually worry about starching and ironing our clothes, but my sons do occasionally have to make an effort to meet the proper cowboy standards for their clothing. Most notably for FFA contests.

One son went to a livestock judging competition this past weekend for which his FFA advisor specifically said his clothes should be ironed. He could wear (new) jeans and just a button-down, but they must be ironed.

I knew that meant starched, as well. Said son was busy helping a neighbor round up her cattle the morning he was supposed to leave, so I did his ironing for him. I do not like to iron, at all, but I know how to do it if necessary. Just like a businessman's dress clothes, the sleeves of the shirts and the legs of the jeans should have a visible crease that runs in the center of the seams, which requires folding the clothing carefully before ironing.

We have heavy duty spray starch, which is what I used. I sprayed more starch than I thought I would need and very carefully lined up the creases properly before ironing them in.

This would probably be easier if I had a full-sized ironing board, but I don't want to store one.

Those jeans certainly won't stand up on their own, but at least they had the proper creasing. Even if it only lasted for one wearing.

* ALWAYS long-sleeved button-downs or snap shirts, though. This is entirely a matter of practicality, to keep the sun from absolutely frying their arms and necks when they're out working all day. 

Snapshots: Very Fall Flowers

In my continuing series of "things I buy in giant sizes . . ."

A gallon of (fake) vanilla. And the smaller bottle I decant it into. This should last me maybe a year and a half? I won't run out for awhile, anyway.

Our neighbor told he us he had a bunch of figs on a tree and we were welcome to come get them. I was surprised, because we also have a fig tree, and it's just a bit too cold here for it to grow well.

We duly went to this house and looked for a fig tree. There was no fig tree. We found the tree with small brown fruits on it, but it wasn't a fig tree. A. identified it as a jujube, a Chinese fruit that has been getting more popular in North America. The fruits are very small, and taste sort of like a pear or an apple. Crunchy, but drier, and with a somewhat bland, sweet flavor.

I haven't figured out what to do with them yet. If all else fails, there's always fruit syrup.

I took a trip to town on Monday to get paint. I was also getting sheets of insulation, which meant I was driving the van. The van was last used for a hunting trip. I got about fifteen miles away from home before I saw the hunting knife on the dash. 

Oops.

And then I turned around and saw this on the seat behind me.

Great. A moving arsenal.

I hid everything under the seat and covered it all with that coat. And I was very careful to lock the van when I got out of it.

I got my paint and have finished painting both bathrooms, except the sinks.

A sneak peak of our bathroom.

This water damage was from way before we lived here, and it was very ugly.

That's better.

Yesterday I drove 200 miles for a flag football game.

Nice day for it.

Well, it was actually three games, which meant we were on the field for almost four hours. It was too windy to wear my dorky sun hat, so I found the one strip of shade from a goal post and camped out there.

The post was even padded for my leaning comfort.

And did it still smell like skunk when we got home from this extended outing? YUP. Slightly less so, however.

And last, flowers!

Lots of cosmos for the table.

And some for the bookcase, in addition to calendula and yellow clover.

This week's altar arrangement.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.