Friday Food: Chili and Chowder

Friday 

Short version: Chili beans, rice

Long version: A very busy afternoon and evening. I went to the school at 3 p.m. for volleyball games and was home for about 45 minutes after those before leaving for a football game. I needed to make something ahead that could be eaten whenever.

So I cooked a whole pound of dried pinto beans and then made them into chili beans with chiles, onion, some of those banana peppers that were suprisingly spicy raw but not too hot cooked, some of the pureed squash from last year I took out of the freezer, garlic, tomato, and spices. Served over rice with chili toppings (cheese, sour cream, diced onion, hot sauce).

It was a little dicey with this pot until the liquid reduced a bit.

Saturday

Short version: Lamb and chickpea stew, bread with herb butter, giant oatmeal-raisin cookies

Long version: The few bags of lamb I still have in the freezer from last year are all stewing pieces. Good thing it's stewing season again! I used four shanks and a piece of stew meat to make stock and then pulled off the meat. I used both of those in this stew, which also had cooked chickpeas to supplement the lamb.

I went out to the garden to harvest the carrots, leeks, and parsley I used in the stew.

The leeks continue to be impressively large, and the carrots continue to be amusingly twisted.

The garlic in the stew came from the garden, too, although that was harvested awhile ago. And then I added tomato sauce, the leftover caramelized onions, the rest of the bag of pureed squash from the day before, potatoes, instant potato flakes to thicken, and yogurt at the end.

It ended up being very thick from the potato flakes, and very filling. Tasty, too.

Everyone loved the bread, too, which was just bread spread with the last of the herb butter from the steaks we had a few days previously. 

I made the cookies for Poppy's school snacks this week and, as is my custom when making these cookies, I made one giant cookie for everyone.

Sunday

Short version: Chili beans+meat, cornbread, brownies with vanilla ice cream

Long version: I added a couple of pounds of ground beef to the chili beans to make, well, chili. It's better with the meat.

Monday

Short version: Chicken fried rice or chili

Long version: I used the leftover rice from Friday to make the fried rice, adding a couple of cans of white chicken to the eggs, etc. There wouldn't have been enough of that, so I let everyone choose if they'd rather have the fried rice or leftover chili. There was about an even split, which worked out.

Tuesday

Short version: Infuriating beef ribs, rice, cabbage, commodities baked fruit with cream

Long version: I had taken a few packages of beef ribs out to thaw and when A. saw them, he mentioned how much he liked the beef ribs he got at a Chinese restaurant in New York City years ago. Hint hint.

So I baked them in a sauce of brown sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, some already-cooked leeks, and garlic. Unfortunately, the same thing happened with them that ALWAYS happens when I need to braise anything that's too big to fit in a pot with a tight-fitting lid and use aluminum foil to cover: The foil never gets tight enough, the liquid dries out, and whatever is in there burns.

This sauce REALLY burns, thanks to the sugar. Luckily, I caught it before it was inedible and added more water. A few times. But the sauce still tasted a bit charred. And it was an unfortunate color.

One son looked at this and said politely, "I'm sorry to say, Mom, that that does not look appetizing." I KNOW.

The general consensus was that they were pretty good, despite their unprepossessing appearance. A. was happy with them.

I needed to use up half a cabbage, which I did by making something like Holy's cabbage, but with a lot less butter. The ribs were plenty fatty enough (another reason I hate dealing with them). I saved a couple of chunks of raw cabbage for the two kids who prefer it raw.

The baked fruit was two cans of commodities peaches, one can of commodities pears, one can of commodities unsweetened applesauce, plus sugar and spices. This was very popular. Unsurprisingly. All those unsweetened canned fruits need is sugar and spices. And cream.

Wednesday

Short version: Roasted chicken and potatoes, corn, rice pudding

Long version: I had two whole chickens in the freezer, one of which I roasted this night. I salted it heavily for an hour or so, and then drizzled olive oil and lemon juice over it, plus garlic powder and thyme, before putting it in a  400 degree oven to roast until it was done. Potato cubes in with it, in a separate pan, because I can't fit all the potatoes I need in the pan with the chicken.

Pleasingly, I had beef tallow to roast the potatoes in, because I had rendered a pot of tallow the day before. The same day I was dealing with the greasy ribs. There was entirely too much fat in my kitchen on Tuesday, but I was pleased to have the tallow this day.

I had made the rice pudding the day before while the ribs were in. And there was happiness in the house. One child was saying that I should make double the amount of rice pudding I typically make. I told him I make a triple recipe as it is, and then showed him what an actual serving of rice pudding would be for a normal person. He was aghast.

This is what a triple batch looks like once my family gets to it.

Thursday

Short version: Chicken corn chowder, biscuits, lemon jello

Long version: I used the chicken carcass, which still had some meat on it, to make the chowder, of course. Just put it in a pot covered with water, throw in a few onion tops (I save these in the freezer whenever I chop an onion), and simmer until tender. 

Bones, meat, broth, and dog scraps.

I used one leek from the garden, two big carrots from the garden, onion, garlic, potatoes, tomato sauce, basil, and corn in this. I took the opportunity to use one of the cans of corn we keep getting from commodities. I could have used two cans, but frozen corn is better, so I used some frozen, too. And then some sour cream at the end.

Standard baking powder biscuits. And jello made with lemonade and gelatin that was mostly for the child whose stomach was iffy, but there was enough for everyone else to have some, too.

Refrigerator check:

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

A Little Thing

The other morning, I was sitting in the living room and noticed this:

Anything look . . . off to you in this photo?

If you're anything like me, you saw that photo and immediately thought, "WHY ISN'T THE OTHER LAMP ON?!"

I thought that, anyway. Caps and all. And then I got up and turned the other lamp on.

I reeaallly dislike asymmetry. It bugs me. I know it's a personal preference and many people prefer the look of things that aren't symmetrical, but that is definitely not me. 

How about you? Are you a symmetry person, or do you find asymmetry interesting?

Snapshots: Churchy Things

Let's start with our gloomy church a couple of Sundays ago, when we were in a cloud for several hours.

A change from our typical crazy-blue skies.

After church, since we're already in the village where our school is, we stop by the very nice weight room there so A. can put the children through their routine of dips, pull-ups, and squats. Then they usually want to get on one of the cardio machines. 

Poppy insists on doing all of this with her brothers. Her church clothes are quite a bit more elegant than her brothers', which looks pretty funny when she gets on the stair stepper.

Floofy dresses and sparkly shoes should be no hindrance to fitness.

I wore my new shoes to church this same day. I already had some very practical square-toed black pumps that I used to wear when I worked in an office. They look like office shoes, though, so I was looking for something a bit more fun.

Very pointy.

I like them, but they are definitely not as comfortable as my square-toed ones, so I suspect I'll only wear them for church. I can manage an hour in them, but not much more before my toes start to protest.

In non-church news, I saw this very interesting set-up in the parking lot of the school during a volleyball game.

Never seen this before.

Based on the "Team New Mexico Rodeo" emblem, I guess they travel to rodeos in this, using the semi to sleep in and haul their horse trailers, and then the tiny car to drive around when they're staying somewhere for awhile. Clever.

And last, flowers. Or rather, no flowers.

Back to the dried arrangement on the living room bookcase.

We'll be putting the metal turkey on the dining room table today.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: Commodities Cans

Friday

Short version: Tuna patties, mashed potatoes, creamy stewed leeks, garden salad, cookies

Long version: I was very amused, as well as pleased, to see tiny lettuce plants popping up in the most random places. The wind did its work in distributing the seeds of the lettuce plants in the garden. Many of them were outside the garden fence, near where A. parks the school bus.

I pulled one or two leaves off all these tiny lettuce plants, and then supplemented that with the arugula which also self-seeded, and some collards, to make a salad. I also put in shaved Parmesan cheese and toasted pecans. It was delicious.

Saturday

Short version: Leftovers

Long version: The kids had leftover cheeseburger casserole before we went trick or treating. I had leftover chicken soup.

And then there was candy. Of course.

Sunday

Short version: Commodities casserole, baby carrots

Long version: My goal with this casserole was to use as many things from commodities in it as possible, without making it gross. In addition to the regular commodities program that we've been getting things from for years, someone has been donating food for school kids in northeastern New Mexico. This means that the last week of every month sees an avalanche of cans coming into my kitchen. Some of it that's too gross to even eat (fake grape jelly, for instance) or just too overwhelmingly numerous (cream of wheat and beans) goes to the chickens. But I do try to use most of it.

This casserole had broken-up spaghetti, a small can of cream of mushroom soup, another of cream of chicken soup, the last bit of a can of spaghetti sauce, and several small cans of white chicken. All from commodities. To that I added some heavy cream, leftover stewed leeks, shredded cheddar cheese, garlic powder, pepper, and frozen corn and peas. We are getting canned corn and peas from commodities, but that would not have been good in the casserole, I didn't think.

Somewhat anemic-looking, but tasty.

This was actually quite popular with the children. I didn't add any salt to the water when I cooked the pasta, and to my surprise actually needed to add a bit to the casserole itself. I thought it would be way too salty with all those cans of things, but it wasn't.

I did not make a dessert. For obvious reasons of Halloween.

Monday

Short version: Leftovers+

Long version: The kids had leftover pasta. I made A. an omelet with feta, leftover stewed leeks, and parsley in it. And I had a salad with canned chicken.

Tuesday

Short version: Real Taco Tuesday

Long version: Someone gave us a big box of taco shells left from a party, which I used this night to make, um, tacos. I didn't realize I was having a Taco Tuesday until I was dishing up dinner. 

I felt very hip and with it. Ahem.

Anyway.

I just made pretty standard taco meat that I put in the shells and topped with shredded cheese before baking them. I also made a Mexican slaw that most people put on top of their tacos. That was just cabbage, onion, vinegar, spices, and this time a bit of sour cream, which made it much better.

These were a fun novelty, but most of the kids said they prefer soft tacos.

Wednesday

Short version: Sausage and potato casserole, green salad, garlic bread, apple and peach crisp with ice cream

Long version: I used one two-pound package of mild Italian sausage in the casserole, along with potatoes, collard greens, the rest of the leftover stewed leeks, spaghetti sauce, garlic, the very last of the basil from the garden, heavy cream, and a random cup or so of grated asadero cheese that had been in the refrigerator who knows how long.

The green salad was the last few leaves of store romaine, plus arugula, collards, and carrots from the garden.

A. had been to the store this day and brought home a tub of vanilla "frozen dairy dessert." That's what they call ice cream when it doesn't have enough milkfat to be true ice cream. It's good for topping a crisp, though, so I made one. 

That had the last quart jar of apples I canned last year (no apples this year, sadness), three cans of the peach slices in pear juice that we get from commodities, and a can of unsweetened applesauce I also got from commodities and couldn't figure out what to do with. And then brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and cloves. Then the topping was just butter, flour, oats, pecans, and more brown sugar, cinnamon, and cloves. 

A. asked me what was in it, and then remarked he couldn't even tell it was just a bunch of things I threw together and wanted to use up. Good. That was the idea.

Thursday

Short version: Steaks with caramelized onions and herb butter, roasted potatoes, green peas

Long version: I think these were the last steaks in the freezer. I took out the last of the caramelized onions from the freezer, too, and then made herb butter as well. This is one boy's favorite way to eat steak, and everyone else likes it too.

Herby butter. In this case, green onions and parsley, because that's all that's left in the garden.

I barely fit all the steaks on the pan.

Refrigerator check:

Blurry, but I'm too lazy to take another.

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

A Skittles Quirk

I'm not much of a non-chocolate-candy kind of person, but I do ocassionally like citrus-flavored candy. I was subbing yesterday in the classroom of the teacher who keeps a bucket of candy by her door, and I was struck with the desire to eat a small package of Skittles.  

My children think the way I do this is weird. I eat the flavors separately, starting with the ones I like least and ending with my favorite. In the case of Skittles, that means that I eat all the purple ones first, then orange, then green, then yellow, and red is last. 

There are never as many of the red as there are of the others, but this was a particularly disappointing bag.

I am told that it's weird to separate the colors/flavors, but I prefer to be able to taste each one individually. But I guess most people just throw them all in their mouths, all willy nilly.

Is that you? Or do you separate flavors, too?

Snapshots: Boo!

All about Halloween . . .

Our trip last week sort of messed up our Halloween preparations. We didn't get any decorations up before we left for Vermont, and I probably wouldn't have bothered putting them up if Poppy hadn't asked about them. So we did it . . . the day before Halloween.

All the seasonal window things.

I was extremely amused when a real spider appeared on the other side of that window later in the day.

Purple bat lights.

Friendly ghost lights.

This year we had Westley from The Princess Bride, who went to spend Halloween with his girlfriend in her town. She, of course, was Buttercup.

At home, we had a Navy seaman, an Irish shepherd, and a Chinese empress. The only thing I bought for these costumes were the ornamental chopsticks for Poppy's hair.

Dangly.

Poppy graciously allowed her brother the shepherd to use her stuffed border collie. I laughed way too hard at this.

First, as always, I took the kids to our neighbor Miss Amelia's so she could see the costumes and give them candy that she gets just for them.

Then on to the village to meet up with friends. We had eleven trick or treaters pile into the back of Adventure Van this year. All the older kids came with us, so it was mostly teenagers or almost-teenagers.

The best house on the route, which this year gave out candy AND Oreos AND mini sodas.

As usual, we finished up around 8 p.m. and headed home for the sorting and trading of candy.

Sorted and ready to trade.

There you have it! My Halloween life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: Vermont and Back

Starting with last week's Thursday, because I was traveling and didn't know what we would be eating when I posted last week's food recap ahead . . .

Thursday 

Short version: Chicken, roasted vegetables, crackers and cheese

Long version: This was our day of traveling to Vermont. We arrived at the rental house about 7 p.m. My parents and my sister and her fiance were already there. My parents had bought a bunch of food for the house, including rotisserie chickens. They also roasted some vegetables--sweet potatoes, squash, peppers--and so we sat down to eat as soon as we got there.

You can also assume there were lots of snacks and desserts in addition to the actual food. Because there were lots of snacks and desserts at the house.

Friday

Short version: Pork and vegetable stew, bread and butter, cheese

Long version: My mom had planned the stew and bought all the ingredients for it. She chopped most of the vegetables while I was cutting up and browning the pork tenderloins, but then she had to leave for the rehearsal dinner, so I finished the stew. It had sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, bell peppers, spinach, beef stock, tomato sauce, a bunch of random herbs, and cream in it. I also added a couple of tablespoonfuls of bacon grease that had been saved from breakfast. 

I put out the bread and butter and cheese because I wasn't sure how much of the stew the kids would eat, but everyone seemed to like it in the end. They ate the bread and cheese, too, though.

We ate outside on the porch. It was a little chilly, but the view was worth it.

So Vermonty.

Saturday

Short version: Eclectic wedding food

Long version: The food at this wedding was just a bunch of things the bride and groom like. There were pizza and sliders and roasted vegetables and potatoes and turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce and a tomato and mozzarella salad and probably more things I'm forgetting.

My plate.

Also cookies and brownies. The cake was made by my sister's fiance. The bride--my sister's step-daughter--did not want a commercially baked cake. Smart girl. So my sister's fiance made the chocolate cake with chocolate frosting he always makes for my sister's birthday. It was all homemade and it was very good. Certainly the best wedding cake I've ever encountered.

Sunday

Short version: Whatever

Long version: This was our family's last night at the rental house, so we were just eating whatever was around to finish it up. I had the last of the pork stew, plus some of the leftover boursin cheese from the wedding. The kids had rotisserie chicken and I think crackers, plus fruit.

Monday

Short version: Breakfast burritos and green salad with vinaigrette at home

Long version: This was the day we flew home. We got home just about the time that A. got back from his school bus run. I made some very fast breakfast burritos with scrambled eggs, cheese, potatoes (pre-cooked in the microwave), and salsa to wrap in flour tortillas.

To my surprise, the lettuce that had been in the refrigerator was still good. I didn't have any other vegetables to add to the lettuce, so it was just the lettuce and a vinaigrette, but at least I got some kind of vegetable into everyone.

Tuesday

Short version: Chicken and rice with caramelized onions, baby carrots with ranch dip, honeydew melon

Long version: I used one of the roosters to make the rice and caramelized onion skillet dish everyone likes. 

I don't ever buy baby carrots, but my vegetable options at the tiny store in the village were pretty limited. And then when I got home from that store and was getting some collards for my salad, I saw the carrots in the garden.

Whoops. Forgot about those. I dug one just to see how big it was and was surprised by its size. Yay.

The honeydew melon came from the commodities boxes that were delivered this day. We got two of the melons. They were HUGE. Like, the size of volleyballs. I cut one up this day and everyone ate as much as they wanted. 

Wednesday

Short version: Cheeseburger casserole, green peas

Long version: I used one two-pound package of ground beef to make the casserole, which also had potatoes, diced dill pickles, onion, garlic, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, grated cheddar, milk, and one of the many, many small cans of cream of chicken soup I keep getting from commodities in it. 

A. calls this Big Mac casserole, which is also appopriate.

Thursday

Short version: Chicken and rice soup, garlic bread, cheese

Long version: I was supposed to sub this day, so I made dinner ahead of time. I made all of the vegetable and stock part of the soup Wednesday while I was making the casserole, and then just added the leftover rooster and rice, plus a couple of cans of canned white chicken (also something I've been getting a lot of from commodities) in while I was heating the vegetable part up.

The vegetables were onion, garlic, carrots, leeks, collard greens, sauerkraut, some of a can of spaghetti sauce, and a can of corn. Pleasingly, five of those things were from the garden.

These four fresh things--collards, carrots, garlic, leeks--plus the sauerkraut I canned last year.

I made the garlic bread the day before, too, when I was baking bread. And then I didn't have to sub after all and already had dinner made. Sweet.

Refrigerator check:

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

So Vermonty

I said that many times on our recent trip to Vermont. It really was just so . . . Vermonty. 

I mean, look at this.

The house my parents rented.

It was past peak color, but there were still quite a few pretty leaves.

That's maple kettle corn, just to stay on brand.

The view from the porch on Friday morning.

The house was on over a hundred acres, so there was no shortage of paths in the woods to explore.

The wedding venue was a barn.

My view from my chair during the outdoor ceremony.

The Burlington airport wins for Most Fun Airport.

It was a good trip. And so Vermonty.

Snapshots: The Birthday Canyon

Poppy asked if we could go to the canyon again for her birthday this year, like we did last year. As it was a Sunday and the weather was good, there was no reason not to. So after her requested chocolate chip pancakes after church, we loaded up all children and dogs in the van and off we went.

Odin felt safer half under a seat, apparently.

The road down into the canyon is really bad, and it certainly hasn't gotten any better since we last drove it.

This isn't even one of the worst parts.

Adventure Van was undaunted, however, and we made it to the bottom without incident.

Patient Adventure Van in the distance, awaiting our return.

There was less water in the river crossing than last year and I did not fall in. Yay, me. 

After crossing the water, we set off on our short hike.

Poppy had gotten her feet wet when crossing, and asked if she could take her shoes and socks off to hike.

She did, briefly, before getting some burs in her feet and deciding wet socks and shoes were better than that.

The skies were blue when we started, but those clouds started gathering.

By the time we got to the cliff the kids like to climb, there was a pretty solid cloud cover, and a surprising number of mosquitos. Bummer.

This year's cliff climb was cut short by a considerate rattlesnake that rattled as the three younger children were climbing near it. They took the hint and scrambled back down without ever seeing it.

Good call, kids.

A. brought his fishing pole and some chicken livers to fish for catfish. He caught a small one, which he did not keep. He also found some giant clam shells.

We did keep these.

Given the clouds and the fact that we really couldn't risk getting caught in a rainstorm on the road out, we decided to leave after playing for about an hour.

The kids, of course, wanted to stop and play in the water on our way out, although it was cool enough they just went wading rather than getting soaking wet like last year.

Then back in the van for the slow and jolting ride up the road.

I am very happy to leave this sort of driving to A.

There were a few sprinkles on our way, but nothing of great concern. We made it out of the canyon without any trouble, with four tired but happy children. The birthday girl was especially happy.