Friday Food: Reunited, Finally

Friday 

Short version: Leftovers

Long version: The children had leftover sausage, curried split peas, and rice. Plus frozen green beans. Cubby remarked as we were sitting down, "Leftovers can be either great or horrible. They're great if it was something delicious. They're horrible if it was something not good."

Luckily, this meal fell into the first category.

I had a salad. Who's surprised?

Saturday

Short version: Waffles, bacon, carrot sticks with curry dip

Long version: The kids had the carrot sticks while I was making dinner which was, yes, waffles.

A. and Calvin were supposed to be home for dinner this day, but American Airlines canceled their flights and rescheduled them for Sunday. This made no one very happy, so I thought it would be a good idea to use the remainder of the waffle batter from breakfast on Friday and let them have a treat.

Jack had requested the waffles, and I finally found a recipe I like. This one does indeed make very crispy waffles, as promised. I used about half yogurt and half milk, and I definitely did not whip the egg whites separately. I see this direction in a lot of waffle recipes, and although I'm sure it makes for ethereal waffles, I can't imagine going to that much trouble first thing in the morning.

Anyway.

When I pulled out the leftover batter for dinner, there wasn't quite enough, so I added a bit of extra flour and milk, but nothing else, and they were still crispy.

"It looks like a picture in a magazine," said Jack. Possibly the first time anyone has ever said that about my very, um, rustic cooking.

I had the last of the pot roast with some frozen stir-fry vegetables. 

Sunday

Short version: Cubby's tomato soup, salami and cream cheese roll-ups, peanut butter balls

Long version: Since Calvin wasn't here to either clean the toilet or choose dessert (he and A. were stuck in Washington, D.C. overnight), I let Poppy choose. She chose peanut butter balls, which I had mentioned once we used to have when I was a kid. I have no idea how my mother made them, though I clearly remember the chocolate chips in the peanut butter and that the balls were rolled in granulated sugar. So I just mixed peanut butter with powdered sugar to make it less sticky, then added chocolate chips, formed the balls, and let Poppy roll the balls in sugar.

Not as good as the chocolate-covered peanut butter balls, but definitely eaten with no complaints.

I was going to make bull-meat stir-fry for dinner, but I always put peanut butter in my stir-fry. I figured that might be a bit of p.b. overload, so I let Cubby make the tomato soup from his kids' cookbook. The one that's thickened with bread. It has no protein in it, so the kids also had slices of salami rolled around cream cheese.

I had . . . yeah.

And now a break for a portrait of the salad-eating cook:

In the world's dorkiest (but shady!) hat.

Monday

Short version: Leg of lamb with potatoes, roasted carrots, frozen peas

Long version: A. and Calvin were supposed to get home on Saturday. But thanks to a series of unfortunate events courtesy of American Airlines, they didn't get home until this day. They were very, very tired, and I thought they needed a good, hearty meal to recover.

This was hearty.

I thought we were done with the leg of lamb roasts, but I forgot that the back leg roasts that A. boned out of the ram we butchered last November were so big that he halved them. So we had four of them, not two. I marinated this one in olive oil, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, and a lot of garlic, and just roasted it with some potato pieces around it until it was done.

Tuesday

Short version: Breakfast sausage patties, garlic bread, green salad with ranch dressing, homemade ice cream sandwiches

Long version: This was Calvin's birthday dinner request. Luckily, I had everything for it. I bought the ice cream when I went to the dentist a couple of weeks ago. I have to plan out that far for things like birthdays.

I didn't know he would want salad, but I managed to get just enough lettuce and beet greens out of the garden to make a salad.

I used this recipe for the ice cream sandwiches. It wasn't hard, but I think maybe I overbaked the cookie part a bit, because it was sort of dry. To be honest, I like purchased ones better.

Wednesday

Short version: Lamb curry, leftover rice, vanilla ice cream

Long version: I had quite a bit of lamb left after Monday's dinner, so I used that to make curry with a bunch of random stuff in the refrigerator--half an onion, the carrot sticks the MiL sent with A. and Calvin, a bit of Cubby's tomato soup, some of the potatoes we dug out of the garden (hooray!), frozen peas, the remainder of a jar of rooster stock from when Cubby made his soup, and sour cream.

It turned out very well.

I had promised ice cream to all children who cooperated with our unexpected afternoon trip to the mechanic an hour away to pick up the van. Because bribery is an integral part of my parenting philosophy. 

No one was pleased about that trip, but they all cooperated, so they all got ice cream. Everyone but Calvin had maple syrup on their ice cream, because maple syrup on vanilla ice cream is delicious. 

Dark maple syrup, of course.

Thursday

Short version: Roasted chicken with carrots, roasted potatoes, carrot sticks for the kids

Long version: Our elderly neighbors brought us two more roosters their daughter didn't want to deal with. Luckily, they brought them by on the very day A. arrived back home. He killed them Tuesday night, plucked them on Wednesday, and I cooked them this day. 

I squeezed lemon juice over the skin, then rubbed on butter and olive oil and sprinkled them heavily with salt. In the cavities I put the spent lemon skins, fresh rosemary from the garden, and a clove of garlic. Then I just roasted them until they were done. In the same pan were carrots--the remains of the carrot sticks I had brought to the pool party I took the kids to earlier in the day--and a head of garlic to roast along with the chicken.

The potatoes--our garden potatoes, with just olive oil and salt--roasted in a separate pan. I find when I roast them in the same pan as the meat, the meat juices keep the potatoes from getting crispy enough.

It was really good chicken. They were young roosters, so they were quite tender. As Calvin was eating his, he paused and asked, "Is that a feather?"

I shrugged and said, "Well, it's a chicken. They have feathers."

He nodded and kept eating. (Although he didn't eat the skin.)

And that's what it means to know where your food comes from.

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

Remote Living: More Questions!

These aren't specific to remote living, but I'll answer them anyway . . .

What made you move from New York to New Mexico? 

Two big reasons: One is that the majority of our families live in Arizona now. We wanted to get closer to the cousins, aunts and uncles, and most of the grandparents (the lone exception being the MiL, whom we sadly left behind in New York).

The other is that the cost of living is SO much lower in New Mexico. This enabled A. to work less, and us to buy a house that we now own outright, and just generally not deal with the financial strain of living in a place with high taxes and multiple fees for things like vehicles.

How did you find your house and the area you wanted to live in?

A. drove through here a couple of times years ago on his way to and from college, which he attended in Tucson, Arizona. He had a favorable impression of the area, and so when we started trying to find a place within a day's drive of Tucson, he thought of here. 

He also did a lot of research about cost of living, schools, climate, etc., because he's really into data. The school issue eliminated a lot of communities we were considering.

The school district here maintains a couple of houses that are technically "teacherages" that they can rent out. So the first house we lived in was one in the village that we rented from the school. The house we live in now was for sale then, but we wanted to rent first to make sure we wanted to stay here. The house we bought was literally the only one for sale in the county, so that made it a pretty easy decision.

Random photo of the old schoolhouse as the sun rises.

And lastly, although this wasn't phrased as a question in Monica's original comment . . .

How did you overcome fear of the unknown and the obstacles to moving cross-country to an entirely unfamiliar place?

This is something I have much more trouble with than A. does. He thinks of new places and moving as exciting adventures, and simply assumes that he will deal with any obstacles as they present themselves.

I, on the other hand, worry and fret and really, really hate feeling unsettled.

However. 

It was my great good fortune to grow up as a military child. Thus, I saw my parents move a family every three years, often very long distances (Hawaii to Alaska, for instance). They bought and sold houses; my mom found jobs; and my siblings and I went to new schools, found friends, and all turned out pretty well.

Having had that experience as a kid means that, although moving is not my preference, I know it can be done. I knew I could do it, and I knew my kids could do it. So when it seemed as if moving was the best option for us, I did it despite my natural inclination to avoid big changes.

Okay! I would say this is the end of this series, but we all know by now it will never end until the questions do. So tune in next Wednesday to see what comes next.

T.T.: Come Over To the (Maple) Dark Side

(Today is Calvin's birthday. He is nine. Although I usually post a picture of the birthday kid on the day, he is definitely not okay with me posting a picture of him, so I won't.)

One of the culinary carryovers from my decade and a half of living in New York State was a deep and abiding love of maple syrup. I had never even had real maple syrup before moving there--we always used Aunt Jemima for our pancakes and so on when I was a kid--but it didn't take me long to decide that I could never be without it again. 

We even made it ourselves for several years at Blackrock, which is very fun and also means syrup in enough quantity that it can be used for things other than just pancakes or waffles. 

We use maple syrup in many, many ways. On oatmeal and cream of wheat, in yogurt, as a sweetener in applesauce or fruit crisps, and on and on. Almost anywhere you can use brown sugar, maple syrup is just as good, if not better.

I even sometimes add it to milk for the kids. They've never had chocolate milk made with Hershey's syrup, but they love maple milk.

When it comes to maple syrup, I prefer to think outside the waffle/pancake box.

And then we moved to New Mexico, where sugar maples are in short supply.

I decided, however, that it's worth it to me to still have maple syrup in large quantities. Thanks to the Internet and modern shipping, I can have it. And because I buy it in such large quantities, it costs the same for me to order it and have it sent to me as it did for me to buy it from the maple farm up the road from us when we lived in Northern New York.

I order it four gallons at a time from a Vermont syrup company. But I don't get the same syrup you're likely to be buying at the grocery store, which is what they used to call Grade A, and is now called Amber. I much prefer the Grade B syrup, which is now called Dark Robust.

Whatever you call it, I think the dark syrup is vastly superior to the lighter syrup. It has a much more complex flavor, like caramel. The lighter syrup tastes very bland in comparison.

It might not be available where you are, and you might not be crazy enough to buy it gallons at a time like I do, but if you ever get the chance to get some of the dark syrup, definitely do it. It makes life so much more delicious.

Monday Bouquets: Sunflowers!

Hooray! The roadside sunflowers are finally blooming here and there. Just a few. Soon, though, there will be hundreds. I can't wait.

Snapshots: Hey There, Little Red Riding Hood*

Poppy got so exhausted watching me take down the laundry, she had to lie down.

Amazingly, there are no dogs licking her face. They must've been off barking at the horse or something.

Remember those six Buff Orpington chicks we bought to keep the solitary black School Chick company? Yeah. Those are NOT Buff Orpingtons. It became clear within a couple of weeks that they were more white than buff, and were growing at an alarming rate.

What we thought were Buff Orpingtons turned out to be undeniably meat chickens. 

I have heard horror stories of these meat breeds being unable to forage or even walk, but these don't have any trouble running around. Albeit slowly and with a bit of a waddle, because they are HUGE already.

Some of the giant meat chickens with their much more normal-sized adopted sibling.

One night after dinner, Cubby, Jack, and Poppy decided to put on a play. They went with the classic "Little Red Riding Hood."

Can you guess who played the title character?

The costume department really came through on the red theme.

She also played Grandma, as there were only two actors. Jack was the Big Bad Wolf. And Cubby was the director/narrator. 

It was very funny and kept them entertained for a whole 45 minutes of costuming, rehearsing, and performing. A major win in a week of solo parenting.

Jasper the Sentinel doggedly (ha) sticks by my side, even if he would rather be hiding in the shade instead of panting in the sun.

Meanwhile, Odin lurks in the tall weeds, alert and ready to spring.

He's on the move and licking his chops! What fearsome enemy or toothsome prey does he spy?

Ah yes. His brother. The most fearsome enemy, indeed.

And there you have it! My life, snapshotted.

* It is quite possible that my sister is the only person who read that and immediately sang in her head, "You sure are lookin' good . . ." But if you don't know the song, you're really missing out. It's by the excellently named Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, and you can listen to it here.

Friday Food: And Then There Were Four

A. and Calvin left last Saturday to visit the MiL in New York for a week, so it was just four of us most of the week. And hey! I did actually cook! Well, a few days, anyway.

Friday 

Short version: Pizza, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: I went to the store on Thursday and bought asadero cheese (our substitute for mozzarella) and I was making bread anyway, so there was dough hanging around. AND, it was only 72 degrees.

Sounds like a pizza day to me.

For the sauce, I used some of a can of "classic pasta sauce" we got from commodities via Miss Amelia. It's low sodium, so I added salt to it, plus garlic powder, pepper, dried oregano, and some balsamic vinegar. I microwaved it for a few minutes to thicken it up, and ta da! Pizza sauce.

Not as good as homemade, but pretty good.

The larger pizza was just cheese. The smaller pizza had bacon and sardines on it. Both had fresh basil from the garden.

Fresh basil is so good. Definitely at the top of the list of things I will always grow no matter what. (Also on that list: tomatoes.)

Saturday

Short version: Leftover pasta skillet for the kids, salad for me

Long version: A. and Calvin left in the morning for New York, leaving me with just ("just"--ha) three kids. They had leftover pasta mixed with leftover barbecue beef and leftover pizza sauce, plus some frozen peas thrown in there for greenery. And some grated asadero for deliciousness.

I had a salad. Which had an avocado in it, because I had been to a store. Hooray.

Sunday

Short version: Patriotic hot dogs, broccoli salad, potato chips, deviled eggs, and an Ugly Flag Cake

Long version: I thought ahead while I was at the store and got some beef hot dogs for the Fourth of July. And, because it is a tradition of Our Great Country, I charred them over an open flame.

Few things will motivate me to actually grill anything (given that grilling for us involves actual charcoal and is a pain), but Independence Day is one of them. Is it really the Fourth of July without meat charring on a grate? No.

So. Hot dogs on a grill. Our grill probably doesn't look like yours.

Rustic, but it charred some hot dogs satisfactorily.

I had a small head of broccoli that I had also gotten at the store, and I very randomly decided to make broccoli salad with it. I don't think I've ever made broccoli salad before, so I have no idea why this idea popped into my head, but it was delicious. Well, I thought it was delicious. The children were not so enthused.

I very loosely followed this recipe, except I used pecans instead of sunflower seeds, only raisins that I did not bother soaking, and I steamed the broccoli instead of blanching it.

I had boiled some eggs figuring that would be my protein, because I do not eat hot dogs, but then I remembered how much Cubby loves deviled eggs, so I made those. They were all eaten well before dinner, though.

We were all set to have a picnic outside, but then there was thunder and flies and few raindrops, so we moved into the house. It was still a picnic, just a kitchen-floor picnic.

Far fewer flies.

And now for the Ugly Cake. It was Cubby's turn to choose a toilet-cleaning dessert, and he was enthusiastic about my idea to make a flag cake. But of course, as is always the case for me, I didn't have any special ingredients on hand to decorate the cake, and sure as shootin' wasn't driving to a store to get any. And so, as is always the case for me, I improvised.

Yellow cake frosted with white buttercream frosting and decorated with frozen blueberries and raspberry preserves.

Funny how "blue"berries are only blue when they're fresh. As soon as they're frozen or cooked, they're purpleberries.

As I said to my sister, it was ugly, but it's the patriotic thought that counts. And the kids sure enjoyed eating it.

Monday

Short version: Ham and cheese quesadillas, carrot sticks with curry dip, raw grape tomatoes

Long version: Is this the cliche of a meal Mom makes when Dad is out of town? Absolutely. Did the children love it? Also absolutely.

It's rare for us to have deli ham, and even rarer to have flour tortillas, but I bought both when I was at the store last week. Much to the children's delight.

I had some ham with some of the curry dip, which is delicious. If I ate sandwiches anymore, I would definitely make ham sandwiches with the mayonnaise plus curry powder now, rather than plain mayonnaise.

I felt ridiculous paying four dollars for a small plastic container of cherry tomatoes, but I am VERY IMPATIENT for my own tomatoes to get ripe already. I think they have a couple more weeks to go. Boo.

Tuesday

Short version: Beef pot roast, garlic bread, collard greens, roasted peppers and onions

Long version: It was quite cool in the morning, so I cooked an arm roast before it got warm, just with half a can of leftover low-sodium pasta sauce we got from Miss Amelia, sliced onion, garlic, and a sprig of rosemary A. accidentally broke off when he was weeding the herbs.

The collard greens are literally the only thing I have been able to harvest in the garden for a couple of weeks. It's extremely irritating to have all these luxuriantly growing plants out there, but still nothing for eating.

The asparagus on the right is all done, and the tomatoes on the left aren't ready yet. Annoying.

Thank goodness for the two volunteer collard plants that came up. Next year I really need to be more careful to bridge this gap between spring plantings and summer plantings.

Wednesday

Short version: Breakfast sausage patties, curried split peas, rice, green salad with ranch dressing

Long version: Cubby eats three servings of curried split peas every time I make it. He explained to me that he would eat four, but he's afraid it might make him sick.

It's good to learn the lessons of moderation at an early age, I suppose. Although I'm not sure three servings of anything counts as notable moderation.

Thursday

Short version: Barbecue beef sandwiches, carrot sticks with ranch dip

Long version: Re-purposed pot roast with amended barbecue sauce. Not exciting, but serviceable.

I had a salad with some of the beef in it, because the baby lettuces have finally made it to the adolescent stage, so I could harvest enough for a salad. Hooray!

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

Remote Living, Part 8: Carrying On

You thought we were done with this, didn't you? Nope.

There were a few more questions, and I am not the woman to leave any question unanswered. 

How long did it take you to develop relationships with people in town? 

No time at all. This is the most welcoming small community I have ever lived in. People would stop and introduce themselves to us at the post office, or in our yard if we were outside, or on the playground. Integrating into a community is much easier if you have children, because of course you are immediately part of the school community. (Assuming you're not homeschooling.) And in a small place, the school is the hub of everything.

That, and church. We met almost everyone in one of those two places.

But here is where I have to give some general advice about integrating into a small community: For the first year or so you live there, listen, don't talk. You are coming in as an outsider, and no matter how friendly the locals might be, no one likes to feel as if they are being judged. If you come into a community and immediately start trying to change things or organize things or whatever, you run the risk of coming off as critical of the place you moved to.

We spent the first year we were here just figuring out how everything worked, who everyone was and how they related to everyone else, and then we let our place in the community develop from there. Eventually, we were asked to take jobs or serve in various capacities at church. That is when you know you have been accepted as a community member.

Do you have get togethers with other families? 

Not really. But that's mostly because I'm an introverted homebody. We do have other kids over to play, or we'll, say, go to our neighbors' house because they have sparklers or something for kids to play with, but it's not like there's some kind of monthly family gathering or anything. People are generally so far apart here that something like that is difficult.

Do you find some people go to town more than others?

I haven't really asked anyone this particular question, but I get the impression that almost everyone goes to town more than we do. I think the local people are so accustomed to driving long distances that they think nothing of taking their kids 90 miles for swim lessons. I, however, really dislike driving long distances, with my kids or without them, so I'm willing to go without a lot to make our trips to the Outside World less frequent.

So much road between us and my beloved seltzer.

Have you ever considered maybe having one family go every other trip and getting groceries for each other?

Although I think this is a great idea, it's not something we have done. For one thing, that would be a TON of stuff in one trip for one person, especially given our large family and the amount of animal feed we buy. For another, A. almost always makes grocery trips in conjunction with another errand, like getting the dogs their rabies shots or buying hay.

I've heard of some people on Facebook posting when they need something and asking if anyone is going anywhere where they could pick it up, but that's like a prescription or something, not hundreds of pounds of groceries and animal feed.