Friday Food: Atypical Treats

Friday 

Short version: Soft tacos or chimichangas, green salad with vinaigrette, vanilla ice cream

Long version: I made taco meat with ground beef, ground sheep, and canned beans, and then let the kids choose whether they wanted corn tortillas for soft tacos, of flour tortillas for chimichangas. 

That sure was a run-on sentence. Oh well.

Saturday

Short version: Bunless cheeseburgers, fried mushrooms, oven fries, roasted sweet potatoes, corn on the cob, carrot sticks, watermelon and Mexican wedding cookies

Long version: So many options for this meal! White potatoes or sweet potatoes?

I had to take some of the sweet potatoes off of this pan, though, because it was too crowded for proper browning and crisping.

Watermelon or cookies? Both, of course!

The real excitement for this meal, though, was the corn on the cob. This is the first time this summer we've had it, and the children were thrilled.

Little things, right?

Sunday

Short version: Nachos, carrots, Australian chocolate blocks

Long version: I had gone to the nearest town the day before to get fly spray for the horses, and of course stopped at the grocery store while I was there. I had a couple of kids with me, and we got some things that are not typically part of our groceries. Things like the aforementioned corn on the cob. And blue corn tortilla chips, which I used for nachos with some of the leftover taco meat. 

Also, two blocks of chocolate from Australia.

These come from the land down under, where beer does flow and men chunder*.

These were by the register. I remarked to the children how interesting that they were from Australia. "Oh, we have lots of Australian candy," said the cashier.

Really? A lot of Australian candy in a tiny grocery store in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, New Mexico, U.S.A? The next obvious question of course was, "Why?" but I didn't ask. Instead I just bought the chocolate.

These weren't really chocolate bars, because they were so big. Almost half a pound. The packaging on one was labeled "chocolate block," so that's what I went with.

Everyone got to try both kinds.  I didn't think either were particularly great, but the children were very happy with them. And I didn't have to bake anything for our Sunday dessert. Yay.

Monday

Short version: Tuna melt sandwiches, dilly beans, Australian chocolate

Long version: This was the day I realized that the carpet in my bedroom that got completely soaked in the Severe Weather Event was not going to dry. I realized this because my bedroom started to smell like a wet dog. 

So I spent the hour or so before dinner pulling up the carpet in my bedroom, including the crumbling carpet pad underneath, and vacuuming the wet particle board sub-floor. 

So nasty.

This activity made me hot and kind of grossed out, but I still went ahead and made the tuna salad into hot sandwiches instead of just smushing it between slices of bread and calling it good.

Yes, I expect my gold stars for this superior show of selflessness any day now.

The dilly beans were the very last ones from last year. And will almost certainly be the last ones until next year, as my green bean plants got flattened by the hail. Maybe a couple will revive, but I'm certainly not anticipating any great harvests this year.

Tuesday

Short version: Fried pork, leftover noodle, green salad with vinaigrette, vanilla ice cream

Long version: This was pork I had put in the freezer last time I made a pork shoulder. I just shredded it and fried it in bacon grease with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

The noodles were plain egg noodles leftover from the birthday dinner that I heated up with butter, Parmesan, and garlic powder.

And the last of the vanilla ice cream, because we hit 100 degrees this day. 

Wednesday

Short version: Pork fried rice, Otter Pops

Long version: I was planning on making barbecue pork sandwiches . . . and then I went into the kitchen at 3:30 p.m. and made some rice so I could use the pork to make fried rice.

Why? Who knows. It just happens that way sometimes.

We are rapidly approaching the county fair. Which means the parade. Which means dozens of Otter Pops thrown to my children. Which means I need to finish the Otter Pops that are still in the freezer from last year's parade.

I had just enough for all the children to have one, and now we are ready for the next influx.

Thursday

Short version: Lamb chops, leftover noodles or rice, corn on the cob, peanut butter/almond cookies

Long version: One child specifically requested red meat. I guess we had been eating a lot of non-red meat lately. So I took out a couple of packages of lamb chops and fried those. 

These cookies, which are definitely the best. But with chopped almonds added, because I am still working through the many bags of commodities almonds I got like two months ago. 

I always think I'll never get through the huge quantity of things we get at once from commodities, and then one day I realize, "Oh man. I don't have anymore chickpeas." Even though I had literally dozens of cans of chickpeas at one point. I always do manage to use it all eventually.

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

* It's from a song. This one. And wow, that video sure is . . . something.

Growing Food: Setbacks

Well. You've already seen the state of some of my plants after they got pummeled by golf-ball-sized hail. Here's some more.

The formerly impressive tomato plants with a volunteer lettuce carpet.

Denuded carrots.

The remains of the green beans that were juuuust starting to produce.

It's been quite a year so far. We had the three weeks of constant rain and cold temperatures that delayed any real growth. A hail storm in June that knocked back any harvests for a few weeks. The invasion of destructive harlequin bugs. This hail, that flattened everything. 

AND, as if all that isn't enough, we have thousands of grasshoppers. There are so many around that when I walk through the garden or pastures, it looks like popcorn popping as they jump out of my way. The green beans were suffering already because of them. They ate all the potato foliage and were eating through the rhubarb leaves, two things which I considered immune to pest damage.

I must admit, I feel as if we're getting a taste of the plagues of Egypt. I can only hope we stop at hail and locusts.

I do think that at least some of the plants will recover from the storm damage and manage to produce something to harvest. Not a lot, but something. 

Gardening is a lesson in hope if nothing else.

So tell me, my fellow gardeners: What's the state of your garden? 

 

Snapshots: Storm Damage

Last night at 8 p.m., just as I was getting the kids ready for bed and they were already in their pajamas, two things happened at once: Our cell phones started screaming to alert us of a dangerous storm coming our way, and we saw out the window that the sheep had gotten out.

Swell.

Luckily, the sheep were on the road right next to the gate to our closest pasture, so we drove them in there and secured them relatively quickly. And then we went to the old gym.

This alert had confirmed a tornado associated with this storm, along with large hail and high winds, so we thought it prudent to wait it out in a large stone structure. We drove the Honda up to the old gym, went inside, and waited.

It was pretty much dark by this point, but I had brought a solar lantern with us, so the kids used that to make shadow puppets.At least, they made shadow puppets while we were waiting for the storm to hit. When the storm actually hit, they were doing nothing but huddling and praying.

Never have I heard such a noise. The gym has a metal roof. Hail hitting it at that speed and in that quantity makes a sound that I imagine is akin to a gun battle. It was so loud we couldn't hear each other yelling from a foot away.

This was not popular with the small children in our group, as you might imagine. 

Investigation revealed hail about the size of a golf ball.

The alert had warned of hail up to 3 inches, so I guess it could have been worse. But still. Yikes.

As soon as the hail was over, we braved the 30-foot dash to the car, getting completely soaked in the process and discovering when we got there that the back side window of the Honda had been broken out, and there were several cracks in the windshield.

I managed to get us home, though, where we dashed through the soaking rain again and reached the sanctuary of the house . . . only to find that the hail had broken out four of the five windows on the north side of the house.

There was water and broken glass all over the floor of the kitchen, dining room, and my bedroom. It was an unbelievable mess. And of course, the power was out, so all we had were the lanterns for light.

I got the kids to put on dry pajamas while we taped trash bags over the smashed windows. I started sweeping up shards of glass and water and dumping the mess in buckets as well as I could in the limited light I had after they went to bed.

The little kids went to sleep, but Cubby went out to check on the sheep making a racket in the adjoining pasture and came back in with the news that the horses were out.

Thankfully, they were just in the vineyard pasture next to their corral. Investigation revealed that a section of fence had blown over in the storm, so they just walked out. We put the fence back up as best we could and lured the horses back into their corral with some horse food we have.

After that, I went back in to continue cleaning up as much as I was able. I also brought the food in the small freezer above the refrigerator to the giant chest freezer, got a bag of ice out of that freezer while I had it open, and put all the most perishable refrigerated things into coolers with the ice. 

Then I plugged in our landline phone and went to bed, first taking the precaution of putting on socks to sleep in in case I was startled awake and jumped out of bed and right into the shards of glass embedded in my bedroom carpet.

That is exactly what happened when the power came back on at 4:30, so thank goodness for socks.

The rising sun enabled me to make a tour of the destruction outside.

Boards missing in the backyard fence.

Half the horse shed roof peeled up.

And of course, the windows.

The garden, as you might imagine, did not fare well.

Rhubarb.

Tomato.

Beets.

So that's kind of sad.

But!

No one was injured, our roof didn't leak, all the animals are okay, and the power is back on so I can clean up properly.

There you have it. My storm-damaged life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: Beef 'n' Sheep

Friday 

Short verson: Shepherd's pie, green salad with vinaigrette, brownies

Long version: I used two pounds of ground beef and one pound of ground sheep for this shepherd's pie. Well, actually, two shepherd's pies. I made a small one for our new priest, who is quite young and trying to learn to cook. And also doesn't eat wheat. Shepherd's pie is a good option for such a situation.

My children were happy because we got a can of corn from I think Rafael, so I used that with the frozen peas instead of carrots in the meat. 

They were REALLY happy about the brownies. Did you know July 7 is World Chocolate Day? I didn't either, until one of my kids clicked on the little icon on the bottom task bar of the Windows desktop when they were putting on a video and told me. "We should have chocolate!" they said.

I am not typically one to celebrate these "Days," but I had the oven on anyway to bake the shepherd's pie, so I quickly made a pan of these brownies to general approbation.

Saturday

Short version: Smoked sausage, bread and butter, frozen peas

Long version: I spent most of the day at a going-away party for our neighbor children with my youngest two kids. The party was at the closest public pool, which is 100 miles away. 

The distance meant it really was a full day. Of course, since we were in a (small) city, I stopped at the grocery store. That's where I got the sausage. It was a smoked sausage from a Texas company. It was tasty, but spicy. Too spicy for me to eat by itself, but good in my salad.

I think we need a photo here.

How about one from last week of my pizza helper? Sure.

Sunday

Short version: Roast chicken, garlic bread, carrot sticks with curry dip, oatmeal-chocolate chip bar cookies

Long version: A whole chicken, salted, rubbed with butter, and squirted with bottled lemon juice. I didn't overcook it this time, which is always a win. I tend to overcook chicken because I'm sort of paranoid about it being undercooked.

I made bar cookies because I really didn't want to make anything at all, and bar cookies are easier than regular cookies. There were no complaints.

Monday

Short version: Bunless cheeseburgers, bread and butter, fried mushrooms and onions, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: I used half ground beef and half ground sheep again. That really is a good combination. The sheep meat has a lot more fat than the beef, and just generally makes for a more flavorful and richer end product. 

Getting a sheep professionally butchered doesn't actually make as much financial sense as getting a cow butchered--there's just so much less meat in the end that it ends up being more per pound--but I really like having the ground meat and chops.

Tuesday

Short version: Middle Eastern-ish meatballs, rice, green peas, watermelon

Long version: I used the rest of the ground beef/sheep to make the meatballs, along with the tomatoes left in the can when I drained off the juice into the shepherd's pie meat. I also used frozen onions and za'atar in the meatballs, which is what made them Middle Eastern. Ish.

They were good, anyway.

The watermelon was one I got at the grocery store on Saturday. Encouraged by the children, I got the biggest watermelon in the bin. It was HUGE. A. estimated 25 pounds. I trust I need not tell you it also had seeds.

Wednesday

Short version: Chicken fried rice, more watermelon

Long version: My plan all day was to scramble some eggs and make breakfast tacos. But then I went into the kitchen and made fried rice instead.

I obviously had leftover rice, to which I added a can of commodities chicken, cooked onions from the freezer, frozen peas, eggs, garlic powder, soy sauce, vinegar, and ginger.

Thursday

Short version: Birthday sheep ribs, pasta with pesto, carrot sticks, ice cream, Mexican wedding cookies

Long version: Our new eleven-year-old requested this meal. 

A. made the ribs on the grill again.

I've had a lot of trouble with my basil this year. None of my seedlings came up to start and I had to re-start them, and then they almost died while we were in Arizona. The plants are not really big enough for harvesting yet, but by getting three or four leaves from each of the ten remaining plants and combining those with the tops from the carrots I harvested for the carrot sticks, I had enough pesto for the pasta.

The only problem with having ice cream and cookies for a birthday dessert is the candle situation. I mean, I guess you can stick candles in ice cream, but I went with a different option: peanut butter.

With a cookie wreath.

I tried a New York Times recipe for the cookies this time, but I wasn't too enthused about it. Luckily, I tasted the dough* before I chilled it for baking, so I knew it wasn't right. I added more than double the amount of walnuts called for in the recipe, and quite a bit more salt. They ended up being very good, although they spread quite a bit and look more like regular cookies than the ball-shaped Mexican wedding cookies I'm familiar with.

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

* I highly encourage doing this, by the way. Just like with cooking, it allows you to fix a problem before serving the food. Except when baking, you have to fix it before you bake it.

Growing Food: Vindication

Remember when I showed you my rutabagas-that-were-really-turnips? 

The roots in question.

Well, I e-mailed Seeds 'n' Such to let them know that they should check into that lot of seeds, as they had packaged seeds incorrectly. I actually received a return e-mail from Kim, who asked if I had a photo of what I grew. Wasn't it lucky that I did?

I sent her the above photo and received a response saying, "I'm not 100% sure, but those look like turnips to me."

Well, yes, Kim. That's what I was saying.

I AM 100% sure they are turnips, but I appreciated the confirmation.

Anyway, she offered to either send me another package of the rutabaga seeds or a refund. I asked for the refund, because I have no confidence I'll get the right seeds this time, either.

And thus ends the saga of the imposter rutabaga.

Also on the topic of growing food: The sauerkraut I put in the crock last week is ready to be canned, but it's going to have to wait. I will not can anything this time of year except first thing in the morning, in order to avoid the heat. But I also need to water my garden, which also only happens (for me) in the cool mornings. Watering takes precedence, so the sauerkraut will wait until tomorrow.

So tell me, my fellow gardeners: Anything exciting happening in your gardens?

Snapshots: Tornadoes and Rainbows

Let's see what we have this week . . .

Girl in pasture.

I discovered this year that the big rolling pin my dad made me works perfectly for smashing down cabbage for sauerkraut. Thanks, Dad!

My cell phone started beeping insistently on Wednesday evening, informing us that a storm bad enough to spawn a tornado was tracking right towards us. Our house is a mobile home with additions, so it's not the safest in such a situation. We decided to go over to the old gym down the road, which is solid stone. 

We brought the dogs with us, and watched the storm from the west-facing windows in the gym. It looked pretty ugly for a few minutes there, but a tornado never formed, so we just waited out the rainstorm and then went home.

You can just see poor Odin there, cowering by the door.

We came out to a double rainbow.

Overzealous bell ringing at church resulted in the rope getting wrapped around the bell, so the bell couldn't be rung. A. climbed on the roof of the church to fix it.

Flying high into the sun . . .

Climbing up was the worst part. Once he was up there, he just needed to unscrew the access grate on the outside of the bell tower (is it a tower if it's only five feet high?) and unwrap the rope.

Ding dong bell.

And last, a morning walk.

To infinity and beyond.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: Patriotic Ugly Cakes

Friday 

Short version: Steak strips and gravy, mashed potatoes, frozen peas

Long version: I used sirloin steaks for this, which are very lean and boneless. I just cut them into strips, browned them in leftover pork fat, then cooked them with onions, parsley, and the remains of the pork liquid from, uh, before our trip. It was in the back of the refrigerator and had been covered in the fat, so it was still good. Nice and gelatinous, and added a lot of flavor to the beef juices. To those juices, I added cornstarch and milk to make gravy.

Saturday

Short version: Sheef cheeseburgers on homemade buns, oven fries, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: Does anyone else remember those old Sizzler commercials from the '80s that tried to get people into the restaurant between lunch and dinner by asking if they thought that meal should be called "dunch" or "linner"? 

No? Just me?

Well, anyway, I had the same sort of question about these burgers. I used two pounds of ground beef and one pound of ground sheep in them. So, are they sheef or beep burgers? I decided beep burgers sounded stupid, so sheef it is. Ahem.

In any case, the sheep meat had a lot more fat in it than the ground beef, so it was a good combination. Also, by request, I smashed the patties firmly as I put them in the pan, so as to make very thin hamburgers. This takes more time, because more individual burgers have to be made, but they were good.

Sunday

Short version: Bull and rice casserole, baked custard

Long version: I took out one of the bags of prepared (pressure-cooked and food-processed) bull meat from the freezer, knowing that meat works best in a casserole. So a casserole is what I made.

I literally threw the following things into a Pyrex casserole: rice, bull, the rest of the pork juices and fat, frozen onions, frozen peas, garlic powder, shredded cheddar cheese, and a random cup of milk I found on the counter from a child who didn't finish it.

It came out surprisingly well, given the complete randomness of its preparation.

Monday

Short version: Salmon/tuna patties, spaghetti, green salad with ranch dressing

Long version: If I wanted to be really obnoxious, I suppose I could call these suna patties, since I used both sorts of canned fish in them. But that would be annoying. The patties were good, though.

I made the spaghetti with just butter, garlic powder, and Parmesan. I think this is the first time I had made pasta this way for my children. At least one of them declared it the best pasta ever. Of course it is. It has virtually no nutritional value.

Tuesday

Short version: Independence food

Long version: The major components of this meal came right from our property. A. did his annual barbecue to cook sheep ribs, which are his favorite food.

I boiled the potatoes I had harvested a few days previously and just doused those in a lot of butter and salt. 

We have a TON of lettuce at the moment that will shortly be too bitter to eat, so I made another green salad. The ranch dressing included parsley and dill from the garden as well.

I made Grandma Bishop's Chocolate Cake, with the addition of some chocolate chips. Why not, right? I figure Americans have a reputation of being sort of extra, so I might as well gild the lily. The chocolate chips all sank to the bottom, so when I flipped the cakes out, there was a layer of chocolate at the top. This was very good.

We had two cakes only because the only rectangular dish I had to bake the flag cake was quite small. So I made another small cake in an oval dish and used my imagination for the decoration.

My signature Ugly Cake. But patriotic!

The cake was only nominally from the property. I used the strawberry-rhubarb puree I had made earlier in the day to make the stripes on the cake, as well as the lettering on the extra cake. 

The frosting was a buttercream that I made without consulting a recipe for amounts, and then I added too much milk and had to add more of the other stuff and . . . well, it kind of got away from me. It was a bit runny, but it firmed up nicely in the refrigerator and received enthusiastic praise from the children, which is all that matters.

Wednesday

Short version: Pizza, meatballs, green salad with ranch dressing

Long version: I made one cheese pizza and one pepperoni. 

The meatballs I made for me. I used a pound of ground sheep, with zaatar in the mixture, and cooked them in the juice I drained off a can of tomatoes opened to make the pizza sauce. They came out well.

Thursday

Short version: Leftovers

Long version: Pizza, meatballs, potatoes . . . leftovers.

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