Friday Food: Turkey and Tortillas

Friday 

Short version: Leftovers in casserole form

Long version: I don't know if it's because we only got an 18-pound turkey this year instead of 22 pounds ("only," ha), or if everyone just ate more of it, or if it's because we had a guest and I sent leftovers home with him, but we really didn't have a ton of leftovers from Thanksgiving this year.

There were a few cups of dressing, about a cup of mashed potatoes, and some turkey, plus gravy, which I unceremoniously mixed all together with some frozen peas in the casserole dish the dressing was in and baked. That was dinner.

It tasted good, but half the family apparently does not like dressing soft. I don't like it mushy and tend to make it on the crispier side, so they've had no experience with wetter dressing, and they did not like it. Good to know.

There was also a selection of leftover desserts, although since everyone had pie for breakfast, the servings were pretty small. 

This was also the day I put away the Thanksgiving decorations.

So long, Sight-word Turkey. See you next year.

Saturday

Short version: Elk burgers, oven fries, green salad with vinaigrette, maple snow

Long version: The elk burgers were very well-received. I guess we need to grind more of the elk.

The children collected clean snow in the morning specifically so they could eat it with maple syrup, like Laura does in Little House in the Big Woods, which is our current book for reading aloud at bedtime. Some wanted just the syrup on their snow, some opted to have heavy cream on there, too. All were happy.

Sunday

Short version: Bull and elk chili, crackers, peanut butter cookies

Long version: I wanted to make cornbread to go with the chili, but I didn't have any yogurt. I use yogurt in place of the large quantity of buttermilk in my cornbread recipe, so . . . crackers instead.

And these peanut butter cookies, with chopped almonds added in.

Monday

Short version: Rice+leftovers skillet meal, carrot sticks

Long version: I used a container of turkey and turkey broth that I had meant to put in the freezer to make dinner this night after work. All I did was dump that in a skillet, add rice, and salsa, spices, simmer until the rice was soft, then stir in some grated cheddar cheese.

Tuesday

Short version: Chorizo+egg burritos, grapes

Long version: Unexpected work day thanks to subbing. I took out a bag of elk chorizo to thaw before I left for work. When I got home, I fried the chorizo, scrambled some eggs in the pan with it, and stirred in shredded cheese. Then I went for a run.

When I got home, I found everyone eating burritos with the chorizo and egg mixture in flour tortillas, which was my plan all along. Nice when things work out like that.

The grapes came from the commodities lady. She gave us three bags of red grapes, and miraculously, they were crisp and tasty. The grapes that make it to us out here in the hinterlands tend to be in the soft and wrinkling stage, so it was nice to get some that were in good shape. Also nice because I didn't make a vegetable for this meal.

Let's have a photo here, slightly related to food:

Can you spot the horse in this photo? This is what I see on my laps past our house on my runs: Cora staring at me, willing me with the power of her mind to give her hay.

Wednesday

Short version: Re-combined leftovers

Long version: I got home around 5:30 p.m. with the first communicant to find that eldest son had prepared dinner for his sister and dad using the leftover rice skillet meal. He added some other things to it and served it with corn tortillas. So that's what the kid who came home with me had, too. A. filled in his meal with some canned beef stew from commodities. 

To the rest of the rice mixture, I added the bit of leftover chorizo and eggs, and put that in tortillas for the other two boys.

For myself, I used the last container of turkey and broth to make a soup that also included leftover roasted carrots and onion, leftover mushrooms, and frozen peas. A surprisingly good soup. Good thing I never did get around to freezing all those containers of turkey and broth.

Thursday

Short version: Various things

Long version: I was at our school's annual holiday craft party with the younger two. We ate the finger foods and snacks there. I must confess to a particular liking for taquitos.

At home, A. made bean and cheese tacos. He fries the tortillas for these, which is something I never do, so it's a fun version of my boring ones. 

And that's the third night in a row that featured tortillas of some kind for dinner.

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

Some Randomness

I had a plan to post Aunt Belvie's recipe for pickled beets today, but just as I was about to start writing that at 5:30 this morning, I got a call asking if I could substitute for one of the elementary teachers.

So that's what I did instead of sharing Aunt Belvie's pickled beet recipe with all of you today. Not to worry! I will make sure to do it next week, because the world--in the form of the wide web--needs this recipe.

But in the meantime, I'll just write out a few things that come into my head. Because my head is fun sometimes.

Remember how I told you about my online student who joined his English Zoom meeting on the back of a horse while gathering cattle? I had another student this past week who joined for only the last two minutes of his meeting, full of apologies because he was helping his dad move bulls and it took longer than they thought it would. 

That has always been my experience when moving sheep, and they're nowhere near as difficult as bulls, so I could appreciate the situation. I was amused, though.

I'm following one of those Couch to 5K plans that are all over online as a way to motivate me in my return to running. I do much better following a schedule, because then I have no excuses. I run on the days that schedule tells me to run. I chose a plan that has me running on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I could do it when I was home. Except I wasn't home today, and I didn't get home until 4:20 p.m. 

It gets dark about 5 p.m. I had a pot of bread dough overflowing on the counter--another inconvenience to working unexpectedly--and dinner to make for everyone so they could eat before going to judo. 

I was very impressed with myself that I got the dough kneaded, chorizo and eggs for dinner made before I left for my run, and my run done just before it got fully dark.

I don't want to do that again, though, so I really hope I don't have to be at work on Thursday.

Speaking of chorizo and eggs . . . I also added some shredded cheese to that before putting it all in tortillas, and it occurred to me that burrito sure packs a powerful protein punch (alliteration alert!). I should make those more often for my extremely rapidly growing sons.

Okay. I think I'll stop there with this mental meandering. Though I feel I should leave you with a photo.

An early morning run with the dogs.

Catch you on the flip side.

Snapshots: Light in the Dark

This is the time of year when I feel we need more light indoors. That's why I don't wait until Christmas to put up the lights on the decorative iron thing in between the kitchen and dining areas.

We'll call them winter lights.

Those are the lights the MiL gave me last year when I said the old lights we found here at the house had started to burn out and I couldn't find any replacements that weren't bright white and glaring. She got these at Tractor Supply. They are certainly less glaring than most modern white lights, though not quite as mellow as the old lights. Then again, those old lights probably have some toxic ingredient that is no longer permissible in light manufacturing, so I'm happy with the new ones.

Thanks, MiL.

Of course, we still have our candles on the table.

Before Thanksgiving Day, the candles were complemented by this turkey my mother gave me twenty years ago, plus the pine cone candles my sister brought us.

On Thanksgiving Day, I put new candles on the table, along with a festive arrangement of dried weeds gathered on my morning run.

I took that run before the sun was even up. It was the only way I could get it and a shower done before waking everyone up for church at 8:30 a.m. It was nice, though, because I got to watch the sun rise as I chugged along.

Yesterday we had our first significant snow of the season.

Less than an inch, but exciting nonetheless.

Woodstove season has definitely arrived, which means the top of the stove is now covered in warming clothing in the morning for a toastier dressing experience.

Just make sure the clothes don't touch that stovepipe in the back, unless you want some pyrotechnics to enliven your morning. As I know from personal experience. Sorry about that scorched shirt, son.

Lastly, and speaking of the woodstove, I bought myself an early Christmas present.

Aren't log holders what everyone wants for Christmas?

We had been using one of the old drawers from the boys' bunkbed as a wood box, but it fell apart. I never liked it anyway. It took up too much room and collected dirt and trash from boxes and so forth. This rack looks much better. Handy for hanging damp snow apparel on, too.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

For the Home Cooks

After reading the comments on the last post that detailed all the elaborate Thanksgiving meals catering to traditions that must not be deviated from, vegans and vegetarians, multiple desserts for multiple tastes, as well as continuing to cook all the other food for your families all the rest of the week . . .

I salute you all. 

It's a sometimes thankless (ha) job to be the main cook in a household, and that goes double for holidays. It's so much work and planning and time in the kitchen. But there was so much delicious food that came out of our kitchens, and it made people important to us happy.

You did good. I'm proud of you. 

And I hope there were lots of leftovers that made it easy to stay out of the kitchen as much as possible for at least a couple of days.

Friday Food: Turkey (and Elk) Time

Friday 

Short version: Chicken soup, PB&J sandwiches, cookie bars

Long version: This was the day we spent all day at the basketball tournament. I figured we'd probably eat one meal out--that turned out to be lunch at Sonic--but I brought food for the other meal. There were peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a Thermos of chicken-rice soup, and chocolate chip cookie bars. 

On the way home, at 8 p.m. the children ate the rest of the almonds that had been in the car, and also the cold french fries leftover from Sonic. 

It doesn't matter what time of day it is, or how much they've eaten previously: If we are in the car for an hour the children will want to eat. I knew they would eat the french fries on the way home, even if they were cold. That's why I saved them.

Saturday

Short version: Pizza, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: I made just one pizza, with bacon, because A. wasn't home. He was in Tucson visiting his dad. So I didn't need so much pizza.

I made ranch dressing, too, for the pizza dipping, but I put vinaigrette on the salad.

Sunday

Short version: Elk steaks, spaghetti, frozen green peas, toffee bars

Long version: Plain spaghetti with butter and garlic powder, cooked frozen peas . . .

And the toffee bars.

One child announced he wanted to make a "special cookie." He chose toffee bars. This is a recipe in my old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. It's pretty involved, with three separate layers, a bowl, a pot, and so on. Not something I'm willing to do regularly, but the children liked them.

Monday

Short version: Elk and bean chimichangas, carrot sticks

Long version: I unfortunately started to feel the full effects of a cold this day, and reeeaally did not want to cook. But the show must go on!

I had two small elk steaks left that hadn't been cooked yet, so I diced those and simmered them with salsa and spices. Then I added in the last half of a pint jar of pinto beans, put that mixture in flour tortillas with cheese, and fried that in butter.

Tuesday

Short version: Barbecue meatballs, baked potatoes, frozen green peas

Long version: Still feeling poorly. I took out a bag of bull meat fromthe freezer and made meatballs with that. Those just bake for an hour or so, which is why I also shoved some potatoes in the oven (using this trick first to make sure they cooked through) and a Pyrex bowl of frozen peas to heat up.

One oven for the full meal is the easiest way to get a balanced dinner on the table.

Wednesday

Short version: Elk steaks, bread and butter, frozen green peas

Long version: If you see both bread and butter and frozen peas in the same meal, you can pretty much guarantee that I was SO OVER the kitchen by the time dinnertime rolled around.

I took the post-surgical child for his first physical therapy appointment in the morning. The appointment was at 8 a.m. in a city 100 miles away, so we left while it was still dark. That's why I randomly grabbed a bag of meat from the freezer on the dark porch before we left, figuring I could come up with something to do with it later.

"Later" was at 5 p.m. after I had spent two hours in the kitchen making pies and cranberry sauce. And cleaning up from making pies and cranberry sauce. 

In progress: Cranberry sauce done, lemons for lemon meringue pie juiced and zested, squash awaiting its pie shell. And dishes. So many dishes.

I was not inspired at dinnertime, so I just fried the steaks in butter with random spices on there, microwaved the peas in a bowl, and added the bread to round everything out.

And then I absented myself from the kitchen, leaving the literal piles of dishes still in the sink to A. I decided it would be best to delegate what kitchen work I could so I didn't burn out entirely and spend all of Thanksgiving resentful of the constant kitchen tasks.

That was a good call. It worked, too.

Thursday

Short version: Hoo boy.

Long version: This year's Thanksgiving meal included the following:

--Turkey

And there it is!

--Sourdough dressing

--Mashed potatoes

--Roasted carrots and parsnips

When A. dug what I thought were two parsnips, he actually found four. Thanksgiving bonus!

--Green salad with vinaigrette

--Cranberry sauce

--Gravy

--Pumpkin pie

--Pumpkin custard

--Lemon meringue pie

--Brownies

--Whipped cream

Dessert spread. The whipped cream was on a small table to the right.

I definitely made more dessert than I would typically, because we had a guest. Our priest joined us for dinner. I myself don't really love pie, so I thought it would be nice to have something not pie-related, in case he was also not a pie person. Brownies (these) are the fastest and easiest non-pie dessert I can make, and our guest did eat two brownies, so that was probably a good call.

The lemon meringue pie was really good, though. I'm not sure it was good enough to make the same fussy recipe next year, but it did have an excellent result. And A. assured me that I have found the pumpkin pie recipe I should use forever (this one, with a few modifications), so I guess that was a hit, too.

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

Giving Thanks

Good morning! It's 4:40 a.m., I have my coffee, and I'm plotting and planning how the rest of the day will go.

For me, it will go almost entirely in the kitchen, of course, but at least I have a head start.

Cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, lemon meringue pie, all made yesterday. Not pictured: The custard I baked with the extra pie filling, because there is always extra pie filling. How big are other people's pie plates?

I also made the turkey stock with the nasty bits pulled from the turkey's cavity. That has to be one of my least-favorite Thanksgiving tasks. It was made worse this year by the fact that I was doing it at 5:30 yesterday morning before I took the post-surgical child to his first physical therapy appointment in a city. Also, there was still a chunk of ice inside the turkey, because it had only been thawing for two days. I had to run cold water in the cavity, pry out the chunk of ice encasing the neck, and then scrub out my sink, because raw turkey juices are seriously yuck.

All this before 6 a.m.

Anyway! That's done. All that's left are dressing--I made extra sourdough bread for this a few days ago--mashed potatoes, salad, and actually roasting the turkey. And making gravy. Oh! And digging up the parsnips so I can roast those with carrots.

That's not so much, right? Right. The pies are the worst part for me anyway, so I'm glad they're done.

Not so much the happy little baker here.

Regardless of the kitchen work to be done, there is much to be thankful for today. I will meditate on this as I scrub my two parsnips.

Happiest of Thanksgivings to everyone! Enjoy your feast, whatever that looks like for you.

Growing Food: Thanksgiving!

It's coooommmmminnng! This Thursday is The Big Day. Well, for all Americans who are into food and do their own cooking. I know that's not everyone. But it is certainly me.

Up until three years ago, I had never made a traditional Thanksgiving meal. I don't actually like turkey myself, so I was not motivated to cook it. However, I finally bowed to pressure from my sons, who insisted that Thanksgiving must feature turkey. And gravy. And mashed potatoes. And dressing. And pumpkin pie. But most importantly, all of these must be in enough quantity that the bottom of the serving dish is never seen the day of feasting.

My favorite part of our Thanksgiving feast is the green beans with bacon and onions. Unfortunately, the terrible garden season this year meant I didn't freeze any green beans. The "fresh" green beans I saw at the grocery store last week looked disgusting, and I refuse to make it with frozen green beans. They're just not good enough.

So no green beans this year. Sad.

But! I do have two stubborn parsnips that weathered everything thrown at them this year, so I think this year I'll make roasted parsnips and carrots instead of green beans.

I will also make a green salad. The lettuce will have to be from the store, but the tomatoes in it will be from the garden. Or rather, from the garden tomatoes still hanging out in their box on the floor.

The last ingredient from the garden that will grace our Thanksgiving table will be the squash I use for the pumpkin pie.

And there it is!

We only got four squash from the garden this year, but all I need for the pie is one. That one up there made six cups of pureed squash. That's enough for two pies according to this recipe, which is the one I'm following. Except I use the MiL's recipe for pie dough. And I reduced the ginger a bit. And I will not be messing around with the beans for blind baking the crust.

I did mostly follow the instructions for the filling, though. I roasted and pureed the squash yesterday. Then I decided to just go ahead and simmer the squash with the sugar, maple syrup, and spices. That way, all I have to do to finish the pie is make the crust, add the dairy ingredients to the filling, and bake it. 

Spicy squash.

I would like to do this on Wednesday to get it done ahead of time, but I'm not sure there will be room in my refrigerator for this pie. Especially because one child insists that he is going to make a lemon meringue pie this year, and that will definitely need to be done on Wednesday. I've never made one, and I do not want to be scrambling to get that done on Thanksgiving morning.

Anyway.

I'll miss the green beans this year, but I am thankful to have the parsnips, tomatoes, and squash. And thankfulness is what it's all about, after all.