Friday Food Round-Up!

We are officially on a jag.

Watch and see.

Saturday – Chalupas with Uncle Richard’s Hot Sauce from The Homesick Texan

The exact words out of my mouth to Marcus when I tasted Uncle Richard’s Hot Sauce for the first time were, I’m sorry we can’t buy salsa from the store anymore.

This is my lot in life.

Vegetarian and largely from the pantry, this was the perfect throw-together meal for a weekend.  Especially since it didn’t feel totally thrown together.

Until this point in time, we had never fried corn tortillas in oil.  Eating them was a spiritual revelation.

Sunday – Cheese Enchiladas with Chili con Carne from The Homesick Texan

All I want to know is whether or not it’s possible to build enchiladas with corn tortillas that look aesthetically pleasing.  Or, if people nestling them between refried beans and rice is more of a corral-type presentation tactic.

Rehydrating ancho chiles?  Not scary anymore.  Stuffing tortillas full of onions and cheese?  Old hat.

The other assessment?  Holy meat.  The recipe only required 1/4 pound (we used ground turkey) but since the rest of the dish is basically tortillas, cheese and sauce, a pound seemed a little bit more appropriate from a protein/nutritional value standpoint.

Monday – Rustic White Beans and Mushrooms and Tomato Couscous with Capers from Veganomicon

We had to take a moment to break it up.  You know?

What I will say about this dinner is that it was extremely time-intensive on the front end.

Maybe vegans could answer this one for me, but are white beans prized because they provide a creaminess not otherwise naturally found in vegan dishes?  Because even though the white beans were good, that seemed to be their purpose in life.  Next time we’ll be adding liberal handfuls of freshly chopped parsley and lemon juice, just to brighten the situation up.

I was so excited to be able to use the Whole Wheat Pearl Couscous that Jeanne  sent me.  It added a wonderful texture to the dish compared to regular couscous.  In addition to the two cans of diced tomatoes we were directed to throw in there, I added a handful of chopped sundried tomatoes from the freezer.  This dish will definitely be coming back.

Did I mention that this meal made a prolific amount of food?  Because it was prolific.  And extremely cheap.

Tuesday – His and Hers (A Look Behind The Curtain)

What happens when your husband has an evening activity that means the two of you will be dining separately?

For him: Leftovers topped with a soft-fried egg.

For her: Monster salad topped with bleu cheese crumbles, tomato, hard-boiled eggs, croutons and Aunt Trish’s Salad Dressing.   Sweet potato oven fries with BBQ sauce.

Like, you could at least try to act surprised.

Wednesday – Breakfast Rellenos with Green Chorizo from The Homesick Texan

Marcus: Is this our latest attempt at stuffed peppers?

Me: No, but we can officially call them that.

The streak of uninteresting, bland stuffed peppers has officially been broken.

Instead of using pork for the chorizo, we used ground turkey.  What’s that you say?  Turkey in chorizo?

That we could make our own pork-free chorizo and breakfast sausage was a major (MAJOR) reason for purchasing the book.  Because the recipes were there.  We just needed to swap out the meat.  And I actioned it on Sunday afternoon (the mixing), divided it into two bags and froze it.

Prairie Skill.  Check.

This recipe called for eight eggs, but in the spirit of wanting to eat a few, I cut the number in half and called it a day.  If I wanted one relleno to be the complete meal, I would definitely go for the full eight.  But this was mostly about the chorizo and the pepper and not so much about the eggs.

Have you been on any feasting jags lately?