An orange in an apple orchard
“The best way to execute French cooking is to get good and loaded and whack the hell out of a chicken.” — Julia Child
One of those things I just don’t do, is making macaroni salad. And really any kind of salad like that. As a food it’s the kind of thing that tends to be insanely delicious or really nasty, and many times it’s both if you eat enough in one sitting. Thus they tend to be something I’ll eat where offered or pick up from the deli isle.
When I made a large batch of tricolor rotini, I figured that some pasta salad would be a plan. Boiled the potato leftover from making curry, diced a carrot, and boiled them until soft. Left those cooling while I walked the hounds. Finely chopped some sweet peppers to go with the macaroni and some leftover garbanzos.
Making the sauce as a mixture of ranch, black pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning definitely worked out well. It was delicious 🤤.
Made a trip to Sprouts Farmer’s market this morning to pick up some vegetables, and I owe that decision for how delicious this turned out. The fresh potatoes, carrots, onion, and bell pepper made the best curry I’ve had in a long time. Made the fish similar to my usual method; kept the garlic powder, salt, and black pepper; used a light spritz of curry powder and some thyme rather than adding soy sauce to the braising water. Ended up making the tilapia a bit dry compared to normal, which in retrospect was perfect for going with the curry rice.
After packing some leftovers and a lunch box, I used some of the excess rice and a bit of tilapia filet to make a couple onigiri while I was at it.
Kind of disappointed the camera didn’t catch Willow’s tongue sticking out, lol.
Avocado, cheese, grilled chicken, and ranch on French; also the glare of a hungry Misty.
My real problem with avocados is the same as my problem with hard boiled eggs: a tendency to find myself standing over the kitchen sink with a salt shaker, eating them as a snack.
On the positive side avocado farts are less deadly than egg farts…
Getting up this morning: Willow was so comfortable that I had to take a picture. Got cleaned up, took the Bonnie birds for a walk, and breakfast. Calculated that my routine of breakfast sausage to share with the dogs and toast or the like, is about 560 calories. Actually the most calories is the peanut butter on the toast, lol.
Made coffee, took Willow for a walk, and then got to finish my coffee. Because by then she’s armament for her second walk. Coffee and Xbox make for a cozy morning off.
Misty has two super powers. One is hunting for food. The other is being comfortable.
A mixture of Saints Row 4, Metal Slug 3, laundry, lunch, and Twin Mirror reminds me that mixing chores and relaxation is a good plan. Forgot to hang the wash, but at least I did manage to clean my refrigerator 😂.
Pretty often I end up making pasta, but rarely beefaroni. Growing up it was a relatively common cheese delivery vehicle amongst my mother’s cooking. Actually, I don’t have any recollection of eating the canned stuff. So much as stuffing my face until a nap was warranted, lol.
Kind of worked out as a perfect storm of convenience. Had some ground Italian sausage in need of being used up, been meaning to use up the elbows for a long while, and boiling the macaroni is good for the humidity. Plus yields more food for next week, and when aren’t I okay with such food for dinner? 🤪
Kind of a mess made from leftovers and culinary heritage, it worked damned deliciously.
Leftover rigatoni, a few leftover cheese tortellini, scraps of meatloaf, last of the fresh mushrooms and some grilled chicken strips. Combined with shredded carrots, lettuce, green onions, and a can of great northern beans. Various seasonings, and a few spoonfuls of gravy leftover from the meatloaf.
My mother often made beans and elbow macaroni. What she dubbed Italian peasant food, and what I dubbed delicious. Once in a while she also made spinach and beans. Thinking of these, and being rather in the mood for the latter, I opted to make a mess inspired by those meals of my childhood. Both are excellent delivery vehicles for grated Parmesan cheese.
Oddly, the carrots and green onions were something that rarely found there way into such meals. But being the one in front of the sauce pan, I get to pick what goes in 😋.
In the words of a literary character, “Mischief managed.”
Managed to be smart and both warm up the oven AND the ground beef, and leave the other stuff set aside. With plenty of time to let the oven do its thing. The number one reason I’ve rarely made meatloaf I’m recent years, is it takes a good while to cook if you do it right. On work days that usually means an hour later than empty bellies want to wait.
Willow and company of course hate that the pecking order is dinner, and then their nest treats.
Every now and then, I kind of wish I had a camera capturing what I see. This morning was one of those breakfasts.
I often make frozen sausages with breakfast on the weekends, so that I can share with the hounds. Microwave, slice up, and vola. Well this morning was some roll off the counter, like a my ooor meatball impression. Corky nabbed it and trotted off. Had to grab hold and with my nose on his head, convince him to let go of the frozen sausage. There were teeeth marks where he resisted this, lol. Should probably just be glad his tongue didn’t get stuck to it.
As an apology, tasty dog treats were issued before breakfast, and Corky got the first helping of sausage.
While the steak ended up a little overdone for my tastes, the onions were pretty spot on 😄.
