Mmmm… Veggies (Plus Other Food Digressions and More!)
We regularly have meatless suppers. It can save money, which is always good, and you know how cheap I am most of the time. Depending what it is, it can be extra healthy. And it’s good.
Speaking of which, due to the silly Papa Ginos commercials, if you say “Sadie, is it good?” or simply “it’s good!” to Sadie, she throws her arms up the way they do in the commercial.
Last night we used three sweet potatoes I bought a week or so ago. It’s been ages since we had those, and it’s not that common because they aren’t cheap. Plus Sadie eats a huge range of foods now, so there’s no need to have those a couple times a week for her exposure to first real foods. They were always her favorite. Those we baked into submission, until they were drooling sweet syrup and done to perfection. Those went in when we first thought about what we might have for supper.
We decided on veggies, feeling a bit tired of chicken, and rice, but we are almost out of rice. We’ve been buying brown rice, and no more of the huge 10 or 12 pound bags like I used to buy. Though I still think there’s merit in that, from a “firm belief in stocking up on versatile nonperishables in case I ever need to eat without being able to replenish supplies for an extended period” perspective. I’d make a good Mormon, in terms of wanting to be prepared for down times. I think I get it from my mother’s side, where the Depression and early loss of fathers shaped the outlooks of my grandparents. Growing up poor myself contributed. Finally, my own personal “great depression” era, circa the Papa Bush administration, made me absolutely paranoid about having enough food around to go through times of no money. To paraphrase the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, “food will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no food.” Or something like that. At the same time, that personal down period gave me later difficulty eating certain foods, or buying certain rock bottom goods.
How can I digress this much in a quick and dirty post about a surprisingly yummy supper? Sheesh.
The lack of rice led to the bag of potatoes I’d bought that we hadn’t opened yet. Rather than baking or mashing, I surprised Deb by making homemade fries. Damn, they’re good! And so easy. Peel, cut, cook in hot melted Crisco in a cast iron pan. Sadie approves. Though she didn’t like the ones that got a little overdone while I rescued her. She apaprently was well on the way to climbing to the top of the utility cart - the one with the three metal basket drawers, one regular drawer, and leafs that fold up to give extra work space. We had gotten it to make up for the lack of counter space in Stoughton. She thudded onto the floor from however high she’d gotten behind my back, enough to make me run at the thud, nevermind the screaming. Silly kid.
I decided that the fries were the “meat” portion of the meal. Heh.
Along with that, we had corn and lima beans. The whole thing felt almost earthy. Sort of an Inca de Maya celebration, if you will.
Sadie was in food heaven. A shame she’d had so many fries while I was cooking, as she didn’t dive into the beans as much as normal, and didn’t devour every last bit of her half a sweet potato. To give an idea of her appetite, she ate probably a dozen fries - say the equivalent of a small fries from McDonald’s, almost half of a medium or larger sweet potato, a hefty serving spoonful of corn, and about half of a hefty serving spoonful of lima beans. Starting not that long after her previous meal.
Of course, we don’t always do meatless so interestingly. Usually it’s beans and chips. That is, heat a can of refried beans, adding some jack or cheddar cheese to melt into it. Put it in a couple bowls, maybe with a little more shredded cheese on top, and with a dab of sour cream. Serve with tortilla chips to dip in it. That’s a quickie meal, too. But tasty! And the price of cans of refried beans at Wal-Mart is less than the case price at BJ’s works out to.
We also use flour tortillas not only with cheese alone, but also with beans and cheese. Put some beans sort of thin on one half of a flour tortilla, add ample cheddar or jack cheese, fold over, heat in a frying pan on each side until hot and the cheese is melty. Mmmm.
A lot of our meatless meals feature Rice-a-Roni as the main component, with other veggies on the side. Sometimes, of course, it’s rice. Which reminds me of the time I invented taco “meat” filling, with almost the same texture, out of rice, refried beans, and some salsa. Plus the normal seasoning packet and some chili powder. Haven’t made tacos lately. Just homemade burritos using the flour tortillas. Which can be made with chicken, steak, burger, pork, or no meat at all. I used to eat hard shell tacos all the time, and eventually found I preferred them made with ground turkey rather than beef. Weird.
But I digress, and we all know that almost never happens.
"Bean Dip” is a common dinner for us. I shred cheese into the beans, heat through, melt the cheese, stir, heat some more, serve with tortilla chips. Night before last, I made the whole thing from scratch, using dried beans, soaked then, a little green onion etc.. Then you put them in pan with lard and mash em, adding the bean water as needed for moistness. Then you add cheese. It was yummy!
Posted by Ith on 11/03 at 03:01 PMSweet potatoes make delicous french fries.
And when I fix them baked, we always eat them with salt and butter.Posted by on 11/03 at 10:49 PM
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