Last night, I pan fried sliced zucchini in butter, and pan-seared some wonderful, thick pork chops. I also cooked some fresh corn on the cob, and toasted some bread with butter. Yummy.
We’ve found that, for some reason, frozen burritos are a big hit with the kids. Well, frozen chimichangas seem to be even better.
I spray a 9×13″ pan with nonstick spray, and arrange the 10 (or 20 if Ted is home) burritos from a bag of frozen burritos in the pan, and then pour green chili over them, and sprinkle with cheese. The directions say that frozen, they should be baked for 20 minutes, but they always come out still frozen in the middle, so I cook them for 30 minutes (high altitude?).
Serve them with heated canned refried beans and some sour cream, and everyone is very happy. It’s great for nights when I’m really busy, too.
Tonight’s dinner was goulash. I need to re-write my recipe in the files for that, because it’s evolved over the years.
I was going to make a salad, but the lettuce was bad – I wish I hadn’t mixed it in with the baby spinach. So instead we had canned corn. Yuck. The kids like it, though, and I got to shock them with the information that it’s really a grain, not a vegetable. Ever since their dinosaur obsession, they’ve kept track of whether they were eating primarily as a carnivore or an herbivore. Omnivores just aren’t interesting enough.
For dessert, we had some cherry crisp from a Duncan Heinz mix I got at Sam’s Club. The apple was good, the peach was so-so, but the cherry is incredibly good, even though it’s neon red. The first night we had it, we had it with vanilla ice cream on top, and it was to-die-for good. I should figure out what’s in the topping (flour, grated nuts, cinnamon, butter….) and mix up a bunch, because the fruit is just canned pie filling.
Mmm… made tuna melts with baked beans and potato chips for dinner, and then to complete that diner-like experience, I made chocolate milkshakes for dessert.
Life is good.
Haven’t been cooking much lately, except for a passive-aggressive streak last week when I was mad at Ted — hamburger helper one night and beans and wienies the next.
Yesterday, I had already eaten and it was getting late (I had been at a Pampered Chef party), so I picked up a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store deli, along with some mustard potato salad. I did take a bite of the chicken when serving Xander his third helping… or was it his fourth? It was delicious, and it went over well. Kind of small, though, and if Alyson had been home and had I been eating, we would have needed two.
Sunday night, I wasn’t feeling well, and didn’t want to spend a lot of the time in the kitchen.
I bought some breaded chicken patties (they were out of breast patties, I ended up with formed chicken, but it wasn’t horrible and it was cheap), and some canned gravy (first time trying that). I had instant mashed potatoes at home, and canned green beans.
I started the water boiling for the mashed potatoes, and put the patties on the cookie sheet. Found out that my giant bag of instant mashed potatoes had been compromised (Sylvia had put something in there, I don’t even want to know what), so I sent Ted to the store for some. Poured the gravy in a pan and set it to heat on the stove. Put the chicken in the oven and when Ted got back, mixed up the potatoes while the beans nuked. Dinner.
They all loved it (8 chicken patties were not enough for my family, though).
One thing – the instructions on the giant bag of instant mashed potatoes are a bit different from on the boxes. They have you boil the water, mix the boiling water with the butter and salt, pour the potato flakes in, and then mix with a mixer at low speed. It seems to make much more tolerable instant potatoes than the “fluff with a fork” method on the boxes.
Dinner and a surprisingly good dessert
I made Spanish Rice tonight, but I underspiced it a bit. Which meant the kids liked it more, though. 
For dessert, I made apple crisp from a mix made by Duncan Hines (and they don’t seem to have the mix on their website). It was very good, especially with vanilla ice cream. I bought it at Sam’s Club. It comes with two pouches of the crumb topping, and two cans of apple pie filling. You just pour the pie filling in a pan (8×8 if you’re using one can and pouch, 9×13 if you are using 2), crumble the topping over top, and bake for about 1/2 an hour. That’s it. And very yummy.
Although it occurred to me while making it, that crumb toppings are pretty simple. And I see no reason why I couldn’t mix up a bunch and put it in a canning jar to use whenever I get the urge to make some kind of crisp. And apples cook really quickly, so I could use fresh apples instead of the canned kind. Hmmm….
Tonight, Alyson is making us black bean burritos. I put those on my grocery list just about every time (I grocery shop twice a month), because they are simple and quick to make, and they are great if I forgot to thaw anything. And it doesn’t hurt that Alyson is willing to make them, either!
Last night I made my chili. Man, I love that. I also made corn bread, but served crackers, too, because we’re just a starchy kind of family.
I’ve been cooking a lot recently. I need to get back in the habit of updating this log!
Last night I made taco salad, with the addition of avocado, since it was on sale. Yum.
Last week one night, I made burritos with ground beef, refried beans and cheese, and smothered them with King Sooper’s deli green chili, with lettuce, tomato and sour cream on the side, and it was very, very good. I’d buy that deli green chili again, even if it is a bit pricey.
Tonight I’m making steaks that I’ve been marinating since last night in teriyaki marinade. I’ll broil them, since we don’t have a grill, and serve with baked potatoes with sour cream, and a yummy frozen veggie mix.