What’s for supper? Vol. 73: Detachment à la mode con Fleischenttäuschung con Dan Brown

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Now for the food.

This week’s food post has no food photos.
Holy reason: It’s Lent, and tempting images of food would not be in keeping with the spirit of the liturgical season.
Real reason: Can’t find my iPad. Instead, please enjoy this photo of Dan Brown being allowed to be in front of a microphone that is turned on. That should be suitably penitential.

And we’re off!

SATURDAY
Sliced ham, fried eggs, raw peppers

Because Jesus is coming, ham is on sale, so I bought a big ‘un. Here is my genius idea: You slice it up first, early in the day, and put it in a pan with a little water and cover it with tinfoil. Then you can throw it in the oven and heat it up quickly before dinner. I fried up a few dozen eggs and sliced up about a bushel of red, yellow, orange, and green peppers.

We still had my nephew and three nieces on Saturday, and this dinner was a big hit with all the kids. Very bright and pretty.

I rate this meal zero Dan Browns, because it was easy, cheap, and well-received. Not penitential at all.

***

SUNDAY
Bò Kho (Vietnamese Beef Stew), French bread and butter

The big disappointment of the week. On the penitential food scale, it rates a full three Dan Browns, which is not good.

This Instant Pot recipe from Nom Nom Paleo calls for all kinds of thrilling ingredients. Lemongrass! Curry powder! Fresh ginger! Star Anise! Fish sauce! I followed the directions pretty closely for once, and it smelled wonderful. But the taste was harsh and metallic, yet boring. I just didn’t like it at all. It was like regular old ‘Murkin beef stew, except angrier. What a waste of meat. I felt overwhelming Fleischenttäuschung

Happily, we also celebrated Corrie’s birthday on Sunday. We had chocolate cake (box mix) and cream cheese frosting using this recipe, except I used about half the sugar they called for.  I made a heart-shaped cake, frosted it yellow, and pushed fancy jelly beans into the frosting all around the edge. Then we remembered a pack of little candy hatchets with blood on the blades that I got on clearance after Halloween. They seemed about right for Mama’s widdle axe murderer, so we stuck those in, too.

Suddenly becoming the other kind of two-year-old, she ran away and hid in her crib when we brought the cake out. You guys. It is so hard being two.

***

MONDAY
Hot dogs, baked beans

Nothing to report, nothing to regret. No Dan Browns, because we like hot dogs.

***

TUESDAY
Carnitas with guacamole and chips; hot fudge and butterscotch ice cream sundaes

Taco Tuesday was, of course, Fat Tuesday or Carnevale, which literally means “farewell to meat,” so I thought carnitas make a good send-off. And they were good. I’ve made pork carnitas a few times, but it somehow escaped me until now that you are supposed to fry the meat after slow cooking it; and then you douse it with its own oniony gravy while you fry it. So carnal.

This meal gets half a Dan Brown, only because the salsa turned out to have fermented, and not in the good way.

Sorry you got the half with most of his chin in it.

I used this Instant Pot carnitas recipe from Paint the Kitchen Red. This is a good site if you’re new to the Instant Pot. It really walks you through each step, with copious photos of the Instant Pot buttons and screen, and it warns you how long everything will take. Tasty meat, too.

Now I’m really suffering. I took such gorgeous pictures of that guacamole. There is no more attractive kitchen rubble than guacamole rubble, n’est pas? The shining avocado pits, the papery garlic skins, the feathery cilantro, the gleaming limes. OH WELL. I hope all the souls in purgatory appreciate what I’m going through.

***

ASH WEDNESDAY
Spaghetti, bread and butter, salad

Spaghetti from a box with sauce from a jar with bread from a bag and salad from a pouch never tasted so good. No D.B. at all.

***

THURSDAY
Broiled chicken breast, salad with croutons, pinkaroni salad

I made a marinade of olive oil, lime juice, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and basil. Not terribly coherent, but it tasted okay. You let it marinate for a couple of hours and then slide it under the broiler, turning once. Slice it up and serve it over salad for a Meal of Great Virtue.

I used up the old hamburger buns for croutons. These are so good if you don’t burn them, which I did. Cube the bread, drizzle it with melted butter or olive oil, and then toss them with whatever seasonings you like. I just grabbed some adobo powder, which was fine, if a bit too salty. Then you put them in a shallow pan in a 300-degree oven for forty minutes or so, stirring them up occasionally, until they are toasted all the way through. You can make a ton at a time and store them in an airtight container for a long time. Or, you can just burn them and then eat them all up.

There wasn’t as much green salad as I thought, so I made some macaroni salad, more or less following this recipe. But instead of peppers, I used chopped beets, which turned the mayonnaise dressing pink, which delighted the kids.   Two Dan Browns for the burnt croutons and some expired Thousand Island dressing.

***

FRIDAY               
Fish sticks, chips, broccoli(?)

Current mood:


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3 thoughts on “What’s for supper? Vol. 73: Detachment à la mode con Fleischenttäuschung con Dan Brown”

  1. Oh my goodness. All the Dan Browniness, especially the last picture (!), just killed me. I had a lot of meetings this week so did little if any cooking (the good news is, they feed us). I plan to make lentil soup and do some cooking ahead this weekend but have not planned it out yet.

  2. Saturday: Fajita chicken nachos. Had horrible indigestion that night which unfortunately coincided with the night the baby slept the best in ages. I know it’s better that I wasn’t also trying to take care of her while being in pain, but it added an extra layer of suffering watching her sleeping peacefully and not being able to take advantage of it by sleeping myself. Made a resolution to never eat jalapenos and/or fajita chicken again, half of which resolution was quickly broken a few days later.
    Sunday: Chicken and chorizo pasta bake. It was fine; seemed like it should have been a lot more exciting based on the ingredient list.
    Monday: Really quite good pork chops topped with caramelized onions, halved grape tomatoes, and feta. Served with garlic cream cheese mashed potato.
    Tuesday: Did a chapter/recipes from Fr. Leo Patalinghug’s Spicing Up Married Life. It was meant to be tofu and steak quesadillas but Aldi didn’t have tofu and I wasn’t about to make a special trip for an ingredient I didn’t *really* even want so they were just (tasty) steak quesadillas. Spicy sour cream, homemade salsa, and finished with ice cream with a tequila lime honey glaze and fried tortilla pieces doused in sugar. Overall a delicious meal!
    Wednesday: Made a zucchini mushroom one pan pasta dish. It was fine. As I was making it I kept thinking of ways I could tweak the recipe to make it much more delicious but stifled the urge because, Ash Wednesday.
    Thursday: burgers with fried egg, jalapeno, and bacon aioli with a side of crispy potatoes. Much sadness from me as I burned the beautiful brioche buns Aldi carries now by putting them in the toaster. Even the lowest possible setting was too much, it turned out.
    Friday: cheese tortellini and mushroom bake!

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