Tag: frozen grapes

Doesn’t it seem like we just did this? We did! And now we’re doing it again. 

SATURDAY
Pizza

No memory of Saturday. Oh, I think we were sifting piles of dirt through a metal grate to get the rocks out, and I sent a kid in to make six pizzas. Think of that, moms still stuck in babyland! Someday you will be able to send a kid in to make dinner for 12 so you can stay outside and keep doing what you want to do (even if it’s sifting dirt through a metal grate). Hang in there.

SUNDAY
Shawarma

I set the meat and onions to marinate the night before. Normally I use boneless thigh meat, which I think is the best for chicken shawarma,

but since Damien was grilling, I got bone-in, skin-on thighs. 

Always a delightful meal. I was planning to make fried eggplant, but had stupidly left the eggplants on the windowsill, so of course they went bad. Secretly relieved I didn’t have to fry anything. It’s really an easy and delicious recipe, but frying is frying. 

Anyway, we had spent the day moving eleven tons of sand, and sitting down seemed best. 

MONDAY
Beef burritos with guacamole

I have only ever eaten frozen burritos before, so I didn’t honestly know what a good burrito was supposed to taste like. The price of beef has shot up ridiculously, so I had two of those awful chubs of ground beef.

I fried it up with fresh garlic and lots of chili powder, red pepper flakes, and cumin. I wanted to make it relatively mild for the pickier kids.

I made up a bunch of guacamole

and a bunch of beans and rice

which I made somewhat hotter than usual with the addition of some chilis in adobo sauce. 

And that’s it. I had mine with some cheese and sour cream. There may be some salsa buried in there, too; who can say. 

I thought it was tasty. I definitely didn’t need more than one. 

TUESDAY
Chicken nuggets, chips, veg and dip/graduation dinners

On Tuesday we got caught up with celebratory graduation dinners, and took Moe (who graduated from high school) and Sophia (who graduated from eighth grade) out to the restaurant of their choice, which turned out to be a moderately-priced family sandwich place. Works for me! I had something called an Italian Stallion, which, to my disappointment, included no stallion meat at all.

WEDNESDAY
Blueberry chicken salad; plum and peach clafoutis

Simple salad for a hot day: Mixed greens, broiled chicken, feta cheese, toasted almonds, and blueberries. I forgot to get red onions, but those are good on this salad. I had mine with wine vinegar. 

It being June, I attempted to get fancy with the plating:

Turns out it’s harder than it looks to strew wildflowers in a way that looks natural, but does not look like you are actually eating daisies. 

The meal seemed a little skimpy, and we had a house full of lovely fruit, so I made two . . . well, I made a clafoutis, and then, while I was at it, I made another clafoutis. I could look up the plural, but where’s the fun in that?

A clafoutis is a very simple baked custard with whatever you want in it.

You can add chocolate and hazelnuts, grapes if you’re crazy, bananas if you’re a sociopath, or pears or apples if you’re not sick and tired of apples, or I guess cherries is the most famous kind. I did actually have cherries, but did not feel like pitting them. So I made one with plums and one with peaches.

Aren’t they gorgeous? The batter takes like three minutes to make, but they do have to bake for about forty minutes. You can eat them warm or cold. I, ahem, did both, over the course of 24 hours.

We sifted some powdered sugar on top before we ate them, and they were absolutely delicious, and so beautiful. Sometimes the kids get mad at me for ruining fruit by baking it, but not this time.

La pêche:

Out of sheer honesty, not everyone likes clafoutis. Two of my favorite things in the world are custard and fruit, but I’m not everybody. But the kids were mostly in favor of it. 

THURSDAY
Muffaletta sandwiches, chips, Rainier cherries

Everybody likes these sandwiches. I bought four long baguettes and a combination of cheap and expensive cheeses and meats. I made tons and tons of olive salad with green and black olives, a few jars of giardinera, and several cloves of garlic, all chopped up in the food processor with olive oil and ground pepper.

Everyone’s happy when I call them to dinner and the table looks like this:

You can make this a hot sandwich, but we absolutely did not want to turn the oven on. Everybody got some chips and some rainier cherries, and I had my sandwich outside. 

OH SUMMERTIME. Oh sandwichtime. 

FRIDAY
Fish tacos

Nothing fancy. Just frozen battered fish, avocados, shredded cabbage, salsa, sour cream, and cilantro. Maybe I will make some lime crema. And maybe we will put the AC in today! 

Oh, this is your annual reminder that frozen grapes are very good indeed. Just wash them and shake off the excess water and put them in the freezer. I like red grapes the best for this. It’s a beautifully refreshing little sweet treat for the hot weather, better than ice cream. 

And fine, I looked it up. The plural of “clafoutis” is “clafoutis.” As it should be.

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Chicken shawarma

Ingredients

• 8 lbs boned, skinned chicken thighs
• 4-5 red onions
• 1.5 cups lemon juice
• 2 cups olive oil
• 4 tsp kosher salt
• 2 Tbs, 2 tsp pepper
• 2 Tbs, 2 tsp cumin
• 1 Tbsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 entire head garlic, crushed

Instructions

1. Mix marinade ingredients together, then add chicken. Put in ziplock bag and let marinate several hours or overnight.

2. Preheat the oven to 425.

3. Grease a shallow pan. Take the chicken out of the marinade and spread it in a single layer on the pan, and top with the onions (sliced or quartered). Cook for 45 minutes or more. 

   

4. Chop up the chicken a bit, if you like, and finish cooking it so it crisps up a bit more.

5. Serve chicken and onions with pita bread triangles, cucumbers, tomatoes, assorted olives, feta cheese, fresh parsley, pomegranates or grapes, fried eggplant, and yogurt sauce.

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Yogurt sauce

Ingredients

• 32 oz full fat Greek yogurt
• 5 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• fresh parsley or dill, chopped (optional)

Instructions

1. Mix all ingredients together. Use for spreading on grilled meats, dipping pita or vegetables, etc. 

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Fried eggplant

You can salt the eggplant slices many hours ahead of time, even overnight, to dry them before frying.

Ingredients

• 3 medium eggplants
• salt for drying out the eggplant

veg oil for frying

3 cups flour

• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 Tbsp cumin
• 1 Tbsp paprika
• 1 Tbsp red pepper flakes
• 2-1/2 cups water
• 1 Tbsp veg oil
• optional: kosher salt for sprinkling

Instructions

1. Cut the ends off the eggplant and slice it into one-inch slices.
   Salt them thoroughly on both sides and lay on paper towels on a tray (layering if necessary). Let sit for half an hour (or as long as overnight) to draw out some of the moisture. 

2. Mix flour and seasonings in a bowl, add the water and teaspoon of oil, and beat into a batter. Preheat oven for warming. 

3. Put oil in heavy pan and heat until it's hot but not smoking. Prepare a tray with paper towels.

4. Dredge the eggplant slices through the batter on both sides, scraping off excess if necessary, and carefully lay them in the hot oil, and fry until crisp, turning once. Fry in batches, giving them plenty of room to fry.

5. Remove eggplant slices to tray with paper towels and sprinkle with kosher salt if you like. You can keep them warm in the oven for a short time.  

6. Serve with yogurt sauce or marinara sauce.

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White Lady From NH's Guacamole

Ingredients

• 4 avocados
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 1 medium jalapeno, minced
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped roughly
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 2 limes juiced
• 1 tsp chili powder
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 red onion, diced

Instructions

1. Peel avocados. Mash two and dice two. 

2. Mix together with rest of ingredients and add seasonings.

3. Cover tightly, as it becomes discolored quickly. 

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Beans and rice

A good side dish, a main course for meatless meals, or to serve inside carnitas, etc.

Ingredients

• 3 cups uncooked white rice
• 1 15-oz cans red or black beans, drained
• 1 20-oz can diced tomatoes with some of the juice
• 1 diced jalapeno
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped roughly
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic
• chili powder
• cumin
• salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Cook rice. Add rest of ingredients, adjusting spices to taste. If it's too dry, add more tomato juice. 

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Lime Crema

Keyword Budget Bytes, crema, lime, lime crema, sour cream, tacos

Ingredients

• 16 oz sour cream
• 3 limes zested and juiced
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Mix all ingredients together. 

   

Recipe Notes

So good on tacos and tortilla chips Looking forward to having it on tortilla soup, enchiladas, MAYBE BAKED POTATOES, I DON'T EVEN KNOW.

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Clafoutis

a simple baked custard, usually with fruit. Very easy to make, very pretty. This recipe makes two round 9-inch clafoutis, but you can make individual custards in ramekins if you like.

Ingredients

• 3 cups whole milk
• 9 eggs, beaten
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 4 tsp vanilla
• 6 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1-1/2 cups flour
• any kind of fruit you like
• confectioner's sugar for sifting on top

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325.

2. In a bowl, mix together the milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and butter. Add the flour in gradually (sifting it into the bowl if you want to make it really smooth) and beat the batter until it is smooth.

3. Pour the batter into two pie pans. Then carefully add the fruit on top, distributing it evenly or making a design if you like.

4. Bake about 40 minutes until the center is soft but not jiggly. The top should be slightly browned.

5. Serve immediately, or chill to eat later. Sift confectioner's sugar on top before serving.