Weekly Gourmet

Today is Thursday. Ah another busy day and another winter weather advisory. Sounds like beef stew to me! I even used the annoying crock pot for you guys. Someone can explain to Steve why he had to clean a pot AND a crock pot because I do not get what the advantage is. I'll give instructions for both ways and you go ahead and choose how you want to do your stew. This homey meal warmed up my frozen little body (and soul) tonight. The meat seriously melted in my mouth and happiness rushed down my body to my toes. And my children devoured it. Heard around the table tonight: "Luca try a meat! It's so good!"  "I ate all my carrots and my peas and my meats and my green things!" (followed obviously with a request for treats, and a grammar lesson) "Mom, your hair looks wet. Oh it's just greasy."  "Sit down!" "Stop kicking me!" "Sit down!" "Sienna get back in your seat!" "Eat over your bowl!" "Moooom...

 Today is Thursday. Taco Thursday. My mom still comes over and folds my laundry for me. And sews things. And she brings me all the groceries she finds on sale. Tonight I got an eggplant and fancy onions. The point is, she is a saint, and she deserves a taco. So don't get any crazy ideas that I normally have dinner parties twice a week on school nights-- it just worked out that way this week. Party yet again tonight. Fiesta actually. For my Mamacita Carmelita and my Poppi Chulo. OK I don't really call him that. But she's my Mamacita, in my phone and everything. "Yo, Mamacita, I need some celery on the cheap." And she's on it. She has ALREADY bought it most weeks. In unrelated news: I got an instant pot for Christmas. Pressure cooker? I still don't understand how to refer to it. Liz is dubious of apparatuses. Apparati? Everyone's onto pressure cookers and air fryers (got one of those for Christmas as well) and I still don't even really know how to us...

Today is Thursday. Things got a little experimental around here tonight. I wanted to make seafood but haven't been to my local fishmonger (Costco) in a bit so I only had canned tuna to play with. "Hmm I can come up with something a little better than tuna melts," I thought to myself. I made an Italian tuna salad with cannellini beans and whole roasted cauliflowers. I never thought tuna AND beans AND green things (parsley) would go over with the kids so I let us have it on some lovely sourdough bread I baked today. Yes, yes, carbs on a Thursday. It happens. Picture me doing all this while four little girls giggled and shrieked from upstairs and occasionally filtered downstairs- sometimes wet, sometimes with blue hands, always looking guilty- as I happily sang and played chef in the kitchen... joke was on me! Liz's Italian Tuna Salad Serves 6 Ingredients 1 can cannellini beans (white kidney beans), rinsed and drained 2 T. olive oil 2 T. mayonnaise 1 clove g...

Today is Thursday. Thursday is my last night to cook dinner for the family and this week I am mentally army crawling to the final stretches. I am usually almost out of fresh vegetables and I can taste Friday cheat day coming tomorrow. Today I made the world’s easiest dinner, the pre-seasoned pork tenderloin. I was hesitant to make pork twice in the same week, especially in my first week of bloghood, but I had it in the fridge, and still only had sweet potatoes and Romaine on hand, which go perfectly with it. Here’s what I did for this meal: Liz’s Sweet Potato Mash  Ingredients 2 ½ lbs. sweet potatoes (see I measured for you) 3 T. salted butter Cinnamon Nutmeg 1 tsp. salt About ¼ cup milk, more or less Whatever you have is fine. We have 2% here. 1) Peel and dice the potatoes. Put them in a pot of salted water to cover. Bring to a boil. Start your pork now. 3) Stir often with a fork. Check if they are tender by piercing a big piece with the fork whenever you sti...