My new job starts next week, but I'll be working from home so I will still be able to make crazy and delicious things for my family. This week has been a little crazier than usual because of our Bountiful Baskets haul.
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| Fruit, it's what's for dinner...and lunch...and breakfast |
We have so much fruit. This isn't even all of it. This is just the stuff that didn't need to be refrigerated, was forgotten in the picture (bananas), or that we hadn't eaten the first day we got it (Italian Prune Plums). Apples, apricots, pluots, watermelon, avocados, limes, prickly pear cactus fruit, and the refrigerated grapes. We got tomatoes too, but we aren't keeping those. We're not big raw tomato fans. I've eaten most of these things, but one thing was pretty new even to me.
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| Weird looking, huh? |
This is a prickly pear cactus fruit, also known as tuna. It's common in the Southwest, and this basket seemed to be aglow with Southwest foods. We'll talk more about those later. This is all about this weird little fruit. Be aware, the next picture is a little....gross-looking, maybe.
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| What is this thing? |
This is the inside of the fruit. It's got a watermelon-like fibrous texture, tastes a little like a slightly underripe strawberry, and has seeds like a pomegranate. They're edible, but not tasty. So, it's a watermelon-strawberry-pomegranate fruit that's also called tuna. I ate a few raw, but we also made:
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| I'm so fancy, I deserve the crystal glasses. |
Prickly Pear Limeades... I saw this recipe on the Bountiful Baskets Facebook page. Basically it's strained prickly pear juice and juiced limes with ice and water. Super simple and super tart with it's own unique prickly pear flavor. It's....interesting, but pretty good.
Next, on our Southwest menu we have the food which scent absolutely defines home for me. For a long time I would only eat onions when fixed this way.
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| Quintessential New Mexico basic |
Onions and green chiles....my, oh my. We would have these with a lot of different things, but particularly with fajitas. I was stunned the first time I had Texas fajitas and they came with bell peppers instead of green chiles. Now I realize that I grew up with both Oklahoman style Mexican food and New Mexican food. I still can't eat fajitas at a restaurant though, unless maybe it was a New Mexican restaurant. These are NOT jalepenos. They aren't Hatch green chiles, but they are they same type of chile as Hatch. My local grocery store only carries Hatch died green chiles and, while I dice mine, typically diced green chiles have the chile's skin still on that that's not good eating. Whole green chiles that are canned have no skin. We ate ours on eggs, but they are good with pretty much anything.
The last of our Southwest food for the week is
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| Yes, it's a horrible picture, but now there is no more left to take another picture |
Guacamole. I hated guacamole until I was 29 or 30. I thought it was bland and the texture was gross. John, however, convinced me to try On the Border's Tableside Guacamole service where they make the guacamole at your table to your specifications. I had them leave out some stuff, add some extra onions and lime and discovered it was...good, actually. I started trying Whole Foods guacamole and discovered it was pretty good too, so I tried my hand at it. John and I both love my guacamole better than pretty much anywhere. It's a bit of an art if you're super picky like me. Mine also has only 5 ingredients, so it's easy to fix too.
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| onion, lime, avocado, salt, and pepper...that's it. |
Now we come to the sheer craziness portion of this week, as though prickly pear wasn't enough. Thursday John and I both had off, so John made bacon and eggs. I then took the bacon grease and did bad things with it:
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| What's crazy about popcorn, you ask? |
I don't make popcorn in the microwave anymore. I don't trust the chemicals in the package of that particular product as much as I used to and making popcorn on the stove is simple and quick. Usually I use coconut oil because...well, you know how popcorn at the theater is awesome? That's why. It's cooked with coconut oil. I had the extra bacon grease that normally would have been thrown away, so I...made popcorn with it. We covered it with Hidden Cove Lemon Garlic seasoning (my go-to seasoning) from Savory Spice Shoppe. It was delicious and I don't regret the extra ten pounds I gained from eating it.
Last but not least was the cold brew coffee which is neither Southwest, nor is it really crazy, unless you think brewing coffee for 10 hours is crazy. I think it's just cheaper and easier than making single cups of coffee for a week or two. I even have an official way to make it:
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| This is my Toddy. It makes me very happy. I hope John's not jealous of it. |
This Toddy is the official home version of the one that coffee shops use to brew their cold brew coffee. Except Starbucks because they don't make cold-brew coffee. They just put hot coffee over ice. I think McDonald's might do that too. Cold brew is stronger than typical coffee with a different flavor profile and less acidity. It's also much better served cold than traditional coffee served cold. I love it so much I even have a ratio for the types of ground coffee I put in it. It lasts for up to 2 weeks.
That's it for this extremely long blog of the week. I'll have some entries next week about Banana Rye Yeast Bread and, hopefully, Pumpkin No-Bake Cookies.
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