South of the border

The only border we're south of is the U.S. one -- and silly me, I forgot to make us eat nothing but oranges for lunch, so the border guard tossed our little bag of them into the bin. We hadn't planned to come south so soon, but the weather in Alberta (not Alberta's fault) made it pointless to stay.

After two nights of fabulous food with friends in Red Deer (Alberta steaks on the barbie, a fat and juicy Hutterite chicken the next) followed by one night of pub fare (during the dismal game), we're back to RV cooking, relying on our own resources.

Because this jog in the trail came unexpectedly (thus the fiasco with the oranges), supper was pre-determined by ingredients on hand. Some perfect avocadoes made me think of guacamole. The rest of the meal fell into place around it.

I assembled some enchiladas that used up the last of the cheese and chicken as well as some broth I'd made. But because that didn't seem like enough, I pulled out a tin of beef tamales -- a discovery I'd made in a grocery store somewhere along the trail. Inside the tin, the tamales were individually wrapped in what seemed like parchment paper. In truth, they looked a little scary, but they turned out to be surprisingly good.

With only two more weeks' worth of suppers before we get home, and lots of odd pantry items left in the cupboards, I expect some of our meals are going to get pretty interesting.

Emptying the freezer

(Okay, almost. I suppose there's still a bit on reserve in there.)

Last night was supper out at a restaurant, quiet conversation with a family member I hadn't seen in years. Food for the soul as the main course.

But today saw us drive the breadth of Upper Michigan and the top of Wisconsin, so by the time we stopped, I knew that supper had to be something easy.

When we'd visited my sister, she'd given us a big container of delicious beans she'd made as taco filling. They rode in the sink during the day, and were thawed to just the right degree for spreading in a pan so they could heat through in the oven.

The last two beef burritos (from where, Oregon? Washington?) curled up next to each other in my casserole dish and I poured about half of a little tin of V-8 juice over top of them. The rest of the juice went into the rice pan on top of the stove, along with a whack of chili powder and beef-bouillon (from packets).

Yesterday's lucky tomato convinced me of the value it could add to any meal, so when I saw a beauty near the checkout in a filling station, I had the sense to buy it. With a bit of onion and olive oil, it made for a just-right salad for the meal.

Oh yes, how could I forget? The magical ingredient that makes just about everything better: cheese. What would we ever do without it?

Easy Friday

We spent the day driving and exploring, so by the time we set up for the evening, supper had to be something easy.

I'd found some frozen burritos way back in California, and tonight seemed to be the right night for pulling them out.

While they heated in the microwave, I chopped up some lettuce, tomato, and an avocado. But then, because they looked too dry and white, I sliced some cheddar and melted it over top.

With salsa, they turned out to be more than pretty all right. And really, the whole prep took all of ten minutes. Just my kind of Friday night supper.

Use it up, Mex it up

Last night's meat-and-veg, mixed up with the leftover rice, made a good filling to stuff into tortillas.

Salsa and some V-8 juice made enough of a sauce to be able to pop these into the oven for a hot supper (and some extra coziness in The Rattler too). Lucky us, we even had the right condiments in the fridge!

Five...quick and spicy

After being out for much of the afternoon, I came home cold and hungry.

What could be easier than rolling a couple of tortillas around some refried beans? The last of some jalapeno sauce went in with a bit of water, just so there'd be some liquid to keep the tortillas from going crisp. The hardest part was waiting for my supper to heat through in the oven.

Sure, I could have nuked the dish, but I like the way oven makes things hotter than the microwave seems to, and the way the food holds its heat longer. Or is this just something I imagine?

Whatever, while the two little roll-ups baked, I had time to throw together a bit of a salad, grate some cheese for melting over top of the burritos, and select the hot sauce that would work the best at finishing off the job of spicing things up.

A quiet pan of comforting food

The DM came home from work feeling terrible. I'm hoping the rolled tortillas stuffed with last night's chicken will bring him some comfort. I'm glad I added the last of those chipotle peppers, as I always think hot, spicy food helps bring a cold or flu under control.

Here's hoping.

Mixed-up Mexi

That fat little chicken we started on the other night was sitting in the fridge, waiting for a second chance. There was still quite a bit of the mixed rice I'd made as well, so I broke up the breast meat, blended it with the rice, and stuffed the mix into tortillas. The result? Sort of wraps, sort of burritos.

I added a little tin of chorizo peppers to the 'Coq au vin' sauce from the chicken, cooked it a bit for the flavours to blend, then poured that over top of the roll-ups.

I opened a tin of refried beans (not worth cooking them from scratch for two of us) and put those into the oven to heat through at the same time, then topped both pans with grated cheese at the last minute. Because we'd spotted a few fresh helvellas on a late afternoon walk, those went over top of the beans too.

Not really Mexican, but close enough for a Tuesday.

Something new

Chicken in the oven was my plan for tonight's supper. But what kind of chicken? As always, the big question.

But when a recipe for Tamale Pie stared up at me from the paper, I thought, hmm -- Mexican.

I poured some green molé sauce (from a grocery store in Mexico, bought when we were there in March) over top of the chicken and started gathering things for the 'pie'.

Turns out I was missing a few of the ingredients, so I improvised with what was on hand. Really, I wasn't about to drive or walk to the store to get a bit of corn and cilantro. Somehow I knew we'd survive, especially when the Dear Man started chopping jalapeno peppers and popping them into the oven too.

With some fresh tomatoes, lettuce and a squished-up avocado, it's a feast, maybe even a fiesta!

Reworked leftovers, Ole!

With everyone going back to school today, it felt like a shift -- if not to a new year, at least to a new start. Yet supper tonight is a rerun, of more than a few ingredients.

Even after a burger went out the door for a workplace lunch, there were still a few more left. Where they already had cheese on 'em, I got inspired to make some variation on Mexican food.

I pulled out some pre-made sauce (from the packets I bought when we were in Mexico during March) and used it to make a pan full of enchiladas. Some have the cheesed-up buffalo meat, others have cheese and onions. There's even one that's completely experimental: stuffed with mushrooms and lamb (a small chunk of lamb had been hiding out in the freezer).

With an avocado, the last bit of lettuce and a couple of garden tomatoes for the Dear Man, looks as though we've got ourselves a nice, warming supper.

Evening with friends

Late this afternoon, we went over to see friends -- people who mean a lot, but who we just don't get to see all that often.

Although the day was hot, the evening turned cool, so hot corn and chicken enchiladas (with lots of vegies tucked in) worked out to be just right.

A blueberry crisp for dessert, along with a lot of good laughing and stories, made for a wonderful time.

Thursday night bonus

What an easy week of cooking it's been -- leftovers, restaurant food, and tonight, an invitation out.

Today was cool again, so I'd been dreaming about chili, but what we got was even better. A layered casserole of white corn tortillas, alternated with a combination of beans and corn and refried beans and topped with Monterey Jack cheese. Fresh local corn was juicy and sweet. The green salad was full of surprises -- bits of broccoli and a special vinaigrette.

We had to rest before we were ready for the dessert, a spectacular berry pie. The layer of pastry was filled with custard, then topped with strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. Really, how much better can summer treats be.

Mexi-Solstice

The first day of summer proved to be one of the coolest days in a while, and called for a supper in the oven.

I'm used to having family suppers being 'bi-lingual' (serving vegetarian and more omnivorish tastes), so tonight was no different.

Most of the foods were fine for the veg-types; only one dish required a double-take. The chicken (with spinach and cream cheese) enchiladas had a counterpart using tofu 'chicken breast' product as their base. Where the chicken one was baked in chicken broth, the tofu one was baked in a vegetarian broth.

The refried beans didn't contain lard or chorizo, just beans and onions and garlic and seasonings and oil.

Invited out

A last-minute invitation can be a lot of fun. Luckily, when the phone call came, I hadn’t even started cooking.

And the meal is something we haven’t had in quite a long time (probably not all of 2009), crunchy tacos.

The protein part of the fillings was deliciously seasoned tofu (shredded) along with refried beans. As for the toppings, there was guacamole, tomatoes, cheese, olives, salsa, lettuce -- even green onions. Si, si!

Fusionesque!

What a mix tonight's supper is! There were a few cheese enchiladas left over from last night, so I freshened them up with a sauce that was really just the end of a jar of V-8 juice. Because that seemed too much like a re-run of last night, I opened a packet of pre-made emergency food, a spicy Indian eggplant dish, and poured that over top of the enchiladas, and let the whole thing bake until it was thoroughly heated.

There were a few spears of asparagus that begged me to steam them. And, of course, a salad of fresh greens. For something slightly different, I took the last of the vegie dip from Sunday, added a bit of milk and a drop of vinegar. The result made for an interesting salad dressing -- one that complemented the spicy eggplant(ed) enchiladas.

Hot stuff

The meat from last night's leftover chicken went into tortillas, becoming enchiladas in sauce. There's cheese and onion in the rest of the roll-ups in the pan.

The Dear Man prepared some jalapeno peppers -- some of them just baked in oil, but another batch stuffed with ricotta cheese and baked in the same as sauce the enchiladas.

Salad, for what it's worth is chopped up lettuce accompanied by some freshly made guacamole. Ole!

Mexi-Fuse

A weird name for an odd supper. As things turned out, I didn't go grocery shopping, so I had to get creative with what was in the fridge.

There was still a bit of last night's chicken in curry sauce and even some of the rice. I added the last of the V-8 juice to the rice, along with some chili powder and cumin and put that into a little casserole dish for the oven.

Then I pulled the chicken meat off the bones and piled it into some wheat tortillas. Those went into the curry sauce, then into the oven with the rice dish.

Like I said, I'm not sure what to call it, Curried Enchiladas, anyone?

Sabado/Saturday supper in the town square

The man with the tamales was in town tonight. Choices were chicken, pork, poblano with cheese, and even a dessertish one with a filling made of cornmeal and strawberries.

The hot dog stand was also open. Hot dogs, si, but how often do they come with onions cooked with bacon? Or for that matter, with hot peppers.

More strolling led to the taco place where the guys sat down for a soft taco and a quesadilla each. Me, I was more adventurous and had a sweet-cooked yam, sold from the charming venue of a wheelbarrow a woman was pushing down the street.

Tomorrow will be a tricky one -- no laptop and connecting flights that won't put us home until after midnight. It might be a missed day for "what's fer supper" -- although it's likely the supper won't be one to brag about.

Friday stroll

Today, one of our last days in this village, has been one of many tastes. Fresh oysters on the beach in the afternoon, the evening spent strolling the streets of town, checking out which vendor's made what. 

I settled on a bowl of posole -- a beautiful soup filled with hunks of hominy. This batch wasn't made with the usual chicken or pork, it was filled with gigantically fat (and superbly fresh) prawns. Piled high with chopped cabbage, the bowl wore its own serving of salad.
I am happy and filled. Buenas noches. 

Misterio?

I love it that we don't always know what supper will be. With street food it depends on who's in town and who's selling what on a particular evening.

We ended up at a place along the town square. It was a place where we saw everything as it was being made, from the tortillas to the barbecued pork -- or the course we were too full to try, sausages and fried cibollas (onions).

Chop-chop

Well, that's not the real name for it, but that's what folks here call the tacos on the street. I guess because the family that runs the place spends so much time chop-chop-chopping the tomatoes and onions and other bits you get to throw onto your supper. Yum-yum.