Team Bettendorf in Missouri

The baby’s chillin’ in the sink, entertaining herself with various kitchen utensils, the older three children are out climbing a tree they named Sheena (after my old horse they barely remember), Royal and Blue are playing blocks in the living room and I’m cooking dinner. Tacos. When in doubt (and short on time), tacos.

Lately when I’ve been in the kitchen I’ve gotten a serious case of bloghead, so I thought I’d better get some of it out. Who wants to hear about my life in the kitchen?

Ground Beef

I’ve been buying about 10 five-pound rolls of ground beef at a time. Someday I’ll make the break and buy grass-fed cattle off of a friend and have it butchered and packaged… for now - Walmart. I hate to admit it, but it’s true. Anyway, we have a system, the kids and I. We cut the rolls into thirds, throw away the plastic and wrap each lump with freezer paper, label it, throw it in the deep freeze. When we cook, one package usually makes two meals because I mix it with beans.

Beans

The kids and I could eat mostly beans, but you-know-who would freak out if there wasn’t some sort of critter flesh in his supper (biblically clean, of course). Thankfully, he has nothing against beans (and, I daresay, he’s pleased with my frugalness). I buy organic dry beans from our local garden/health food store. I soak two pounds of beans at a time and when they’re soft I drain and rinse them, spread them on a cookie sheet (covered with a flour-sac type towel, whatever you call them) and freeze them. When frozen, I break them up and put them in a freezer bag. Thus, they are ready to add to any dish.

Tacos

We have tacos or taco salad at least once a week around here. I cook up my beef (w/ chopped onions if I have time), drain it and add beans and spices (chili powder, paprika, garlic salt, cumin, onion powder if I didn’t add onions, dash of oregano, cayenne). Sometimes I add canned or frozen sweet corn (less and less now as I haven’t found a source for non-GMO). I add a little water for cooking. If I’m out of salsa I add a can of diced tomatoes while cooking and omit the water (salsa served separately). I simmer for 10 minutes or so while preparing the fixin's.

The children like to shred cheese. Cheddar, monty-jack, pepper jack, or farmer cheese. We usually buy farmer cheese instead of cheddar because it doesn't have dye in it (why would we want bright orange cheese? Really?). Walmart doesn't carry farmer cheese, so we buy it up and freeze the extra when we shop at our only other grocery store (Country Mart - Blue calls it "Crunchy Mart").

We all like sour cream or plain yogurt and mild salsa. We either have lettuce (from our garden in season) or whatever I happen to be sprouting at the moment, usually alfalfa (but I'm experimenting - beans, millet, broccoli).

We keep tortilla chips on hand at all times. Organic, non-GMO when we can get them. Sometimes we fry up corn tortillas, but not everyone likes those and they take more time. Our favorite is fresh whole wheat flour tortillas, but they really take time and forethought. Sometimes, sometimes I'll buy the whole wheat kind at the store.

Another thing we like that adds sweet, zesty zip is BBQ sauce (homemade - I haven't found any locally that doesn't have high fructose corn syrup or loads of refined sugar in it - and none of it's as good as mine anyway!). Sounds strange, maybe, but it's sooo yummy.

Sprouts

I haven't been doing this long, but I'll be doing it the rest of my life. There is no reason not to try sprouting! Any idiot can do this and it is a great way to provide fresh greens in season and out. I use alfalfa sprouts any way that I would use lettuce. I use a quart jar with the canning ring. I cut out a bit of window screen from some scrap I had and hold this in place with the ring. Put your seeds in the jar (quantities vary by seed type - I use about a 1/4 cup of alfalfa), cover with water and let soak a few hours or overnight. I do this right on the windowsill by my kitchen sink. I drain and rinse in the morning and several times throughout the day (the screen keeps the seeds from falling out, did I say that?). After I drain, I keep the jar on it's side to keep the seeds spread out a little more. In a couple days the sprouts are about an inch long and have a little pair of leaves. I give them a final rinse, swap my screen lid for a regular lid and stick it in the fridge where it keeps for about a week. Someone who has more experience could fine tune this...