Lent - An Odyssey of Food

So for Lent, we have given up eating out. This means that the food responsibility lays all on me now. This is a lot of pressure. And it's Lent, so there will be meatless days. Pressure.

My original intent was to blog daily, but life happens. So now, since I have some time, it's time to present the last 3 days and a preview of what we're having today. Don't get drool on your keyboard...

Ash Wednesday

On Ash Wednesday, we went "Vegan." Ok...we didn't, because we caved to the yumminess that is cheese, but still...the intent was there. First up: Pico de Gallo.

Super simple and completely yummy. This is a huge recipe, so I usually halve it.

• 6 Roma (plum) tomatoes, diced (seeded - MUST take seeds out)
• 1/2 red onion, minced
• chopped fresh cilantro (I never measure my herbs, I just use what looks good to me)
• 1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (recommended that you wear rubber gloves when working with peppers...especially the seeds...that stuff doesn't just "wash away")
• 1/2 lime, juiced (don't cheat and use the stuff in the plastic lime...that is from concentrate and doesn't taste nearly as fresh)
• Fresh garlic clove, minced (again, I use what works for me, because I LOVE garlic)
• garlic powder
• cumin

• salt and black pepper (I use all seasonings "to taste" and only ever measure in baking circumstances...)

Hear is where the Pico gets tricky.  Are you ready?  Brace yourself...
Take the ingredients, mix them together in a bowl.  Refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving.  Seriously...that's it.  That recipe will yield "12 servings" of Pico.  That's a lot of fresh salsa.

Fried Plantains

"What the hell is a 'Plantain'?" you ask? A plantain

is kind of like a banana, but it generally lower in sugar and cooked.  They are usually used when they are still green, or unripe, and are, therefore, quite starchy.  They're used a lot in Latin American and Caribbean cooking.  If you've never had one, go to the grocery store right now, buy one, fry them, and eat them.  Then stop back here and thank me.


The hardest part about plantains is getting it out of the skin.  Since the best time to use them is before they ripen, the skin is tough and, at times, still stuck to the flesh of the fruit (somewhere, juvenile minds are exploding...).  Once the skin is off, slice the fruit into chips, sprinkle with lime juice, season (I generally use whatever spice I'm using on my main dish, but fresh cracked black pepper is super yummy), place in a saute pan with some oil in a single layer.  Fry one side, flip, and fry the next side.  Serve with your main dish and enjoy a yummy starch that is neither rice nor potatoes.  You're welcome.

Last but not least:  the Vegan Fajitas.  First thing you need to do is mix the marinade.

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• dried oregano
• chili powder
• ground cumin
• garlic powder
• 1-2 tsp white sugar.

So mix that all together in a large bowl.  Then chop veggies:

• 1 large portobello mushroom cap (stem, no stem; quills, no quills...all up to you.  I personally use both)
• 1/2 red onion, sliced
• 1/2 yellow onion, sliced
• 1 green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
• 1 yellow bell pepper, cut into thin strips
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips

Put the veggies in the marinade and toss to coat all the veggies. (The mushrooms will soak up A LOT of the marinade, so you may need to add more, as you see fit.)  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes but not more than 24 hours.

Rinse and drain:

• 1 (8.75 oz) can whole kernel corn (the small one...trust me)
• 1 (15 oz) can black beans

Now heat some oil (olive, veg, canola...whatever!) in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Drain the vegetables and saute until tender, about 10-15 minutes.  Stir in the corn and beans; increase the heat to high for 5 minutes to brown the vegetables.

Generally, I make rice (or cilantro rice...you know....like Chipotle), then stack my "fajitas" to resemble burritos, using the Pico de Gallo and, of course, cheese...which then takes the "vegan" out of the title.  But they are so YUMMY that way.  Sorry, vegan-ites, I cannot give up cheese.

 

And there you go....DINNER!!!

Damn you, Reality

OK...yeah so about that "maybe soon" thing? Clearly it didn't happen. I'm thinking about all the things I will be able to do if/when Princess ever gets into school....I think I've run out of time before it ever got here.

But anyway...so we're coping, I suppose. There are days (like today) when patience runs low. Princess, who must be part ninja, decided to get up this morning, go down to the living room, climb on the desk, and get all of my books off the bookshelves...that was a pleasant surprise to come downstairs to. There are days that are great. And every day has it's moments. For example, most parents are annoyed with the "what's that?" game by the time their child is 4 1/2. Princess has NEVER been inquisitive like that. EVER. So yesterday, I was cleaning house a little bit, since it was nice enough to have the windows open and we wouldn't be choking on cleaning fumes. I am a big fan of The Talk and watch it every day; sometimes live, sometimes later in the day when life has calmed down. Lately, though, it's been live. Every time it comes on, even back from commercial, there's Princess "It's The Talk!!" then she goes about her business. So back to yesterday...

As I said, I was cleaning my house. She was in and out of the living room, playing with her toys, waiting on me to "do the big wild rumpus," aka the vacuum. I turned on The Talk, then just left CBS on because for once in 31 years, I actually wanted to watch Oprah (Katherine Jackson). So anyway...Oprah comes on, I'm almost done cleaning, Princess runs in the room, "It's The Talk!!" "No that's Oprah, not the talk." Ten minutes later, this scene repeats. So I finish the vacuum, aka I'm done cleaning, and I'm ready to watch Oprah from the beginning, because at this point, every time I've looked at the TV, Katherine Jackson was crying, so I put the vacuum away and go to sit down. Princess is just standing in front of the TV staring.

Now, we've started speech therapy, but we're not quite there with the "who what when where and why" things. Right now everything is kind of a "what," which is fine, because it's progress. So as I said, she's standing in front of the TV, just staring at it. On screen, Katherine Jackson on the left, Oprah on the right. Cut to just Oprah...

Princess points and says "what's that?"
"That's Oprah."
"Oprah?"
"Yes, Oprah."
Our first actual, unscripted conversation.

Sure...we talk all the time. God knows SHE talks all the time (don't judge me, it can be alot to take sometimes), but usually our conversations consist of her "talking tv" or reciting books and me sayin "whadya doin? hey stop! HEY! PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!!!" This was started by her, followed a normal progression, and had a definitive ending. Did I mention she's not in school yet?

Cut to about 3-4 hours later. Now, "they say" autistic children can have intense interests. You could say Princess falls into this category. She LOVES animals. I should say, she likes all "characters" that aren't human. She plays with the Princesses a little bit, she plays with the mommy etc from her dollhouse occasionally, but really, it's all about non-human characters. Our house is littered with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse toys, Sesame Street toys, Littlest Pet Shop toys, and stuffed animals....TONS of stuffed animals. She has a Barbie doll, but only because it was Sea World Barbie and she wanted the seal, killer whale, and dolphin that came with it. She has a Little Mermaid "Barbie" but she has been afraid of it since the day Santa put it in her stocking. These are things I "put away" in the hopes that she will one day play with them.

So she was playing with her Sesame Street stuffed animals. We don't have "Rosita" so she calls her Crush doll (yes, Finding Nemo) Rosita. (If anyone knows where I can get her that would be awesome...been looking for 2 years). So she's playing and she decides that her Mickey Mouse stuffed animals want to visit Sesame Street. This is, of course, all amazing, because it's not at all from a TV show or book, so about 70% of this activity is her imagination...also, progress. Anyway...she goes to get Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Donald Duck out to play. They're in a toy bin where I keep Barbie and Ariel. She gets the bin out and starts going through it, pulls out Barbie and Ariel. She looks at them, puts Ariel aside because she knows that one but PROGRESS! She's not scared of it! (She's had that for 2 years...) She picks up Barbie, looks at me and says,

"what's this?"
"That's Barbie."
"Barbie."
"Yes."

Progress....

Christmas should be pretty fun this year. Can't wait for Santa to bring age-appropriate toys and take the inappropriate toys away (though he may start that this week).