A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads. This week's meal planning came very easily thanks to a surplus of avocados, I finally found a TV show that meets the threshold of "good enough to keep watching", and I had a 😻😻😻 read.
Eats
As you know from last week's post, I made jello shots for our family July 4th party. That was actually plan B. Plan A was to make guac, so I had gotten six avocados only to have them not ripen in time for the party. That quantity is perfect for a big bowl of party guac, but it's a bit of a tall order for a family of four to eat over a few nights.
However, we did it. Here's how we used up our stash at the rate of two avocados per night:
Sunday: "Ultimate Chicken Sandwiches" which is my homemade version of a sandwich that Hubs likes to get at one of our favorite restaurants: Costco breaded chicken patty, cheese, avocado, lettuce, tomato, onion, and avocado.
Monday: salmon bowls, which are a ridiculously simplified version of this recipe. I make the dressing as written except without the wasabi, and then I pile on rile, air fried salmon, Costco frozen stir fry veggies, and avocado.
Tuesday: my version of crunch wraps, discussed here. This time I made a very simple nacho sauce, and I think it's worth doing if you have a few extra minutes, and just fine to substitute a sprinkle of cheese if you don't.
But wait, there's more! We had a Water in the Basement Issue that led to Hubs and me spending most of the weekend on cleanup duty, which led to me being As Hungry As a Bear on Saturday night. I know the geography is all over the place with this one, but last fall when I went to West Virginia I had something called a California burrito and that was exactly what I was in the mood for. It's just a steak burrito with potatoes and guac, but I wanted a recipe for inspo. Google took me to the most ridiculous YouTube video ever. The video is 15 minutes long, and makes it seem like it only takes that long to marinate and grill steak, make french fries from scratch, and of course you need a torch to melt the cheese on your burrito.
Once I set aside all of the complicated steps, I saw the framework to get the burrito that I craving without all of the work. Here is my version, with many cut corners.
- I bought shaved steak that I quickly cooked on the stove and seasoned with taco seasoning.
- Monterrey jack cheese, not melted with a torch.
- The white sauce as shown in the video - dude I like garlic but three cloves is way too much, so I will step it down to one next time.
- The green sauce as shown in the video.
- I didn't bother to watch the section of the video where they made guac since I have a go-to guac recipe. Specifically I just mash avocados with a little onion powder and salt. BTW this was long after our avocado stash was gone, so if the grocery store had not had ripe avocados I would have skipped this whole project.
- My stash of breakfast potatoes from the freezer in place of the french fries. I have no objection to french fries in a burrito but the one that I had in WV had potatoes so that's what I wanted.
- And obviously once I had everything wrapped up into a burrito I toasted the tortillas in a skillet for a little extra oomph.
From “what am I going to do with six ripe avocados?!” to “let me just run to the store for more avocados” in one week! This must be the most relatable avocado spiral I’ve ever seen. That California burrito clearly had a gravitational pull. 😄
ReplyDeleteAlso, I appreciate the burrito torch scene getting the immediate veto. Your streamlined version sounds way better.
I love avocados! I used to get them from Costco which I think was five of them and it was inevitable they they would all ripen at once. You are a lot more creative than I am though, as my trick is to cut it in half, put salt on it and eat it. Boom, done.
ReplyDeleteI put Paradise on hold although I do have to say, I would not have picked it by the title. So I don't know if it goes with the story but it doesn't really intrigue me, so there's that. I really enjoyed RBC, so I hope you do too.
Oooh avocados. When I worked for YMC I wrote a lot of avocado recipes and my cousin who lives in LA said "These are great for my friend who has an avocado tree and always has too many" and I stared into space for a long while, wondering what kind of heaven that would be. Have you ever made avocado fries? Dip them in coconut milk then into seasoned Panko, bake in the oven and serve with like a chipotle mayo? Oh my god. So good. Anyhoo. My usual go-to is guac but I'll slice them on a salad or anything, pretty much. Or a dip or dressing! I have a recipe for a creamy pasta sauce. That's good too. Oooh, or a dessert, chocolate or a key lime! Okay I should really stop. AVOCADO TOAST. Forgot that classic.
ReplyDeleteSuper hot take: I did NOT like Remarkably Bright Creatures. At all.
Not happy to read that you had a Water in the Basement Issue because that is never a Good Thing. I'm *meh* when it comes to avocados, so I'd eat one on principle, freeze some tablespoon-size blobs to put in smoothies later, and toss the rest. Oddly enough I've had this very situation and that is what I did.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is not an avocado fan (and I did NOT know this when I married him, or ...?), so I never buy 6 at a time. I love them. I love avocado toast; plain avocado with lots of ground black pepper and kosher salt eaten with just a spoon; avocado, tomato, cucumber, and onion salad dressed with good olive oil and rice vinegar; homemade guac (I put all the ingredients in a ziplock bag and smush it up); and of course on tacos and burritos.
ReplyDeleteWater in the basement. Ugh. Been there. It's a hate crime in that I Hate It A Lot.
All of your meals look amazing! I love avocados, and have mainly just put them in my salads. It's hard to get a good avocado around here. I had to laugh that you found a show good enough to keep watching. I'm in the same boat. We tried one called Dr. Odyssey and it was NOT good enough to keep watching. It has bunches of famous people in it, which lately has been a sure sign that a show is going to stink.
ReplyDeleteI LOVED RBC - I hope you'll enjoy it. I listened to the audio version, which was excellent.
I made guac on the 4th with avocados my mom had purchased on Monday and put in a brown paper bag to ripen them. Only some were ripe enough but we had committed to bringing guac to the party. So I made it and then was not happy with it. It did get mostly eaten but I still was not happy w/ the results. Avocados are so tricky to work with!
ReplyDeleteI liked Remarkably Bright Creatures! I didn't love it as much as other people did but I love the octopus character so much.
I had to laugh when you said, "I just want to read about the octopus and the main person that he interacts with." I tried to read Remarkably Bright Creatures but didn't finish it, because that was how I felt, too!
ReplyDelete