Category Archives: tacos

Farro Pasta with Chickpeas

So tonight my kids ate reheated Farro pasta with Chickpeas that I threw together last night after they went to bed. Farro is an ancient grain, much like a wheatberry that has been around since the Etruscans where in Rome. It’s very nutritious and has a nutty flavor. I basically cooked half a bag of farro pasta in very well salted water and drained it. Then in the same pot I put smashed garlic cloves and olive oil and slowly heated it until the garlic was fragrant and just starting to brown. The night before I cooked half a bag of dry chickpeas that had been soaking until they were swollen and doubled in size, with some garlic, thyme and rosemary. l took half of those chickpeas and all of the liquid and poured it into the garlic. Added the pasta back into the mixture and cooked it together for a few more minutes and then finished if off with some Pecorino Romano cheese. The other half of chickpeas went into the mini chopper with garlic, lemon, lots of tahini, salt and water and became hummus for my kids’ lunch. Sorry about the lack of photos. I’m not home from work when they are eating dinner, and I feel like styling a plate of pasta just to take a photo defeats the spirit of what this blog is about.

For tomorrow,  I defrosted pork shoulder trimmings from the freezer. Tonight I tossed it with some leftover rub I had made for barbecue ribs over the summer, sliced granny smith apples and a splash of cider vinegar and placed it in the slow cooker bowl in the refrigerator. Tomorrow morning I’ll turn it on and at around 4 it should be all falling apart and shreddy. That will be dinner for the kids with some white rice leftover from Chinese takeout and frozen peas I defrosted tonight in the refrigerator. I plan on eating it when I get home in corn tortillas, with shredded cabbage, radishes, lime , avocado and hot sauce.

 

 

 

Steak Tacos with Corn Salsa

IMG_2679I usually cook on Sunday or Monday for the week so my caretakers just have to reheat dinner for my kids and themselves. On Saturdays I clean out the fridge and get ready to do it again. As I rummaged around yesterday I found a cooked steak I brought home from my father’s house last weekend. No takers on that one I guess. I also had an ear of corn, cilantro, and a few cherry tomatoes left from the kids nibbling. Kids like to participate in the meal, so I decided to do make-your-own steak tacos with corn salsa and some different condiments. After a trip to the store for a pack of corn tortillas this meal took about 15 minutes to prepare. First I made a corn salsa where I cut the cooked kernels off the cob, added them to a bowl with diced onion and cherry tomatoes, chopped cilantro, salt and fresh lime juice. Then I cut the steak up into small cubes, and briefly sauteed them in a little olive oil until browned around the edges.  I warmed the tortillas in a cast iron pan and we were ready to go. The girls loved assembling their tacos, choosing carefully which filling to put in. Since I had no sour cream, I took a little nonfat greek yogurt and mixed in salt and enough milk to make it drizzly and it was a perfect substitute.