Quarantine Qooking ~ #ratatouille

Can you believe this? It's come down to laying out traps at night to try and catch my family some decent grub.

Can you believe this?!?

I hope not, cause I'm only joking. But now that I've got your attention, I can tell you that I didn't force my family to eat the lil guy. But I won't stand for any critters in my shed making a home out of my zero-turn. Not that I wouldn't eat a mouse if need be, but we're not quite there yet.........yet.

I have been able to make some pretty good cold weather hardy meals lately though. If you didn't know, we welcomed our 3rd child to the family just 2 months ago, so as much as I wish I could spend all day writing about every delicious meal I make, I'm gonna have to pull a @farm-mom and make these #fooddumps.

Like that? #fooddumps? I'm goin with it.

Bring on the #fooddump!

I made a pretty killer Shepherds Pie a while back, and actually made a post about it. I decided to give it another go since I now knew what I liked and didn't like about the first one. Mostly it was the lamb. I'm not a lamb guy, so I went with beef this time. I liked it much better. Also took my handy dandy blow torch to the top of the potatoes to give em a final little crisp.

Just like its predecessor, it was gone in a matter of no time. Fare thee well delicious pot pie.

This next one took a while, as I was using ridiculously simple ingredients, I needed a long time to reduce and build the flavors.

Water, vegetable broth, carrot, onion, spices and some better than bouillon. After a few hours and some minor flavor profile adjustments, it was ready.

Top off with a little chopped cilantro

A few drops of oil

A sprinkle of freshly coursed salt

Add nooooooooooooodles

And WHAMMY! You got yourself one damn delectable soup. I made a huge pot of this stuff and it was gone the next day. Had a good spice to it, just the way I like it!

Sadly, the chicken that was cooked for this next meal wasn't really the plan. I had made this chicken with some quinoa the night before. We had left over chicken breasts and I was lazy. The wife suggested to shred some up and make a quesadilla. Hey, who am I to say no to the wife, right?

Pulled chicken (which had been marinated for hours and cooked to perfection the night before), onion, cilantro, and Mexican cheese. My GreenPan did quick work to crisp up my tortillas, warm everything inside up, and obviously melt all the cheese.

'Tres Salsas' is what I'm calling this left-overs quesadilla. Red chunky mild salsa, mild green tomatillo salsa, and Tabasco's Chipotle pepper hot sauce poured in the middle like a little Rio Grande. Dig in.

I've been trying my best to be conservative in our spending and really trying not to let anything go to waste.

Besides eating well, we have been enjoying some nice family outings too. It's been a blessing to be able to spend so much time with my family.

Thanks for reading and your time.

Happy Holidays from my Fam to yours. Be well and stay positive.