We made it to the end of the week--all of us (yes, even you). It was one of those weeks that drags on and on and on Groundhog Day-style, and by the time we hit Wednesday, I honestly felt it should have been Wednesday two weeks from that day, the week seemed so long.
I craved getting home so badly on that day, and so did both kids. All the rainy afternoon long T. kept asking, can we go home now? and I kept having to tell her--not yet, after we pick up L., or after homework, and in the distance Going Home glittered ahead, a beckoning, comforting oasis we wanted so much. I didn't even have it in me to do our normal homework-at-school routine. The thought of having to take the kids into the building, set T. up with her activities, wrestle a worksheet or two out of L., then pack them back up again just seemed too much. It was a good thing, too, because when L. did come out of the school building, he was definitely dragging. He'd had a bad day, and hadn't eaten lunch, and just wanted to get home. We were all three in tenuous moods, and I could only think of the shelter of the familiar, and my warm cottony comfort clothes.
Most days of the busy work week, what I crave to cook and eat is often not possible to make, given that we have no hired cook to help us out, and how little time there usually is to prepare it myself. But it all came together for Wednesday's dinner (Thursday's dinner was another matter altogether): what I wanted and what I made, perfectly in sync. I built a whole meal around these guys:
The plantain. I'm not sure I ever in my life would have tried a plantain if it hadn't been for a friend in graduate school who fried them for us one night. I was instantly smitten. When we lived in Rochester, New York, I used to find plantains at the farmer's market on Saturday mornings. I'd buy three or four of those ugly, unassuming things, then stop at the cheese vendor's stall and buy a nice, briny wedge of Greek feta and a small tub of some black kalamata olives. When I'd get home, Scott and I would fry up the plantains for lunch, sprinkle them with coarse salt, and top them with a handful or two of crumbled feta. The combination was perfect--the sweetness of the plantains cut by the tangy salt of the feta.
You have to find perfectly ripe ones--they should be yellowish on the outside and the skin should yield easily when you squeeze it. The ones I found for us at the store this week were a little under-ripe, but they were soft enough, and I wanted them badly enough to buy them. And because I knew Scott might protest if I just cooked up a pile of plantains for dinner, I also made a Mexican lasagna.
Of course, the kids hardly touched any of all this (T. did sample a teeny bite of plantain, then said she preferred her bananas "raw"), but Scott and I enjoyed every bite. It was after that meal, when the kids were finally tucked into bed and we had both earned some long-awaited couch time, that I began to finally believe that the long week really would end and that, yes, we could make it to Friday.
Mexican Lasagna
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
One 14-ounce can diced tomatoes (I used Rotel)
1 small can diced green chilies
1 diced fresh jalapeno pepper
2 cups corn kernels, frozen or canned
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Approximately 8 corn tortillas
1-1/2 cups grated cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
Sour cream for topping
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Combine the first 7 ingredients in a mixing bowl, and mix thoroughly.
Lightly oil a 2-quart casserole dish and layer as follows: 4 tortillas, overlapping one another; half the bean mixture, then half the cheese. Repeat the layers, then top final layer of tortillas with more grated cheese.
Bake the casserole for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly. Let stand for minute or two, then serve with a scoop of sour cream, and additional sprinkle or two of cheese or chopped red onions, if you want.
Happy Weekend!
The plantain. I'm not sure I ever in my life would have tried a plantain if it hadn't been for a friend in graduate school who fried them for us one night. I was instantly smitten. When we lived in Rochester, New York, I used to find plantains at the farmer's market on Saturday mornings. I'd buy three or four of those ugly, unassuming things, then stop at the cheese vendor's stall and buy a nice, briny wedge of Greek feta and a small tub of some black kalamata olives. When I'd get home, Scott and I would fry up the plantains for lunch, sprinkle them with coarse salt, and top them with a handful or two of crumbled feta. The combination was perfect--the sweetness of the plantains cut by the tangy salt of the feta.
You have to find perfectly ripe ones--they should be yellowish on the outside and the skin should yield easily when you squeeze it. The ones I found for us at the store this week were a little under-ripe, but they were soft enough, and I wanted them badly enough to buy them. And because I knew Scott might protest if I just cooked up a pile of plantains for dinner, I also made a Mexican lasagna.
Of course, the kids hardly touched any of all this (T. did sample a teeny bite of plantain, then said she preferred her bananas "raw"), but Scott and I enjoyed every bite. It was after that meal, when the kids were finally tucked into bed and we had both earned some long-awaited couch time, that I began to finally believe that the long week really would end and that, yes, we could make it to Friday.
Mexican Lasagna
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
One 14-ounce can diced tomatoes (I used Rotel)
1 small can diced green chilies
1 diced fresh jalapeno pepper
2 cups corn kernels, frozen or canned
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Approximately 8 corn tortillas
1-1/2 cups grated cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
Sour cream for topping
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Combine the first 7 ingredients in a mixing bowl, and mix thoroughly.
Lightly oil a 2-quart casserole dish and layer as follows: 4 tortillas, overlapping one another; half the bean mixture, then half the cheese. Repeat the layers, then top final layer of tortillas with more grated cheese.
Bake the casserole for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly. Let stand for minute or two, then serve with a scoop of sour cream, and additional sprinkle or two of cheese or chopped red onions, if you want.
Happy Weekend!