Nachos con ... tortillas!

No pictures for this post, because... well... I ate it all before I thought of taking photos. Twice.

I've always been a big fan of nachos. I love their eat-with-your-hands-dammit-I-should-have-worn-a-bib nature. They are easy to make and very comforting to eat. And evil... oh, so evil...

Well. Not that evil. For years, now, I've been using plain yoghurt instead of sour cream - mainly due to laziness (I usually have yoghurt in the fridge, and who can be bothered going out just for some sour cream?) - but I like the flavour and it's w-a-a-a-y low in fat. I also use refried beans or at least a bean salsa, which boosts the protein content.

When I'm feeling particularly virtuous - which does happen from time to time, believe it or not - I grab a packet of tortillas (I prefer corn, but flour also does ok) - slice a couple of them up with a pizza slicer and chuck them in the oven on a low heat for a while (hopefully remembering they are in there before they go all black and smokey). Then I make the nachos with those instead of corn chips.

So then the only truly evil part of the nachos is cheese, and hey, cheese is good for you... isn't it?

Tonight I used wholemeal tortillas, so dinner was practically a health food!

Huevos rancheros sin tortillas, goddammit!

The other day I tried to make Smitten Kitchen's Huevos Rancheros.

Coz I love Mexican food, but I'm not sure I ever got as far as the huevos rancheros when I was in Mexico - I got stuck on the huevos mexicanos... (kind of like when I was in Thailand and ended up eating only pad thai everywhere I went - because it was completely different and fabulous every time.)

I had accidentally discovered a mega-packet of tortillas in the cupboard - with six months still on them! And I had made a vat of black beans in preparation for a Black Bean and Citrus Salad (from the Moosewood Restaurant Farm Fresh Meals Deck). And I had loads of eggs, and - wonder of wonders - fresh coriander.

So I got all excited. Prepared the salsa (even remembering to put on gloves to chop up the chilli) - it was great. Defrosted a handful of grated cheese. Sprayed oil on the frypan. Got the tortillas out... OMG! They were mouldy! A giant mega-pack of tortillas, with six months to go on the use-by date - and they were mouldy! Arg!

Sigh. I was already committed, so I did the best I could - though, sadly, it was a pale reflection of what could have been. Fortunately the black beans mooshed nicely in the frypan to become somewhat refried, and the salsa rocked. With the judicious application of some yoghurt (why use sour cream when you can use a good, tart, plain yoghurt?), this is what I ended up with:

Turning over a new leaf

I have had a maidenhair fern in my bathroom for the past few years. I call it Sideshow Bob, because it went completely nuts and ended up looking like Sideshow Bob's hair.

Until a few weeks ago, that is (well, possibly a few months ago), when we had some unseasonally hot weather and it mostly shrivelled up. It shrivelled up more than it's ever shrivelled up before.

And the thing about maidenhairs is that they shrivel easily and never really recover.

This is what it looked like after the Great Shrivel.



I waited to see if it would recover (though I knew it wouldn't really). Today I decided to get rid of the shrivelled bits. This is what's left.



I'm hoping the remaining tendrils will rediscover Sideshow's former glory.

Stay tuned.

Accidentally Xmassy...

... lychees in a green bowl...



Deliberately Xmassy... Xmas lights reflecting off the window...

Everything hurts

Sore legs.

Sore knees.

Sore back.



Was it worth it?





Yeah, I reckon.

Porridge - thermos-style

Yum... I like porridge. And this is the best way to cook it. It comes out all smooth and creamy-like - there's no milk, and you use normal oats, not the quick ones.

Firstly, get up at 6am.

Yeah, I know - but it's worth it.

Step 1 - Oats

Step 2 - Put oats in thermos

Step 3 - Boiling water

Step 4 - Add to thermos

You can also add dried fruit, spices, honey, vanilla, brown sugar - whatever you want (possibly not all those things at once - but, well, that's up to you). The Scottish traditionally use just salt. Can't say I'm tempted.

Second breakfast

Second breakfast is a very important part of breakfast, and can also be accommodated in a thermos-like fashion.

Step 2 - Put frozen berries in thermos

Step 2 - Add yoghurt

You can use any kind of fruit or yogurt, whatever you feel like.

The yoghurt doesn't cook, of course, but the thermos keeps it nice and cool.

The finished product - Porridge Thermos and Mini-Me Thermos

The lids are interchangeable, and Porridge Thermos's lid contains a funky folding spoon.

When you get to work, several hours later, the porridge will be perfectly cooked - so eat it. The yoghurt will still be nice and cool, so you can eat it whenever you feel like it.

You may address me as Your Eggsellency

I'm partial to the odd egg. And to normal eggs, too.

Consequently, I've acquired a certain amount of egg-related paraphenalia...

Here is my egg-cup collection (the bits I could easily find, that is). I didn't buy all of them - some were gifts... It's important to have enough to not have to worry about running out of them.



Whoops, forgot these.



They look funky, but they're a bit crap - difficult to clean.

My eternal favourite are the round ceramic ones with the yolk-overflow-catching bit all around the egg-holding bit in the middle. I like them because you can use them to carry two eggs from the egg-cooker to the plate, already prepared with two pieces of toast cut into soldiers, for dipping. Also they catch the yolk when it overflows - then you only have to lick it off the yolk-overflow-catching bit, instead of off the plate, which I think is a little unsophisticated.

I love poached eggs. Never been able to cook 'em, though. Here are some of the things I have attempted to poach eggs with.



None of these have really worked. But the egg cooker does do a mean boiled egg - I can always get it just right, and it beeps at me when it's ready. Turned out to be a good purchase - I use it all the time.

Here is my latest egg-poaching acquisition - silicon pods.



I tried it tonight for the first time. As per instructions, I sprayed the pods lightly with oil, then cracked an egg into each.



Floated on boiling water.



For some time.



The holes on the corners are so you can use a fork to pull them out of the pot. I tried with the light-green one - it ended up dunking the egg in the water. Not a tragedy, particularly given poached eggs are traditionally cooked in boiling water. Except when I do it - I traditionally ruin eggs cooked in boiling water. Anyway, pod extraction turned out easier just with fingers.



Ran a spoon around the eggs, and they came out flawlessly. Here's the result.



Might have been better a little softer - perhaps the key is to have the water boiling a bit harder at the start, so the white cooks more quickly and the yolk doesn't get the chance.

Not bad, for a home-made job, but café breakfasts are definitely not in danger!



PS - The packaging on the pods says they can be used for baked custard, etc... might be interesting to experiment with.