Day 27: Mexican Lasagna

I find that I can only have so many sweet breakfasts before I start to crave something savory when I wake up in the morning. With eggs restocked from the Foodshed, I had all the necessary ingredients for one of my favorite new breakfasts: an omelet (or frittomelet, due to my sloppy spatula skills) with tomato, basil, and feta. This time I used a Caprese feta I bought from Jones Family Farm last week.


After tennis it was time to continue restocking. I drove to Mountain View Dairy in Richfield Springs to buy another gallon of raw milk and some cheddar cheese. While there I saw a man riding a plow being pulled by two horses, which would have made for a great picture if I had my camera. Fortunately I did not because I've learned that most Amish are not keen on having their photos taken.

On my way home I stopped at Ingles Maple Products and bought hard and soft maple candy, my new "goo" for long runs, as I intend to stay chemical free during training and races after the month is over.


My last stop was Grandma's Fruit and Vegetable Stand on Main Street in Mohawk, which is supplied by the Triple Family Farm on Route 5 in Schuyler. I bought all the produce below for only $7.


With all my shopping done, I put my food away, let my dogs out, mowed the lawn, and was dead on my feet. I had one hour before I had to be at a birthday party (Happy 1st, Benson!) and had no time to waste laying around trying to fall asleep. To speed things up I needed to imbibe something soporific. While running errands I had picked up a couple bottles of wine.


Chocolate Lab is produced by Pleasant Valley Wine Company in Hammondsport, NY. It occurred to me in my kitchen, not at the liquor store, that this chocolate. I have not had chocolate all month because there are no local cocoa plants. However, the label describes a hint of chocolate, and since this bottle was already paid for I opted to call this a flavoring.

For dinner I decided to adjust another recipe. When I was in high school my mother used to make a Mexican dish that probably came from a Campbell's ad, since it specifically calls for Campbell's condensed tomato soup. This is a quick, easy, delicious, albeit processed meal. Here's the gist: combine 1 pound cooked ground beef, 1 can condensed tomato soup, 1 cup salsa, 1/2 cup milk, 6-8 ripped tortillas, 1/2 cup cheddar. Mix in a casserole dish and top with another 1/2 cup cheddar. Bake on 400 for 30 minutes. When I stopped eating meat I replaced the beef with black beans and it is still one of my favorites. Since I do not know the name for this recipe that is scribbled on a piece of scrap paper in my cookbook, I call it Mexican Lasagna.

Besides its utter deliciousness, I wanted to make this dish to finish up my homemade peach salsa. Since the salsa contains corn and black beans I left the beans out of the recipe. I had cheddar from Mountain View, which left two ingredients unaccounted for.

My tortilla recipe instructed me to let my dough sit for 1 and 1/2 hours. No thank you, I have a birthday party to get back to. I think the reasoning behind letting a non-yeast dough rise is to let it dry out. I had to incorporate more flour, and the dough still wasn't easy to work with, but since I was just going to rip these puppies up anyway, appearances were inconsequential.


For the soup, I combined two whole, peeled tomatoes, milk, butter, salt, pepper, and baking soda in a blender. I didn't take a picture because it looked kind of gross - nice and smooth, but a weird shade of pink.

Here's the finished product!


It could have used more salsa and beans, but I used all the salsa I had and would have had to plan farther ahead for more beans.


And if anyone knows how to get rid of this shadow, please tell me in Comments. It's not my head, I think it's from where the flash sticks up.

Day 18:

Yummy, yummy, yummy I've got quiche in my tummy and I feel like eating some more. In fact I was so excited to eat my quiche this morning I forgot to take a picture. Instead, imagine this:

with 52% left.

After my quiche I had a glass of milk because I wanted to be good and full at the Farmer's Market. With odors wafting over from kabob stands, cheeseburger booths, and cinnamon roasted nuts, it is not safe to be hungry in Clinton.

I still have a lot of produce left over from last week, so I only needed a few things:

Tomatoes from The Farm. This time of year you can get tomatoes shaded every color of the rainbow. Well, ROY and G, not BIV, that would be gross.

I used almost all of my feta for the quiche to end all quiches. So I picked up some more from Jones Family Farm, as well as a Caprese goat cheese.


And from Tom's Natural Foods I bought smoked swiss and cheddar and a Gruyere from Mountain View Dairy.

I am thoroughly enjoying the massive amounts of dairy I've been consuming, but I'd like to keep things balanced with more vegetables and some beans. That idea left me craving salad and a black bean veggie burger for dinner.


Another thing I was craving? ICE CREAM! Unfortunately the base of the Krups ice cream maker my sister lent me needs to be frozen for several hours before use. I was forced to substitute milk and a maple candy to appease my stomach and its yearning for sweet, sweet dairy.

Day 4

Today is Thursday, which can mean only one thing: Friends and Seinfeld! Psych! Okay, that's enough 1998; in 2010, for me, Thursday means the Clinton Farmers' Market. I only had time for a quick breakfast, which meant I had to forgo my usual omelet and eat one of the MOST DELICIOUS hard-boiled eggs I have ever had. It came from Westwind Farms in Interlaken, NY via Tom's Natural Foods in Clinton. This phenom of an egg was joined by my usual vanilla yogurt and blueberries, apple cider, and my very own extra dough-y bread.


I packed my lunch for the farmers' market, and went for Round 2 with my terrible salad dressing; I'm hoping to develop a new recipe tomorrow. I washed it down with some water and got the taste out of my mouth with an apple and cheese curd (not pictured).


Of course I had to do some shopping. I bought feta cheese from Jones Family Farm, I have long been a fan of their eggs, and if you like cute goat pictures you should definitely check out their website. And if you don't, you can go to hell. Just kidding, it's only Day 4, I'll try to go easy on you. Suzie Jones and I talked local and eggs, cheese, and dressing, and my next dressing venture might be feta-based.


I bought blueberries and tomatoes from Northstar Orchards, but I had to beat feet to keep from being tempted by their delectable baked goods. They are delicious and locally made, but I'm not sure where their flour comes from, and there is no local sugar cane to my knowledge.


I bought onions, sweet green peppers, and more tomatoes from an Amish stand. They also make exceptional baked goods, and it is torture sitting across from their whoopie pies trying not to drool on my knitting. (I sell my mother's embroidered baby gifts at the market and make a very small amount of money off my knitting. Check out Snuggle Baby Designs next time you need a baby gift.)


After the farmers' market I had time for a quick dinner before heading over to my parents' house. I reheated some corn on the cob, a black bean veggie burger with cheese and my super special almost-flat bread.


Today was the post-birthday celebration for my mother. Happy birthday, Woman! Italian pastries and ice cream were served, I successfully abstained while enjoying a glass of honey wine, which is apparently the same as mead according to the Montezuma Winery. No picture yet, but I'll be sure to post it, because it's an 8! (If you like sweet wine). One birthday celebration down, three to go!