Food on Friday

Hubby was out of town two days this week.  My daughter was up doing her college orientation for two days.  I'm going to a crop tonight.  It was a light week in terms of having to plan for dinners, so this week's menu was barely a menu.  I used left over mango salsa for quesadillas one night and leftover pulled pork for open-faced sandwiches another.

I like zucchini - it's good raw i salads, keeps bakery goods moist, adds freshness to stir fries and bumps up nutrition to basic sauces like marinara.  Plus, it's fun to hide it from my kids in the foods they eat, and it is easy to hide it in a variety of places.  This recipe for Chicken Enchilada Zucchini Boats, however, isn't one of them; the "boats" kind of give it away.  They are very good though.  My 6 y.o. ate, well I had to feed it to him, but he didn't make gagging noise, which is a victory of sorts.  I liked the cooking method, the zucchini was perfectly cooked - not bitter, not crunchy, easy to cut through.  I also really liked the sauce (it might make a good enchilada sauce, though it needs to be a bit thinner for coating enchiladas.)  The filling had great flavor:  warm heat, spiced -without being hot - and it was filling.  I didn't add Ancho Chili Powder, because I didn't have it; I used regular chili powder and didn't add any extra to account for the missing Ancho.  I also didn't sprinkle the corn on top, I mixed it in with the chicken - grilled corn would be great here.

Hubby's being out of town  always makes for low-key meals.  He and my daughter were both gone for one meal, and you may or may not have found me and my boys standing at the counter eating these BBQ Ranch Pulled Pork Nachos right off the cookie sheet.  Seriously.  Standing.  Cookie Sheet.  Pulled pork is one of those items that's great to have on hand, so I make a larger roast and shred, portion and freeze the leftovers.  Anyway, these nachos were good (and easy.)  I liked the extra crunch from the chips achieved by warming in the oven.  The sweet pork and gooey cheese.  I used Colby Jack because that's what I had; you want something good and melty.  The Ranch dressing was okay (it's one of the bottled staples I'm trying to rid my pantry of in favor of a homemade version), but a homemade version or this one by Pioneer Woman would have been better.

We have few plans for the weekend.  I'm going out to a crop tonight but have no idea what to work on.  There was talk about the kids going kayaking up at Boulder Reservoir.  Fishing was mentioned by the menfolk in my house.  There are two birthdays (my mom's and my sister's) and a backyard movie night.  The weather should cooperate long enough to enjoy Indiana Jones dashing about looking for the Ark of the Covenant, which means I'll need to find a good flavored popcorn recipe.  I've got a book-load of things I want to do running through my head, so it's list time and working out how best to accomplish then.  Best get started.

Happy Friday,