Aftermath

[telophase]

Our power has been solid for three days, our water is back, we haven’t spotted any damage to the house so far, and last night we got out in the car and went to the Chick-Fil-A* drive-through along with what looked like half the city to eat food we Had Not Cooked Ourselves and which Did Not Involve Beans.

*Yes, I know. It’s the closest place and there a lot of Complicated Feels involved.

Speaking of beans, the other white bean recipe I made a couple of days ago was this one, with the addition (of course) of lime juice:

https://www.taste.com.au/recipes/cannellini-beans-tomato-rosemary/9ed550b8-679c-4efa-b405-79abcfa22bb6

We had dried rosemary and not fresh, and it was old enough to pretty much be tasteless, but otherwise it was fine and just like all the other bean dishes we’d made.

Yesterday we broke into the refried beans, and made what we chose to call White People’s Enchiladas. You take canned refried beans, spike them with what you like (ground cumin, coriander, chili lime salt and lime juice, in our case), roll them up in tortillas (one flour and four corn, which is what we had in the freezer), then put enchilada sauce and shredded cheese on top. You could put chopped onion in them or on top also, but I didn’t think of that til later.

Given we had no tomato paste and the canned tomatoes we have were in a 28-ounce can I wasn’t willing to break into just for a couple of tablespoons, I poked around and found this no-tomato red enchilada sauce from Gimme Some Oven:

https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/red-enchilada-sauce/

Cutting it in half, using a bit of Better than Bouillion chicken stock base and a cup of water for the stock, and mixing the last of our Bull Canyon chile powder with some Texas Red Dog chili mix chile powder yielded a decent sauce, if a bit spicier than I like. The cheese went a way towards mitigating that.

Today’s plan: go out to a grocery store and purchase whatever they have available. I think most of them have gotten resupply trucks, and I hear that the Central Market was sold out of its cheaper stuff a day or two ago but the premium stuff was still on the shelves, so we might be able to get lactose-free milk there. We’ll see!

Comments

[affreca]

My family recipe for enchiladas is similar, but the sauce is a mixture of canned enchilada sauce, tomato sauce and cream of mushroom soup. Because even mild enchilada sauce is to spicy for South Dakota. It is what I was raised on, so I love it.

[telophase]

I can't argue. The dearly-loved tostadas of my childhood are refried beans smeared on tostada shells, covered in cheddar jack, heated in a toaster oven, and then topped with shredded iceberg lettuce and chopped tomatoes. XD

[movingfinger]

I'm relieved that you're OK and that supply chains, from electricity to drive-thru, are coming back online. And cooking tasty food, too!

Glad you didn't lose water lines!

[telophase]

North and west areas of the city had major water problems, but our pumping stations here in the south seem to have been fine. Grocery store was about 75% stocked. We went in with no list, just with an aim to restock on the basics we keep around as well as get whatever fresh stuff we could.

[thomasyan]

Glad to hear you're in pretty good shape, considering.

[telophase]

Thanks!

[emceeaich]

Anyone asks, show them this:

The Trans Conspiracy says: Feeding oneself during a crisis is important.

[telophase]

Perfect, thanks! XD

[adafrog]

Yay power and water!

[telophase]

Y'all good now?

[adafrog]

Yes, thanks.
I only lost power for about an hour one day. Otherwise, I only had the frozen waterers in the barn and frozen hydrant for the stock tank, so I was hauling water from the tack room. My hydrant took longer to work because the freeze went so far down, much lower in the ground than usual. My friend's well pump, and a lot of people on her street, died because the freeze was so far down. :(

[telophase]

Yikes! Yeah, that's good for you, not so much for them. Glad to hear you're fine now!

[adafrog]

Thanks. You too.