Breakfast Buddies: Chorizo Hash

This weekend, Thatboy made me breakfast.  Better than that, he let me sleep in for a little bit and THEN he made me breakfast.

It reminded me I might have been slacking a bit in the breakfast department.  You see, I rarely make Thatboy breakfast.  During the week, I eat with Thatbaby and Thatboy usually skips breakfast.  On the weekends, we all eat together, but Thatboy usually makes himself a bowl of cereal and I go with yogurt.

This is a grown up, manly man kind of breakfast.  It's got meat and heat - both from the chorizo.  Thatboy finds it incredibly satisfying to pop his yolk and watch it run all over his potatoes.  I have to admit in taking the same pleasure.  Thatbaby gets his own version of this - scrambled eggs with potatoes and squash.  It's not as spicy, but then I deal with less tears.

Chorizo Hash

1 russet potato, peeled and chopped

1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped

olive oil

4 oz chorizo

1/2 onion, chopped

4oz canned diced green chiles

2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 425.  Toss potato and squash with olive oil and place on a baking sheet.  Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden brown.
2.  Cook chorizo in a skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes.
3. Add onion and continue to cook for another 5 minutes, until onions are soft.
4. Add green chiles, potato, and squash.  Cook for another 5 minutes and remove from the pan.
5. In the same pan, fry the eggs.  
6. Divide the hash between two plates and top each with a fried egg.

Trains and Tacos: Summer Lentil Salad

I haven't been spending a ton of time with Thatbaby lately.  Thatmom spent last week picking him up from daycare and entertaining him since I was buried in trial.  I wanted to make it up to him this weekend.  Especially because I was going to be ditching him again on Sunday.  So on Saturday I planned a day of fun for us.

I had found a park in Poway with a real, honest to goodness, steam engine!  So Saturday morning we headed to check it out.

Thatboy fell asleep in the car on the way there.  When he woke up, he could hear the train and he chimed in with "choo choo" before he even fully opened his eyes.

He was so excited to see the train.  He kept pointing and saying choo choo.  When I asked if he wanted to ride it, he nodded emphatically.  He played with the train table while I bought our tickets, and sat nicely in line with me while we waited for our turn.  Once we got on the train he got very serious about it.  I asked if he wanted to kneel or stand on the bench so he could see out the window better, but he just wanted to sit in the choo choo.

Once we got started, he loosened up a bit and enjoyed the view out the window as the train went around the park.

I was worried he'd throw a fit when the train stopped and we had to get off, but he actually filed out, just like everyone else.  We headed for our next date - lunch with Horse Whisperer and Little HW.  Mr. HW was out of town, so Horse Whisperer suggested that we "single moms" get together for lunch (and margaritas) with our children (neither of which partook in the margaritas).  Instead, Thatbaby and Little HW had tacos, beans, and chips.

All in all it was a beautiful summer days - filled with parks and margaritas, as all summer days should be filled. It was too lovely to use the oven for dinner, so a salad was in order.  Thatbaby's not a huge fan of the green kind of salads, but he loves both lentils and rice, so I used that as a base.  For Thatbaby, I made a mild version, which just included the lentils, rice and cucumbers tossed with balsamic vinegar and oil.  I like spicy in the summer, so my version included some chorizo (one of my favorite ways to spice up a meal).

Summer Lentil Salad

1/3 cup canola oil

1/8 cup balsamic vinegar

1 chipotle in adobo

2/3 cup lentil

1/2 cup brown rice

4 oz chorizo

1 red onion, thinly sliced

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced

1 pasilla chile, roasted, peeled, and diced

1. Combine the oil, vinegar and chile in a food processor and puree until smooth.
2. Fill a saucepan with 8 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Add the lentils and rice and cook for about 20 minutes, until the rice is cooked through.  Drain and set aside.
3. In the same pan, cook the chorizo until cooked through.  Remove from heat.
4. Combine the chorizo, lentils, rice, red onion, cucumber, poblano, and dressing.  Tossing to combine.