1 post tagged “food”

I made (American) Goulash for lunch today.  DS had speech therapy, and thus breakfast, very early this morning.  Plus DH leaves for work about lunchtime, so we ate early.  I think this will become our Tues Routine.  Today it hurt, because we got out of the habit of being up early, over summer.  Still, I managed to do without coffee- my evil addiction.  The Goulash turned out well.  My Dear Son even ate the veggies, and mostly without comment.  He said he liked it and wanted to have it again.  It's another easy one-pot meal.  Here's the recipe:

Mama's Turkey Goulash
chop med onion
1 lb ground turkey
1 to 1 1/2 cups of vegatables, I used frozen mixed veg and fresh chopped spinach this time
1 can (14.5oz) of diced tomatoes
about 1+ can water (enough to just cover all ingredients)
1 1/2 cups of pasta, I used spirals but macaroni elbows are good too
salt, pepper,garlic and chili powder to taste

In large pan or pot:  Cook onion until translucent, add ground turkey and cook fully, add rest and bring to a boil.  Turn down heat to simmer until the noodles are done.  It should be bubbling lightly the whole time.  Don't stir too much, only once or twice. 

I made some changes to the aquarium last night.  I brought four fish home, so I did a quick 10% water change before I put them in.  I also trimmed just a bit, added a tiny bit of salt and removed lots of duckweed so the new ones can find their food.  The salt was mainly for the two mollies I added to the 20g.  Plants don't like salt so I only put in about 1/2 tsp for the 20 gallon.  I don't know how they were kept before, so this will at least help them acclimate, even if I don't use salt later.  I went ahead and added 1/4 tsp for the 10 gallon as well.  I put two new young Sunset (red orange) Dwarf Gouramis in the 10, which doesn't have a UV filter.  I am hoping they aren't carrying anything that will make the other Gouramis sick.  All the fish looked really good, which is why I was tempted.  The mollies in the 20 are one female Dalmatian Molly and one male black molly.  I've wanted a plain black molly for a while.  I like them and everyone says they are algae eaters.  The plain ones I've seen in LFS always looked bad, though.  I can't put fancy finned fish in with the Beta- I worry that he may get confused and attack them.  Though he's been a model citizen for months.  Well the male black molly looks to be what they call a Midnight Molly, or sail-fin hybrid.  His dorsal fin is higher.  But not long and flowy.  So far everyone seems well.  The twenty will have reached capacity with an Ancistrus, if I get one.  The new, small Gouramis wanted to school with the submissive powder blue male I have.  The dominant male flustered them all a bit, but the smallest one stuck up for himself.  He's less than half as big as the Dominant one.  They settled in pretty quickly so I hope they'll all be ok.  I also dropped in some tiny bits of cooked, plain sweet potato.  I've been offering tiny bits of vegetables ever since I saw the Otocinclus Catfish "taste" one of the young rainbows.  It was very deliberate, so I've been keeping an eye out for trouble.  I thought maybe he was hungry.  He hasn't liked or even found as far as I know, any of the various veggies recommended.  Nor has he liked Omega sinking algae tabs.  But the Amano shrimp do.  Well last night I realized I'd be able to trap most of the Red Cherry Shrimp with sweet potato.  They swarmed it.  In fact, I could tell I have many more fry than I realized.  It looks like three hatches.  There are three distinct size sets, the smallest being not much bigger than their eggs.  I see them more often now.  Their breeding is an indication of a healthy tank, also.  I guess, like fish, the shrimp feel more confident in groups.  That was part of the reason for the mollies as well: Dither fish.  They are friendly active swimmers.  The young Rainbows have been swimming with them.  The Turquoise Rainbow still needs another one or two of his kind, he wants to bully the juvenile Rainbows.  The mollies aren't intimidated so the four young Rainbows are getting bolder.  They don't have a tight school like fish of one species, but they return to each other and generally group.  The tank looks happier and more interesting.