What's for dinner?

I prefer field days to sitting behind a desk.  I'm tired today after a very long day at the office finishing up a project.  It's one of my least favorite places to be but I do have to show up there every once in a while.  I tell them it's so they remember I work there. 

It's almost dinner.  The grand kids were famished but I was too tired to be hungry.  What should they be fed?  I have to remember that kids have a different feeding schedule than adults.  We often put off eating until a project is done.  Just another hour before I come in for lunch.  Not with kids.  They want their food and they want it NOW!!!!!

They wake up in the morning starving.  They want a snack an hour after breakfast.  They can't wait for lunch.  They want a snack right after and another right before dinner.  Then when they are done with dinner they want to know if there's more.  What's for dessert? 

When I don't go to the office I am a spectacular cook in my own mind.  I will make fresh bread daily.  I'll make just about everything from scratch, including noodles.  Most of the vegetables come from the garden.  Same with the fruit. 

So at 18:00 they wanted to eat.  NOW, if I want to live!  What's quick, nutritious, cheap, and filling?  Just about everything I make, that's for sure.   

Last night I even amazed myself.  I still had half a loaf of bread that was put into the freezer before we left for San Diego.  I took a small piece of beef (about 1/4 pound) out of the freezer, threw it into a pot of boiling water, took an ear of corn (frozen from last summer) and threw that in.  Took tomatoes off the vines (cut the plants off at the base and threw the entire tomato plants into a bin in the garage before the first frost) and cut them up and put them into the pot.  Took one carrot, one onion, equivalent to a stalk of celery (dried cut up pieces left over at Thanksgiving) and threw it all into the pot.  I took one jar of homemade "V-8" juice and a handful of elbow noodles.  I boiled it for about 15 minutes.  I took the chunk of meat (now thawed and partially cooked) out and cut it up into small bite sized pieces.  I cut the corn into 1 inch slices.  I put it all back into the pot for another 10 minutes.  Added a little salt and pepper.  In less than 30 minutes I had a very good beef noodle vegetable soup. 

But for tonight, I mean really quick.  I'm tired.

I always have bread dough starter on the counter.  If I don't make bread today, then tomorrow, or the next day.  If we go through a streak of not making bread then the next loaf is a really sour dough loaf.  I love sour dough with olive oil...

I made tortillas tonight.  Did I mention the other day I put a bunch of pinto beans into the crock pot then when they were cooked blended them up and put them into the refrigerator?  (Not quite refried, but close).  I put a scoop of beans into the tortillas, added a bit of cheese, rolled them up and baked them.  Easy, quick, and so good for you.  They topped these burritos with a jar of homemade salsa.  Tonight's dinner took 15 minutes.  It may have cost seventy-five cents.  Their glasses of milk probably cost as much as the rest of the dinner.  Dessert, an orange. 

Easy, hardy, almost all from stored staples or the yard.  The beef could be canned or dried rather than frozen, same with the corn.  The cheese is a five pound bag from Costco.  That's the only thing that I don't have in my storage program.  I have cheddar cheese mix to make a sauce but don't yet have shredded cheese.  I've seen it advertised, I just haven't tried it.