First off, I love to cook. Mostly. I mostly love to cook. When I’m in the mood. But even when I love to cook because I’m in the mood and I’m making delicious food I can’t wait to eat my life is my life and sh*t happens in the kitchen.
Last night was taco night. I hear some folks do this by tossing ground beef in a skillet with some Old El Paso and calling it a day, but I can be a little extra about my tacos so it tends to be more of a thing at my house. You can see how to make super yummy taco meat here – go on and check out that recipe. It has just three additional steps, and only one of those involves chopping. The other two are opening cans, man! Easy peasy!
Now I’ll straight up admit I am NOT low maintenance about salsa. No, no, no no no. Ever since I found this Pioneer Woman recipe I weep just a little when I don’t have time to make it and we have to pop open a jar from the store. I won’t try to convince you it’s worth the effort – if you love salsa like I do, you know fresh ingredients elevate it to an out of body experience. If you’re all eh about salsa…well, I just can’t relate. But you do you.
So, delicious tacos = super yummy taco meat + stunningly fresh salsa + (and I can’t emphasize this enough) CHEESE. I’m not talking just any cheese, though. I’m talking freshly-grated-in-my-kitchen-by-my-very-own-hands cheddar cheese. BOOM.
Geez, Laura, what’s the big deal. They sell bags of shredded cheese right there in the store. Who’s got time for this mess?!
To that I say: yes. I know. It sounds like madness. But grate your own cheese – just once – and you’ll never go back. It tastes better, it melts like a dream, and you’ll finally realize bagged cheese has some weird chalky component that makes it sad. My one piece of hardcore advice? Don’t grate distracted.
My folks are big cheese fans. If I don’t want to end up with a measly tablespoon to spread across my tacos I’ve learned to go ahead and Grate Big Time. At least a block and a half. Just do it.
Well, I’d finished off the partial block and opened a full one to top off the bowl. I was in the groove, listening to NPR and swoosh swoosh swooshing cheese down the side of the box grater, when I suddenly felt raging pain where my knuckle had been. Almost as if my thumb had burst into flames, which made sense once I glanced down and saw I’d shaved a huge chunk off. There was blood. So much blood.
I’m something of a pro with kitchen injuries. I use my indoor voice for violent cursing. I elevate bleeding appendages above my heart. I keep Bandaids and Neosporin in the junk drawer. I’m able to wrap bandages around my own gushing knuckle, up to three when that pesky blood just won’t clot, followed by a stretch of Scotch tape in a desperate MacGyver move to finish cooking the blasted dinner.
But damn, those tacos were tasty.
Gosh that’s rotten. I am soooo sorry. Totally with you on tacos and fresh cheese. For me, Supremo chihuahua cheese.
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Five days later and this thumb STILL refuses to heal up properly. This is a massive problem seeing as it’s my dominant hand and it hurts to hold, well, everything — pens, knives, water bottle, curling gel, ALL of it. Ugh.
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So tender. You gotta use it all the time. 😦 Go ask the pharmacist for those ‘fingertip’ bandages that cover all four sides? The ones we got are blue and even go over joints. Or the tape, the spongey tape?
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Yeah, it’s literally right on the thumb knuckle so I bend it all the time. I’ve got some joint bandages coming tomorrow so maybe that’ll help? Fingers crossed (bwahahahahaha!!).
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Hehehehe! Yes, I hope relief is on its way!
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I so agree about only grated cheese. I too have added my flesh and blood to grating.
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There are so many of us out here… 🙂
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Yeah, I totally cannot grate anything if I’m cooking for our vegan daughter. Just sayin’.
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Safety first. 😆😆
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I am totally with you on everything about the tacos and the cheese. But the blood, so much blood, Oh My Goodness – I would have been on the floor – sorry, that’s where my wife would have found me. I’m OK, if I can wrap it up immediately, but when the first attempt to stop it doesn’t work, I am, a “fall risk” and I have the hospital arm band to prove it.
Now I want tacos.
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Mmm…tacos. Everyone can eat those four days a week, right? That’s totally normal, right?
If I were a fall risk for blood I’d spend a great deal of time on the floor. A high base level of clumsiness makes bandaids a staple in our house & I learned early how to fix it & keep on moving. 😆
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Four days a week? I’d be willing to do some research on that theory.
I wrap the bloody part in a rag and find my wife.
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I’m with you on the grated cheese. None better. Fresh salsa a must. Damn. I gotta go eat something.
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Figured I’d kick everyone’s Friday siesta off a little early. Margaritas, anyone?? 😉
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I’ll take a bucket, please.
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Cheers!
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😊
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I’m more at risk when using a knife than a grater. I once read that they use a derivative of sawdust to keep the grated cheese from sticking together. My son told me to try grating my own, just once, and I’d never go back. He was right. Now, when I’m on a grating roll, I do extra and vacuum seal it in a mason jar so I have some at the ready when I want it.
My kids have both told me many things that have created more work and greater expense for me – I spend a lot of time in the “healthy” and bulk food sections of the store. And darnit! They’ve been right.
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Ooh, a mason jar? That’s a thought…but I’m thinking “vacuum seal” probably means more than just screwing the lid on so maybe not the choice for me. Does that keep better than smushing the air out & sealing a Ziploc? Decisions, decisions…
Your kids are right. I spend way more time cooking with fresh/raw/unboxed/unprocessed ingredients now and it does taste better. More money, more time, more brainpower needed in the kitchen…but yummier. It’s a tradeoff.
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I have a Foodsaver vacuum sealer with the attachment for mason jars. I use it a lot because once you vacuum seal foods, either in a jar or bag, they last much longer and don’t get frostburn. I use wide mouth jars and have had better success sealing them than with the attachment for the regular mouth jars. No idea why. I used Ziploc that could be “vacuum sealed” for awhile, with not much success.
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Oh! I dunno if it would pay off for regular food, but that no freezer burn thing is making me think hard about investing in one…
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I still use plastic or silicone bags for temporary storage in the refrigerator. Living alone, I bulk cook dry beans and rice mixed with quinoa and package it in serving sizes – or, for beans an equivalent to what’s in a can, which is roughly 1-1/2 cups – then seal in bags and freeze for future ease of use.
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Now that is a taco adventure. I still use an old box grater, so I am imagining that level of pain! I cannot take the pre-grated cheese, either. Hubby made tacos in my absence last night and he swears they were the best ever! Must have been the night for them.
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Yep, we all were having the crunchy goodness craving. I use a couple of different kinds of graters but when I’m doing that amount of cheese the box grater is the best choice. Funny thing, it’s not like this is my first time doing it, so I’ll be extra cautious for a while…then I’ll end up right back in the Bandaids! 😆
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I never connected the phrase knuckle sandwich with tacos before. I can see the highway safety sign now. Right there on the fridge.
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“Hazardous work area. Proceed at your own risk.”
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It’s my understanding that pre-grated cheese you buy in the grocery has some extra ingredient in it to keep the grated cheese from drying out in the bag. That’s why when you grate the cheese from a chunk it works better in recipes. I don’t know where I read this, but in my experience it has held true. Of course the article didn’t speak to how you should grate the cheese. Presumably the less the blood the better the cheese.
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I think a friend told me it was potato starch added in. Never thought much about it until someone grated fresh for us & now I’m some kind of cheese junkie. And yes, I find all the cooking shows advise less blood is better. 😆
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Ouch ouch ouch. Hopefully no cheese was harmed… 🙂
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Because we all know what’s really important here…let’s just say there’s a quart bag of freshly grated cheese leftover in my fridge because I won’t give up. 😉
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ooh, so sorry. glad you are okay, that is never a good feeling. also glad the tacos were good. )
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The tacos are always good, they’re just harder to eat with an open wound. Lawd! 😆😆
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A worthy point
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With a bit of Count Dracula 🧛♂️ flavor thrown in?
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Bwahahahaha!! Yep. Nobody noticed a thing. 😆
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😜
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I can understand the pain associated with th kitchen. This made me laugh. It’s probably because we live in the badlands but i think that I have only had Tacos twice in my life.
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Oh man…don’t think I’d make it without a regular taco infusion! 😂
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