Friday Food: Sick Children Abound

Friday

Short version: Bunless cheeseburgers, mashed potatoes, mashed squash, green salad

Long version: My plan was to make roasted potatoes, but Charlie still had a wicked sore throat, so I mashed the potatoes instead so he could eat those for dinner with some cheese.

The squash was one of the volunteers from the backyard. This mysterious variety was one of the more interesting-looking ones--meaning it wasn't just a pumpkin--so I had high hopes it would be tasty.

My definition of "tasty" for squash is one that comes as close to a sweet potato as possible. That is, dense, sweet, and not watery.

This one delivered. Good thing, too, as it was a really big one that left me with a LOT of cooked squash.

This is my biggest container. It holds probably two gallons. The squash didn't fill it, but pretty dang close.

Saturday

Short version: Barbecue elk, rice, green peas

Long version: We went to see a (wo)man about a horse and didn't get home until later than I had anticipated. I had already prepped the elk meat by trimming it and cutting it into thin slices, then put it in a marinade of olive oil, vinegar, salt, and garlic. When we got home, I browned it on my cast iron grill pan--the best way to get a lot of meat browned without it steaming in the released liquid, yuck--and then I mixed in some barbecue sauce.

Sunday

Short version: Elk tacos, squash soup, chile beans, green salad

Long version: I used the remainder of the elk meat I had prepped and marinated the day before for the tacos. I simmered it for awhile in some tomato juice and and cumin and chile powder to make it a bit more tender.

I had intended to make homemade tortillas, but then A. ended up on an hours-long odyssey to get hay and didn't get home until 9 p.m. Making tortillas is not something I want to do with children under my feet, so they got store-bought tortillas.

The soup was nothing more than the cooked squash, onion, chicken stock, and a bit of cream. It used up a gratifying amount of squash, as well as a couple of the numerous containers of chicken stock in the freezer. It was good, but next time I think I'll add some bacon.

"Chile beans" means pinto beans that I added onion, tomato, and spices to while I cooked them. I prefer them this way rather than plain, but lately I've been too lazy to do the add-ins.

Monday

Short version: Bunless cheeseburgers, squash soup, cheese, bread and butter, raw carrots

Long version: Didn't we just have cheeseburgers on Friday? Yes. But this was a Monday and a workday for me, and therefore required something quick to cook.

Tuesday

Short version: Carnitas beef, leftover rice, roasted sweet potatoes/bell pepper/onion, frozen green beans

Long version: The beef was a chuck roast that I put in the oven completely frozen and cooked a long time with just salt, pepper, garlic salt, vinegar, and water, then cut into pieces and fried in tallow with more salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

This method of braising the meat first and then browning it--rather than the other way around--is the method used to make carnitas, and is very useful for people like me who hate the spattering of browning raw meat. And also never take meat out to thaw in time. Ahem.

Speaking of frozen . . .

This is what it looked like out my back door the previous Tuesday. Cozy.

Wednesday

Short version: I dunno. Stuff on plates.

Long version: This was a rough day at work, and capping it off with vomit as soon as I arrived home  took care of any ambition I might have had to make anything interesting for dinner.

Luckily, we had just enough leftover meat--carnitas beef and hamburgers--to go around. I supplemented that with tortillas and cheese and cucumber slices with vinegar and salt and called it done.

I would normally have served bread and butter with this sort of meal, but we were out of bread. That was the kind of day I was having.

Thursday

Short version: Elk, garlic bread, frozen peas, elderly watermelon

Long version: Same old thing with the elk: trimmed, sliced thin, marinated in olive oil, salt, and lots of vinegar and garlic, then seared.

The elderly watermelon was disappointing. It's not as if I forgot about the watermelon Rafael gave us a couple of weeks ago. It's just that watermelon is somehow not quite as appealing when it's below freezing outside, and also with all the Halloween treats and candy around, fruit for dessert has not been so common.

In any case, I let it go too long. It still tasted good, but it had gotten kind of mushy. Bummer. I was just going to give it to the chickens, but instead I decided to make juice out of it.

From that large watermelon, I got about a gallon and a half of juice, and a really sticky mess in the kitchen to clean up. But at least I didn't waste it.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?