Friday Food: Mmmm, MSG

Friday

Short version: Leftover lamb, pasta with garlic scape pesto, frozen peas

Long version: I pulled the meat out of the lamb stew and fried it, mostly because Charlie dislikes anything stewed and I was disguising it.

For the pasta, I just used some more of the garlic scape and lamb's quarters pesto I had made the day before, plus the last of some pre-shredded Parmesan that's been hanging out in the refrigerator for a long time. How does it last that long without getting moldy?

Never mind. I probably don't want to know.

Saturday

Short version: Sausage and pasta skillet

Long version: Some of that cheap Sysco breakfast sausage fried and then combined with the leftover pasta, peas, and some shredded cheddar. Pretty good, actually. The kids really liked it. Unsurprisingly.

Sunday

Short version: Roasted chicken, baked potatoes, green salad with ranch dressing

Long version: Success with the chicken! I salted the chicken heavily a few hours before cooking it, and then rubbed it with butter, thyme, pepper, and garlic powder right before putting it in the oven. I also shoved into the cavity some of the garlic stalks from a couple of plants A. had pulled up, and then, when I made a drink, I put in the lemon rind I had used.

It was another of those disturbingly large chickens, so I put it in the oven at 3 p.m. at like 425 degrees and left it there until 5:30, at which point it was definitely done.

I also put in some potatoes and the two heads of garlic A. had given me.

The high heat meant that the juices and herbs got scorched on the pan, though, so instead of of making a sauce with the pan juices I made one with some chicken stock, one of the heads of roasted garlic, and some cold butter. It was thin, but flavorful.

No dessert this Sunday because Miss Georgia gave the kids some M&Ms at church and then A. took them all to the mountains later and got them all a popsicle at some point. I figured the Sunday dessert had been taken care of, so I didn't make anything.

There was still snow in them thar hills. The children were pleased.

Monday

Short version: Re-combined leftovers with sausage and peas

Long version: Browned sausage, diced leftover potatoes, a bit of diced chicken, some frozen peas, and the rest of the liquid from the sheep stew.

Definitely not exciting, but serviceable.

Tuesday

Short version: Eggs, bacon, pinto beans, personalized garlic breads, green salad with ranch dressing

Long version: Everyone got bacon, but I let each child choose either eggs or beans. There was a fifty-fifty split, but who cares! The real excitement was the garlic bread the size of their faces.

I didn't mean for them to be so big. They look pretty small when I cut the dough up, but then they rose, and rose again in the oven, and then there were these big breads for each child.

They didn't mind. They didn't have any trouble finishing them, either. And they sure do have a good time kneading in their chosen spices:

Wednesday

Short version: Pizza, frozen peas

Long version: Jack brought me to the refrigerator in the morning to point out the sourdough starter jar that was overflowing its banks. So, since I had to take some of the starter out of the jar, I decided to make pizza for dinner.

I also had to harvest more garlic scapes, with which I made more pesto, so pizza seemed like a reasonable option.

I had already taken out some ground beef, so one pizza was ground beef--just browned and then mixed with some of the pesto--and onion, and one was just cheese.

For the sauce, I opened a can of pasta sauce that was in one of Miss Georgia's boxes of food. The pasta sauce had both high fructose corn syrup and MSG in it. It was . . . not very good.

I fixed it reasonably well by adding a small can of plain tomatoes and vinegar to it--to mitigate the sweetness--plus some olive oil and the pesto. It ended up being acceptable, although I would never buy that sauce myself.

Thursday

Short version: Spaghetti and meatballs, steamed broccoli, roasted green beans

Long version: I still had about a pound of ground beef left, so I added eggs, the bread crumbs I usually have in the freezer, milk, garlic powder, salt, and basil to make the meatballs.

The pasta sauce was the leftover pizza sauce, with cream added. We had spaghetti because that was the only kind of pasta I had left. Every child proclaimed spaghetti their favorite kind of pasta. They are actually getting old enough that the eating of the spaghetti isn't a complete mess. Well, except Poppy. She still makes a mess.

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