Friday
Short version: Pork ragu, pasta, green salad with vinaigrette, mashed squash
Long version: I used the other chunk of random cooked pork to make a kind of ragu with tomatoes, onions, garlic, carrot, celery, and some balsamic vinegar. I think traditional pork ragus are made with something like a pork shoulder, which would get nicely shredded and make a very rich sauce. The cut I had was a lot more lean, so I diced it into the sauce, then simmered it for a few hours and mashed it with my potato masher to break it up.
Some of the pork sauce I put into pasta for the kids, with parmesan cheese. The rest I topped with asadero cheese for A. and me.
Saturday
Short version: Breakfast sausage patties, leftover rice, coleslaw, Grandma Brown's baked beans, mashed squash
Long version: I had a cabbage--not one of ours--that had been in the refrigerator for, um, maybe a month and half? In any case, it needed to be used. And all the children like coleslaw. I used half the head for the coleslaw, and the rest was sauteed with carrots and onions in butter. We didn't eat any of the sauteed cabbage this night, though.
To go along with the summery coleslaw, I also took out the last container of Grandma Brown's baked beans from the freezer. No more Grandma Brown's until someone goes to New York.
It's gonna be awhile.
Sunday
Short version: Bunless cheeseburgers, individual garlic/herb breads, leftover coleslaw, leftover steamed carrots
Long version: I took out the last giant log of Sysco ground beef we got from the school cook before Thanksgiving and made it into three different things: shepherd's pie for Monday night, taco meat for whatever night I need it, and hamburgers for this night.
Monday
Short version: Shepherd's pie
Long version: And here is where I bask in my own brilliance in making this ahead, so when I got home, all I did was turn on the oven, put the dish in the oven (very important to put it in from the refrigerator as soon as the oven is starting to heat, rather than putting a cold glass dish into an already-hot oven), and eat 45 minutes later.
I thought I would have leftovers from this. However, it is apparently a very popular offering in this house. There was only one portion left over.
You know what's going to be really fun? When I have boys ages 13, 15, and 17 to feed every day. Plus A. And Poppy. (And myself, of course, although that's not so daunting.)
I'm gonna need several more 13x9 pans.
Tuesday
Short version: Very Exciting Tacos
Long version: And what made them Very Exciting? I made the tortillas for the first time in a loooong time. I was only making them for the children, so I only had to make eight, which turns out to much more reasonable than making 20. I didn't even set off the smoke alarm! Although, that was more because it was warm enough to open the window near the stove.
It was also warm enough--70 degrees--that I allowed Poppy to FINALLY wear her new (well, secondhand new) sandals outside the house. With socks, but still. She's been waiting for this ever since they arrived two weeks ago. It was thrilling.
A. and I got to have some excitement, too, with even without the tortillas, because we had guacamole. Hooray! The last time A. was near a store, it happened to be the one that always has cheap avocados, so he bought five large avocados. They all ripened at once, and that was the main reason I made tacos on this day.
Wednesday
Short version: Various foods for various people
Long version: The children had grilled cheese sandwiches, the last of the Grandma Brown's baked beans, and green salad.
A. had leftover hamburgers and salad.
And I had a salad with leftover taco meat, cheese, and the very last half an avocado.
Have you noticed that work days for me often feature random assignments of food? Yup. I like to call it "customized food." It sounds much more intentional that way.
Thursday
Short version: Yet more customized food
Long version: For the children, I microwaved leftover taco meat, leftover rice, frozen corn, and grated cheddar cheese. One bowl and done.
For A., I microwaved leftover taco meat, grated cheese, and salsa, and topped it with half an avocado.
But wait! Didn't I say I used the last half of an avocado the day before? Yes, I did. But then A. had to go pick up our beef from the butcher, which brought him right past a grocery store. So he stopped in to get some things, and those things included avocados. One was ripe, so I used it.
He also got some asparagus, which I cooked in a pan on the stove that had bacon grease in it already. Because that's about the level of cooking I'm willing to do when I get home from work. A. ate some of that, and I ate the rest.
I also had two fried eggs topped with salsa and the rest of the avocado.
Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?
Very stylist sandals!
ReplyDeletetakeout
pork chops, butternut squash, roasted oven fries
zucchini pizza, salad, garlic knots
hamburger stew, cauliflower, garlic knots, banana ice cream, which was delicious
roasted potato fries with sirloin & cheese on top, cauliflower, garlic knots, banana ice cream
chicken divan, cauliflower, garlic knots
leftover chicken divan for tonight
Linda
-we finished up the leftover chili
ReplyDelete-My husband got called to fly so the kids and I ate chicken nuggets, roasted potatoes and kale chips.
-BBQ Turkey Sandwiches (I had frozen cooked turkey leftover from Christmas dinner. So, I heated it with bbq sauce and served it on buns) I roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli as sides. I had a Girl Scout meeting so it was another easy night as my husband was still working.
-Tacos and quesadillas. We get school lunches sent home since my daughter is virtual for school. I had two tomatoes that seemed to be previously frozen and thus mushy. I cooked them in the meat with the taco seasoning mix I made. My kids don’t like raw tomatoes so this way they will eat tomatoes :)
-We has fish with rice and roasted green beans with onions. My daughter had a baked potato because she doesn’t like rice. And my son would only eat fish sticks.
-Fajitas and the most exciting part was that I discovered my 2 year old will happily eat the peppers and onions wrapped in a tortilla. He’s not a big veggie eater...yet
liver and bacon, baked potatoes
ReplyDeletetaco chicken, noodles (because the 5 year old won't eat the chicken and she had noodles and cheese), some forgettable vegetables, prayer bars (they're supposed to be so good you pray for more - debatable but the kids love them)
homemade baked beans with hamburger, coleslaw
leftover vegetable casserole in cheese sauce
leftover baked beans
chicken enchiladas, broccoli
bunless hamburgers, oven fries, roasted summer squash
still using up the pork roast...
ReplyDeleteFriday: mushroom risotto with broth from the pork roast, green beans with garlic sauteed in bacon fat
Saturday: pizza topped with barbecue sauce, the last of the pork roast, chopped Swiss chard and cheddar cheese. I made a quick onion pickle from red onion to put on it after it came out of the oven. Almost everything is better with pickled onion on it.
Sunday: my birthday dinner made by my daughter, shrimp scampi on linguini, roasted broccoli and asparagus. As an extra special birthday present, she tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday at work so we are quarantined but so far no sign of the virus
Monday: roasted mushrooms and swiss chard on pasta, peas
Tuesday: beef and bean tacos
Wednesday: leftover mushroom and chard pasta, more peas
Thursday: marinated and grilled round steak, roasted acorn squash, broccoli
Pam in Maine
Friday: bean soup and a baked potato with cheese
ReplyDeleteSaturday: Roasted broccoli with lemon, baked codfish, somewhat over-seasoned. Lovely little chocolate treats (dark chocolate, natural peanut butter, chopped almonds, dried cranberries, left to set in cupcake papers)
Sunday: leftover fish, bean soup
Monday: celery and pea risotto
Tuesday: bean soup, baked chicken legs, somewhat under-seasoned.
Wednesday: salad, bacon and onion omelet, boiled potato
Thursday: chips and salsa, steak, fried leftover potatoes
It was a week of yuck, so while I made a menu, we didn't eat from it at all. What we did eat is this:
ReplyDeleteSun: AF Corn dogs, FF (for him); Breaded Shrimp, tomato salad (me).
Mon: Takeout Pizza
Tues: Hot Mexican Dip Bake (basically refried beans, taco meat, salsa layered and baked, topped with cheese & melted, topped with taco toppings and eaten with chips.)
Wed: Pancakes (him); cheese, crackers and salad (me)
Thu: Leftover Pizza, salad
Fri: Corn Dogs FF (him); LO Mexican bake (me)
Sat: (I finally cooked!) Oven-fried Chicken, hashbrowns, roasted carrots & broccoli, home-baked Rolls (from frozen dough pucks leftover from Christmas)
(It was a week because of blizzard, snow, we both had a cold. Just not a pleasant week.)
Andra: Finding anything a 2-year-old will eat happily is a big deal.
ReplyDeletekate: Wait, so will your picky kid eat liver?
Pam: Happy Birthday! And BOOOO on Covid. I hope your daughter is okay, and that no one else gets it.
Kay: This week coming up has to be better, right?
Kristin: I WISH! Instead, we got 8-10 more inches of snow over the weekend. And then the temperatures plummeted. It will barely get above zero today and not above 20 tomorrow and even colder this coming weekend. Suppose to stay like this until at least Feb. 18.
ReplyDeleteI work for a heating & air/plumbing company as their dispatcher. You can imagine how many phone calls I've had in the last 24 hours!
And my Farmer has a hernia. YIPPEE! Fun times at the old Prairie Farmhouse. (But, God is still good and we are blessed every day. Just makes life interested.)