Friday, January 21, 2022

Friday Food: Pie for Breakfast

Friday 

Short version: Beef stir-fry, rice

Long version: Nah.

Saturday

Short version: Meatloaf, baked potatoes, baked fennel, green salad

Long version: I remembered to add extra fat to the meatloaf (this time some lard rendered off the pork roast I had made a few days before), and it was good. Yay me!

The fennel also had extra fat in it, inadvertently. I got the fennel in my Misfits Market delivery, and the children immediately claimed the stalks. They like to eat it like celery. That leaves me with just the bulb, which I sliced and baked in the oven with cream and butter. I did it the day before when I was baking bread, and then re-heated it with the meatloaf. 

Unfortunately, whether because of the rest and re-heating, or because of our fake "cream" with all its additives, the end result tasted good but was very greasy. Like all the milk solids had been absorbed by the fennel and the oil had rendered out. Kind of strange, but tasty. I do love fennel.

Sunday

Short version: Pot roast with potatoes and carrots, garlic bread, pureed squash, peach/blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream

Long version: I had just a little ice cream left from the week before, so Cubby and I made the pie to go with it. We used frozen blueberries and peaches, because that's what I had. They have to be thawed and drained, lest they make the pie all soggy, and the resulting juice made a nice little treat. There was just a bit, which meantI didn't share it.

I had just emptied the small jug I use for maple syrup, so I shook some warm water in there to get the last bit of syrup out and then put that in the juice.


Delicious.

The pie crust came out perfectly. Unfortunately, frozen peaches are nowhere near as flavorful as fresh peaches. The filling was a bit bland. I put a little more sugar on it, and that helped. 

And yes, I did allow the children to have the leftover pie for breakfast the next morning with heavy cream. Healthier than Pop-Tarts, anyway, and it made for a good start to the school week.

Monday

Short version: Spaghetti for the kids, leftover meatloaf for the adults, frozen peas

Long version: I had made marinara sauce on Saturday, knowing I would need something easy after work on Monday. I used that sauce for the spaghetti, along with some pressure-canned bull meat that I broke down further with my handy-dandy immersion blender, and some Latino cheese (our local Parmesan substitute). 

The children loved it, and wished I had made more. Why I only made half the box of spaghetti is a question yet to be answered. You'd think I would have learned by now that there really isn't any such thing as too much pasta.

Tuesday

Short version: Breakfast sausage patties, lentils, leftover rice, green salad with ranch dressing

Long version: I had made some lentil soup over the weekend. I love lentil soup, but the children were only lukewarm on the soup by itself. The lentils make a good side dish with sausage, though, so I scooped out the lentils from the broth for them, and ate the soup myself.

Wednesday

Short version: Extremely sloppy joes, carrot sticks with ranch dip

Long version: This was a long day. I had a meeting after work, so the children stayed at school with me, and we all didn't get home until almost 5:45 p.m. We typically eat between 5 and 5:30, so this was a very late night for us.

Given the time constraints, I decided to go with the path of least resistance, which meant dumping barbecue sauce in with the rest of the blended canned bull meat, then adding shredded cheese and heating it all up together. 

This mixture looked an awful lot like canned dog food, but its unaesthetic appearance is not so not noticeable when it's between two slices of bread. It was quite wet and sloppy, though, for sure.

Thursday

Short version: Ground beef taco meat, homemade flour tortillas, homemade refried beans

Long version: I redeemed myself from the day before's lackluster meal with a Mexican feast. I didn't have any particular reason for making all of this on a random Thursday, other than I actually went to the effort to make the tortillas (using this recipe), so I figured I might as well do the other stuff.

Most frequently when I say the kids have "tacos," what I mean is storebought corn tortillas heated with cheese and whatever meat I've made with taco spices. That's it. Maybe salsa and sour cream if they're lucky. But this time, thanks to my produce delivery the day before, I had lettuce AND tomatoes. 


On REALLY special taco nights, we have avocados, too, but even this is pretty exciting for us.

I did use a can of secondary commodities black beans this time to make the refried beans, instead of my own home-canned pinto beans, but even canned beans are good when made into refried beans. Recipe coming soon to a Tuesday Tips near you.

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

11 comments:

  1. take out
    cottage pie, carrot sticks w/ranch, garlic knots
    mini quiches, carrot sticks w/ranch, garlic knots
    crockpot chicken stroganoff over noodles, broccoli
    spaghetti w/meatballs, salad, garlic knots
    pork chops, roasted butternut squash, garlic knots
    And for tonight, crockpot beef roast, w/potatoes & carrots, broccoli, garlic knots
    Linda

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  2. Sat & Sun I don't remember again. Typical me.
    Monday-Friday ready to laugh? Ground turkey. For some reason I froze a 2.5lb pkg whole. I thought ok, I'll defrost it, eat it the first night, batch cook the rest for future freeze meals. My life is crazy. Major changes here the past month so it just didn't happen like that. So each night fast bun-less turkey burgers just to get rid of it. A couple lunches too. Today should finish it off. Usual side dishes, raw vegs as appetizer (ha! aren't we fancy?), followed by whatever fresh fruit I could scrounge for dessert to finish filling the stomach. I remember ice cream one night, just to change things up.

    Maybe next week will be more interesting but somehow I doubt it. Especially since this house will soon be like yours, lacking fresh vegetables, if I don't find time to drive to the city.

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  3. Sara: That is a LOT of ground turkey. Good for you for persevering. If you also have trouble getting to a store, I would strongly suggest seeing if Misfits Market delivers to you (or one of the similar services). It has definitely made a huge difference for us.

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  4. Friday-stirfried zucchini, pasta, and feta cheese
    Saturday-meatballs, rigatoni, frozen peas, chocolate cookies
    Sunday-grandkids went home early, so cabbage and bean soup (no way they would eat that) and sourdough biscuits
    Monday-liver and bacon, baked potatoes, broccoli
    Tuesday-chicken, mashed potatoes, salad
    Wednesday-chicken cauliflower soup, sourdough bread with no butter because we're still doing penance from Christmas
    Thursday-salmon loaf, baked potatoes, salad

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  5. Hello all...thank goodness it's Friday. This week we ate:

    Monday - Grilled catfish and way overpriced sweet carrots which we grilled also, sauted sugar peas, homemade bread

    Tuesday - Shrimp scampi over angel hair pasta, spinach and grapefruit salad, leftover bread

    Wendsday - Ham and chicken pot pie, cheesey hash browns and cherry tomatoes

    Thursday - Had leftover pie dough, tomatoes and grapefruit so I...made a tomato tart and a grapefruit cake...ambitious for a rainy Thursday but it used up the leftovers.

    Friday - Thought ahead and picked up what was needed for deluxe tacos...for a couple of days...cook once eat thrice...heh heh...needed a kitchen break anyway and who's gonna complain...it's taco/nachos for all. Still have a half a cake left to.

    Happy weekend everyone.

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  7. Sunday I was still in self isolation living in the basement, my BF made skirt steak with sauteed potatoes, endives and pak choi.
    Monday I was still negative after 5 days after a covid contact, so ended the isolation. The dogs were so happy! We had salad with smoked salmon, potatoes, croutons and blue cheese
    Tuesday fried chicken kung pao with stir fry and noodles
    Wed puttanesca spaghetti
    Thu mushroom risotto
    Friday I had a really long work day so we had hot dogs with easy beetroot soup
    Tonight probably skirt steak with oven fries. We're really low on fresh veg too, so sauteed spinach from the freezer will do

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  8. Claire: Yikes. In the basement for five days is no fun. Glad your boyfriend made delicious food for you, and that you aren't sick.

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  9. Kristin it wasn't as bad as it sounds, and I did go outside too, with mask amd gloves. It felt the most responsible thing to do. Thanks for your kind words!

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  10. Friday: can't remember
    Saturday: pizza with red sauce, andouille sausage, mushrooms, red pepper
    Sunday: bottom round roast cooked as an oven roast, potatoes roasted under the beef, broccoli
    Monday; leftover roast beef and broccoli, roast acorn squash
    Tuesday: beef and bean tacos
    Wednesday: pizza and salad at a local restaurant where we celebrated the retirement of a friend
    Thursday: vegetable beef soup which used up lots of random veggies that needed using, crusty bread from our Zingerman's Christmas bread subscription given to us by my husband's sister. It arrived the day I made the soup
    Friday: I had to stay really late at work and my husband was gone, so I went through the drive-through at McDonalds and got a quarter pounder with cheese before I left for home. So bad for me but so delicious!
    Pam in Maine

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  11. I thought the juice picture was a cocktail. I’ll bet it would be good with gin and a squeeze of lime!

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