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?