Friday Food: Hangin' in There

Friday 

Short version: Pork chops, rice, tomato and cucumber salad

Long version: The pork chops were still frozen in a solid lump when I put them in a skillet with a bit of water, salt, a few Roma tomatoes, and the rest of an onion from Cubby's morning onion omelet. I simmered them until they were tender, and then poured off the liquid. At dinnertime I fried the tender chops in bacon grease with some of A.'s rib rub on them to make them crispy and more flavorful.

I used the strained liquid from the pork for the rice, plus a bunch of butter, and got many compliments. Easy audience.

Saturday

Short version: Fried bottom round steak pieces, garlic bread, raw green beans, summer skillet

Long version: I always get a package of bottom round steaks out intending to make chicken fried steak and . . . then I don't. Too lazy, I guess.

This time I just cut the steaks into small pieces and fried them in butter with salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder. 

More calabacitas, tomatoes, and garlic? Yup. Until the freeze, anyway.

Sunday

Short version: Meatballs; spaghetti; raw green beans; roasted calabacitas, green beans, and sweet potatoes; chocolate-covered peanut butter balls

Long version: It was too hot to have the oven on for meatballs, but I did it anyway. Mostly because I had made pesto this day, and then used the food processor to also puree some tomatoes and cooked those down on the stove. So the meatballs were baked with some of the tomato/pesto sauce, and the rest went onto the spaghetti with some heavy cream.

Because I roast meatballs at a high temperature in the oven rather than frying/simmering them, I also put a bunch of vegetables to roast at the same time. If they are cooked, they will be eaten. And a couple of the children discovered that they actually really like roasted calabacitas. Hooray. We have PLENTY to roast.

Also tomatoes and green beans in larger quantities.

Monday

Short version: First day of school celebration! With leftovers.

Long version: The first day of school is also a work day for me, and this one was a doozy. I was very glad there were lots of leftovers that just needed to be heated in the microwave.

Meatballs, spaghetti, rice, and roasted vegetables got everyone fed. Hooray.

I also brought home two leftover cinnamon rolls that had been in the office since last week's teacher in-service, so each child had half a cinnamon roll. Who says I don't do anything special to celebrate the first day of school?

Well, I say. But they did appreciate the cinnamon rolls. And I was very proud of myself for not stress-eating the cinnamon rolls or doughnuts that were in the office all day as I ran in and out. It wouldn't have really helped anything, so I'm glad I didn't.

Tuesday

Short version: T-bone steaks, boiled potatoes, sauteed calabacitas, raw tomatoes

Long version: I had a pan on the stove with some bacon grease still in it from breakfast, so I used it to cook some more calabacitas. This time it was just the calabacitas and garlic. No tomatoes. Still good.

I had intended to make an actual tomato salad, but forgot about it until I was actually dishing up dinner. Thus, small tomatoes put directly on children's plates. Fine with them

Wednesday

Short version: Leftovers, green salad

Long version: One more dinner of cobbled-together leftovers for my second day of work. 

The children had some diced round steak I had fried plain just to cook it and have it on hand. I heated it up with some barbecue sauce for them. They also had bread and butter.

A. had some of the leftover steak, plus three fried eggs and the rest of the boiled potatoes.

I had salad with the last leftover meatball in it.

And when Cubby got home from football, he had the rest of the steak, bread and butter, and some cucumber.

Thursday

Short version: Pot roast, spaghetti with tomato sauce, sauteed calabacitas, raw green beans, calabacita bread

Long version: I cooked the pot roast in the morning, as well as a casserole full of tomatoes with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a clove of garlic. Because I had the food processor out anyway to shred a bunch of calabacitas for freezing, I used the food processor to also puree the tomatoes with basil for a spaghetti sauce.

Pre-puree tomatoes and garlic.

While the oven was on for the pot roast, I also made two loaves of zucchini bread, but with calabacitas*. Of course. It was a nice bit of efficiency that also resulted in a celebratory treat for the children finishing their first week of school.

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

* Other changes from the original recipe: I skip the sugar crust on top, used half white whole wheat flour, and added some walnuts. It's very good.