Friday Food: It's Egg Season

Friday 

Short version: Fried eggs, leftover mashed potatoes and cheese, cucumbers with vinegar and salt, raw green beans

Long version: None of the children were all that enthused to see eggs for dinner, but, well, we had a lot of eggs thanks to the fact that my friend's chickens are laying more than she can eat. And eggs are fast.

Leftover mashed potatoes re-heated with cheddar cheese are way better than plain mashed potatoes. This was a staple of my diet during my winter pregnancy with Cubby. Very comforting and sustaining.

Saturday

Short version: Beef and bean tacos, carrot sticks

Long version: I did my Church Lady thing for our monthly Saturday Vigil Mass, while A. took the three younger kids to Cubby's basketball game about an hour away. I got home around 5 p.m. They got home about an hour later, of course starving and wanting dinner right away.

Which is why I had already made a skillet of taco meat with ground beef and pinto beans. All I had to do was heat it up in the microwave with corn tortillas and cheese.

Good thing those hungry children have such a clever mom.

Sunday

Short version: Sirloin steaks, chicken-y rice, raw green beans, sauteed green beans and onion, cookies

Long version: One of my children will only eat rice if it's cooked in chicken stock and mixed with a LOT of butter, so this was a good night for him.

I only sauteed the green beans because there was a pan on the stove left from breakfast that still had bacon grease in it. And I only added the onion to the pan because there was half an onion left from making soup in the afternoon--and we always just cook the onion, right? And then the onion, of all things, was what the children ended up fighting over.

You just never know.

In-progress food photo:

Welcome to my cast iron kitchen.

Monday

Short version: Leftovers, soup, rye crisps, cheese

Long version: The children had leftover steak and rice, plus some leftover pizza from the school lunch, and raw green beans.

A. and I had the soup I had made the day before with the leftover taco meat and beans, plus various vegetables. A very good thing I had that soup, as I was feeling the beginnings of a cold and not only did I not want to cook, I wanted to eat something soft and soothing. 

Hooray for serendipitous advance cooking.

Tuesday

Short version: Chili, tortillas and cheese

Long version: This was some well-traveled chili. I had brought it with us to Texas, frozen, kept it in the freezer there, and never used it on the trip. So it came back home with us and went right back into the freezer. It was none the worse for having been across the state line, however. 

And it's a good thing no one in Texas caught me with it, because it had beans in it. SHOCKING.

Wednesday

Short version: Scrambled eggs, bacon, bread and butter, raw green beans

Long version: I had briefly entertained the notion earlier in the day of making spaghetti carbonara with the bacon and eggs, but then I got home from work and all that ambition was definitely gone.

Bacon and fried eggs it is!

Thursday

Short version: Meatloaf, baked potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, raw broccoli, redemption cookies

Long version: The cookie jar was empty for all of two days, and there were children asking somewhat sadly if I might possibly be able to make cookies again on my day off of work.

How quickly they become accustomed to the bottomless cookie jar.

Rapunzel and I rectified that sad situation.

Tiaras make everything taste better.

I was determined to make more-edible oatmeal-raisin cookies to redeem myself after the nasty baking powder cookies. Following the MiL's recommendation, I used the recipe on the Quaker Oats website, with the slight adjustment for high altitude noted, and they were indeed much better. Thanks, MiL.

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