Friday, March 24, 2023

Friday Food: School Lunch/Home Dinner

Friday 

Short version: Tilapia and leftover rice or pasta at home, pizza and cake at a party 

Long version: Poppy's classmate had a last-minute, late-afternoon birthday party, to which I took Poppy and Jack. They had pizza and cake there. I had taken out some frozen tilapia fillets at home, which A. cooked with butter and lemon juice, and then served with either leftover rooster rice or spaghetti with pesto.

I had a salad with hardboiled eggs and pecans when I got home around 6:30 p.m. from the party.

Saturday

Short version: Leftover meatloaf, rice, raw cabbage

Long version: I was at church from 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m. setting up, attending, and cleaning up after a funeral. Good thing there was enough leftover meatloaf and rooster rice for everyone, because I was not really in much of a mood for cooking by the time I got home.

Sunday

Short version: Steaks, garlic bread, sauteed mushrooms and onions, pureed calabaza, sauerkraut, raw cabbage, crispy rice treats

Long version: I took out a package of rib steaks, and they were so thick and large, I decided to sear them and finish cooking them in the oven. No way would they have gotten cooked enough in the center without burning on the outside just on the stove.


Flintstone steaks.

It had been a long time since I made garlic bread. The children were very pleased to make its acquaintance again.

It had also been a long time since I had made crispy rice treats for a Sunday dessert. I only had enough marshmallows to make about a third of this recipe, but that was enough for everyone to have two reasonably sized pieces. Of course, what they really wanted was unreasonably sized pieces, but it was a good lesson in moderation.

Monday

Short version: Leftover steak, fried potatoes, carrot sticks

Long version: I had baked about half a dozen potatoes the day before when the bread was baking. I also had a skillet with quite a lot of tallow in it that had rendered out while I was searing the steaks. I just left that pan with the grease in it right on the stove until the next day, when I diced the potatoes and fried them in the tallow.

Is it weird to leave skillets full of grease on the stove in anticipation of the next day's cooking? Probably. But then, I never claimed to be normal. And they were really good potatoes.

Tuesday

Short version: Sausages, bread and butter, baked beans, frozen peas, chocolate-chip/almond cookies

Long version: One package of boudin and one of kielbasa, both brought back from our trip to Texas. I had not planned to have sausages, but I realized halfway through cooking my planned pork shoulder that the boys were having pulled pork sandwiches for lunch at school. So, to avoid repetition, I made the sausage. It also meant that I had the pork ready to go the next day after work, which is always a good thing.

The baked beans were from the freezer. Now that I've finished that, I can use the very last 6-pound can of pinto beans we got from the school to make one more giant casserole of baked beans and put those in the freezer. That should be very handy for summer. Which is coming, yes it is.

I made the cookies with almonds because the excess commodities last month included a literal case of toasted (but not salted) whole almonds. Good for both cookies and granola.

Wednesday

Short version: Pork soft tacos, baked peaches with cream

Long version: I fried the pork from the day before in its own rendered lard and served it with cheese in corn tortillas. 

I had made the baked peaches the day before when the pork was cooking, but again, saved it for this day. That worked out, since I, um, didn't actually serve a vegetable. We're pretty low on vegetables right now. 

No one complained about having baked peaches instead of cabbage. Unsurprisingly.

Thursday

Short version: Bull enchilada casserole, chocolate chip/oatmeal/almond cookies

Long version: I really need to buckle down and finish all the bull meat. It's been in the freezer for over two years now. The problem is, even when it's very processed, it's really too chewy to use a lot of it for anything. That's why it works in this casserole: It's mixed with a lot of other stuff.

Anyway.

The cookies were Poppy's request. I used I think 2 cups of white flour, a cup of oats, and about half a cup of white whole wheat flour. That white whole wheat flour--originally from excess commodities--has also been around a very long time, since I can't use too much of it at once without making whatever I'm baking pretty dense. This is the last bag of it, though, so the end is in sight.

Wish I could say the same for the bull meat.

I unintentionally sort of repeated the school lunch this day, too, because they had beef nachos. Whoops.

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


8 comments:

mbmom11 said...

Fri- homemade Mac and cheese, broccoli, peas, corn.
Sat- corned beef- instapot because it cuts down on the smell and I was short on time. Irish soda bread, leftover veggies, sautéed cabbage. My adult son cooked that for me. Pumpkin pie.
Sun- I was out for the day driving my German guests and friends to visit big state university where friend goes to school. So husband and son had pasta and garlic bread started, and I got out veggies and sausage. Red sauce or pesto.
Mon-took kids and guests to the trampoline park in the late afternoon. When we were done, we pulled into Sonic and got milkshakes or limeade. The German guests had had free cones at Dairy Queen before we had gone to the trampoline place, so no one was very hungry. I left my husband a salad.
Tues-beef stew, egg noodles, potatoes, carrots, mashed potatoes for some. Broccoli as ever.
Wed- German guest eating our at Taco Bell with the student group, so easy night for me. Grilled cheese, applesauce, potato chips. Salad for husband.
Thurs- guest went to big town with student group to shop and eat at Chili's, so I did a repeat of Wed.
For all my baking treats , the guests tended to eat ice cream. ;)
So far, my German guests love pasta, Monster energy drinks, milk shakes, Mexican food, whipped yogurt. They also liked "blue raspberry" juice cocktail . They did not touch the high quality, named-brand orange juice. they loved refilling their drinks at Taco Bell and playing with the flavor combinations.
They did not like my pumpkin pie or chocolate cream pie. Nor have they been interested in breakfast cereals. I bought an expensive loaf of ancient grain breakfast bread that they love.
I did have baking almost-fail. When making the pumpkin pie, I was sort of following a recipe on the can, and did not realize it was for two pies. (I'm very tired lately.) I only had mixed up the eggs, sugar, and spices, so I turned those ingredients into a spice cake. I proceeded to make the pie following my mom's recipe instead. Spice cake turned out great- I put cream cheese frosting on it. Very nice flavor combination.
Enjoy the first weekend of spring!


Anonymous said...

Hello, this week we ate:

Sunday - Copy cat chicken soft taco supremes, refried beans, corn chips.

Monday - Had leftover seasoned chicken so I made chicken taco pizza...what? It had lettuce, tomatoes and peppers on it. 😁

Tuesday - Hamburger goulash, spinach salad, bread.

Wendsday - Leftover goulash, baked apples, bread.

Thursday - Onion soup, veggies and dip, bread.

Friday - The plan is pork chops, potatoes, and some odds and ends lurking in the vegetable bin and fridge that need to be used up.

Saturday - Making extra pork chops means pork fried rice with peppers and peas on the side...if I'm feeling ambitious I might make cream cheese wontons.

Oh...and I meant to suggest this before when you mentioned your chewy bull meat situation...my dad would take whatever leftover chunk of meat we happened to have (usually roast beef or ham but really, any meat works) and he would put it in the food processor and pulse it until it was broken down very small which of cource helps eliminate chewy or stringy roast beef textures...he'd then mix it with mayo, mustard...maybe some horseradish...cream cheese if we had it, onions... whatever he thought would work and blend it all together...this was eaten on crackers or as a after school sandwich for us kids...don't know if your tribe would go for something like that but like I said...thought I'd mention....oh...and if we had boiled eggs around he'd add those to to extend it...extra protein to fend off the hangrys...

Happy weekend everyone!

Anonymous said...

takeout
leftover pizza from takeout, salad
fish/taco salad, tortilla chips
chicken patties, vegetables
tuna divan w/rice, sauteed cabbage
chicken/spinach casserole, salad, roasted carrots sticks
same for tonight as we have leftovers
Linda

Kit said...

Friday-the Archbishop gave us a dispensation so we could eat corned beef today. My son was visiting so I took advantage of this because I wanted something nice. So corned beef, horseradish, boiled potatoes and cabbage, and his favorite banana cake.
Saturday-hot dogs, potato chips, tossed salad
Sunday-a family lunchtime birthday party - ham and salami sandwiches (peanut butter for certain people), potato chips, coleslaw, fruit, and chocolate potato cake (it has mashed potatoes in it-very moist and good). Anyone who was still hungry at dinner had more of the same.
Monday-leftover turkey loaf stirfried with peppers, rice, broccoli
Tuesday-salmon loaf, baked potatoes, coleslaw
Wednesday-corned beef hash, cabbage
Thursday-Mexican turkey, peas

Kristin @ Going Country said...

mbmom11: Monster drinks over chocolate cream pie? Well, there's no accounting for taste, I guess.

Anonymous: Now there's a thought. I do run the pressure-cooked bull meat through the food processor to break it down, but I've never tried mixing it into a paste for a spread or something. I shall ponder . . .

Linda: A fish taco salad? Like fried fish in a taco salad?

Kit: Certain people like a seven year old?

Gemma's person said...

Sloppy joses whizzed bull meat idea.

Kristin @ Going Country said...

G.P.: I have done that, but I think something more like a mayonnaise-based spread would work better. The meat needs the fat. When the processed bull is combined with something liquid, the texture is unpleasantly wet but somehow still chewy.

Kay said...

In cooler months, I leave the leftover tallow/schmaltz in the cast iron pan for the next day also. My kitchen is pretty cool. I save all the fat since our protein is local and I trust it.