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?