Friday Food: Some Failures

Friday

Short version: Tuna melts, carrot sticks, gritty fudge

Long version: The only children home with me were Cubby and Poppy, as A. had taken the other two to a judo tournament. The children at home implored me to make tuna melts for dinner. I was happy to oblige with such an easy dinner.

I had a salad with fried eggs and pecans in it.

I made the fudge because I had half a can of evaporated milk left from making the pralines. I've never made fudge before, and I don't have a candy thermometer, and I also didn't have the chocolate chips called for in the recipe I used. I substituted cocoa powder and butter. I don't know if it was that, or my lack of thermometer (and expertise), but it turned out very gritty. Tasted okay, but the texture was not creamy.

The kids ate it anyway, of course.

Saturday

Short version: Ground beef and bean chili, cornbread, improvised chocolate cookies

Our monthly Saturday Mass was this day, and that means we don't get home until about 5 p.m. I made the chili ahead of time, obviously.

I mostly made the cornbread ahead of time, too, by mixing up the wet and dry ingredients separately, and then combining them when we got home. I used this recipe for the first time. It was okay, although a little gritty. I think it would have been better with half cornmeal and half masa (the finely ground nixtamalized cornmeal used for tortillas).

Anyway, it was convenient to have it all ready to go when we got home, and also convenient to have on hand when A. got home with the other two around 7 p.m.

The cookies were pretty much completely made up. I needed to fill the cookie jar, and still didn't have any chocolate chips. So I had the idea to melt the gritty fudge and use that to make chocolate cookies. I also added some peanut butter and walnuts.

They didn't come out particularly well. Sort of stodgy and with not enough chocolate flavor. So I melted more fudge and kind of frosted the top of the cookies with that, which helped.

Oddly, after sitting for a day in the cookie jar, the cookies were much improved and actually pretty good. They got more moist somehow. I don't know how that works, but I'm glad it did.

Salvage cookies.

Sunday

Short version: Pizzas, green salad with vinaigrette, supposedly-maple/mocha custard

Long version: One cheese pizza, one with bacon and onion. 

And now, the custard.

Cubby got me a book at a library discard sale that is a collection of recipes from the lady behind the Storey books (the ones that are all about raising animals and other homesteading kinds of things). He got it for me over a year ago, and I had never made any of the recipes in it. So I decided to try one.

It was a custard recipe that used maple syrup as the sweetener and main flavoring agent, with the addition of a small amount of cocoa powder and coffee. It looked interesting, so I made it.

When we tasted it, however, it was oddly flavorless. Definitely needed more sweet, and I think also a bit more salt. When I thought about it, though, I couldn't remember actually adding the maple syrup. 

Yeah. I forgot the maple syrup in a maple custard. 

I added syrup to everyone's bowls and stirred it in, which of course improved it quite a lot. Since it didn't actually have any sweetener in it at all to start with. 

Sigh.

Monday

Short version: Bunless hamburgers, leftover hot dogs, leftover pizza, bread and butter, frozen green beans

Long version: I had a few cooked hamburgers left from the ones I made the night before just for me, so I wouldn't have to eat pizza.* And then there was enough uncooked ground beef to make a few more hamburgers. In the pan with the cooking hamburgers, I also put in some of the hot dogs left from the school lunch. 

One kid wanted hot dogs, the rest wanted hamburgers. A. got both. Everyone got one slice of leftover pizza, and then bread and butter if they were still hungry.

Tuesday

Short version: Meatloaf, baked potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, sauerkraut, raw cabbage

Long version: If I actually cook, it's because I'm not at work. Funny how that works. (Ha.)

The kids ate the raw cabbage, as is their preference. A. and I prefer it cooked, so we ate the sauerkraut. I still have at least half a dozen pints of sauerkraut. I just need to remember it's there.

Wednesday

Short version: Leftover meatloaf and hot dogs, fried potatoes, raw cabbage . . . again

Long version: Well, at least I cooked the potatoes even though it was a work day. I baked extra potatoes so I could use them this day. Which I did, by chopping them and frying them in butter and olive oil.

So energetic of me.

Want to see where I work?

The view from my desk. Although this is misleading, as my desk is just kind of stuck in a corner of a room that is used for a lot of other things, and I'm only at my desk for about half an hour out of the whole day. I move around a lot, which is nice, actually. I wouldn't want to stare at this all day.

Thursday

Short version: Steaks, rice, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: I did work this day, too--subbing--but it was an early release day. Good thing, as the MiL arrived for a visit, and although I'm sure she wouldn't have made any disparaging comments about leftovers, it's not really the welcome dinner anyone hopes for. Steaks are better.

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

* Not that I don't want to eat pizza. It's just that I shouldn't.