Friday Food: A Canned Food Week

Friday 

Short version: Sloppy joes, carrot sticks with curry dip

Long version: We went to our neighbor's canyon property in the afternoon to cut firewood. He had yanked up a bunch of cedars by the roots.

 

The exposed roots look very cool.

These trees were taking over this pasture, so he pulled some out. He had said we could cut whatever we wanted for firewood, and he would burn the rest in the winter.

Cutting wood here looks a lot different than it did in New York.

Anyway, by the time we got home a little after 5 p.m., everyone was very hot and hungry. I made a very fast dinner with the ground beef in the refrigerator by simply frying the meat and adding some of my frozen onions, plus barbecue sauce and ketchup. 

This batch of sloppy joes FINALLY used up the gallon of Sysco barbecue sauce I bought almost exactly two years ago. 

A significant achievement.

Saturday

Short version: T-bone steaks with caramelized onions and herb butter, spaghetti with pesto, green salad with ranch dressing

Long version: The caramelized onions were the ones I made a few weeks ago and put in the freezer. Some of them I froze in small piles on parchment paper. The rest I froze flat in a gallon bag. 

The ones in the gallon bag froze into a solid mass and there is no separating them without thawing the whole thing. Lesson learned there. The small piles are the ones I used for dinner this night. All I had to do was take out two pucks of onions and microwave them for a minute to thaw.

The parsley came back with a vengeance this spring, which is why I made the herb butter. It was just soft butter mixed with finely chopped parsley and a leaf of green garlic from one of the plants that volunteered in the garden. 

The herb butter and caramelized onions were a stellar combination on the steak. As you might imagine.

Sunday

Short version: Fried pork, oven fries, green salad with ranch dressing, chocolate pudding with cream

Long version: When I was ten years old, all I wanted to eat at restaurants was salad and french fries. And now here I am, a few decades later (ahem), and that's still all I want to eat. So that's what I made myself for Mother's Day.

I threw two cans of the canned pork we get from commodities in a pan and fried that with some spices as a grudging concession to being an adult and needing some form of protein in there. It did cross my mind that perhaps I could count the pudding as protein--so much milk!--but in the end, I am just not ten years old.

A highly satisfying meal, however, even with that boring and responsible addition.

Monday

Short version: Leftovers at home, brisket 'n' stuff out

Long version: I went to the school sports banquet with our athlete. We were provided with smoked brisket and rolls, and then everyone brought a side dish to share. I chose a little bit of creamed corn--pretty sure it had a LOT of cream cheese in it, and was thus delicious--and salad to go with my brisket. And I contributed carrot and celery sticks with homemade dip. The dip was basically the same ranch dressing I always make, but instead of yogurt, I used sour cream to make it much thicker for scooping. I also added a little finely chopped parsley, because I really have a LOT of parsley right now.

Almost all the carrots and celery were gone by the end of the evening, so I guess that was a good choice.

The home crowd had leftover pork, steak, bread and butter, and I left some of the carrots and celery for them, too.

Tuesday

Short version: Triple-can patties, rooster rice, frozen green peas

Long version: I have a few cans of the commodities salmon left, as well as several cans of commodities chicken. I combined one of each with a can of tuna--along with mayonnaise, mustard, eggs, bread crumbs, dill, salt, and pepper--to make patties. They tasted just like tuna patties, so I guess I'll keep doing that to use up the commodities stuff.

Wednesday

Short version: Chicken fried rice, pineapple and peaches

Long version: This fried rice kind of just happened last minute when I went into the kitchen to make dinner after work. I had a bunch of leftover rice, so I added a can of the commodities chicken--they're big cans, so that was about half a pound--frozen onion, frozen peas, the rest of the carrot sticks that I nuked for about a minute to mostly cook and then diced, garlic powder, soy sauce, vinegar, and eggs.

I had a can of pineapple in the refrigerator, along with two store-bought cans of peaches, that I had in there for breakfast. There was quite a lot left, though, so everyone got to choose one or the other for their dessert.

As you can see, between the canned meats and the canned fruit, we were all about the canned things this week.

Thursday

Short version: Chimichangas! Margaritas!

Long version: Last day of school! A. and I had some celebratory margaritas with the remainder of the Cinco de Mayo supplies.

The return of THE PARTY BLENDER!

Before making the margaritas, I made some taco meat with ground beef. A. had bought flour tortillas last time at the store, along with my requested corn tortillas. (I'm sure Walmart Lady still does not approve). So at dinnertime, I made burritos with (canned) refried beans and the meat, plus cheese, for the children, and then fried them in corn oil.

This was very popular. Unsurprisingly.

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