Friday Food: Pretty Pie

Friday 

Short version: Meatloaf, baked potatoes, roasted asparagus, sauerkraut, raw cabbage, Mexican wedding cookies

Long version: Apparently, Mexican wedding cookies are my children's most favoritest cookies ever. I used the same recipe as last time (but with almonds instead of walnuts), but the dough was too dry, so I added a bit of milk. 

Unfortunately, that made the texture of the baked cookies much less like shortbread. They tasted good, but the texture is definitely an important part of these cookies.

Not that anyone refused to eat them or anything, but still. Kind of disappointing.

Actually, as I was writing that out, it occurred to me maybe the problem was that almonds have less oil in them than walnuts. Perhaps I need to use a bit more butter if I use almonds. Next time . . .

Saturday

Short version: Hot dogs on homemade buns, green chile hamburger stew, gingersnaps

Long version: I found this stew very satisfying to make. The stock from roosters given to us, the green chiles Ms. Amelia gives me frequently, the tomato sauce, the potatoes, and the onions all came to us free from friends or commodities. From my garden last year I used frozen cubes of pureed green garlic, shredded calabacita, and some overly large green beans I had stashed away as "soup beans," and from the garden this year, parsley. The only things in it that I bought were the ground beef and carrots.

Oh, and I had to add some sour cream at the end, because I overdid the green chile a bit.

Everyone had the hot dogs, some had the stew. And everyone had gingersnaps, of course.

Sunday

Short version: Stir-fry, rice, strawberry-rhubarb pie with whipped cream

Long version: I used this recipe for the pie. It was pretty good, but I thought it had slightly too much vanilla and salt in the fruit filling. The only oranges I had were not very flavorful, so I didn't use their juice, instead using a bit of zest. I used equal parts rhubarb and strawberries, too, which was a good change. It made for a fuller pie, and it wasn't overflowing or anything.

So pretty.

The recipe quite clearly stated that it should be served with vanilla ice cream. I suspect this is why when I made just whipped cream for it, I thought it needed more sugar. A. always says I don't put enough sugar in whipped cream, and in this case, he was right.

I inevitably screw up my latticing. OH WELL.

The recipe also said to discard the accumulated juices at the bottom of the bowl after mixing all the filling ingredients.

Say what? Throw out a delicious mixture of fruit juices and sugar? That's crazy talk. Does the recipe author not know that that is beginning of a homemade soda? Just add seltzer. Yum.

Monday

Short version: Bunless cheeseburgers, bread and butter, green salad with ranch dressing, leftover pie

Long version: This time I had A. make the whipped cream to top the leftover pie. He added a lot more sugar, and it made the pie much better. Lesson learned.

Tuesday

Short version: Polish sausage and onions, baked beans, cornbread, carrot sticks, oatmeal/raisin/almond cookies

Long version: I built this entire meal around the baked beans. These were from the huge batch I made awhile ago with the last can of Sysco pinto beans. I had frozen them in quart-size containers. I had taken one of these out on Saturday to serve with the hot dogs and totally forgot. Forgot again when we had the cheeseburgers. So I was determined to finally remember to serve them, and came up with other things that would go with them.

I don't know why I chose this meal to take a photo of a plate of food, but here it is!

The Polish sausage was the very last package of sausage from my Texas stock-up. I roasted it in the oven on a bed of sliced onions while the cornbread was baking.

The cookies were standard oatmeal-raisin, but I added some finely chopped almonds. Because given the amount of almonds I have in the freezer from excess commodities, no cookie can remain almond-less.

Wednesday

Short version: Chili, leftover cornbread

Long version: Still using up frozen pureed calabaza from last year. Chili is a good use for it, because no one knows it's in there. Sneaky.

Also, since I use beans, too, it's a good way to stretch one package of ground beef to feed us for a whole meal plus some for lunch the next day.

Thursday

Short version: Ribeye steaks with herb butter and caramelized onions, leftover rice, pureed calabaza, raw broccoli

Long version: Didn't I just make herb butter with green garlic and parsley for steak? Yes, and I will continue to do so until I run out of steak.

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