Friday Food: Back to School

Friday 

Short version: Ram curry, rice

Long version: One child had been requesting curry, so I made some with a bag of ram chili meat. I only have sweet yellow curry powder, so that's what I used. 

I used the very last of my carrots in the curry, and I thought I didn't have any potatoes left, but then I remembered the small bucket of garden potatoes I still had. So I used some of those.

Very satisfying.

I always add dairy to curry at the end. This time, it was a bunch of sour cream.

Saturday

Short version: Epiphany tamales, truffles

Long version: I had to postpone our traditional Christmas Day tamales to Epiphany due to lack of time before Christmas. Techinically still Christmas. It counts.

I was out of onions, so I used some of the green tomato salsa in the meat, since that had onions in it. 

I don't have any homemade chicken stock this winter, and I needed stock for the masa mixture. I did have the liquid left from braising the pork roast a few days earlier, though, so I used that. I had just enough for a double batch of tamales.

I also had just enough tallow left from the big batch I had rendered a few weeks prior. And the last two jars of pressure-canned bull meat for the filling. 

They actually needed more spice, which is not something I typically say.

The truffles were Lindt milk chocolate ones. I always buy a big box of them--the 60-count one--to put in stockings on Christmas Day, and then some for Epiphany, too.

Sunday

Short version: Re-worked curry, leftover rice, chocolate ice cream

Long version: Most of the meat was eaten out of the curry, but there was a lot of liquid and some vegetables left. So I added some yellow split peas to it. 

I wasn't sure if the tomato in the curry would keep the split peas from getting soft--like the infamous baked beans debacle--so I decided to play it safe and cook the split peas before adding them to the curry. I just cooked them in water and salt until they were soft, then added the curry to it to heat all the way up.

Everyone liked the curry better this way, so I need to remember to use the split peas whenever I made curry. It does thicken it up nicely.

Monday

Short version: Bull enchilada casserole, baked fruit with cream

Long version: We woke up to an honest-to-goodness blizzard in the morning, which blew almost all day. This of course meant that we were home for school. And that meant the dreaded Zoom school.

Worst. 

Getting four kids--and myself--on and off Zoom meetings, as well as supervising their actual school work, puts me in a very bad mood. No one else was too thrilled about it, either, so I made a dessert to cheer us all up.

All I did was dump storebought frozen blueberries and strawberries in a casserole dish, add one very wrinkly apple languishing in the refrigerator that I peeled and diced, a bit of vanilla, and a bunch of the too-sweet peach jam from a couple summers ago, and then cook it. I actually microwaved it for about ten minutes, to get everything thawed and starting to release the juices, and then I put it in the oven with the enchilada casserole I had made between Zoom meetings.

The fruit was still way too liquidy when the casserole was done, and also not sweet enough. So I spooned out most of the juices and reduced those on the stove to a syrup, then added them back to the fruit with more sugar.

It was kind of annoying, but I got it done. And it was very good with cream poured over it.

Tuesday

Short version: Pork, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, pureed squash

Long version: This was a pork sirloin roast, which is really too lean to braise like a picnic roast. But it was frozen solid, so I couldn't cut it into chops or whatever. Braising it is. That made it tender. Frying it in bacon grease took care of the leanness.

While the pork was in the oven, I also baked one of the garden squash. I always puree squash--this time with my immersion blender--because I really hate stringy squash. I added butter and maple syrup to this, which was very indulgent of me.

When my menus feature sauerkraut, squash, and frozen peas as the only vegetables, it means my refrigerator looks like this.

Slim pickin's.

This happens every winter. And that is what squash and sauerkraut are for.

Wednesday

Short version: Elk chunks, spaghetti, leftover mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, frozen peas

Long version: I had chunked up an elk tenderloin the night before and then put a marinade over it of salt, garlic powder, thyme, olive oil, and vinegar. Then they just needed to be fried when I got home from the First Communion class.

The eldest child made the spaghetti with, I think, butter, cream cheese, and a lot of black pepper.

Thursday

Short version: Chorizo and scrambled egg burritos, carrot sticks

Long version: I had to substitute this day, so I had taken out a bag of elk chorizo to thaw in anticipation of needing a quick and easy dinner after work. I did, and this was.

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