It has been well established here that I spend a great part of my life thinking about, growing, and preparing food. The hundreds of posts on that subject here prove that beyond a doubt.
This is why it is not even 5 a.m., and I'm about to peel a few dozen potatoes.
Lemme 'splain.
About a month ago, our priest mentioned that he was hosting all the other priests from the area* and that typically, some of the ladies from the parish would help with the lunch that they have after their meeting.
He was sitting at our table, eating dinner with us when he said this, and it was about the most blatant hint imaginable. There aren't very many "ladies" in our parish to start with, and very few that he would ask something like this of.
So of course, I asked him if he would like me to make lunch for them, thinking it would be for at least a dozen people.
Nope. He said there would be about six of them. Oh, so basically cooking for my family? Yes, I can handle that without any problem.
Fast-forward to this week, which is the last week of school, with all the insanity that this entails. Of course the priests' gathering has to be this week. Today, actually. So is the FFA end-of-year ice cream social, for which I was volunteered by my FFA child to provide cookie crumbles for the ice cream toppings.
The count of priests I'm feeding was revised to eight. And of course, I still need to feed my own family of six.
That means that for today, I'm on tap for lunch for eight, dinner for six, and cookies.
I have spent all week thinking about how I can most easily cook lunch without being there to serve it (since they eat after their meeting, I'm not walking into that meeting to deal with food, and the time is uncertain anyway). Also considering that I work on Mondays and therefore wouldn't be making much ahead.
Plus, cookies.
The cookies were easy, at least. I made the requested peanut butter cookies on Saturday and froze a container for the FFA.
When I got home from work yesterday, I made crispy rice treats. After I spilled several cups of cereal on the floor while I was opening the giant bag of Malt o' Meal Crispy Rice, that is.
I'm making three pans of shepherd's pie--two for them, one for us--which will require about five pounds of meat and around ten pounds of potatoes. Also broccoli slaw--because it's the only other vegetable I have--and brownies, along with the crispy rice treats.
Overkill? Probably. But that's how I operate with food.
Anyway, it's a lot. And that's why I'm going to peel potatoes at 5 a.m.
Catch you on the flip side.
Update: 6 a.m.
* The "area" in this case being the entire northeastern part of the state, which is large and relatively unpopulated.
6 comments:
Shepherd’s pie is a staple in our house. And so perfect for this meal in a metaphorical sense. Fellow Catholic here! Our parish is Good Shepherd. Happy cooking!
That's a great lunch. The priest is blessed to have you in his parish (and that you decided to pick up his blatant hint!) .
When I'm up at 4 am, I usually just play word games on my phone and read blogs- I used to bake, but now my goal is to stay quiet so no one gets ups too early. Teens and husbands need their sleep.
Bonus points for the "shepherd's" pie pun! Home made anything , I have a priest friend from school , they love the best food on Earth as he says.
Remember the old saying, an hour in the morning is worth two in the afternoon? Well, you've just proved it. Nice job!
You know, I'm 55 and I've never had Shepherd's Pie. What kind of meat did you use? If anything other than ground beef, would you tell? Lol
Jenlee: Technically, this would be a cottage pie, because it was beef. Shepherd's pie is really supposed to be made with ground lamb, logically enough. Ground lamb is usually pretty strongly flavored, though, so I don't really care for it and we don't grind any of our lamb.
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