Friday Food: Away

Friday 

Short version: Ham and potatoes, leftovers, raw radishes

Long version: We had been thinking this day we might cut up the ram lamb that had been aging for a couple of weeks, in which case I would have cooked some of the backstrap for dinner. But then A. was busy most of the day preparing for the awful weather coming our way, so we didn't do the butchering.

I had prepared for this possibility by taking out of the freezer the last few cups of ham left from Christmas. I added that to some microwaved and chopped potatoes, fried it all, added cheese, and that was for the children. 

Last-minute food.

A. had the last of the lamb and chickpeas from the night before, plus the last of some leftover rice. I had a salad with hardboiled eggs in it.

Saturday

Short version: Italian sausage, pasta with pesto, frozen green peas

Long version: When I was at the overwhelmingly abundant grocery store in Albuquerque awhile ago, I found a store-brand version of Italian sausage. I bought four packages, which was all they had. I cooked two of them this night. Because, again, we had not gotten to the butchering and I needed something quick to thaw and cook.

Italian sausage is the only kind of sausage everyone in my family likes. I thought these were just okay, but the rest of the family as thrilled and told me I should always have it on hand. Sorry, guys. Two hundred miles is a little far to drive for sausage.

The pesto was the cubes I had frozen from the garden basil. A nice taste of summer on what was for sure a very wintery day.

Sunday

Short version: Green chili elk cheeseburgers, oven fries, squash or cucumbers, baked strawberries and rhubarb with cream

Long version: I was baking bread this day, so I used some of the dough to make buns. And then I made elk burgers to put on those buns. Plus some of the pureed roasted green chili from the freezer to make them that icon of New Mexico: The green chili cheeseburger.

All the male family members elected to have the green chili. Us girls are wimps and stuck with ketchup.

I used frozen strawberries from the store, rhubarb from the garden, and peach jam I had canned this summer for the baked fruit. My original plan had been to make a cobbler with it, but I figured with the buns, we had enough bread in this meal. So it was just baked fruit and then we poured cream on it.

Monday

Short version: Elk and bean chili, strawberry/rhubarb cobbler with whipped cream

Long version: The day before I had thawed about four pounds of ground elk. I used about three pounds for the burgers--and yes, they were all eaten that night, welcome to my life--leaving me with a pound to use this day. Chili works well to stretch a pound of meat into something that will feed the ravenous hordes in my house.

Also, it was snowing, blowing, and way below freezing all day, so the woodstove was cranking. And that meant I could simmer the pot of chili on there.

Woodstove chili.

This was the very first day since we've lived here that I've cooked on this woodstove. I'll tell you all about that later. But I did cook on it, first simmering a pot of pinto beans, most of which went into this chili.

Also in the chili: The rest of the pureed squash, some pureed green chili, and the liquid and fat from cleaning out the pan I had broiled the elkburgers on the day before. Thrifty. And delicious.

There were actually leftovers of the previous night's baked fruit. To that, I added a few more frozen strawberries and more sugar, and then topped it with a sweetened biscuit dough to make a small cobbler in a pie pan. I had to use dry milk for the milk in the biscuits, as we were getting very low on milk, but I buy whole milk powder for just such occasions, so it worked out fine.

A heartening end to a day of the dreaded virtual schooling.

A. was at first taken aback by the idea of whipping cream to top this, telling me that ice cream was always served with cobbler when he was a boy. We had no ice cream, however, and he did say the whipped cream was a good substitute for the ice cream. I had no idea of what is traditional to serve with cobbler, because it wasn't something I really ate as a kid. But whipped cream has A.'s seal of approval now, so there you go.

Tuesday

Short version: Ham sandwiches, generic corn chips, and Reese's peanut butter cups on the road, Spanish rice and peanut butter cookies at home

Long version: The basketball player had an away game that was only about thirty miles from the town in which I can get the giant blocks of asadero cheese. Asadero is what I use in place of mozzarella. It's full-fat, slightly saltier, and much better than the part-skim, low-moisture mozzarella that is typically my only other option for pizza and things. This one store is the only one that carries the asadero, and we hadn't been there in awhile, so I had run through my freezer stash.

All this to say that I went to the store before going to the basketball game. I had asked the basketball player what he likes to get at Subway, since there is a Subway in the very small town his game was in. I figured I could get him a sandwich before the game and then we could just get in the car and drive home while he ate, so we'd get home earlier. 

But when he told me that what he usually gets is a ham sandwich with just cheese and mustard on it, I decided I would just buy the ingredients for a sandwich at the store. I could get ingredients for about four sandwiches for the cost of one sandwich at Subway. So that is what I did.

I had brought some of my own bread with me, originally thinking I would use that for his sandwich. But then I got him actual sandwich rolls, and I used the bread for my own. So I made sandwiches on my lap in the car before I went into the game.

Lap sandwich.

He also had the store-brand Fritos and I bought a package of snack-size Reese's peanut butter cups. He had two of those, and I gave one to everyone at home when we got home.

I had left a pot of rice mixed with leftover chili and cheese for dinner for the rest of the family, plus the remainder of the peanut butter cookies I had frozen earlier in the week.

Wednesday

Short version: Emergency Sonic on the road, lamb stew and garlic bread at home

Long version: I had made the lamb stew the day before, and the garlic bread when I was baking bread on Sunday. I figured it would make for a nice after-work meal. A. ended up serving this meal, because I was in the small city at the emergency room with a kid who got a piece of metal in his eye when he was grinding metal in shop class.

The doctor didn't see anything still in his eye, thankfully, but by the time we got out of there, it was 6 p.m. and we had an 90-minute drive still to get home. So we went to the Sonic near the hospital. The eye patient got a double bacon cheeseburger and onion rings. I got a kid's meal with a cheeseburger and tater tots, which is apparently only two dollars on Wednesdays. A happy coincidence.

Also, the Sonic guy handed us some random mozzarella sticks for free. I don't know if someone ordered them and then didn't pick them up, or if they made them accidentally, or what. But they got eaten. Most of them were eaten by the home crew, actually, because we shared when we got home.

Thursday

Short version: Dad's special bacon cheeseburgers, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

Long version: A. and I finally butchered the ram lamb this day. The cold weather allowed us to keep it all week until we finally got around to it. We ground some of the lamb meat, and while we had the grinder out, we ground some more elk, too. A. used some of the ground elk to make bacon cheeseburgers while I was at another basketball game. I had thought I would be home around 5:30, but the game was later than I thought. 

I brought the younger two to the game with me. They bought themselves a piece of pizza each from the concession stand. A. made a cheeseburger for one of them and the basketball player when we got home around 7 p.m. 

I had a rice cake with cream cheese and ham on it before I left. And then some cookies when I got home.

Refrigerator check:

The only way to get eggs for less than $6 a dozen right now is to buy them five dozen at a time. Then they're about $5 a dozen. Boo.

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