Friday Food: Homecoming Week

Friday 

Short version: Beans and rice, concession food at the game, leftovers at home

Long version: The cheerleader had a basketball game to cheer at, to which I also brought the younger two boys. They all had some pinto beans with butter and vinegar over leftover rice before we left, and then they all bought their own food at the concession stand at the game. Two had pizza and one had Frito pie, I think.

The remaining child at home had the last of the leftover lamb stew. A. had leftover elk burgers. I had a salad before I left.

Saturday

Short version: Spiral ham, baked potatoes, tomato and cucumber salad with feta

Long version: When ham was on sale for a dollar a pound around Christmas, I bought a few. This was one of them. Since the oven was on to bake the ham, I made baked potatoes.

I was very grateful I made the ham this day, as the rest of the week got very busy. The ham helped. So did canned refried beans and tortillas.

I had half a cucumber to use up, and I had found the good feta at the store I went to the other day, so I used some grape tomatoes to make a salad with those two things. Plus pickled onions. It was good, but nowhere near as good as the same salad I made a few months ago with cucumbers and tomatoes from the garden. Alas for garden produce.

Sunday

Short version: Not-stuffed shells, Italian sausage, peppers and onions, green salad with vinaigrette, pots de creme with cream

Long version: Awhile ago, A. brought home "jumbo" pasta shells and ricotta cheese. I was pretty sure this meant he wanted me to make stuffed shells. Unfortunately, I didn't have any asadero cheese--my mozzarella substitute--until this week, so it had to wait. And then when I went to make them, I found the jumbo shells were not actually that big and looked like they would be impossible to stuff. So I used all the same ingredients to make a baked pasta dish that was kind of like baked ziti. On my sister's recommendation, I didn't pre-boil the shells, instead just adding extra water to the pan with the sauce and dry shells, baking it covered until it was mostly done, then adding the cheese. This worked well. Thanks, sis!

I also made one package of Italian sausage, because the pasta wouldn't have been enough. And I had some peppers that were getting wrinkly, so I threw those in the oven with some onion and olive oil to roast, too.

An Italian-American feast.

I hadn't made pots de creme in a long time. It didn't fit our Italian theme, but as we all know, America is a melting pot. And that means that I, as an American, am free to serve a French (ish) dessert with an Italian (ish) meal.

I was informed by everyone that it was the smoothest pots de creme ever. I don't actually know why it was any different, so I guess I can't re-create it, but I guess it was nice that I got it just right this time.

Monday

Short version: Chicken, bean, and cheese quesadillas, raw tomatoes

Long version: I took the younger two children with me to their brother's basketball scrimmage in the evening, which meant I had about an hour to feed everyone between getting home from work and leaving again. I thought it was an opportune time to use one of the cans of chicken I bought awhile ago for rushed evenings. All I did was mix the drained chicken with salsa and put it in tortillas with cheese and refried beans. A serviceable meal, if far from gourmet. And only nominally homemade, but that's the way this week went.

The tomatoes were something labeled "cocktail tomatoes." I don't know what these are or what sort of cocktail they would be used for. They're small tomatoes on the vine, basically. They were a lot cheaper than the cherry tomatoes, although not as good. Good enough, though.

Tuesday

Short version: Rushed and late casserole, carrot sticks with curry dip, brownies

Long version: I had to sub for a teacher this day, and then I stayed after school to wait for Poppy to finish cheerleading practice. We had the older boys' friend staying with us this night so I could bring the three FFA boys to school for a 5:30 a.m. departure for a wool-judging clinic. Having a guest--and a guest who is a perpetually hungry teenage boy, at that--meant that I was not going to be getting by with quesadillas.

So I got home at 5:15 p.m. and started microwaving potatoes to chop and add to chopped ham, plus butter, the last of some chicken fat and juices, and garlic powder. I browned that under the broiler, and then added a bunch of grated cheddar to melt in. That was the casserole. 

At the same time, I cut up some carrot sticks and put those on the table with some curry dip (sweet curry powder+mayonnaise) for the hungry children. And I made the brownies.

We didn't eat until about 6 p.m., which is pretty late for us, but at least there was enough food. There was even a small serving of the casserole left to be my lunch at work the next day. Yay.

Wednesday

Short version: Lamb steaks, bread and butter, green salad with vinaigrette, bread with jam

Long version: This night we had another child-guest with us, but this was Poppy's friend, so she ate way less than our guest the night before (who happened to be her older brother). The FFA travelers came home hungry, and I luckily had half of a lamb steak left for them.

The bread and jam was the dessert stand-in, since I was working on Tuesday when I had been planning to bake cookies.

Thursday

Short version: Bean and cheese quesadillas, homecoming food

Long version: Crazy day for homecoming. I brought the three non-basketball-playing children home after the pep rally to gather all their required apparel* before going to the basketball player's game at 4 p.m. We were home about half an hour, which was long enough to make the three kids a quesadilla using canned refried beans, cheese, and the "extra grande" flour tortillas A. bought at the store.

They don't even fit in my biggest skillet, but if I fold them over, they mostly do, so I guess that's good enough.

We were at the homecoming festivities all night, so everyone got food at the concession stand, too. Mostly things involving more cheese, like pizza and nachos. Not the healthiest night, but homecoming comes but once a year, I guess.

I had a piece of the quesadilla one child didn't eat, plus some cottage cheese with strawberry jam, before we left at 3:30 p.m. and was so tired when we got home at 10 p.m. from the community dance that I wasn't hungry for anything but my bed. Thank goodness my friend offered to drop the older boys off on her way home from the dance.

Refrigerator check:

Needs some re-stocking.

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

* Poppy needed her cheer uniform plus a dress for her job as the queen's crown-bearer, the eldest son needed nice clothes because he was on the homecoming court, and the basketball player needed nice clothes brought to him for the community dance that evening.