Friday Food: Casseroles and Their Leftovers

Friday 

Short version: Chorizo/potatoes/eggs, chicken taco soup, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: I had to go to town in the afternoon. I had made the soup before I left with the chicken carcass from the night before--plus leftover rice, canned black beans, tomatoes, corn, and taco spices--knowing that wouldn't have been enough for everyone.

I had considered getting frozen tamales at the store in town, since it was going to be very close to dinnertime when I got home. Then I saw that buying enough tamales for all of us would be around thirty dollars. Too much.

So then I decided to get chorizo and cook that with the potatoes left over from the night before, and eggs. My options for chorizo included a couple of very cheap brands, and the "premium" chorizo that was a few dollars more. Wondering what the difference might be, I read the ingredients. The first ingredient in the premium chorizo was pork. The first ingredients in the cheap chorizo were salivary glands, lymph nodes, and fat.

I'm not even kidding. It said right there on the package: salivary glands and lymph nodes.

I got the premium chorizo, because GROSS.

I felt kind of bad for serving such a slapdash meal to a guest, but the MiL was actually excited to have chorizo, so that worked out. 

Saturday

Short version: Grilled lamb chops, curried split peas, rice, pureed potatoes, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: We have a kettle charcoal grill someone gave us last year that we haven't used much, since none of like to grill much. However, lamb is much better grilled, and we had the charcoal, so I decided to grill. We don't have lighter fluid or a charcoal chimney starter, so I had to actually build a fire in the grill with the charcoal. This is difficult to do, and I didn't get the charcoal hot enough to really sear the chops. However, they did cook most of the way through on the grill, and then I just finished them under the broiler in oven. They had a nice smoky flavor and were really very good.

The curried split peas were mostly for the child who still couldn't chew really well, but they went nicely with the lamb. I made rice for that, but I also made pureed potatoes with some extra baked potatoes I had made a couple of days previously. I was informed that pureed potatoes and curried split peas are an excellent combination that I should make again. Good to know.

Sunday

Short version: Lasagnas, green salad with vinaigrette, asparagus, strawberry/rhubarb crisp with vanilla ice cream

Long version: I found a small bag of ground elk in the freezer. I also had half a container of store-bought ricotta that had been in the freezer a long time, and a box of lasagna noodles. The elk wouldn't have been enough on its own for the lasagna, so I added to it the Albuquerque Italian sausage I took out of the casings. With those two meats, plus red wine and crushed tomatoes, I made meat sauce to layer with the ricotta, asadero cheese, and noodles. 

The only other lasagna I've ever made was the insane Italian-style lasagna. For a more American lasagna, I used this recipe this time, except, since I had enough noodles and meat sauce, I made one and half of the amount. I didn't have quite enough ricotta, but I did have a bag of bechamel sauce leftover from the insane lasagna that had been in the freezer all this time that I could use for the last layer.

I really needed my big 15-inch Pyrex casserole for this. But since it had unfortunately exploded the week before, I instead used my 13-inch one, plus an 8x8 pan. It all just fit. We had another guest with us for dinner besides the MiL, so there were eight people eating. We almost finished the big lasagna, leaving the whole smaller one for later in the week.

I will always be grateful to my grandfather for making eight chairs and a big table.

Monday

Short version: Hunter's pies, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: I found a bigger bag of ground elk in the freezer while rummaging around and decided to use that to make shepherd's pie. I needed my big Pyrex again, but was again forced to use the 13-inch Pyrex and a smaller casserole. 

Big and little.

We again ate almost all of the bigger casserole, leaving me with the untouched smaller one for later, so I guess that worked out.

If the number of meals with salad seems excessive, that's because I have an excessive quantity of lettuce that I have harvested from the garden. Lettuce cannot be preserved. It must be eaten promptly. Thus, salad every night.

Tuesday

Short version: Leftover lasagna, oatmeal raisin cookies

Long version: The smaller leftover lasagna was in a metal pan, so I had to reheat it in the oven. Since the oven was on anyway, I replenished the cookie jar with cookies. This was the MiL's last night with us, and she likes oatmeal cookies, so that is what I made. A. also prefers oatmeal cookies--with raisins, not chocolate chips--but most of the children do not, so he rarely gets them. He had told us before how his grandmother used to make giant oatmeal cookies when he was boy, so I decided to make a few with my last bit of dough, just for fun.

I meant to take a photo of the ludicrously large cookies, but apparently, I did not. The big cookies were the size of hamburger patties, and all the males LOVED them. They asked me to make them this way from now on. Methinks this is so they can say they're just having one cookie when in fact, they are eating the equivalent of five cookies. Sneaky.

Wednesday

Short version: Leftover lasagna for me, Chinese buffet for everyone else

Long version: A. took the MiL to the airport this day, and all the children went along with them. Given our distance from the airport, this meant I had all afternoon to myself, and was also just feeding myself lunch and dinner. A. went to the buffet with the children before leaving the city, where they apparently made sure they got A.'s money's worth. The pork ribs seemed to be a particular favorite. And the steamed buns.

Thursday

Short version: Leftover hunter's pie

Long version: I still had the whole smaller hunter's pie left, which was just enough for everyone. I certainly had an easy few days in the kitchen, huh?

Refrigerator check:

Blurry, but obviously pretty full.

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