Friday Food: A. Takes Over

Friday 

Short version: Leftover chickpea curry and rice, ice cream

Long version: It was just the three younger children and me for dinner this night. We really needed to finish up the chicken and chickpea curry that had been in the refrigerator all week. We had had it twice already that week, so I knew it would not be welcomed rapturously. Which is why I bribed the children with the remainder of the ice cream from the previous night's birthday taste test.

That worked well.

Saturday

Short version: Barbecue pork sandwiches, pickled radishes

Long version: I still had quite a bit of pork left from the pork butt I had cooked awhile previously that also really needed to be used. I simmered it in barbecue sauce with the rest for the caramelized onions that had been in the refrigerator and the kids had that in sandwiches. 

The radishes were ones my mother had brought that were also really needed to be used. Obviously a theme in my kitchen this week. I pickled those, though, so they would last a lot longer. And were also very handy for a quick vegetable.

Sunday

Short version: Pork chops, baked potatoes, pickles, gingerbread cake and whipped cream

Long version: I did not make this meal. And the reason I did not make it was that I tore a rather significant muscle in my leg the night before and couldn't walk. At least, I thought that's what I had done. My father was of the opinion that it was a pinched nerve causing the pain. 

Whatever it was, it was debilitating. I couldn't walk or stand up for very long. Or even sit or lie down without pain. It was pretty bad.

I also couldn't put on a sock by myself. Poppy had to help me put on my sick socks.

Thankfully, A. came home this day, so he was able to take over with dinner. I did orchestrate dinner by having Poppy take the package of pork chops out of the freezer to thaw and also bake the potatoes while she was baking the gingerbread cake. She also made the cake, while I sat in the kitchen to read her the recipe and direct her.

Proudly cutting her cake.

The pickles were dill pickles I canned this year, mostly because I wanted to try using grape leaves to keep the pickles crisp when canned. They did keep the pickles mostly crisp, but they also imparted a surprisingly sweet taste to the pickles. It wasn't bad, just unexpected.

Monday

Short version: A.'s smothered burritos, leftover gingerbread cake

Long version: We had some of the skin still in the refrigerator from when I had cooked the pork butt that I saved so A. could make chicharrones. He used that, plus the remainder of the pork chops, flour tortillas, refried beans I pulled from the freezer, cheese, and salsa to make burritos. Then he made a chile sauce with cubes of pureed red chili, onion, beans, and the bones from the pork chops. He left a couple of the burritos plain for Poppy and I, who are not big on spicy things, but he poured the sauce over the rest of them and baked those with more cheese on top.

These were very good, and the chile sauce was a big hit.

Tuesday

Short version: Posadas potluck

Long version: This was the night of our parish Posadas, in which we re-enact Mary and Joseph's search for an inn. This is like a play, with children dressed as Mary and Joseph or shepherds and angels, and the rest of us either following them and singing the song asking for a room at the inn, or inside the house singing the response song that tells them to move on. Until they come to the last one, at which they are invited in.

It's very fun. We do it from a church to the rectory to the parish hall. I was so thankful that I was improved enough this day to limp through the posadas. I would have been sad to miss it.

On the move and very blurry.

There's a potluck in the parish hall afterwards. One family makes a big pot of pozole for the main dish, which is a New Mexican staple involving pork and posole (hominy, a.k.a dried corn kernels). The lady who made it told me that New Mexican pozole is much more plain in general than Mexican pozole, which I did not know. Fewer additions, like fresh corn, cilantro, raw onion, etc. She was kind enough to keep the chiles on the side in the form of a pureed sauce, which meant I could actually eat it. 

Last year, this potluck featured a lot more actual food--most too spicy for me because of all the chiles involved, but much appreciated by the rest of my family--and fewer desserts. This year there were more desserts than real food.

Poppy made our contribution of a double batch of these brownies. They were perfect, and they were all eaten, but if we do this next year, I need to bring an entree, too.

Wednesday

Short version: Pasta, leftover curry, eggnog and molasses cookies

Long version: I got back in the kitchen this day to make our traditional Christmas Eve eggnog, which we eat with Grandma Bishop's molasses cookies. Thankfully, I made the cookies before I hurt myself. They probably wouldn't have been made if I hadn't, as they require a couple of hours in the kitchen. 

The eggnog is much faster. I make it to use the yolks left from our Christmas Day roulade, so I just separate the eggs to make the eggnog and keep the whites in the refrigerator for the next day.

I was much better this day and able to stay on my feet to get some things done, as long as I rested in between. By the end of the day, however, I was getting pretty worn out and my body was starting to ache, which is why dinner came mostly from the freezer. 

I had a quart container of sausage meat sauce from a month or so ago that I combined with pasta and shredded asadero cheese from the freezer for the children's meal.  And then for A. and me, there was enough of the chicken and chickpea curry from a couple of weeks ago. I had frozen the last couple of servings. Surprisingly, all the dairy in it didn't separate at all when it was thawed. 

Thursday

Short version: Ham, scalloped potatoes, peas, sauteed mushrooms, chocolate roulade

Long version: Baking a ham is one of the least labor-intensive main dishes, especially if it's a pre-sliced spiral ham, which this was. Yay.

The potatoes require a bit more work only because they have to be sliced so thinly, but it was still doable.

The most labor-intensive part of this meal is the chocolate roulade. However, I have made it for years, so it's faster than it would be if it were a new recipe to me. 

It didn't crack too much this year.

I'm still forcing myself to go slow and rest, so as not to prolong my recovery or, God forbid, hurt myself further, so I rested both before and after making this. It's really annoying to me that I can't just get things done quickly, but I am so thankful that I can at least do things slowly now. It would have been a real bummer to be flat on my back in bed on Christmas.

Refrigerator check:

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