Friday Food: Soup 'n' Stuff

Friday 

Short version: Leftovers, rotisserie chicken, bread and butter

Long version: I got home from my night away just in time to put groceries away and then take the basketball player to his game, along with the two younger children. We got home from this around 5 p.m., at which point I heated up leftover lamb steaks, black-eyed peas, and the rotisserie chicken I had bought at the store. Bread and butter to round things out a bit.

Saturday

Short version: Salisbury steaks, mashed potatoes, leftover carrots

Long version: A. and I spent a couple of hours grinding elk meat, so I used some of that to make Salisbury steaks for dinner. I've never looked at a recipe for these. All I do is make essentially a meatloaf mixture--meat, bread crumbs, milk, eggs, onions, seasoning--and then form it into basically very big hamburger patties. Brown, cook until tender in some stock--I had chicken stock I had made from the rotisserie chicken carcass--then make a gravy with milk or cream. So good.

As A. remarked, this whole meal was like a cafeteria lunch, except actually good.

Sunday

Short version: Epiphany tacos, gingerbread with whipped cream

Long version: The last celebratory holiday meal. I did not make tamales at all this year, but Poppy had requested tortillas, which seemed much more reasonable. I had enough leftover pork butt for the filling, so we had pork tacos.

We have tacos a lot, but these were fancy tacos.

Because of the homemade tortillas.

And I also thought ahead enough to get avocados and lime for guacamole.

The gingerbread was the extra I had frozen after making it for the FFA auction. We definitely did not need any extra treats at that time, but it was very appreciated this night. I microwaved it for a minute to heat it up, because gingerbread is much better warm. And with whipped cream, but that goes without saying.

Monday

Short version: Creamy chicken soup, salami and cream cheese sandwiches, ice cream

Long version: I had actually made the soup on Saturday just to have on hand for my lunch at work or whatever. And then I definitely did not think ahead enough for dinner after work. I'm just very tired of the kitchen right now, and planning dinner on top of going back to work at school was too much.

Good thing we had the soup! And salami. We needed the sandwiches, because there wasn't a lot of soup. And also, most of my family does not consider soup to be a meal unto itself.

I had a little bit of chocolate chip ice cream in the freezer that had gotten a bit icy and needed to be eaten. So I microwaved it a bit, which made it a little melty and took care of the icy problem. It was eaten with no complaints.

And yes, every part of this meal had something in it made with cream. What can I say? We're a dairy family.

The basketball player had leftover salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, black-eyed peas, and a banana when he got home.

Tuesday

Short version: Hunter's pie, cookies

Long version: This was pretty much shepherd's pie, but since I used the ground elk in it, I suppose it's a hunter's pie. Or something. I had to be gone right before dinner to pick up Poppy at cheerleading, so having something made ahead of time was a good idea.

It was baking while I was driving, so when I got home after 5 p.m., we could eat right away. I had thought there would be leftovers of this. There were not.

And I'm back to making cookies for school snacks. These were chocolate chip/peanut butter/almond cookies. I made that kind mostly because the child who likes to eat bowls of microwaved peanut butter and honey had left like half a cup of that when he got interrupted to do something, so I saved it and used it in the cookies.

Wednesday

Short version: Spaghetti and meatballs, fried potatoes and ham, raw bell peppers and radishes

Long version: These were some more of the meatballs I had formed and frozen some time ago. I just took them out thaw while was at work, then broiled them and baked them in the oven with some of my roasted tomato sauce from the freezer. 

Same sauce on the spaghetti, except I added some butter to it. I do this a lot in lieu of grating Parmesan cheese, which often just seems like the culinary straw that will break this cook's back after work.

Not to be too dramatic or anything.

There wasn't quite enough of the meatballs, so I also took out a small bag of ham I had frozen last week when we were down to the last of the leftover Christmas ham. I microwaved a couple of potatoes, chopped them and the ham, fried them both in butter, and added the last of the grated cheddar cheese from Sunday's tacos.

Thursday

Short version: Creamy sausage and vegetable soup, cheese quesadillas

Long version: I had to sub for a classroom teacher this day, but I knew on Tuesday that I would be doing this. So while I was in the kitchen making the hunter's pie and cookies, I used the rest of the chicken stock I had on hand to make soup with a package of smoked sausage, carrots, potatoes, frozen corn and peas, and some of the dried lamb's quarters I'm still trying to use up.

And some cream at the end, because my family likes pretty much all soups more with cream in them.

Quesadillas so it wouldn't just be soup. 

This was a very nice meal to have on a terribly windy and cold day at the end of a long first week of school back after break. Dare I say comfort food? Yes, I dare.

Refrigerator check:

The overstuffed Christmas refrigerator is a thing of the past.

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

Musical Morning Inspiration

School started yesterday. And that means getting the five other people in my house up and out the door every school morning.

There are different methods for this, of course. I prefer music. Every morning, I bring my cell phone into the bedrooms with "media volume" on full blast and play an inspirational song.

For awhile last semester, I played "Reveille" every morning. This was inspired by the one child who tells me he wants to be in the military. I was delighted to hear this, because you know what you have to do in the military? Get out of bed early in the morning. And this, son, is the very music they'll play to inform you of this! Start practicing now!

About the time that blasting trumpet started to lose its effectiveness, Christmas was almost upon us. So I switched to another loud trumpet song that served as a reminder of the excitement to come: The Tabernacle Choir belting out "Joy to the World."

I also have to get them up at the same time on Sundays to get to our 8 a.m. Mass, but that doesn't require so much musical intervention.

Now that Christmas is over, I had to find a new song. I decided yesterday that the time had come for the big inspirational guns. And that meant Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger." Because if Rocky can get his face beat in in that ring over and over again, you, my boy, can get out of bed*.

I'll have to come up with something new in a few weeks when Survivor loses its novelty. Any suggestions for me?

* Edited to add: When I said this to one son this morning, he uncovered his eyes long enough to look at me and declare, "I would rather get my face beat in than go to school." So. If you've ever wondered how much boys dislike school, it's that much.

Snapshots: A Tea Party and a Trip

On New Year's Eve (morning), Poppy's friend came over for a tea party. The girls used the rolling pins my dad made to make hand pies for their tea party.

Well floured.

I continue to be amazed and delighted at how adorable little girls can be.

The finished hand pies. They were filled with apple butter, plum butter, strawberry-rhubarb jam or apricot puree, and there was no way to tell which was which. Hand pie roulette.

New Year's Day was mostly spent at church and preparing our traditional big New Year's Day dinner. 

But the day after New Year's Day, I left in the morning for my night away at the hotel. I had prepared something to bring with me for lunch, but I forgot it. So I was forced to eat a slice of pizza instead. So sad.

While reading a book, of course. My favorite way to eat, as some of you may remember.

There are quite a few shops on the old plaza, and I visited some of them before it was time to check in. One is a new shop that carries spices, teas, and medicinal herbs. 

It was so much fun to look around. The owner encouraged me to open any jars and smell the spices and teas, which I did. I bought some tea.

 

Then I had an ice cream cone.

And then it was time to check in.

The food at the hotel is certainly not the best in town, but I never want to drive anywhere to eat, so a burger and fries was just fine in the hotel bar.

And a drink, of course. Vodka and soda.

The bar has a very nice view of the plaza. I sat right next to the window.

 Artfully blurred Christmas lights on the plaza.

After dinner, I watched a movie and took a bath before I went to sleep. Nothing too exciting, which is just how I like it.

The next morning I got in my workout by going to Walmart before starting my drive home.

Two large hams (they were only a dollar a pound!) and sixty eggs helped to weight the cart nicely for my core workout.

I saw this in the meat department and thought it was very funny.

A. tells me that the Spanish people here call every kind of animal foot a "paw," so I guess this makes sense. Still funny, though. (I did not buy these.)

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.