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?

The Tea Party Hostess

One of the many surprising things about my life is that I host tea parties. Tea parties were not something I grew up with. I don't even remember drinking tea as a kid. I do remember going maybe once to one of those tea rooms, the fancy restaurants that serve tea and tea foods. But it wasn't anything close to normal thing.

My first experience with tea as an event came at Blackrock, with its wealth of china for every occasion, and the MiL, the baker extraordinare. The older boys looooved tea parties as little ones. They had their personal tea cups and even their own little creamers. The MiL would sometimes bake scones for them, or I would just make them little plates of crackers and cheese or whatever. It was very low-key and thus, much more frequent than something very fancy would be.

However, boys are not likely to have tea parties to host their friends. They still love the food that comes along with a tea party, but the delicate china and elegant table? Not so much.

But now I have a girl! And she has girl friends! And they reeeeally love the delicate china, elegant table, and the chance to dress up.

Although I used to have tea parties without the nice china, I now have the delicate china thanks to my sister. She has the entire set of my maternal grandmother's lovely set of wedding china. My sister never used the tea cups and saucers, so she asked me if I would like them. Indeed I would. 

Waiting for a tea party.

That is why I am able to host a fancy tea for little and big girls alike. As I did yesterday in honor of the MiL's visit. I invited Poppy's best friend, her older sister, and her mother, who is also my friend. 

I always bake at least one thing fresh for a tea party. This time it was just biscuits. I had made strawberry jam earlier in the day, and I also set out plum butter my sister had made, and apple butter some little girls at school had made and given me. In addition, I made cucumber and cream cheese tea sandwiches (meaning they were cut very small and had the crusts removed), some pumpkin bread I had had in the freezer, peanut butter cookies from the cookie jar, and cheese and crackers. The tea was decaffeinated black tea and an herb tea.

Our guests brought with them a big bunch of wildflowers from around their house, which went right in the middle of the table. All the foods went on small plates to be arranged around the table, I set out the tea with the cream and sugar, and it really was quite a lovely table.

Tea for six.

Our guests always arrive in tea party apparel--dresses and sometimes hats--and I put on tea party music. The MiL, who is a classical music aficionado, suggested Mozart. The perfect atmosphere for elegance.

There were also four boys--the brother of the girls came to hang out with my boys--and A. roaming around the house. We've done this a few times now, so I know better than to invite the boys to join us. After we've had our tea party, they get paper plates and can fill them from the food left on the table. I make enough to ensure they get plenty, and then they can take it outside and have a nice, masculine time chowing down without worrying about being polite. A. does get invited to the table after we've mostly finished eating, so he can have his tea and finish off whatever food is still there.

I don't know when Poppy will age out of tea parties, but I'm enjoying it for now. And so is she.

Snapshots: Surprise Shearing

A. has talked to our shearer a couple of times in the last few months, but both times he was going to be out our way on days that we weren't able to shear. We only had four ewes to shear this year, so it's definitely not worth his while to make the hundred-mile drive just for our flock. He called Friday, though, to say he would be out this way again on Saturday, and this time we were able to do it.

Awaiting their doom. At least, in their tiny sheep minds.

Here we go! Or rather, he goes.

This sheep will feel much better in this hot weather we've been having without fifteen pounds of wool on her.

The first shorn one always looks a bit, well, sheepish among her still-poufy sisters.

On to number two.

In other spring news, there are many flowers outside. Which means there are many flowers in my house.

On the dining room table.

On the Paschal candle table.

And on the dresser in the room the MiL is staying in while she's here this week.

And last, I had to leave for the end-of-year sport's banquet when I still had bread loaves rising on the counter. I wouldn't be there to put them in the oven, but I could just leave instructions for Poppy, who in turn instructed A. in the next steps to bake the bread.

I returned home to four nicely-baked loaves of bread. Success.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.