Friday Food: Soup and Sandwiches to Start

Friday

Short version: Chicken sandwiches, baked beans, carrot sticks, baked rice pudding

Long version: I simmered one of the roosters still in the freezer until I could pull the meat off. For that meat, I made a vinegar-y barbecue sauce and served that in sandwiches. 

This plate was A.'s brother's plate when he was a toddler. Poppy still uses it.

I had cooked a pot of pinto beans in the morning and used some of them to make baked beans. They were in the oven with the rice pudding. I was mostly making this for the son who had the flu. He was down and out with a fever all day, and in the end ate nothing but a little of the rice pudding for dinner. The sick boy prefers his rice pudding without raisins. I had actually made a triple recipe with no raisins in my 10"x15" pan, and then made another double recipe in a 9"x13" pan to which I did add raisins. 

That is a LOT of rice pudding. We had leftovers, for I think the first time ever. So I guess I just need to make a quintuple recipe every time, right? Yeah, right. My family wishes.

Saturday

Short version: Beef and bean chili, cornbread, leftover rice pudding

Long version: This was a very cold day, and chili seemed like a good meal for a very cold day. I make mine with ground beef and pinto beans, plus a lot of pureed calabaza to thicken it. I used some of a container of lamb stock from the freezer in the chili, too. 

Sunday

Short version: Ham and potato soup, leftover cornbread, leftover baked beans, raw bell peppers. chocolate fondue

Long version: This is not typical of my Sunday dinners, which tend to be more elaborate than this. I just couldn't come up with anything I was really enthused about cooking. I did have a lot of rooster stock on hand, though, and some ham I had frozen last time I cooked one. So, I made the soup and then just supplemented with the various leftovers.

A leftover kind of Sunday.

I wasn't motivated about making a dessert either. My fall back in such a situation is chocolate chips microwaved with a bit of coconut oil to make a dip for marshmallows. I had some peanut butter cookies in the cookie jar, too, which are also good dipped in the chocolate, so everyone got to choose.

Monday

Short version: Pizza grilled cheese, more baked beans, carrot sticks, chocolate chip cookies

Long version: My plan had been to make actual pizza, but the dough was rising too slowly in our too-cold kitchen. So instead, I used the grated asadero cheese, tomato sauce, and pepperoni I had out to make grilled cheese sandwiches. These are actually delicious, so it wasn't too disappointing.

The chocolate chip cookies--which also had peanut butter and oats in them--were this week's snack cookie for the younger children at school, but no one minded eating them at home, either.

Tuesday

Short version: Pork chops and gravy, mashed potatoes, collard greens, still-frozen peas crepe cake

Long version: The thin "assorted pork chops" are definitely much better when dredged in an egg wash and seasoned flour and then fried. And served with gravy. But then, what isn't?

Gravy is delicious, but it is not photogenic.

In advance of the very cold weather last weekend, I harvested the rest of the collard greens. It took me a over an hour to get them all harvested, washed, chopped, and in the freezer.

Ready to freeze.

Now I have lots of prepared greens ready to go, though. I still had some of the liquid from A.'s Asian-ish pigs' feet in the refrigerator, which is very good for cooking collard greens. Greens are always good with any kind of pork product, and this particular liquid is slightly sweet, which helps to balance the slight bitterness of the collards.

We had quite a few crepes left when A. made them after church last Sunday. I used three of them to make a crepe cake by layering them with sweetened whipped cream and homemade strawberry jam. A nice treat for a random Tuesday.

Wednesday

Short version: Chicken thighs, roasted potatoes, green salad with vinaigrette, green grapes

Long version: I went to Walmart this day, where I bought a package of hone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. Those I salted heavily a couple of hours before dinner. This helps with the texture and flavor of store chicken, which is definitely lacking. Then I coated them in a spice mixture of more salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, chile powder, and brown sugar before roasting them. Potatoes in the oven with the chicken.

We often only get sad, soft grapes at our end-of-the-supply-chain stores, so I always try one in the produce section before I buy them. These were good, crispy grapes. I bought them, and the children were happy.

Thursday

Short version: Beef and bean burritos, raw bell pepper or cooked collards

Long version: I had just about a cup of cooked ground beef that needed to be used up. I combined it with a can of black beans and used that, with cheese and salsa, to make toasted burritos in flour tortillas. This was enough only because one child came home from school with a headache and an upset stomach. Boo.

Refrigerator check:

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