Friday
Short version: Giant lasagna, sourdough herb bread, salad, brownies
Long version: My family arrived this day for the weekend to help us celebrate Poppy's First Communion. They all drove, and my mom and sister offered to bring dinner. My sister made the world's largest lasagna.
The beast.
It must have weighed at least eight pounds. We only ate about half of it this night, and then the rest of it disappeared steadily over the next few days for lunches.
My sister's boyfriend brought the bread, which he made with the starter I gave him. My mom made the salad. I made the brownies.
Saturday
Short version: Ground beef tacos on corn tortillas, refried beans, leftover brownies, candy variety
Long version: I used around four pounds of ground beef to make taco meat, and then I took out the refried beans with chicharrones that A. had made a couple of weeks ago and that I froze.
This was the only dinner eaten at my house while my family was here.
We can squeeze ten people around the table if the people on the ends are okay being cozy.
Poppy and I made a LOT of corn tortillas, enough that I had leftovers even.
The candy was brought by my mother for the children. She asked me to find out what their favorites were. They were Almond Joys, dark chocolate, Twix, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. The children generously shared, so we had a bunch of candy on the table for the picking. And leftover brownies.
Sunday
Short version: Ham, scalloped potatoes, cabbage and carrots, corn, green salad with vinaigrette, coconut cake, chocolate pudding
Long version: The ham, potatoes, corn, and coconut cake were all Poppy's requests for her First Communion Day celebratory meal. I added the rest of it.
I have never made--or even eaten, I think--a coconut cake. I used this recipe. I had to buy three different kinds of coconut flavoring for this one (coconut extract, coconut milk, and shredded coconut), separate eggs, make cake flour . . . Suffice to say that I will not be making this often.
Everyone loved it, though, and my sister got a pretty funny picture of me with it.
Cheers to cake!
I made the pudding just because I had five egg yolks left after separating out the whites for the cake.
Monday
Short version: Leftovers
Long version: One child opted to have the last serving of lasagna, along with some scalloped potatoes. Carb loading.
Everyone else had ham, potatoes, and corn.
There were also both pudding and cake left over. O happy day.
Tuesday
Short version: Cinco de Mayo leftovers, plus chips and salsa and not-margaritas
Long version: We always celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Sometimes in a very lame way, but always something. This year, I actually already had leftover taco meat and refried beans, plus some big flour tortillas my sister left with us, so burritos were a no-brainer.
For the adults, I made a frozen cocktail in the blender that was just grapefruit vodka and fresh-squeezed orange juice, plus ice.
That's my drink on top of The Party Blender.
At A.'s suggestion, we put Los Angeles Azules on to dance around to while we had our drinks and the kids ate chips and salsa.
Short version: Mostly leftovers
Long version: I made some rice and then combined that with more of the taco meat and leftover corn, plus spices, a bit of cheese, and sour cream. A low-effort meal, but whatever. That's the way it is sometimes.
Thursday
Short version: Potato soup, garlic bread, rhubarb pudding with cream
Long version: More leftovers, this time in soup. I took all of the leftover scalloped potatoes and put them in a pot with the last of the leftover ham plus the liquid, some already-cooked onions from the freezer, and then I rinsed out the containers the potatoes and ham had been in so there was some more liquid. After that was all heated, I pureed it with my immersion blender. Easiest soup ever.
I had baked bread earlier in the day, hence the garlic bread. And I had put the rhubarb pudding in when the bread was done, since the oven was already hot. This is the first of the rhubarb I had used this year. Everyone was very appreciative of it.
Refrigerator check:
Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?
6 comments:
Sounds like a wonderful time with your family. Wonder how Poppy got the idea for coconut cake since it’s something you’ve never done before. I forgot to write anything down so have to do our meals in reverse.
Tonight I think will be Chinese takeout.
Thursday: My husband had leftover yellow tail snapper, salad and homemade French fries. I had a turkey sandwich, vegetable soup, and fries.
Wednesday: baked yellowtail snapper, baked potatoes, salad, Italian bread.
Tuesday: crispy fish sandwiches, sweet potato fries, applesauce.
Monday: grilled cheese sandwiches and Italian wedding soup.
Sunday: mahi, baked potatoes, salad, roasted zucchini.
I can’t remember Saturday.
A white cake- how appropriate for First Communion!
My week of failed expectations:
Fri- a pork roast fail. Didn't cook in time so I had to microwave it to complete cooking. Buns with not enough salt. Apple suce, mashed potatoes.
No green at all.
Sat - homemade pizza.
Sun- rotisserie chicken never disappoints, rolls, soggy green beans, broccoli.
Mon- plans fell apart so chicken strips and fries.
Tues- Mac and cheese, broccoli
Wed- the hamburger that wasn't defrosted Monday. Hot dogs, chips, applesauce
Thurs- beef stew with potatoes and carrots, rolls, rice. Plans for mashed potatoes and green vegetables fell apart. So carb loading it is! Picky eater resorted to chicken patties multiple times this week.
Happy First Communion! We have our tomorrow and my daughter (the first girl after 6 boys!) is so excited!
Fri- vegetable frittata, scones, berries, salad
Sat- I have no idea. We had baseball all day and then my mom flew in from Texas that evening
Sun- local Mexican place! I had pastor tacos
Mon- carbonara, asparagus, kid made bread sticks
Tues- more baseball all night… I brought Korean beef bowls for everyone to eat because concession stan food is gross and expensive
Wed- the kids requested their nana take them to their favorite pizza place and so we went!
Thurs- venison, tortillas, cucumbers, and whatever else anyone ate at the baseball park.
We are at baseball every night and all day Saturday so May and June dinners are just ugly most times!
The cake was the result of the conversation about favorite candy. Poppy's is Almond Joy, because she loves coconut, so we were talking about coconut desserts. The idea of a coconut cake was exciting to her. So I promised to make her one for her First Communion.
And a happy First Communion to your daughter! It's nice your mom could be there for it. It's not really about the dress and veil and all, of course, but that is a very fun part of it with a girl. :-)
It was a very appropriate First Communion cake. I briefly considered trying to decorate it with something church-y, before deciding that the cake itself was enough work. :-)
Post a Comment