Friday Food: Toad in the Hole

Friday

Short version: Toad in the hole, fruit shakes

Long version: All of the males in the family were gone working or going to town, and all of them ate fairly late and heavy lunches. I hadn't planned on anything big for dinner, fortunately, so I just made toad in the hole--also known as egg in the hole--for anyone who wanted one. 

What do you call this egg and bread preparation where you cut a hole in the bread to fry the egg in? I never had it growing up, so I call it what A. does, but I know there are lots of names for it.

And then I made fruit shakes for everyone. These are smoothies, but I hate that word, so I call them fruit shakes. This one had a banana, frozen strawberries, frozen grapes, and the last of the strawberry-rhubarb sauce. Plus yogurt and milk, of course. It was quite warm this day and half the family had been hauling and stacking hay for a neighbor, so they were very pleased to have the fruit shake.

Saturday

Short version: Hamburgers on homemade buns, baked beans, raw cucumbers and bell peppers

Long version: I was baking bread for teacher gifts, and I used some of the dough to make hamburger buns. Which were used for, um, hamburgers.

The grease-covered stove is the main reason I dislike making hamburgers.

I found one quart container of baked beans in the small freezer that I heated up, too. 

Sunday

Short version: Graduation potluck

Long version: We went to a graduation party in the late afternoon that was a potluck barbecue. Hot dogs and hamburgers were provided. Because the guest of honor can't eat any kind of bread besides sourdough, I brought him some of the buns I had made the day before. Then I also brought carrot slaw and deviled eggs.

Monday

Short version: Leftover hamburgers, Fritos, carrot slaw, and crispy rice treats at home; banquet food

Long version: I went with the older two boys to the sports awards banquet. The meal was provided--pulled pork, beans, creamed corn, potato salad--and the athletes' families brought desserts. I brought crispy rice treats.

I had three hamburgers left, plus three hamburger buns, for the three people at home. Perfect. I also had some bacon that needed to be cooked, resulting in very popular bacon cheeseburgers. And I made a small pan of crispy rice treats just for them.

Two for each person, o happy day.

Tuesday

Short version: Spanish tortilla, strawberry-rhubarb nut crisp

Long version: I made the Spanish tortilla earlier in the day, including in it some beet greens I found in the freezer that have been in there since last year and some of the last of the garden tomatoes I froze whole in November. 

While the oven was on to bake that, I also put in a strawberry-rhubarb crisp. I experimented with the topping a bit, making it with just oats and almonds pulverized in the food processor before adding the butter, sugar, etc. This worked better as a gluten-free crisp topping than just oats, which tend to get too wet in baking with fruit. The addition of the nuts made it actually kind of crispy. A good thing to remember when we have guests that don't eat gluten.

Wednesday

Short version: Creamy pork and potato soup, fried bread, chocolate chip cookies

Long version: It was quite cool this day. I took the opportunity to have the oven on for a long time to cook a pork shoulder. And then the kitchen got to 82 degrees and I had to open windows and doors to cool it down in there.

Anyway. 

The pork shoulder was so big I had to cut a chunk off so I could fit it in my biggest covered casserole. I had learned that a friend was sick, so I used that cut-off chunk to make soup to share.

I simmered the pork with onion tops, carrot peelings, and bay leaves to make a stock, and then used that and the meat, plus onion, lots of garlic, carrots, potatoes, and beet greens, to make the soup. I blended some of the vegetables before adding in the meat to thicken it all, and it came out very well.

The addition of the greens made it an unfortunate color, but it tasted better than it looked.

There were only four of us here for dinner, which meant I could fit half a piece of bread for each person into a skillet to make the fried bread. That's pretty much like a giant crouton, and is fun for dipping into soup. 

Thursday

Short version: Pork, cornbread, green salad with vinaigrette, rice pudding

Long version: This was the pork shoulder I had cooked the day before, pulled apart and broiled in its own rendered lard with spices while the cornbread was baking. The rice pudding had also been made the day before while I was cooking the pork. I figured that would be a nice treat to have on the last day of school, which this was.

Refrigerator check:

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