Friday Food: Delayed Shepherd's Pie

Friday 

Short version: Milkshakes, vegetarian fried rice

Long version: Second try for passports, which required a 100-mile drive to the post office in the small city. Our appointment was for 2 p.m., although we were about twenty minutes early. The post office employee was very efficient, and we were out out of there within half an hour. Then to the grocery store, and then to Sonic for the milkshakes with which we bribed the children to travel that far on the first day of their weekend for something not very fun.

We got home around 5 p.m. and I used leftover rice and eggs, plus pickled onions and frozen green peas, to make fried rice. Not that anyone ate too much. They were still pretty full from their milkshakes.

Saturday

Short version: Burritos, sausage, radishes, grapes

Long version: Dinner went all wonky this day. I had originally planned to have shepherd's pie, and made one in the morning. But then the football player had to be at the field early to set up for the varsity game and it was pretty hot, so I decided to save the shepherd's pie for the next day.

I gave the football player a burrito made with cheese and leftover chili at 4 p.m., before he left. But of course, everyone else wanted one, too. Three burritos, coming up.

Then the eldest came home from work just after that, and he wanted to eat. So he got a burrito and also two jalapeno/cheese sausages.

And THEN, when I got home from dropping the football player off, A. and one boy had the rest of the sausage. Boy had one leftover hamburger bun. A. had tortillas and cheese. Both had radishes. Poppy and everyone else had grapes.

Food and people everywhere, but everyone fed.

Sunday

Short version: Not shepherd's pie

Long version: Another dinner that was not what I had expected. This was the day of the branding when we went into the ER in the afternoon. Everyone ate a late lunch at Sonic, so no one was very hungry for dinner. I hadn't eaten much in town, so I had the leftover fried rice. Anyone else who was hungry got themselves bread and peanut butter.

Monday

Short version: Finally shepherd's pie, not fried lemons, chocolate pudding with cream

Long version: Shepherd's pie is technically made with lamb, and this was made with beef which I guess makes it a cottage pie. I feel like that's unnecessarily pedantic, however, and everyone can assume I used ground beef in my shepherd's pie.

Anyway. We finally ate it.

I also sliced up a bunch of yellow squash I had been given and roasted those while the shepherd's pie was in the oven. One son came by to investigate dinner, saw the squash, and said, "Oh, fried lemons."

I guess I can kind of see it, but no.

I had made the chocolate pudding on Saturday for our Sunday dessert. However, given the milkshakes everyone got at Sonic on Sunday, I decided to save the pudding for this night instead.

Tuesday

Short version: Pizzas, cucumbers, ranch dip, leftover pudding

Long version: Baking bread, making pizza. Since everyone in the family now seems to like vegetable pizzas, I made one pepperoni and one with vegetables. This time I used finely chopped collard greens, leeks, and some banana peppers from commodities. I didn't think they were too spicy, and they weren't very spicy when they had baked on the pizza, but the skin on my hand burned for hours after removing the seeds from and slicing two dozen of those peppers (mostly for the freezer, not the pizza). They definitely had some capsaicin in them.

Good pizza, though.

Wednesday

Short version: Leftover pizza, more cucumbers, soup, zucchini bread

Long version: I made soup mostly for myself because it was rainy and cool and I wanted it. I used chicken stock from the freezer, some extra ground beef and vegetable mixture from making the shepherd's pie, onion, garlic, tomato sauce, carrots, and an expired can of Veg-All I found in the pantry.

It expired just a few months ago and smelled and tasted fine. Don't worry.

I also threw in a can of green beans and some of the instant potato flakes we keep getting from commodities. And as so often happens, the soup completely filled the pot.

Like the stone soup story. Except no stone.

It was a good thing I made the soup, because there wouldn't have been enough leftover pizza for that to be all of dinner. But the pizza and the soup together was enough.

Pizza and soup is actually a really good pairing.

I had made the zucchini bread when I was baking the shepherd's pie on Monday, to use a single large zucchini-like squash I was given. Poppy had been asking when I would make zucchini bread again, and I promised her I would when I had zucchini. I used this recipe, making a recipe plus a half because I had three cups of shredded squash, and baking it in two smaller loaf pans. I don't put the sugar on top. No one misses it because I've never done it.

Thursday

Short version: Homecoming tailgate food, leftover shepherd's pie at home, peaches

Long version: The school we have a sports co-op with had their football homecoming this week. This night was a pep rally tailgate party at which hot dogs, hamburgers, and chips were provided. I don't always go to homecoming events at this other school, but I went this year because we have a football player again. Poppy came with me. The three at home had leftover shepherd's pie.

We also had quite a few cans of peaches from commodities, so I put some in the refrigerator and everyone had some when we got home from the pep rally.

Refrigerator check:

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