Friday Food: Down and Out

I am uncharacteristically late this morning because I'm sick. But the show--and the food reporting--must go on.

Friday 

Short version: Bull and potato casserole

Long version: I had to get the food processor out to chop up another bag of the commodities almonds I use for granola and cookies, so I also used it to process a jar of pressure-canned bull meat. And why is that? Because I never use the food processor for just one thing.

Anyway.

I had six potatoes in the refrigerator that I had baked a few days previously just to have on hand, so I chopped those up, added the last of already cooked diced onion from the freezer, the bull meat (processed with bacon grease and garlic for extra flavor), frozen corn, the last of a some tomato juice in the refrigerator, some heavy cream, grated cheddar, and a little ketchup.

I actually baked it in the morning while I was making the granola and a sour cream-chocolate chip pound cake, and then when it was even hotter at dinner time, I re-heated it in the microwave.

It turned out better than you'd think, given the total randomness of its assembly.

And did I count the corn as a vegetable? Yes, yes I did. Not sorry, either.

Saturday

Short version: Sandwiches, pickles, faked beans, chocolate ice cream

Long version: A. went to the store on Friday and I had asked him to get deli ham and salami. These are very rare purchases for us, and I decided to take advantage of having them by having sandwiches for dinner. I really didn't feel like cooking, so it seemed like a good idea.

And then I ended up cooking anyway, to make the faked beans. These are baked beans, except they're not baked at all. I used two jars of pressure-canned pinto beans, two pieces of chopped bacon, diced onion, the very last of a bottle of Dinosaue BBQ Sauce rinsed out with water, ketchup, yellow mustard, and maple syrup all simmered together for about 40 minutes.

Passable baked beans, actually.

For the sandwiches, I set out the last of the tuna salad, the two kinds of deli meat, slices of cheddar, lettuce, sliced onion, mustard and mayonnaise, and let everyone make their own.

Sandwich bar ahoy.

Sunday

Short version: Quesadillas, leftover vegetables and ranch dip

Long version: We went to a church potluck in the early afternoon at which there was a LOT of food. Only a few people were hungry at dinnertime, so for them I made cheese quesadillas with flour tortillas. The vegetables and dip were my contribution to the potluck, and there were enough left for those kids to have with their dinner.

This is obviously a Before Photo.

When I make ranch dip for vegetables, I make it the same way as ranch dressing, but I use sour cream instead of yogurt. This makes it much thicker, so it doesn't just drip off the vegetable being dipped.

Monday

Short version: Crepes, eggs

Long version: I had been planning to make eggs for everyone when I got home from work, but then a few kids didn't ride the bus, so A. didn't have to continue his bus run after getting us home. Since he was home, I asked him to make crepes for the children. Two had them with butter and syrup; two had them with sour cream and rhubarb-plum jam I had made.

A. and I had the eggs. And A. also had the rest of one of the previous night's quesadillas that wasn't finished. He had to eat it because it had pickled jalapenos in it, and I will not eat jalapenos in any form. Too owie for my sensitive mouth.

Tuesday

Short version: Chicken and rice casserole, carrot sticks

Long version: A. had bought a package of enormous bone-in chicken breasts. The entire package was about five pounds, and there were only three breasts in it. Those are some seriously well-endowed chickens. Kind of alarming, to be honest.

Anyway.

I poached two of them in the morning in water with the ends of an onion, a bay leaf, and some peppercorns. Then I used the resulting broth to cook some rice. The rest of the onion was all sauteed in a pan. Some of the onion went into the casserole with some of the rice, and the shredded chicken. 

I made a cheese sauce, too, with cheddar cheese, but it needed a LOT more cheese sauce. Like double the amount. It was a bit dry and bland. Still okay, but could definitely have been better.

Wednesday

Short version: Chicken fried rice

Long version: The third chicken breast I had de-boned the day before. I cut the meat into smaller pieces and left it in the refrigerator. I used that, plus the rest of the onion, the remaining rice, some frozen peas, and eggs, to make the fried rice when I got home from work.

The one child who doesn't much like fried rice was in luck this evening: I had just enough leftover baked beans and plain rice for one child-sized meal. I do not typically offer alternatives to whatever I've made for dinner, but I wanted to finish off those beans, so that worked out.

Thursday

Short version: More cheesier chicken casserole

Long version: I was up and down all the previous night with a sick child. The sort of sick that requires a bowl at hand at all times. I wasn't quite as sick, but neither of us were in great shape. I was still feeling functional enough in the afternoon to make some rice with rooster stock, just in case either of us felt strong enough for solid food. (We did not.)

For the rest of the family, I added some of that rice to the leftover chicken casserole, along with extra butter, salt, and shredded cheese. 

Shortly after that, the fever began and that was pretty much it for me. But at least I got dinner made!

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

Growing Food: Tenacious Flowers

Although some things in the garden are a total loss--alas for the basil--some of the plants are staging a comeback. And in plants, that looks like flowers.

A single hollyhock.

Calendula buds. Unfortunately, the grasshoppers REALLY like calendula blooms, so it's hard to get to enjoy them as flowers before they get devoured.

Volunteer lettuce. Oddly, the grasshoppers don't eat lettuce at all.

Green beans. I have exactly seven green bean plants left, and I have eaten exactly two green beans from them so far.

And tomatoes. There are even wee tomatoes on the remaining eleven plants. Thankfully, the grasshoppers don't seem to eat the foliage off the plants, although they do eat the fruits when they start to ripen, so I'll have to be vigilant.

We have about two months before our first frost, give or take a couple of weeks, and my fingers are crossed that some of those flowers will turn into food in my kitchen.

So tell me, my fellow gardeners: How does your garden grow?

Snapshots: Hot Peppers

The owner of the tiny store in the village asked if he could buy two loaves of sourdough bread from me. I give away a lot of bread, and I didn't really want to take payment for these two, so when I brought them to him, I said I would rather have produce from his garden than cash. 

He said he didn't have much right now except jalapenos, and he didn't think I would want those, because how many jalapenos can one person use?

A lot, if they're canned.

So I took the jalapenos in exchange for the bread (plus two tomatoes and a cucumber), and did some pickling.

They didn't look like a lot when I dumped them out in the sink.

Although they were a nice size.

But when I started slicing them, * they magically expanded into six pints of pickled peppers.

Not picked by Peter Piper, however.

Did I perhaps re-use lids for this canning project? I sure did. And all but one jar sealed tightly. 

If my kitchen photos are looking a little dark, it's because I still have trash bags and boards over my windows.

Classy.

The window repair company has ordered our new windows, but we don't have a date for installation yet. Boo.

I bring sunshine in, though, in the form of the sunflowers on the table.

Top flower courtesy of Poppy, who found it on her walk and brought it to me.

And last, a random sunset picture for you.

Sunset in the vineyard.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

* I dislike wearing gloves when I'm working with my hands, but I make an exception for slicing hot peppers. Luckily, we had just had our first aid training at school, and part of that is practicing the proper way to take off rubber gloves to avoid contact with biohazardous materials. I kept my practice gloves, and that's what I used for slicing the peppers.

Friday Food: School Days Again

Friday 

Short version: Pork 'n' beans chimichangas, carrot sticks

Long version: I had the rest of a pork sirloin roast with meat still on it that I put in a pot in the morning with half a can of beer A. had forgotten about that went flat, plus a bit of maple syrup. Simmered that until I could pull off the meat, then chunked it up, added a jar of pinto/black beans and some cumin and chile powder. That meat and beans plus cheese in flour tortillas made chimichangas for the kids.

I also had some pickled banana pepper slices. The peppers came from the owner of the tiny store in the village. He gave them to me with the warning that they can be pretty hot. These were. So I made a pickle brine with vinegar, water, and salt, and put the pepper slices in that. Those who like spicy things had them in their chimichangas, and apparently enjoyed them.

I do not like spicy things, so I abstained.

Saturday

Short version: Omelets, garlic bread, cucumbers with ranch dip

Long version: I made a few pieces of bacon and diced some onions to put in the omelets with the cheese, which made everyone happy.

Omelets seem like the quintessential fast dinner. And they are, if you're only making one omelet. However, making three five-egg omelets took me almost an hour, so they don't really scale up so well. They were very good, though.

Just for fun, I cut the cucumbers into very long spears for the children instead of smaller ones.

Because I am the Most Fun Mom.

Sunday

Short version: Italian sirloin fingers, spaghetti, green salad with ranch dressing, no-bake cheesecake

Long version: I browned three sirloin steaks, sliced them, and then cooked them in tomato juice, garlic, onion, basil, and oregano until they were mostly tender.

And until I had scorched them a tiny bit because the liquid evaporated. Oops. Not totally ruined, though, which is good enough for me.

I used the tomatoes from the can to make a sauce for the children spaghetti, too.

Although I make cheesecake every year for one child's birthday cake, I'd never tried a no-bake cheesecake. I used this recipe, because it didn't call for condensed milk. My family does not really care for the flavor of condensed milk.

I still had a few graham crackers left from the MiL's s'mores supplies, but not enough for the crust. I added the last of the chocolate chip cookie bars, which were quite crumbly anyway, and then some ground almonds. It was a really good crust. Probably better than it would have been with just graham crackers. And the filling was excellent. I only chilled it for six hours, but it seemed to have a good texture to me.

An extremely popular dessert that will certainly be repeated. 

When I have two extra blocks of cream cheese on hand, that is, which isn't really all that often.

Monday

Short version: Hofmann's hot dogs on homemade buns, carrot sticks, chocolate ice cream

Long version: My compromise for a celebratory First Day of School Yay! meal, and a First Day of Work, Help meal.

A. brought the hot dogs back with him from New York. They're a central New York brand. If you are familiar with Hofmann's, these were the natural casing German franks.

I made the buns on Saturday when I was baking bread. The buns make the hot dogs, to be honest. 

Thankfully, we had some chocolate ice cream left for an appropriately celebratory dessert, because I hadn't made anything and was in no shape to do so when I got home from school.

Tuesday

Short version: Pizza and . . . yeah, that's it.

Long version: I was making bread this day, so I made a cheese pizza and a bacon and onion pizza. I made them in the early afternoon. We had Mass at 4 p.m., and I'm Church Lady this month, so I had to go early to open up and all. I took the kids out of school a bit early (our school day ends at 4 p.m.) and brought them to church with me. Then we rushed home, I gave them some lukewarm pizza (not popular--"mushy" was the comment), and we went to judo.

When we got home around 8 p.m., I re-heated a few pieces of pizza in a cast iron skillet while the children changed out of their judo outfits and they ate some more before bed.

Whew. I'm glad we don't have days like this often.

Wednesday

Short version: Leftover pizza, taco meat with beans, carrot sticks, chocolate chip-oatmeal-almond cookie bars

Long version: I had one whole pizza left over, which I kept on the sheet pan and stuck in the oven after work.

Actually, I gave instructions for one of the children to stick it in the oven while I was lying in my bed after work. It's nice having older children sometimes.

I had made the taco meat--sheep meat with pintos--the day before. That's what I had. A. had some with his pizza, too.

I successfully added all the sugar to the cookie bars this time, and they were much better. Unsurprisingly.

Thursday

Short version: Tuna salad, leftover spaghetti, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: I had quite a lot of spaghetti left from Sunday, but not a lot of sauce. So I added some diced bacon, butter, cream cheese, a little water, and garlic powder to it to make it less dry. 

That worked well, but it didn't have a lot of protein, and also, A. and I don't eat spaghetti. So I also made the tuna salad for us and any child who wanted it.

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

No Food, Just a Milestone

Today is Tuesday, and I should be posting something about my garden at the moment. Instead, however, I must share with you something sort of momentous.

Yesterday was our first day of school. 

We have a construction theme this year.

I now have children in grades 8, 6, 3, and kindergarten. Poppy, of course, is my kindergartener. And because our preschool is only two days a week, that means this is her first year of full-time school.

My schedule at the school is unchanged, so I'm still working Mondays and Wednesdays. I worked yesterday on the first day of school, but I do not have to work today. So I am home today. But none of my children are.

For the first time in 13 years, I will have whole days at home to get things done without working around any of my kids.

Of course, most of the things I have to get done are still in service to those same kids, but it's a new experience to be able to just do what I need to do when I need to do it. 

Time marches on. And we march right along with it.

Snapshots: Stuff 'n' Nonsense

It's a Church Lady month! The previous person who did it put this banner over the old organ that's no longer used. I thought it was really cool looking. I have no idea how old it is, but it's been a very long time since there's been a Sociedad Del Altar at our church.

Maybe forty years. Maybe longer.

Detail of the monstrance in the middle. It's all painted, no doubt by hand.

If you missed my atypical Thursday post, here are the flowers I had on my table this week.

Yay, flowers.

School starts tomorrow. Only one child has shown any interest in this. She laid out her clothing for the first day, to make sure it looked okay.

She even made a face out of paper for better visualization.

We had one of the oddest cloud formations I've ever seen last weekend.

I have no idea what causes those striations, but it sure is dramatic.

And last, a rare unicorn sighting.

With notably long eyelashes.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: So Long, Summer Break

Friday 

Short version: Meatball subs, potato chips, carrot sticks with curry dip

Long version: I took the younger kids to the county fair in the afternoon. We didn't get home until around 5 p.m. Luckily, I had already baked my bread, and had used some of dough to make buns. They were slightly bigger than hot dog buns, which was good, since I ended up using them to make meatball subs with the meatballs left over from the day before.

Before heating up.

The cheese on top was completely frozen, but I was not about to turn on the oven to melt it. Way too hot. So I just microwaved the whole thing. No one complained.

I seem to have taken a photo of A.'s plate.

And here it is.

Saturday

Short version: Eggs, bacon, spaghetti

Long version: This was the last day of the fair, and we didn't get home until just after 6 p.m. I had kind of been thinking of cooking the Hofmann's hot dogs A. had brought home from New York, but I felt like everyone had eaten enough sodium-laden snacks at the fair already.

So instead, I cooked half a dozen slices of bacon. More sodium, yes, but at least not the main course. I chopped some of those up and added them to leftover plain spaghetti along with frozen peas, butter, garlic powder, pepper, and Parmesan. The children had that with fried eggs.

I had bacon and eggs with leftover sauteed zuchinni.

A. was out working on sheep fence while we were eating. When he came back, he had corn tortillas with cheese, pinto beans, and bacon in them.

Sunday

Short version: Oven-fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, s'mores

Long version: I hadn't made oven-fried chicken in a long time, but it was actually cool enough this day to run the oven without wanted to close myself in our chest freezer. Of course, by the time I finished baking chicken and making and reducing chicken stock with the extra chicken, I had managed to raise the temperature of the kitchen to 81 degrees and I was sweating anyway.

The chicken was good, though!

I baked the potatoes with the chicken and then mashed them.

The corn was just frozen kernels. Not as exciting as corn on the cob, but certainly not refused.

We had two chocolate bars, half a bag of marshmallows, and most of a box of graham crackers left from the s'mores supplies the MiL sent home with A. So that's what the kids had for Sunday dessert.

Monday

Short version: Chicken and rice casserole

Long version: I made this casserole the day before while I was making Sunday dinner. I cooked the extra chicken pieces in water with onion, celery, and carrot, and pulled all the meat off the bones. I added this to cooked rice, along with cooked onion and garlic, frozen peas, cream, chicken stock, and grated cheddar cheese. 

The whole reason I made this ahead of time is because I was at school all day for in-service meetings and knew I would not be in any kind of mood to cook when I got home. Turning the oven on and heating up a casserole was about my limit.

I added a cup or so of extra stock before I baked it so it wouldn't dry out in the oven, since the rice had absorbed all the liquid overnight, but I added a bit too much stock and it could have used more cheese.

It was still eaten without complaint, however, which I admit is a low bar but is also my reality.

Tuesday

Short version: Lamb chops, roasted potatoes, green salad with vinaigrette, chocolate chip cookie bars

Long version: I perhaps was a little optimistic about running the oven at high heat for almost an hour. A rainstorm came through (yay!) and cooled everything down juuuust as I was about to start cooking. And then by the time I finished cooking, it was over 80 degrees in the kitchen and muggy from the rain.

Oh well. Tasty food, in any case.

I screwed up the cookie bars when I realized I didn't have any brown sugar, so I added some molasses* but failed to add extra white sugar in the quantity required for the brown sugar part of the recipe. I did add the white sugar specified, but the majority of the sugar in the recipe is brown, and that meant that more than half the sugar was missing.

Interestingly, the cookies were sweet enough, it was the texture that suffered. They didn't hold together well and are kind of crumbly and dry. It was a triple batch, too. That's a lot of crumbly cookie bars.

Again, still eaten without complaint. And it does make me wonder if I could reduce the total sugar by maybe a quarter without impacting the texture. Then again, it's a cookie. I'm not sure the extra sugar really matters.

Wednesday

Short version: Sloppy joe sandwiches, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: I made these sandwiches with ground sheep, so should I call them sloppy shepherd sandwiches? No? I thought not.

Thursday

Short version: Pork chunks, black-eyed peas, rice, cucumbers

Long version: What are pork chunks, you ask? Well! I took a photo for illustrative purposes.

And here we have some chunks. Of pork.

I cut the chunks off another pork sirloin roast and just fried them in butter with salt, garlic powder, and paprika.

The black-eyed peas were from the freezer. I took them out a couple of days previously and kept forgetting to serve them, so I really just made the pork--and rice--to go along with the black-eyed peas.

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

* I learned several years ago that molasses+white sugar=brown sugar. It's an easy way to make up for running out of brown sugar, although I have to be sparing with the molasses, as the flavor comes through pretty strongly.