.... A meal from the freezer, a meal heading to the freezer. Call it a trade.
I can't wait to see this week's delivery from The Produce Box! I'm particularly excited about the melons and the muscadine cider.
This week, I received:
- 2 Butternut Squash (2.75 lb)
- Watermelon
- 5 Peaches (1.75 lb)
- Grape Tomatoes were scheduled; I got big ones instead!
- Sprite Melon
- Local Muscadine Grape Cider
- Sweet Potatoes (3 lb)
Making bagels was downright easy! The process took a long time, but most of that time I was just waiting for dough to rise. The actual work didn't take long at all.
Lesson Learned: Careful when Blending. I also made 3 varieties of the Dr. Pepper Barbecue Sauce - using Dr.P, A&W Root Beer, and Coke. Dinah and I liked the Dr.P and Coke best. However, I learned that you must be very, very careful when running a blender with hot liquids inside. I had no idea... so, the lid of the blender blew off, I spent quite a while cleaning the kitchen walls and counters, and I still have burn marks on my arm. Please check out this advice from my favorite cooking Q&A site before you attempt that recipe!
Decreasing Recipes Made Easy! I actually cut the Watermelon Dressing recipe down, making only 1/8 of the original. It was still plenty of dressing for two nights of salad. If you ever need help cutting a recipe down (say, figuring out what 1/8 of 2/3 cup is), I highly recommend downloading the simple program, EZConvert. You can find it (FREE!) at http://mcrackan.com/software.html ... just scroll down to the bottom of the page, and you'll see it. Here's how it works:
Just type in (or copy/paste) the original value, select multiply or divide from the drop-down, give what amount you're multiplying or dividing by, and it will provide an answer for you! So, instead of 2/3 cup of oil for the dressing recipe, I just used 1 TB plus 1 tsp, since I was dividing the whole by 8.
Even our bring-the-baby-to-a-restaurant experiment went well! Here's hoping for anther great week of meals.
Here's the Week's Menu:
WED 8/25 - Visiting We're meeting Dinah's parents for dinner, so I'm off the hook tonight!
THU 8/26 - Italian Night! Lasagna Rolls served alongside Italian sausage cooked w/ onions and peppers.
FRI 8/27 - Easy Friday Go to farmer's market for peaches (destined for cobbler and jam) and grape tomatoes. I received two GIANT tomatoes from The Produce Box, so we'll have Stuffed Tomatoes for dinner, made with frozen stuffing from the last batch. Serve with Butternut Cheddar Shells. I am not sure that these recipes really go well together... but they're two things I really want to have, so oh well!
SAT 8/28 - Lazy Daze! Cary, NC has a fabulous festival, Lazy Daze, every August. I can't wait to go; last year we didn't stay long due to rain.
Breakfast: Aussie omelette w/ shrimp
Lunch: Meatball subs for lunch if we eat here; pack sandwiches if we eat at the festival.
Dinner: Grilled Porterhouse, sweet potatoes baked & whipped, veggie stir-fry of red pepper strips & asparagus.
SUN 8/29 - Hoping for Good Weather
Lunch: I had planned on grape tomatoes from The Produce Box but will get them from the farmers' market instead... add to that, shrimp in the freezer, and leftover cilantro & celery in the fridge... sounds like Shrimp & Black Bean Salad to me!
Dinner: Barbecue Sauce Pizza for dinner. Trying again on the peach cobbler, since a certain baby didn't let me get to it last week.
Muffins? What muffins? My poor husband had to make do with packaged breafast granola bars... going to try to get to the muffins again this week. I might need to go back to freezing extras for just-in-case. They're just not as good once frozen, though.
MON 8/30 - An Old Friend. It's been a long time since we've had Chicken Marsala, so here we go! Served with Rosemary Roasties and Steamed Asparagus w/ Toasted Almond Slices.
TUE 8/31 - Making Extra for the Freezer Half a pork loin (on sale for $1.99/lb, wahoo!) cooked in the crock pot with the leftover Soda Barbecue Sauce. Serve as pulled pork sandwiches with homemade BBQ Baked Beans (made with that same sauce), and corn. I'll freeze all the extra pork for future meals - it'll make great sandwiches and burritos.
Not the most original week of recipes, but we're getting by. Will life get any easier as this little baby grows up?!
It's bizarre that the produce manager is more important to my children's health than the pediatrician. - - Meryl Streep
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