Thursday the 13th: Food of the Week

 Let's see:

*Friday will be breakfast sandwiches/tacos. I'm really hoping my bacon didn't spoil. If so...the store is close by.

*Today will be Garlic Parsley Spaghetti, probably with cheese bread on leftover hamburger buns. Maybe a vegetable? I'm having to do better with extending my meals with an extra mouth at the breakfast bar.

*Wednesday we had frozen cheese ravioli and toasted ravioli from Pallucca's in Fredonia. Both were delicious, and I was able to take my janky pizza sauce from last week and cook it down and season it to make it better. I also made the oatmeal loaf below. A little ugly but very tasty.

*Tuesday the Son made Moroccan Carrot Salad (second picture) out of Betty Crocker. It had a really interesting taste with all the different things in there; maybe that will be the veg for tonight. We added to the salad with a Gyro rice platter from the Greek restaurant at the Mall.

*Monday I made a dish called Missouri "Misery" out of an old Penzeys One magazine. It's just cooked beef and onions layered with seasoned potatoes and then baked. It's fine, nothing fancy, but adequate.

*Sunday we had family over, so we had burgers, Blondies,  Lemon-Parsley chicken breasts, Fries, watermelon, and then my mom brought potato salad. (last picture) We just finished off the last leftovers for our lunch today.

 

 

Wednesday the 12th: Work of the Week

 * My goal would be to get an account closed, to sort CDs, to write a letter to a friend, and look for a desk.

There are all sorts of other goals I have, but these four would be the priorities for the week. 

Tuesday the 11th: Gifts

 The first picture is a lovely present from my boss on leaving my last job. It's a generic house, but it feels like the Tell Tale Heart to me. I need to recharge its battery and get it working again.

I think the picture is fruit salad and peas and another side and then...some kind of patty? I don't even know at this point. I'm thinking with that many sides it must have been Sunday, but I don't remember making a fruit salad any time recently... 

 

 

Monday the 10th: Saint of the Week

 

St. Lawrence (F), Deacon, Martyr

                Dates:  August 10                                d.258    

                Place:  born in Huesca, Spain; died in Rome

                Importance:  died in persecution of Valerian (beheaded), tortured by roasting , presented the poor as the treasures of the Church, mentioned in 1^st Eucharistic prayer

                Food/Symbol: barbecued or cold foods, snowballs on fire, cherries jubilee, glow wine

                Patron:  Poor, cooks, against fire, seminarians

                Prayer:  “Father, you called St. Lawrence to serve you by love and crowned his life with glorious martyrdom.  Help us to be like him in loving you and doing your work.  Grant this...Amen.”

                Quotes:  (Legend) “Here are the true treasures of the church; they convert our alms into imperishable treasure for us.”  Readings:  2 Cor. 9:6-10, Ps. 112, Jn. 12:24-26

The Roman Church commends to us today the anniversary of the triumph of Saint Lawrence. For on this day he trod the furious pagan world underfoot and flung aside its allurements, and so gained victory over Satan's attack on his faith.
                As you have often heard, Lawrence was a deacon of the Church at Rome. There he ministered the sacred blood of Christ; there for the sake of Christ's name he poured out his own blood. Saint John the apostle was evidently teaching us about the mystery of the Lord's supper when he wrote: "Just as Christ laid down his life for us, so we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." My brethren, Lawrence understood this and, understanding, he acted on it. In his life he loved Christ; in his death he followed in his footsteps.
               Brethren, we too must imitate Christ if we truly love him. We shall not be able to render better return on that love than by modeling our lives on his. "Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow in his steps." The holy martyrs followed Christ even to shedding their life's blood, even to reproducing the very likeness of his passion. They followed him, but not they alone. It is not true that the bridge was broken after the martyrs crossed; nor is it true that after they had drunk from it, the fountain of eternal life dried up.
              On no account may any class of people despair, thinking that God has not called them. Christ suffered for all. What the Scriptures say of him is true: "He desires all men to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth."
               I tell you again and again, my brethren, that on no account may any class of people despair, thinking that God has not called them. Christ suffered for all. What the Scriptures say of him is true: "He desires all men to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth." --from a sermon by Saint Augustine 

 Source of picture: https://www.lukedingman.com/

 

Friday the 7th: Lovely food

 I find Smitten Kitchen recipes to either be highly successful or to just not be to my taste--they might be wonderful to someone else, but they don't hit the mark for me. This one was very good though, cornmeal-fried pork chops and smashed potatoes. We re-used the smashed potatoes recipe several times since then as it's easier than mashed but gives you the same feeling.

 

 

Thursday the 6th: Food of the Week

Sunday lunch was family dinner at my parents' house, and for Sunday supper we tried Grilled Pizza and Grilled Peach Splits, both from Smitten Kitchen.  My only complaint is that I did not make a good red sauce, so that felt lacking. We added some chicken teriyaki meatballs from Trader Joe's to the pizza.

Monday we ate at a friend's house: lasagna and salad and garlic bread and chocolate pie. Everything was delicious and we had such a good time catching up.

Tuesday the Son made macaroni and cheese from Betty Crocker. He didn't like cooking the pan he baked it in, but we loved it. We added some chicken strips since we have a new house member for the school year. 

Wednesday I made Apricot Beef Stir fry. I used frozen veggie mix and some corn off the cob I had frozen, plus beef flank steak, then a sauce of soy sauce, water, cornstarch, garlic, red pepper flakes, and peach preserves (I didn't have apricot).

Tonight we are having Spanish Tortilla.  I'm asking Husband to bring home or pick up a supplement since again, we have four to cook for instead of three.

Tomorrow will be bruschetta with sauteed bell peppers; the linked recipe is similar but not exactly the same as what I'm using. I'm working on Italian Rustic bread today to have ready for those tomorrow. 

 

 

Wednesday the 5th: new chores

 *I've added chopping some suckers off our dead tree stumps and piling them up every day. Last night I hung up the hammock on two hooks I found.

*The three week cycle of cleaning rooms is going well, but I probably need to add running over the main room floor every Saturday and going over the kitchen counters a few times a week.

*Bread making is still going well; today I'm trying a rustic Italian loaf we can use tomorrow for bruschetta. Tonight will be apricot stir fry.

*Well, it's off to fold laundry!