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Author: Livia N

Miscellany – Pot Roast

Who recommended Garth Nix to me? Who ever you were – brilliant suggestion. I bought the first book, read it through, was excited and interested the whole way through, and am now going to buy the next book. By the time I finish the fourth book, I shall be cursing your name because the series isn’t finished.

The weather could be like this all the time, and I could be happy.

I have a pot roast on the stove waiting for me to eat it for dinner tonight.

How I made it:
I cut up 3 slices of bacon and cooked them in a soup pot.

In a bowl, I mixed black pepper, paprika, a little bit of cinnamon, and ground thyme with 2-3 tablespoons of flour. I put a small london broil in the flour, flipped it, and then jabbed it repeatedly with a fork. Then I turned it over and jabbed it some more. Repeat – until it dangled limply and was fully floured.

Then I put the floured meat into the soup pot to brown in the bacon fat.

I cut up a bunch of onions, and added them to the pot as well. Oooo, and garlic, too. And I threw in a few baby carrots.

Then it was time for some liquid. I started with three capfulls of Manischewitz wine. You know that whole thing about not cooking with wine you wouldn’t drink? Forget it – this wine is the best cooking wine ever! Food just tastes incredibly rich, if you add Manischewitz. Then I dumped in the chicken stock I had hanging out in my refrigerator.

Then I browned the rest of the flour in the bowl and made a roux – and then pulled some of the liquid from the pot until is was thin enough to pour into the pot without making lumps. I probably should have just put the flour in right after I added the meat, but I forgot.

And it should be tender and ready to eat my tonight. I’ll put it over rice and maybe cooks some greens on the side.

I joined a gym. It’s right on my way home from work. There’s a gym bag under my desk at work with shoes and socks and pants and everything – And now I have no idea how to schedule time to go. For example, tonight I need to leave right after work to get to the farmers’ market in time to get veggies. There is no excuse for it being way early september and me only having winter vegetables in the house.

Mundanity

I got so much done yesterday. Apparently, they desperately need me to work on Friday, so I got to take of early yesterday to make up the hours. Whee!!

I signed up for gym membership! So now I have to actually start going – Eep!

I stopped by the Office of Off-Campus Living and asked whether there was anything I could do to get my property manager to get rid of the poison ivy – and the woman had the brilliant idea to sent me over to the University City pseudo-police. The guy there called over and was all intimidating to my property manager without ever telling him who had placed the complaint. It sounds like something might actually get done! Well, somewhat – even if my property manager is wonderfully vigilant, there is still a main root originating on a property not owned by my guy.

Then I stopped by my grocery store – who have healthy pasta on sale. I have been refusing to switch over because regular pasta is often on very cheap sales, but hey – sale! So I bought penne for the vodka cream sauce I’ll be making this weekend (vegetarian company coming and my mom accidentally bought a quart of heavy cream in stead of half&half).

And then it rained – gloriously. I love rain.

Food listing

I don’t have much food, but I want to eat what I do have before I buy a bunch more.

produce
half a zucchini
onions
apples
plums
2 1 unimpressive tomatoes

dairy
1/3 of a half pint of cream
opened cream cheese
opened cheddar

thawed meat
bacon
1 chicken breast
ETA:
ground beef
2 1 small shoulder london broils (they’ve been on sale a lot recently)

frozen meat
chicken breasts
ground beef
ground beef in patties
pork liver
chicken backs for stock

miscellaneous
eggplant & beef mixture for taco filling
1 egg white
applesauce
tortillas

Dinner
Tuesday, August 29
eggplant and beef in tortilla (done!)

Wednesday, August 30
start making chicken stock (buy carrots, garlic, and parsley) (done!)
make ground beef into hamburger patties and freeze (done!)
freeze one london broil (done!)
organize freezer
set second london broil to marinate
make chicken and zucchini with rice (fried rice to use the egg white?)
made chicken gumbo

Thursday, August 31
go to farmers market! (not done – went to SCA meeting instead)
finish chicken stock and strain
cook london broil

Anyone want to come over to my house for dinner tomorrow?

I will be grilling:
eggplant
zucchini
corn
hamburgers
there could even be hot dogs

I also have:
tzatziki sauce
tomatoes
whole wheat pita bread
awesome pickles

There could be:
bread pudding with apples

(if you don’t come, I’ll be forced to keep the meat frozen and eat all the yummy vegetables by myself)

Food, glorious food

This weekend I went to the farmers’ market, which I have missed for the last thousand weekends. Also, it was finally cool enough to do some real cooking – I roasted some lamb and made stock from its bony bits!

Food I have
Produce
a big purple eggplant that needs to be eaten soon
1 small white eggplant
3 small zucchini
2 ears of corn
tomatoes
mushrooms
apples from the tree in my backyard (suited to cooking)
1 plum
1 banana

Meat
beef roast leftovers (these need to be used soon)
lamb leftovers! (about enough for 2 large meals, or 5-6 smaller meals – and since I am a little short of freezer space at the moment, I might go with small meals… but I have greatly decreased my backlog of stored lunches)

Dairy
tzatziki sauce
yogurt
moldy cheese
a little bit of chevre left, but it ended up being kinda soapy

Miscellaneous
my almonds are getting old
mashed potato leftovers (pretty much a full meal)
1/2 a carton of creamy butternut squash soup
lamb stock (still needs to be cooked a little longer and strained)

Meal planning
Monday, August 14 (supposedly the hottest day of the week)
roast eggplant until the skin is crusty. Grill onions and cumin in ghee – add eggplant – add some tomatoes – figure out whether you want it more like spicy indian food or mediterranean with some oregano and cinnamon
– cook the mushrooms as a side dish

Tuesday, August 15
beef leftovers sliced thin and put with gravy.
make a lot of rice and thaw chicken creole and stew in fridge to make lunches

Wednesday, August 16
Lamb & zucchini with pasta and breadcrumbs. That was amazing last time I made it, and it reheated well.

Thursday, August 17
Grilling – any leftover zucchini, the eggplant, the corn (if it’s starchy, I’ll sautee it with butter and salt, instead), some onion, and maybe hamburgers as well
Fresh Grocer – buy oil-cured olives for Saturday

Friday, August 18
go to grocery store – buy two bolar roasts, if they are pretty ($1/99/lb!)
pack up the chicken in my freezer
go to my parents’ house
eat with them
Make blue jello

Saturday, August 19
Lemon Chicken
Blue Jello
something resembling a vegetable
(go to parents’ farmers market early enough to get eggs)

My mother has recently been told by her doctor to eat more fiber, and she ended up hating my favorite of the high fiber cereals. So, at least as long as that box lasts, I am trying to eat breakfast on weekdays.

I tell you, that stuff about not skipping breakfast is crap! I doesn’t make me any less hungry throughout the morning. It doesn’t give me any more energy, either. If anything, it makes me more hungry since my body is all, “Oooo… so we’ve started eating already? Let’s keep that up.”