This week was all about packing and more packing. And then the terrible moving day. Then unpacking. I think you can see a theme. I haven’t meal planned in a couple of weeks. I lost half the contents of my freezer and my garden in one day. So this is all to say cooking has been a little on the lighter, easier side. On a side note, I almost drafted week 22 twice because I didn’t realize it has been done and just not published, so I’ll try to make sure that one gets posted before this one, but I make no promises.
Thursday (8/27) – When I have homemade bacon, it must go in some eggs. So the hubby and I had some scrambled eggs with bacon and cheddar for breakfast. I think I’ve gotten the bacon recipe down. Turns out the secret to countering the saltiness is simple. Just coat it in black pepper before smoking. I’ll be honest, I don’t even remember if we had dinner. If we did, it was likely leftovers. I was in full on packing mode.
Friday (8/28) – I made pita pizzas on the grill again. We figured it’s going to be an adjustment when we move. We don’t have an outdoor space at our new place. There is a breezeway where I can keep my grill once I find the bike lock. I think I still have one. If not, then once I buy one. Our neighborhood is pretty safe, but I’m not risking my grill being taken. But in any case, dining al fresco is going to be more complicated. Anyway, it was going to be a nice mean on the deck until the newly arrived bee family showed up.
Saturday (8/29) – I made pancakes for breakfast because were were out of eggs. I refuse to buy groceries just to move them, so we are trying to get by with whatever is left. It felt a little similar to those first few weeks of quarantine when we were under total shutdown, but we made it through. I also cooked up the extra Italian sausage leftover from making the pizzas, so the hubby had some protein. He’s not a big pancake guy. And yes, pancakes usually have eggs. I made eggless pancakes and they came out delicious and fluffy. For dinner, I made linguine Alfredo. It was supposed to be our last family dinner on the deck, but the bees again! At this point, we had little furniture assembled and a dining room full of boxes, so we ended up putting the kid at the desk to eat and my husband and I ate standing in the kitchen. Kind of sorry I forgot to take any pictures of that fiasco.
Sunday (8/30) – We ended up ordering brunch from Rockwell’s Neighborhood Grill because I managed to pack up the oatmeal and the instant pot, which were supposed to be breakfast. We really had nothing breakfast left. Oops. But brunch was good. I didn’t even comment on the fact that the kid basically had bread and sugar and called it a meal. We had decided on take out for our last night in the old place. The husband and I had been looking forward to a nice date night with take out and eating on the patio. Since the bees are a nightmare, we opted to eat in front a Cubs game instead. So, it was Monti’s Philly cheesesteaks and a ballgame.
Monday (8/31) – this was moving day. It was terrible. By the time we finished at the old place and got home to the new one, we were beat. We cooked a frozen pizza that had been in our freezer for like a year and some stuffed jalapeno poppers and called that dinner and a night. We had traded nights for the kid, so we didn’t have to worry about feeding her a healthy dinner.
Tuesday (9/1) – The entire day was spent unpacking, then running to the liquor store to pick up wine and the hardware store to pick up some necessities, like a broom…so many things got left behind and/or thrown out in the move. So we ordered Chinese. I have to say that I normally love the General Tso’s chicken from this place, but I am assuming that, like many places, they have supply issues, because it was definitely missing an ingredient or two. It tasted more like a cross between sweet and sour sauce and that red pork sauce. It was edible, but not great. I won’t name the place, as this was not their norm, and no sense in bad-mouthing for what is likely a temporary pandemic related change in quality.
Wednesday (9/2) – Much of the house was order for Wednesday. It wasn’t finished by any means, but our bedrooms, the dining room, the kitchen and the living room were functional. We finally got groceries, so there was that. However, I still haven’t done any meal planning, so totally winging dinner, and we had the kid, so I wanted it to be healthy. I did a baked cauliflower roast with green beans and potatoes as a side. It turns out my husband had never had green beans and potatoes. I guess this is a southern dish. The kid told me it was the “best way potatoes have been presented to her.” Yep, she’s in training to be a Food Network judge. My cauliflower could have been cooked more. I need to get used to the new oven and kitchen.
We made it through the week. Hopefully, I can get back on track with meal planning. Without it, life is a bit of a struggle since it’s not like we’re gonna just run out the store and grab that missing thing for that one particular dish we want on any given night. We still don’t go into stores, so it requires a little more planning to do the curbside pick ups. I’ve also been skipping my grocery delivery the last several weeks because there haven’t been any outstanding deals and I’m trying to conserve money as we spent way more than expected on the move. Yeah, I’m gonna print the new monthly calendar and get on that meal planning now.
Foodie's Delimma 