What a day!

Yesterday I finally managed to get ten some decent sleep, nearly six solid hours! When I woke up I realized what a mess the house was. I had been picking up things but hadn't actually cleaned anything. I roused my husband from his office, he was spacing out watching YouTube videos, and got to work. We cleaned the whole house, then got to work on cooking.

Our weeks have been so hectic over the last few months that I've started cooking a weeks worth of meals on Sunday. I didn't have time last week so I wanted to make up for it this week. So I planned to try several new recipes. With a bit of help from my husband I made more than enough. There hadn't been enough time, or brain power, to make up a menu or shop so I used what I already had on hand.

I started with spinach soufflé stuffed meatloaf. I made a dense meatloaf mixture, pressed it into the sides and bottom of a loaf pan and covered it with sliced ham. I then sliced mozzarella into strips and lined that down the middle. I finished filling it with spinach souffle. Once full I folded the sides down and sealed it. There was some cheese leftover so I used that to top it and baked it till it was a golden brown. 

Chicken was on sale so I bought a lot of it. I sliced some boneless breasts and marinated them in some terriyaki marinade I made up. Once they were ready I covered them with pineapple, peppers and onions. The whole mixture went into a covered baking dish. Once it was cooked there was a fair bit of liquid. I mix up a cornstarch slurry and thickened it into a sauce.

The remainder of the chicken breast was marinated in a balsamic mixture then baked. Once it was cooled I sliced it thin. I followed that up with mushrooms, green pepper, onion, green olives and soaked them in a homemade vinaigrette. Topped with penne straight from the pot and covered with a tight lid all of the flavors co-mingled into a delicious pasta salad with chicken.

The day before I had cooked up a pot of beans with the skin from our homemade smoked bacon. I mashed them into a 9x13, topped it with spicy salsa and quesadilla cheese. That didn't last long. My husband kept eating throughout the day and finished it off last night. Obviously he enjoyed it. I managed to sneak some for myself once he was stuffed. It was easily the best bean dip I'd had in a long time.

After that all I had was leg quarters which I split into thighs and legs. The thighs were skinned, coated in starch, and baked with Cholula, Texas Pete, and vinegar buffalo style. I added baked potato and corn on the cob. To go with that I made some buttermilk ranch dressing.

Next was the legs that I baked crunchy country style. It seemed incomplete so I made up a pot of raspberry BBQ sauce to go along. That might sound weird but it's lower in sugar, better in flavor and more importantly I had the ingredients on hand.

Making hte BBQ sauce reminded me I still hadn't tried the pickles I had made last week so I pulled them out of the cupboard for a taste test. I'm new to making pickles but they were easily the best kosher pickles I had made yet. 

Now I have plenty of food all ready to eat in the fridge. I can devote the rest of the week to working, writing, and not have to deal with take out or delivery. As fun as it is some times to go out to dinner I prefer home cooking over everything.