Our week was completely thrown off this week. The Husband was at play practice as part of the crew and I had late nights all week. We still had two new recipes though, which was my goal.

We had sandwiches a few of the nights and I made a pork loin for the Husband today for lunch. He’ll have good leftovers for lunches and quick dinners next week. It looks like his play schedule will be the same. He has been running home to change into shorts and then heads back out again quickly. I may try to make some new recipes for my lunch or have some veggie options during the week too because it will probably be just me.

I only took one picture of dinner during the week. We had the post roast when we had company over and somehow I didn’t get a picture of it.

Here are the two recipes that we used:

1- Mother’s Pot Roast with Vegetables from The Good Housekeeping Cookbook. Section: The Story of Meats.

Modifications: I left out the celery seeds and the MSG. I didn’t have either and would prefer to not have a side of migraine with my beef. I thought MSG didn’t affect me, but after getting a migraine from bad Chinese food, I have learned. Plus, it’s gross. I did add a tiny bit of seasoned salt to the pot roast along with a sprig of rosemary and a sprig of oregano. Both of the herbs were from the garden.

I completely forgot to add any veggies at all. I was too busy crafting and sewing with my friend. I did make noodles and we had salad, so it turned out alright. The pot roast was difficult to get out of the pan, it was so tender. It tasted wonderful too. Sadly, we did end up wasting a little bit of it. Both of our stomachs got a bit rumbly after eating it. It didn’t make us sick, but neither of us wanted to have rumbly bellies at work. I’m wondering if it was the red wine vinegar. It’s not an ingredient that I use a lot.

2- Hobo Meatball Stew from Taste of Home: The New Slow Cooker. Section: Soups and Stews

Modifications: I used ground elk instead of beef. I was feeling tired of ground beef. Elk is sweeter than beef, I think. Sweeter and richer. The Husband agreed with that assessment. I also used tomato sauce instead of ketchup and added garlic and onion powder to the meatballs. They would have been bland without it. Also, added garlic powder to the stew broth.

The stew is actually the cover recipe for the book. Mine did not look like that at all. I actually made this overnight. I knew we were both not going to be home for way longer than it needed to cook, so I set it going around 11 pm and turned it off when I go up at 6 am. It turned out delicious and it heats up well. I would make this again.

Today we went strawberry picking with a friend and got around 16 pounds of strawberries. I have a canning marathon planned for tomorrow, as the Husband is working on crew stuff from 2-10 pm. Fancy will be bored, I’m sure.

My canning list includes any of the following:

-Rhubarb Marmalade

-Strawberry Marmalade

-Rhubarb Butter

-Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate: need to get lemons, so this might not be tomorrow.

-Nectarine Orange Marmalade

-Orange Rhubarb Spread

-Rhubarb Barbecue Sauce

I am also going to freeze some berries for the winter. This year it will be super easy since we have an upright standing chest freezer. I can freeze more than one sheet pan at a time. One year our freezer was so small that I had to freeze things one cake pan at a time…

In strawberry picking, I am my mother’s daughter. Looking at my 16 pounds, I think I need some more. And I couldn’t stop picking them. There’s always just the one more! I might actually go back and get more, if I have time. It would be terrible to run out of strawberries before all my canning is done.

A batch of shortcake and some muffins or a fresh strawberry cake are also on the “to make” list. I’d better get up very early tomorrow. 🙂 I should probably start now, actually.

Fancy got a new toy to shred a few days ago too. She is now dubbed “Fancy of Star Command” and is dedicated to protecting her humans against an alien invasion. She takes her job very seriously, as you can see. 🙂 Hopefully you all feel very safe with her on the job!