I know I won't be up for cooking much (if at all) next week, but luckily I have not one, but two crockpots. I got some inspiration and menus from Aimee over at Six Cents and got everything I needed today. I already had all the seasoning and condiments except for steak sauce, but I needed almost all of the produce except carrots, and all of the meat.
I decided on Scalloped Potatoes and Ham, Savory Pepper Steak, Cilantro Lime Chicken, Sloppy Joes, and Salsa Chicken. I got my peppers (3), onions (2), garlic (2), broccoli (2), celery, and then some lemons (3), baking potatoes (2) and gigantic apple grown in Glastonbury, CT - I will have to take a picture of this thing, it's enormous - all from a farm on the edge of town. They have a $10 minimum debit card purchase and I got all that and still couldn't make $10. She let me get away with my $9.73 purchase. I love buying local!
I also needed to go to Target for freezer bags and a few other things (like the jersey sheets I mentioned in an earlier post, so that I don't slide down my bed when the head of it gets elevated an additional 4" on top of the current 4" elevation). I don't usually shop at Big Y, but a few things I needed for this cooking project were on sale and thanks to Wicked Good Deals, I knew I could score some free red wine vinegar. I love red wine vinaigrette on my spinach but it's annoying to keep buying it, so now I'll just make my own! I went to Stop & Shop last because that's MY grocery store. I love that I don't need to interact with a single human if I don't want to. I scan and bag my own groceries as I shop, can order deli meats via a kiosk or my phone and pick it up from a little bin, and use the self-checkout lanes. I'm not antisocial, but grocery shopping is my time to think, plan, and follow all my crazy lists while searching for the right coupon in my coupon sorter, so I like to just be left alone. Of course, Stop & Shop had no cilantro from the Cilantro Lime Chicken and the skies were turning dark so I decided I'd get it tomorrow. Of course, it never rained.
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| Everything but the kitchen sink, I mean meat. |
I made up the Savory Pepper Steak and Sloppy Joes bags. Next time (as in, tomorrow), I will chop all my veggies first. I had to leave raw meat out for a little longer than I would've liked because I was chopping veggies mid-recipe. Since I had already browned the meat for the Sloppy Joes, I tasted the final product and it was SO good. I can't wait to try it hot, after simmering in its own juice for eight hours.
Tomorrow I'll tackle the other three. I was tired and hungry, so I had to call it a night around 7.
Sunday afternoon:
I couldn't sleep this morning. It was probably a combination of getting 13.5 hours of sleep Friday night and my excitement/anxiety about surgery. So at 6:30, I finally stopped fighting it and just got out of bed. Once the stores opened, I went and got the last of the things I needed, and was back in my kitchen cooking up a storm by 9:30. OK, I didn't actually have to cook anything yesterday, but I made the final three meals. The only thing I will have to do is slice up 12 small potatoes and add them to the ham recipe. Apparently, when you freeze raw potatoes, they turn black. The grocery store was all out of the frozen scalloped potatoes, so I'll just have to prepare them the day we decide to eat the ham. And when I say "I will," I mean, someone will. If I have double vision or even blurry vision, I don't think I will be holding any knives. Oh, and the avocados have to be peeled and sliced for the Cilantro Lime Chicken. I'm most excited for the Sloppy Joes, so that will probably be Wednesday's dinner.
Here is the freezer as it looks now, complete with my Coldstone Birthday Cake Remix just waiting to be devoured (don't worry, it was...about 3 minutes later):
Monday night:
I think I'll be nice and put one of the meals that doesn't require extra work in the crockpot tomorrow morning so that my dad gets a nice home-cooked meal after sitting in the hospital for probably 6-8 hours with me tomorrow night. I don't see him liking the Salsa Chicken very much, so it'll probably be the steak.
I have a whole hour that I can eat or drink and guess what? I'm full, and sick of peeing every 10 minutes, so I think I'm going to call it a night and fast for 17 hours plus surgery and recovery instead of only 16 hours.
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