We are undergoing a lot of major changes what with the house up for sale and at the same time knowing a half of beef will be ready shortly. We've arranged to have the beef stored until after our move if all goes according to plan. I have one primary goal in mind - reduce our freezer stock to as low as possible. That goal is followed with eating what we can from the pantry because moving empty jars is a lot easier than full jars of food. I've been trying to use one item from the freezer and one or more items from the pantry for each evening meal. So far that strategy has been working so we are starting to see a good reduction in the freezers.
Pan Fried Pork Steak
My husband is currently working fairly long days which is normal for this time of year. What I've been doing is making a dinner style meal for his lunch then a lighter meal for the actual dinner hour so he doesn't have a full tummy when heading to bed early. A couple of nights ago I pulled the last 2 pork steaks from the freezer and decided to pan fry them.
I pan fried until caramelized on both sides, seasoned with garlic pepper then poured in a half jar (250 ml/1 c) turkey stock and added a few onion pieces and added a lid. I let this simmer to form a nice sauce. While the meat was simmering I put potato cubes on to steam for rustic mashed potatoes.
Rustic mashed potatoes method: Steam about 10 washed unpeeled potatoes cut into cubes. Remove from steamer and place in stand mixer bowl. Pour in 250 ml/1 cup turkey stock, 1 tsp roasted garlic, 4 oz cream cheese, 1 tbsp butter. Beat until blended but still a bit chunky.
Hubby's Lunch
I have several reusable divided plates that I use for making lunches. A few of them can be used in the freezer as well for homemade tv style dinners. Pictured is my husband's pan fried pork steak with rustic mashed potatoes for tomorrow's lunch. It's a simple meal yet substantial one.
Divided plates with covers are great for lunch bags so they see a fair amount of use here. They come in so many styles and shapes now. Most of them are leak proof so can be used for a variety of meals and can be used in the microwave to reheat easily.
7 food lovers commented:
That looks beautiful! I love the carmelized onions. I have a couple of the divider plates and they are so handy, but I never thought to freeze them like a tv dinner. Thanks for the great tip!
I'm a big believer that menu planning for lunch is as important as menu planning for dinner.
Jen the divided plates are quite nice for freezing homemade tv dinners. Ziploc also makes divided containers that are great for the freezer.
Hi DingM and thanks for visiting. I removed EC from all of my blogs a little over a year ago. There are several ads there that could get you banned from Adsense but this newest gambling nonsense is definitely going to cause a lot of problems. I will pop on over to read your post. In the meantime just keep trying to warn others.
Hi Anti Aging and thanks for visiting. I'm glad you enjoyed the post.
Hi Connie and thanks for visiting. The dark colour was a combination of the caramelized onions and searing the meat before adding the stock. You can use any stock you have on hand.
Hi LeAnn :) Menu planning like any organizational tool does not work for everyone. I'm very much a pantry cook getting inspiration by something I spot in the pantry so often make a meal around that. For this reason menu planning does not work well for me. Others like the structure and rigidity of menu planning for various reasons.
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