Last Week in the Kitchen

Sometimes a day goes by without a blog post here like yesterday. That's because life gets in the way. The kitchen hasn't come to a standstill. Saturday morning I spent doing a bit of straightening and and cleaning with the kitchen getting extra attention. So by lunchtime everything was squeaky clean just in time for parents of our middle grandbaby to arrive. At 18 months this grandbaby is about as adorable as you can get with a vocabulary that would amaze most people! After a nice visit they all changed into dress clothes for a wedding so the house was quiet again. I decided to get a little fresh air since it was so nice. Then my husband arrived home after being away for a week so things got really busy!

I had bought a pork loin as part of helping my husband get ready for his trip. He took half of it for pork loin chops so I put the other half into cure for pea meal bacon. The stores have been running some nice beef and pork sales along with great deals on beets (10 lb/$1), carrots (5 lb/$1), onions (10 lb $1) and kiwi (2 lb/$1) so I've been doing a fair amount of preserving. Coming out of the kitchen last week include home canned carrots and beets, dried kiwi along with frozen meats and onions. My secret indulgence for the week was daily cappuccino.

Taco Salad

I kept dinners on the simple side planning for two because most evening one of our kids stopped by for dinner. The week started off by using up the rest of the lasagna followed by using a large container of homemade spaghetti with meat sauce from the freezer. I made a nice batch of butternut squash soup as well. I planned on treating myself to dinner out Friday night as we normally eat out Friday nights however a sinus attack convinced me staying in would be a better choice. So, I thawed a package of hamburg from our bulk meat purchase and made taco salad. Included in the toppings were homemade medium salsa and taco hot sauce. This is one of my favourite meals that is always sure to please!

Pickled Beets

The beets were it this week! At 10/$lb I just had to get a bag. I canned plain beets (not shown) and pickled beets (pictured). I love beets so a good portion of the hot beets were popped into my mouth as part of quality control ☺ I still have a large bowl of cooked beets to use up in the next couple of days but that shouldn't be a problem! Even though my husband was away it's apparent the mouse or should that be gnome still had time to play in the kitchen!

The sales continue this week with boneless pork loins and sirloin halves on for $1/lb The fresh whole pork picnic shoulder are still n at $1/lb. Fresh bay scallops and smelts are on for $4.54/lb. It's going to be another great week for stocking up!