Cheap & Cheerful Suppers Provided by My Daughters

I've been baking more this week. I made a blackberry pie,
3 loaves of bread, and a batch of brownies.

More of my daughters' dinners . . .

If you missed it, my daughters are cooking dinners for the entire month of April (except Easter) as my birthday gift (later this month). Earlier this week I reviewed my daughters' first four dinners for the month of April. I'll briefly mention those then move on to the rest of the week.

Friday
Homemade pizza, using a scratch crust and canned spaghetti sauce, greens from the garden with shredded cabbage for a salad with scratch dressing, carrot sticks.

Saturday
Hummus, made with canned garbanzo beans, crackers, carrot and cucumber sticks.

Sunday
Meatball sandwiches, using commercial frozen meatballs, rest of canned spaghetti sauce and shredded cheese from the pizza, hotdog buns (instead of pricier sub sandwich buns), plus steamed carrots and canned green beans in a sauce of cream of mushroom soup.

Monday
Homemade bean and vegetable soup, graham cracker and peanut butter "sandwiches", sautéed turnip greens from the garden with onions.

the rest of the week. . .

Tuesday

tacos, frozen corn, garden greens salad (radish greens, watercress and sorrel), blackberry pie

My daughter used some of the frozen meatballs (Sunday's meatball subs) to quickly make the meat filling in the tacos. She used the vegetable masher to break the meatballs up in a pot and seasoned with spices from our spice cupboard. I baked the pie earlier today, using frozen blackberries from last summer's foraging and scratch pie pastry I keep in the freezer.

Wednesday

vegetarian burrito bowls with brown rice, pinto beans, corn, canned tomatoes, cheese, and salsa, plus sautéed kale and onions, and blackberry pie. A simple meal. but tasty and filling.

Thursday

tuna salad, celery sticks, garden greens salad (radish greens, watercress, sorrel), crackers, my favorite scratch brownies. The brownie recipe is a microwave recipe, but I baked them in the regular oven today. I substituted vegetable oil for the butter -- worked great. To bake this recipe in a regular oven, bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees F. I like the texture that a standard oven helps these develop, a bit more chewy on the edges than when microwaving.

Although my daughters purchased a few convenience items (meatballs, crackers, canned garbanzo beans), I think their meals still qualify as cheap & cheerful.

Interesting breakfasts this week -- I had made a large batch of steel cut oats in the crockpot that didn't seem to interest anyone. With leftovers growing older, I decided to remake the leftover oatmeal in a pot on the stove. I added maple extract, butter, and brown sugar to the oatmeal and heated thoroughly. This did the trick and the steel cut oats got eaten finally. We also had toast, yogurt, fruit, juice, milk, eggs, and cheese.

Lunches included more soup, this time chive and potato soup, twice. We enjoy it, and we're using up the frozen chives. Also there were toasted cheese sandwiches, peanut butter and peanut sandwiches (extra crunchy this way), fresh and dried fruit, carrot sticks, cabbage salads, juice, eggs, corn tortillas, lentils & rice, and leftovers.

What was on your menu this past week?

Easter, Easter, Easter! I'm Starting to Plan Our Easter Dinner

This year's Easter dinner may be the most normal we've had since 2019. That's hard to believe. In 2020, we didn't get together with our son and daughter-in-law (Covid). In 2021, the two of them came over and we had a cookout around our patio fire ring. This year, I'm planning a traditional Easter dinner. Thanks to my two daughters giving me the gift of dinner-cooking for the whole month, I actually want to make a big Easter dinner. The wonderful thing about this year's special holiday meal is that I think I have absolutely everything I need on hand.

Here's the plan, so far.

• I have a half-ham in the freezer that I bought last spring. I plan on baking it a couple of days in advance so I can slice it in advance and reheat on that Sunday. I'll lay ham slices topped by canned pineapple slices in a baking dish, covering with foil and heating, then serving with a mustard sauce along the lines of this recipe but baked instead of pan-cooked.
• I have 2 large cans of yams, some pecans, brown sugar and butter, all the right ingredients to make this praline sweet potato casserole. I can assemble the casserole a day or two in advance and keep refrigerated then bake on Easter.
• I have canned green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and fried onions for the traditional green bean casserole that is on a Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup label. Green bean casserole is quick to assemble, so I will make that on Easter.
• There are 2 small (10 oz) bags of Brussel sprouts in the freezer. I'll oven-roast those just before Easter dinner. I like Brussel sprouts tossed with olive oil and kosher salt then roasted until lightly caramelized.
• I have bulk sausage, peppers, and mushrooms in the freezer. I'm thinking a rice pilaf with those ingredients. I made a similar pilaf for Thanksgiving that was well received by all. We don't have any fresh potatoes right now, so I think a rice pilaf will make a nice alternative starchy dish.

Okay, so the above is my list of dishes I will definitely make. I'm also considering the following:

• hot cross buns or dinner rolls. If I don't do the hot cross buns, I have a really good pan roll recipe that always turns out great and is easier than crescent rolls.
• dessert -- rhubarb custard pie? lemon bars? carrot cake cupcakes? Any easy Easter dessert ideas out there?
• a salad, using whatever I have growing indoors or out. If I have enough kale, a salad along these lines with dried cranberries and almonds in a vinaigrette.

These are my Easter dinner plans. What have you got planned?