It has been a long standing tradition in my home to not cook on Sundays. This was before I was LDS even. When I was a kid, we observed the Sabbath Day by resting, reading, and starving to the point of getting sick. When I grew up, we spent the day resting, reading, and clearing out the leftovers from the previous week. I remember when I was in second grade being so, so, so hungry. Before church my stomach would gurgle and growl, during church I'd try to scout out the older men with candy in their pockets, only to realize that the candy made the hunger worse, and it continued until dinner. We were attending a church that had met in a YWCA/YMCA in San Bernardino, California. During that time they had bought a big old barn and were renovating it into a new church building. My mom was running late. She had to get herself ready, and make sure I was presentable. She had to dress and redress my twin brother and sister who were around two years old at the time. I was hungry and we were fasting. I think we fasted almost every Sunday. When you fast without anything to fast for, that is called starving. I starved a lot.
I think my metabolism was like that of a humming bird. I was the slightest thing, but could eat my weight at every meal. We went to church and then my mom boiled a chicken. Then we waited for the chicken to cool. I stood in the kitchen trying to de-bone it. I got in trouble for being too picky over the fat and meat. I didn't like dark meat and was trying to throw bits out so that the white to dark meat ratio would be more in my favor. My stomach was upset from being hungry. My friend Mimi stopped by with her mother, Trish. She had a younger sibling around the age of my siblings. Time has made me forget the name and gender of that child. They were so excited at the boiled, slimy, nasty chicken and heartily ate all the organ meat. Gross! I was so thankful they ate it and it didn't go in the soup! I waited and waited as my mom made home-made noodles by hand. I watched as she rolled the dough out and used her butcher knife to cut the noodles. I hoped she'd roll them thinner and cut them smaller. She would make what resembled an egg noodle, but they were plump, and tasted more like a dumpling because of their size and thickness. By the time the vegetables were cut, and cooked through, and everything had been combined into this soup, I had a headache and felt quite sick. We were served these big bowls of chicken noodle soup that my mom and I, and Trish and Mimi had even helped us make. I couldn't eat it. I sipped some broth and drank my room temperature nonfat powdered milk and sat there. My stomach was churning. I sat trying to not think of the oily salty broth and the disgusting smell of the so-called milk. It was unbearable. Before I was allowed to leave the table I was lectured on how much hard work went into the meal and how ungrateful I was. I was sent to bed. The milk and broth somehow managed to calm my stomach to the point where I probably could have eaten the soup after an hour or so, but it was too late. I'd have to wait until the morning for food. Had I been allowed to nibble bread, or maybe some leftovers, I would have not been so miserable. I spent many a day hungry and decided I would not make my children spend Sundays this way. That is when I decided there would always be leftovers in my fridge for Sunday. I didn't want to make my children wait all day for soup.
Sunday
To contradict what I just said, this last Sunday we did not have leftovers. Well, not conventional leftovers. I used the last bit of orange marmalade in the fridge to start a marinade for some chicken breasts that we found in the freezer while doing some Spring cleaning. I left the chicken over night in the sauce, then cooked it very slowly in the oven. We put it in before Church and came home to a wonderful meal.
Orange Chicken*
We added to the orange marmalade a brown sugar mixture with green onions and sage fresh from the garden. We baked it covered in orange slices. The meat was so tender it fell apart when served. We add it to egg noodles and spooned the marinade on top to act as a sauce. We never got around to a salad or a veggie. It was wonderful and simple. And it was ready when we got home!
Monday
Chad and Abby came to visit for his Spring Break. They got into town just in time for dinner. I doubled my normal recipe with very little notice and it still turned out to be great!
Vegetable Beef Soup
This was a staple in my home growing up. In a large pot, throw in anything that seems like it would work in a soup. Just kidding! This soup has a tomato juice base. This is important. I have had it with tomato paste or other tomato products and it really needs to be tomato juice or V8. I have a preference for the Walmart Great Value brand.
Chop potatoes into stew sized pieces, not soup pieces. Add celery and carrot. Green beans are optional. You can do this by adding a bag of frozen mixed veggies with green beans, or add them individually. Onion and garlic are preferred but optional. This time Heber's mom added seasoning salt to it. It was a completely different taste than I am used to, but equally good. =o}
I made her cornbread recipe doubled for company. It was from a very old copy of a Fannie Farmer cookbook. Normally I use the gold Medal recipe for Cornbread Muffins, but make it as a cake. I tweak it of course. I can never leave a recipe alone.
Tuesday
Fend for yourself day. The fridge was so full of soup and other yummy leftovers that we just ate what we liked.
Wednesday
Today was supposed to be BBQ. I had chicken, beef ribs, and some steak marinating in a BBQ sauce mixture I concocted for two days. I put them in the oven around 7:30 AM and the whole house smelled wonderful by noon. I made baked beans and we were supposed to eat scalloped potatoes and cornbread that we had left over. We ended up with an impromptu family reunion. We had nine adults and eleven kids (if you count baby number six for Anna). My BBQ would not have stretched, so Mom pulled off a very simple spaghetti dinner. Everyone contributed something, except us, and I even got whole wheat pasta. Yum! After everyone left, Chad and Heber chowed down on the BBQ! By Wednesday at lunch time the BBQ was no more!
BBQ Sampler
Scalloped Potatoes with Ham
Dad's Baked Beans
Thursday
Tofu and Rice…… Yummmmmm
Friday
Last night's tofu and rice becomes tonight's eggrolls, wontons and fried rice. I really feel great enjoyment when I am able to prep for two meals at once. The ground sirloin and tofu mixture from the previous night becomes the base for the eggrolls. The leftover cold rice becomes fried tonight. It makes for quick prep so I can spend my time rolling and frying the eggrolls and wontons.
Eggrolls
Fried Rice
Wontons
Raspberry Pineapple Dessert Wontons*
Saturday
I'm still trying to perfect this recipe…
Beef and Asparagus Tips
Sunday
This Sunday will be for leftovers so I can focus on Anderson's Faith in God and Alissa's Personal Progress
*New to the Hurd Family Menu
