Baking Day

Today is baking day. I really like my baking day. It's the day I get to get all the "work" of cooking done for the week. Here's this week's menu:

Monday: Turkey Dinner Casserole
Tuesday: Tostadas
Wednesday: Pancakes
Thursday: Baked ziti
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Salad Night
Sunday: Turkey Veggie Soup

It took me about two hours to get everything done (except baking bread - I do that Monday afternoons with my daughter).

08:00 - Did a "mystery shop" then came home and got settled in.

09:30:

I had a turkey leg my mom gave me (it's been chilling in the freezer) so that got boiled with some onions, celery bits, garlic, and carrots.

While that was boiling I boiled 1/2 pound of pasta for the ziti (we have a small family so 1/2 pound worked well). (While waiting for the water to boil & the pasta to cook, I mixed up the pancake batter.)

Once the pasta was drained, rinsed, & refrigerated, I used the same pan and made up a pot of cream of wheat for breakfasts.

Once the cream of wheat was done I washed the pot (pan? pot? what's the difference?) and started cooking 1 lb ground turkey.

While all this was going on I started pancakes on the griddle (low temp so I had some "flex time" - less chance of them burning). I also chopped up some carrots, celery, tomatoes, and onions for salad night and also for the soup. (The carrots were looking a little tired of being in the fridge so I finished chopping them up and a bit of onion, and those went onto the dehydrator.)

While the ground turkey was cooking, I got the turkey soup stock strained and the turkey off the bone and snipped in little pieces (I used some kitchen shears for that).

When the turkey meat was cooked I applied the taco seasonings. Then that stuff got refrigerated and the pot got washed.

I cut up 3 potatoes (white potatoes so I didn't have to peel them) and got them boiling. Meanwhile I put the green beans in the casserole dish and cleaned up the kitchen.

Once the potatoes were done I used the water from that to make up some stove top stuffing and then mashed the taters. Then the Turkey Dinner Casserole was assembled and covered.

11:30

The kitchen is clean and the week's dinners mostly made. I got to enjoy a leisurely lunch and get my swim gear together. It's now 12:36 and I'm going to post this and then head on over to the pool.

I didn't finish getting the house "done up" because of the mystery shop today, so I'll take care of that when I get home.

Turkey Dinner Casserole
1 can green beans
stove top stuffing (cooked)
chopped turkey (I snip mine with kitchen shears)
mashed potatoes

Assembly:
Drain green beans and put into casserole dish. Dot with butter or margarine. Sprinkle on some snipped/chopped turkey (not too heavily). Spread on the stuffing. Sprinkle with a little more turkey. Top with the mashed potatoes. Cover with foil. Cook at 350 until warmed through (about 30 minutes). Serve with a side of cranberry sauce.

If I remember to take pictures, I'll post the bread baking adventure tonight. Charlotte's only gotten to help with the bread a few times. Today we'll be pulling out the Alton Brown book and discovering the science behind the bread and hopefully this week's bread will turn out better than last week's. We're making loaves and rolls, in both wheat and white. (We may have enough for two weeks... that would be AWESOME!!!!)