Monday: Unloading the POD, Pool Snacks & Another Beef Stick Update

This morning the kids finished off some of the bacon I cooked yesterday. Breakfast was simple—bacon, a couple of the frozen waffles from last week, and the last of the fresh Costco ciabatta rolls. I actually froze half the package, so those will probably end up coming with us on our lake trip next week. They’re perfect for quick breakfasts or easy snacks.

Then I headed out for a big morning.

My teen stayed home, and I dropped the younger four kids off at my parents’ house before driving to our new homeschool co-op facility.

Today was finally POD unloading day.

If you’ve been reading along for a while, you know this POD has been hanging over my head for months. Once you pack a POD, you’re paying monthly storage fees until you unload it, and I’ve been so anxious to get everything moved into our new building.

As soon as we got approval that the building was ready, I booked movers and scheduled the POD delivery.

This morning we unloaded the entire thing.

What a relief.

Not only is everything finally where it belongs, but it also means that monthly expense is officially off the co-op’s books. That felt really good.

After unloading, we also had a long facilities meeting with the parish staff, so I was gone almost the entire morning.

Lunch

While I was gone, my teen raided the refrigerator exactly the way I’d hoped she would.

She reheated one last piece of focaccia pizza from Thursday and made herself a taco bowl using the taco meat I’d cooked yesterday.

When I finally got home after picking up the younger kids, I made myself a taco bowl too.

Lunch took just a couple of minutes to throw together.

Pool Snacks

Of course we ended up at the pool this afternoon.

At this point, pool snacks are basically their own food group around here.

Daphne alternates between swimming, eating, and occasionally trying to convince someone to share a toy.

Before we left, I made a few hot dogs.

One funny parenting observation…

I often buy hot dog buns at Costco not because my kids love hot dog buns—but because they’re a surprisingly effective delivery system for protein.

Especially with Daphne.

She’ll happily carry around a bun with whatever meat I’ve tucked inside. Sometimes she’ll eventually eat the bun. Sometimes she just eats the meat out of it.

Either way, I’ll take the win.

A couple of the other kids wanted hot dogs too, so everyone had a quick protein snack before we left.

At the pool we packed:

• yogurts
• String cheese
• Cucumbers
• Chips

Pretty standard summer pool snacks around here.

Dinner

We got home late, everyone took baths or showers, and dinner was all about using what we already had.

I cooked an entire bag of pasta.

I almost always cook the whole package.

For our family of seven, it’s going to get eaten eventually.

I’d much rather have cooked pasta sitting in my refrigerator than a tiny handful left in the pantry that’s not enough for another meal.

My trick is simple.

After cooking the pasta, I rinse it well with cold water and toss it with just a little olive oil (or another fat).

It never turns into one giant pasta brick.

Over the next few days it can become:

• One-pan Alfredo
• Pasta salad
• Marinara with ground beef
• Buttered noodles
• An easy side dish with almost any protein

It’s one of my favorite meal prep shortcuts.

Tonight I also finished off most of the pork tenderloin from Sunday.

I sliced it thin, got a skillet nice and hot, and quickly pan-seared it just long enough to crisp the edges.

I served it with:

• Fresh pasta
• Fresh veggies
• Barbecue sauce
• Parmesan cheese for anyone who wanted it
• and the last of the focaccia pizza

There is just a tiny bit of pork left now—probably enough for one more lunch.

Beef Stick Experiment: I Think We’re Close

While dinner was cooking, I baked the newest version of my homemade beef sticks.

I really think I’m getting close.

Here’s exactly what I changed this time.

Per pound of ground beef

• 2 teaspoons Morton Tender Quick
• ¼ teaspoon garlic salt
• ½ tablespoon mustard seed
• ½ tablespoon liquid smoke
• ½ tablespoon granulated sugar
• About 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper

After mixing everything together, I rolled the meat very thin between two sheets of parchment paper—probably only about 2–3 millimeters thick.

Instead of using a knife, I scored the meat with a bench scraper.

That worked so much better.

I simply pressed straight down, lifted, moved over, and repeated. It gave me really clean, even strips without dragging through the meat.

I made strips about 1 centimeter wide and roughly 6 centimeters long.

Then I let the whole sheet cure overnight in the refrigerator.

Today I baked it at 275°F for about one hour.

One final trick that I think made a big difference:

As soon as they came out of the oven, I blotted them thoroughly with paper towels.

Last time, once they chilled in the refrigerator, some of the beef fat hardened on the outside and left little white spots.

Blotting off that excess fat should solve that problem.

The flavor tonight was fantastic.

Even my son gave them his approval.

Now I’m excited to see how they look tomorrow after they’ve spent the night in the refrigerator.

If this batch holds up well, I think I may finally have the version I’m ready to share.

We have cooked taco meat, cooked burger patties, a little pork tenderloin left, fresh pasta ready to become whatever we need, and another batch of beef sticks waiting to be taste-tested after chilling overnight.