Sunday: 20 Burgers, Yard Work & Sunday Dinner
We had to get moving pretty quickly this morning because we were headed to Mass. We normally go on Saturday evenings, but with our neighborhood pool party last night, Sunday morning it was.
The Bacon That Keeps on Giving
And somehow, I am STILL feeding everyone bacon that I prepped before our lake trip and put in the freezer.
Apparently Past Me thought we were going to need an absolutely enormous quantity of bacon. But you know what? I’m not mad about it. It’s just continuing to bless Future Me.
So this morning I reheated some of that bacon along with the Costco bagels I’d pulled from the freezer.
Chris also made eggs, and when he makes them, he always makes enough for a couple of days.
Our trick for reheatable eggs is to cook them on the stovetop and flip them when they’re just barely firm enough to flip. We don’t want to completely cook them through because they’re going to cook a little more when they’re reheated.
Then they go straight into a glass container and into the refrigerator once they’ve cooled. Tomorrow morning, breakfast is basically already done.
Then we headed to Mass.
Ask Me How Many Burgers Fit on My Grill
When we got home, it was time to deal with the ground beef I bought at Costco on Friday.
So I made 20 burgers.
Why 20?
Because I know from experience that exactly 20 homemade burger patties fit on my grill.
If 24 fit, I assure you I would make 24.
I formed all the patties and grilled the entire batch, and we ate burgers for lunch with fruit, vegetables and chips.
And this is one of those times when cooking a LOT really doesn’t add that much more work. If the grill is already hot and I’m already forming burgers, I would much rather completely fill it.
Now I have a whole stack of cooked burgers in my refrigerator ready to become lunches, snacks, burger bowls or whatever else we need over the next few days.
I Might Finally Need a Burger Press
I will say, I still don’t own a burger press.
People recommend them to me all the time, and I’ve just never found one that looks both useful and really easy to clean.
But when you’re standing at the counter forming 20 burger patties by hand, you do start reconsidering your life choices.
It probably took me about 7 minutes to form all 20, which really isn’t terrible. And once the patties are ready, homemade burgers can be on the table incredibly quickly. I can grill a batch in about 10 minutes.
But could I make this more efficient? Probably.
And More Ground Beef for Future Me
The Costco package was about six pounds of ground beef, and I didn’t need all of it for the burgers.
So while I was working on those, I put the remaining couple of pounds into a pan on the stove and cooked it plain.
Again, if I’m already dealing with six pounds of raw ground beef, I want to deal with ALL of it.
Now I have cooked ground beef ready to turn into taco meat, pasta, burger bowls or a quick lunch later this week without having to start with raw meat again.
An Afternoon Outside
This afternoon was a get-things-done-around-the-house afternoon.
We worked outside, pulled weeds in the garden, cleaned things up on the deck and did some power washing. I set up the slip and slide for the kids while we worked, which kept everyone entertained.
Sunday Dinner Is Back
Then tonight we headed to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner, which we haven’t done in three weeks between birthdays, travel and everything else we’ve had going on.
And my mom made the chocolate cupcakes we all love from Iowa Girl Eats. They’re gluten-free, and she very sweetly makes half the frosting with dairy-free butter and the other half with regular butter so everyone can have them.
And, as usual, I came home with leftovers — including some steak that will absolutely be put to work tomorrow.
Looking Ahead
I’m feeling really good about our protein situation going into the week.
I’ve got leftover steak from my parents’ house, a whole stack of cooked burger patties from today, and cooked ground beef ready to turn into something else.
I also pulled a pork tenderloin from the freezer on Friday, so that’s fully defrosted and absolutely needs to be cooked tomorrow. And I still have the chicken breasts I bought at Costco on Friday waiting for me.
So we’re starting the week with plenty of options, which is exactly where I like to be.
The goal tomorrow: cook that pork tenderloin, start working through what we’ve already prepped, and keep the three-day protein rotation moving.