Monday: A Cereal Tray, Dentist Appointments & Six Pounds of Ground Beef

Got up this morning and completely forgot that we still had pancakes left over from Saturday.

Oh well.

I guess those will be breakfast tomorrow.

We were up early today, so I got some bacon going, and the kids had bacon with some of those square artisan rolls from Costco.

And my teenager made herself a bowl of oatmeal.

Which, by the way, is not your average bowl of oatmeal.

My Teenager’s Very Fancy Oatmeal

She makes oatmeal with whatever fruit we happen to have in the kitchen.

Usually it’s a pear, peach or apple.

Today she used a pear.

She cuts up the fruit and combines it with oats, milk, brown sugar and cinnamon.

Then she cooks everything together, either in the microwave or on the stovetop, until the oatmeal is nice and creamy and the fruit has softened.

And then she finishes it with a little heavy cream.

It’s delicious.

Almost like a warm fruit crisp in oatmeal form.

And I love that she’s comfortable making herself something like this.

It’s a great reminder that breakfast doesn’t have to be complicated to be really good.

The Four-Year-Old Cereal Tray

I also made my four-year-old one of her favorite breakfast setups.

A cereal tray.

I’ve talked about this before, but one of my favorite strategies for little kids is to extend the play.

Instead of simply handing her a bowl of cereal, I turn the process of making the cereal into an activity.

Here’s what I put on her tray:

• An empty cereal bowl
• A little cup filled with cereal
• A spoon
• A small pitcher with milk
• A tiny teacup with water
• Sprinkles, because apparently cereal needs sprinkles

And then I let her make her own breakfast.

She pours the cereal.

She adds the milk.

She stirs everything around.

She sprinkles on her sprinkles.

And she has the best time.

Is it faster for me to just pour cereal into a bowl?

Of course.

But that’s not really the point.

The point is that she gets to spend time doing something independently while I’m working with the older kids.

And she thinks it’s wonderful.

Sometimes the easiest way to keep a preschooler occupied isn’t to come up with an entirely new activity.

It’s just to slow down something you’re already doing and let them participate.

Don’t just serve the cereal. Let them make the cereal.

Five Kids at the Dentist

After a quick morning of schoolwork, we packed everybody up and headed to the dentist.

All five kids had dental appointments today.

And I’m happy to report that the four-year-old did beautifully.

She sat nicely for her appointment.

And she was absolutely dazzled by her new toothbrush.

This child loves toothbrushes.

Some kids get excited about stickers or little toys.

Mine is thrilled to come home with a new toothbrush.

Whatever works!

We got everybody through their appointments and headed home for lunch.

Another Lunch Courtesy of the Refrigerator

I pulled out some of the grilled chicken thighs from last night’s dinner.

A few kids made grilled chicken sandwiches.

Others wanted grilled chicken salads.

And my teenager finished off some of the taco meat we cooked on the Blackstone Saturday night.

So she had tacos.

Everybody got something they liked.

And once again, I didn’t have to cook a new protein.

The weather was beautiful this afternoon, so we spent quite a bit of time outside.

The kids were playing, riding bikes and enjoying the nice weather.

And I was very happy to have everybody outside after our morning of appointments.

Then it was time to start dinner.

And today was ground beef day.

My Monday Ground Beef Routine

If you’ve followed along for a while, you know I buy those big six-pound packages of ground beef from Costco.

And I usually try to cook the beef pretty quickly after bringing it home.

I don’t like letting a big package of raw ground beef sit around in my refrigerator.

So Mondays are often ground beef days.

But here’s the important part.

I don’t necessarily use all six pounds for dinner. I cook all six pounds so I can use the rest later.

Tonight I decided to make smash burger tortillas.

And while I was doing that, I cooked the remaining ground beef separately so I could put it into the freezer.

One cooking session.

Dinner tonight.

And several future meals already started.

That’s my kind of efficiency.

Smash Burger Tortillas

I’ve been making these for a while, and they’re such a fun way to serve burgers.

They’re basically a cross between a smash burger and a tortilla wrap.

You take a tortilla and press raw ground beef directly onto it.

And when I say press it, I mean really press it.

I use about a baseball-sized portion of ground beef and spread it as thinly as possible, all the way to the edges of the tortilla.

You don’t want a thick burger patty sitting in the middle.

You want a thin, even layer of beef covering the tortilla.

Then you cook it beef-side down on a hot cooking surface.

A large skillet works.

A cast-iron skillet works.

And the Blackstone works beautifully.

Then you add whatever burger toppings you want.

Cheese, lettuce, pickles, sauce, onions.

Whatever sounds good.

It’s basically a smash burger you can fold up and eat.

And because the beef is spread so thin, it cooks quickly. Just make sure the ground beef reaches 160°F.

Why I Probably Should Have Used the Blackstone

Tonight I decided to make them inside.

I have two cast-iron skillets, so I figured I’d just use those.

And they worked perfectly well.

But in hindsight?

I should have opened up the Blackstone.

For some reason, I sometimes convince myself that getting the Blackstone ready is a whole production.

Which is ridiculous.

Because the Blackstone gives me so much more cooking space, and all the mess stays outside.

Instead, I was inside making smash burger tortillas in batches on two cast-iron skillets.

It worked.

But next time, I think I’m taking this operation outdoors.

Making Gluten-Free Smash Burger Tortillas

Since I don’t eat gluten, I made a few of the burgers using almond flour tortillas.

And that meant I needed to clean my cooking surface between the regular flour tortillas and my gluten-free ones.

Here’s what I did.

While the cast-iron skillet was still hot, I added a little water to loosen the cooked-on bits.

Then I carefully wiped everything out with a paper towel, using tongs to keep my hands away from the heat.

I repeated that until the water and residue were coming up clear.

It’s basically the same method I use when cleaning my Blackstone.

A little water on the hot surface helps loosen the debris, and then you wipe everything clean.

One important distinction here: this is my personal approach to avoiding gluten, not a method I’d recommend for someone with celiac disease.

I eat gluten-free because of my Hashimoto’s, but I don’t have celiac disease.

So for me, a tiny amount of incidental gluten contact isn’t something I worry about in the same way.

If I were cooking for someone with celiac disease, I’d use a separate, thoroughly cleaned cooking surface and utensils to prevent cross-contact.

But for our family’s needs, this approach works.

Not Everyone Wanted a Tortilla

And because we’re feeding seven people, of course not everybody wanted the same thing.

A couple of the kids didn’t want smash burger tortillas.

They just wanted regular smash burgers.

No problem.

I took some of the ground beef, formed thin patties and cooked those in the skillets too.

Same meat.

Same cooking surface.

Just a slightly different presentation.

I love meals like this because it’s easy to accommodate preferences without making a completely separate dinner.

My Crispy Mini French Fries

To go with the burgers, I made one of my favorite easy potato sides.

I call them mini French fries.

But they’re actually just frozen shredded potatoes.

And they’re so good.

I spread the frozen shredded potatoes out on a sheet pan and tossed them with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Then I roasted them at 425°F convection.

They take about 30 minutes, depending on how thickly you spread them out and how crispy you want them.

I toss them around occasionally so they brown on different sides.

And eventually you get these delicious little crispy potato pieces.

They’re almost like a cross between hash browns and tiny French fries.

Golden brown.

Crunchy.

Salty.

Perfect with burgers.

And so much easier than cutting a bunch of potatoes into fries.

Six Pounds of Beef, Two Different Jobs

While I was making the smash burger tortillas, I also had the rest of the ground beef cooking in a separate pot.

Because I wasn’t about to go through the work of cooking burgers tonight and then leave several pounds of raw beef sitting in my refrigerator.

I wanted to get it all done.

So I used roughly a third of the six-pound package for our smash burgers and cooked the remaining two-thirds separately.

That means I now have about four pounds of cooked ground beef ready for future meals.

I’ll let it cool promptly, portion it into freezer bags and freeze it.

And then the possibilities are endless.

Korean beef bowls.

Chili.

Taco night.

Burger bowls.

Pasta sauce.

Soup.

Whatever I feel like making later this week or next week.

That’s why I call it Dinner Insurance.

Because when you have cooked ground beef in the freezer, you’re already halfway to dinner.

You don’t have to thaw raw meat, brown it, drain the grease and clean up the whole mess.

You just pull out a package of cooked beef and build a meal around it.

And I cannot tell you how many times that has saved me on a busy afternoon.