Tuesday: Crispy Hash Browns, Teriyaki Summer Sausage & A Chef Salad Date Night

Got up this morning and breakfast was a little bit of everything.

We finished the last of the bacon in the refrigerator, had some cereal, and worked our way through more of those square artisan ciabatta rolls from Costco.

Those rolls are delicious, but they have a very short window where they’re really good sitting on the counter.

After about the first 12 hours, I almost always want to toast them. And within a day or two, you really need to have eaten them or moved them into the refrigerator or freezer because they dry out quickly—and then you’re racing the mold clock.

So this morning I popped some into the oven to crisp them back up.

A little butter.

Some kids added cinnamon.

Some went savory with garlic powder.

And suddenly the slightly-dry Costco rolls were excellent again. Daphne wanted to make some oatmeal so you KNOW I made that process last…I had her staring and mixing and adding things over the course of 30 minutes…keeps her happy and busy! She opted for some sprinkles to top it off!

The Trader Joe’s Hash Browns Are a 10/10

I also pulled out the last of those rectangular Trader Joe’s hash brown patties my dad bought for us.

We first tried them with dinner last week after he couldn’t find the frozen shredded potatoes I normally ask him to buy.

Turns out this was a very good substitution.

I heated the last few from the freezer for breakfast today, and the kids were unanimous:

10/10.

They’re really crispy, and apparently I need to add them to the regular Trader Joe’s rotation.

For my teen, I took one of the ciabatta rolls and turned it into a breakfast sandwich with a fried egg, sausage and cheese.

So everybody got a substantial breakfast, and then we settled in for a big school morning.

Yesterday’s Burgers Are Today’s Lunch

At lunchtime, the kids wanted burgers.

Perfect.

The burgers were already cooked.

This is exactly why I make a big batch when I’m grilling them. The work of forming the patties and standing at the grill is already done, and suddenly lunch the next day takes almost no thought.

I reheated burgers for the kids and added whatever sides everyone wanted.

For myself, I grabbed some of the grilled chicken in the refrigerator and made a barbecue chicken salad.

And then it was time to find out whether yesterday’s experiment actually worked.

The Teriyaki Summer Sausage Is SO Good

Yesterday I took my homemade beef summer sausage and experimented with a completely different flavor.

I’ve already made teriyaki beef sticks, and we loved them. So I wanted to know what would happen if I took that same general flavor profile and used it for my homemade beef summer sausage.

Today, after curing overnight, I cooked it.

And it is incredible.

I really love my original homemade beef summer sausage. That one has the mustard seed and a more traditional summer-sausage flavor.

But this is completely different.

The teriyaki version has ginger, sesame oil and soy sauce or liquid aminos, and it is just really, really good.

I filmed the whole thing today, so I’m going to get that Reel edited and create a new recipe page for it on the website.

I’ll put the ingredients here too so you can get started before the full recipe page is up, but the method is exactly the same as my original homemade beef summer sausage. It’s just a new flavor.

For 1 lb ground beef (I did 2 pounds today)

• 2 tsp Morton Tender Quick
• 1 Tbsp liquid aminos
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp dried onion flakes
• ½ tsp coarse black pepper
• ½ Tbsp liquid smoke

• ½ tsp sesame oil

And this one is absolutely staying in the rotation.

God Bless Tuesday Violin Lessons

Tuesday afternoon means my mom takes the girls to violin.

And there just happens to be a Chick-fil-A right across the street.

God bless my mom.

She stops and gets dinner for the kids, and they usually come home with it around 4:45.

So tonight all five kids had an early Chick-fil-A dinner, which meant I didn’t need to make dinner for them at our normal time.

Instead, I made something really good for Chris and me.

Homemade Croutons From the Costco Rolls

Those ciabatta rolls made another appearance.

At this point they’re getting drier, which actually makes them perfect for croutons.

I chopped one into small cubes.

Then I heated a pan with a little olive oil and butter, added the bread and sprinkled everything with garlic salt.

Keep it around medium heat and toss everything around until the bread starts getting toasted and crisp on the edges.

That’s it.

Don’t throw away slightly stale bread.

Make croutons.

Chef Salads & an Accidental Date Night

Then I made two giant chef salads.

I basically pulled out all the vegetables we had in the refrigerator and started building.

I added some of today’s homemade teriyaki beef summer sausage.

I hard-boiled some eggs for Chris.

I warmed some of the grilled chicken in a pan with a little fat.

Added the homemade croutons.

Then I made my standard homemade vinaigrette and poured that over everything.

It was so good.

And because the kids had already eaten their Chick-fil-A, Chris and I actually got to sit down together and eat dinner by ourselves.

We normally eat dinner as a family, and I love that.

But every once in a while?

It’s also really nice to sit across from your husband, eat a giant salad and have an uninterrupted conversation.

A little accidental at-home date night.

I’ll take it.

Daphne wanted a little night time snack so she did dueling bowls of Rice Krispies and Cocoa Krispies with sprinkles on top of course.

Ingredient Household After Dark: Pumpkin Edition

And now apparently I’m going to bake.

I’ve been wanting something pumpkin all day, but I never actually had a chance to make anything.

So tonight I’m planning an Ingredient Household After Dark experiment.

And I have one very important requirement for this recipe:

We’re using the whole can of pumpkin.

Because there are certainly worse problems in life, but I really don’t enjoy a recipe that says:

“Add 1/2 cup pumpkin.”

Okay.

Now what am I doing with the rest of this open can of pumpkin?

No thank you.

So tonight’s recipe is designed around using the entire can.

A Little Leftover Pumpkin Trick

And while we’re talking about it, if you do end up with leftover pumpkin puree, don’t forget that it can work as an egg substitute in certain baked goods.

A general starting point is about 1/4 cup pumpkin puree for one egg.

Pumpkin can provide some of the moisture and binding you’d normally get from an egg, which can work particularly well in things like brownies, cakes and some cookies. It will change the texture and can add some pumpkin flavor, so it’s not a universal one-for-one swap—but it’s a handy trick for the right recipe.

So if you ever find half a can of pumpkin staring at you from the refrigerator, there’s one way to use it.

As for tonight’s experiment?

We’ll see.

If it’s good, you’ll definitely get the recipe.

If it’s terrible, perhaps we’ll never speak of it again.