Monday: A Post-Trip Reset, Candied Nuts & Burger Bowls

Got up this morning and it was officially time for a reset.

And obviously, a kitchen reset starts with bacon.

After being gone all weekend, we needed to get back into our normal rhythm: school, food, laundry, dishes, bathrooms, all the things.

But first, breakfast.

Daphne’s Fancy Cereal Setup

In addition to the Christmas plates we bought at Replacements this weekend, I found Daphne the cutest little pink milk jug.

And this is exactly the sort of thing my four-year-old loves because it turns eating cereal into an entire activity.

Instead of just handing her a bowl of cereal, I make her a little tray.

She gets:

A bowl.

Cereal in a separate little cup.

Milk in her tiny pitcher.

A spoon.

And then she gets to pour and assemble her own breakfast.

It’s basically my four-year-old philosophy of extend the play, extend the activity.

If something that normally takes three minutes can become a 20-minute activity because I gave you a tiny pitcher?

Fantastic.

Back to Real Life

Then we got into our school day, while I simultaneously attempted to put the house back together.

At one point Daphne was literally riding around on my back while I was trying to do dishes because she had missed me while I was gone.

And I had bathrooms to clean.

Normally I’d do those Friday, except I was in North Carolina on Friday.

So today was very much:

Math.

Bathrooms.

Dishes.

School.

Child attached to my back.

Welcome home.

Yes, I Drove That Steak Seven Hours Home

Lunch, however, was excellent.

Remember our nice dinner Saturday night?

I had leftover steak.

And if you know me at all, you know I wasn’t leaving a good piece of steak behind just because I happened to be staying in a hotel without a refrigerator.

I put that steak in a baggie.

I kept it cold in my cooler.

I replenished the ice.

And yes, I drove it seven hours home.

There were also leftover French fries.

Obviously those came too.

Today I cut the steak into pieces and reheated it the same way I always reheat steak: get a pan really hot, add a little fat and quickly sear the pieces just long enough to get those edges hot and browned.

I warmed the French fries too.

Meanwhile, while I was gone, Chris had taken the boys and Daphne out for pizza. There was some of that left in the refrigerator, so I reheated it.

Add fruit and vegetables, and suddenly everybody had a pretty great little plated lunch made almost entirely from restaurant leftovers.

This is why I bring home the leftovers.

And the Taco Meat Is Gone

For my lunch, I made a taco salad with the very last of the taco meat I cooked Thursday night before leaving town.

That is officially gone too.

One Last Summer Day Calls for Candied Nuts

This afternoon it was rainy and dreary, and today is technically the last day of summer.

Which obviously made me want the house to smell like fall.

So I made a batch of my candied nuts.

If you’ve made these before, you know.

They make the entire house smell incredible, and they’re one of those recipes that instantly makes everything feel cozy.

I filmed them too, so I’m hoping to get that posted tomorrow.

In case you want to make these ASAP... It’s 6 cups of nuts (I like to use 2 cups sliced almonds and 4 cups pecans), 1 cup water, 2 cups sugar, a teaspoon of cinnamon, a sprinkle of salt, and a splash of vanilla. Cook them on medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar is crisp and your house smells AMAZING!! Just an FYI, once the water starts to evaporate, DON’T walk away!! It’s very easy to go from crystalized to burnt. The second the nuts look crispy and ‘dry’, transfer to a parchment lined sheet pan.

Perfect timing for the first day of fall.

Prepping Another Batch of Teriyaki Summer Sausage

Chris made a Costco run while I was gone and restocked the ground beef.

So this afternoon I pulled some of that out and made another log of my new teriyaki homemade beef summer sausage.

That is curing overnight, and I’ll cook it tomorrow.

I used the rest of the ground beef for dinner.

Nothing complicated—I just browned it all in a pan with salt.

Because tonight was burger-bowl night.

Turning Sunday’s Potatoes Into Crispy Burger-Bowl Potatoes

My parents sent us home with some of the potatoes from last night’s big family dinner.

They were already completely cooked, so tonight I spread them over a parchment-lined sheet pan, smashed them down a little, added a bit more oil and put them back into a hot oven.

The potatoes were already done.

All I wanted was crispy edges.

And this is one of my favorite things to do with leftover cooked potatoes. They may not seem particularly exciting when they’re sitting cold in a container in the refrigerator, but smash them and blast them with heat and suddenly they’re an entirely different side.

I also reheated some of the leftover pasta my parents sent home.

Burger Bowls Are an Adaptable-Dinner Dream

Then I put out all the burger things.

Ground beef.

Crispy smashed potatoes.

Pasta.

Pickles.

Onions.

Lettuce.

Other toppings and vegetables.

Fruit on the side.

And everybody could decide what dinner looked like.

Want a full burger bowl with beef, crispy potatoes, lettuce, pickles, onions and all the toppings piled together?

Do it.

Want plain ground beef, pasta and fruit without any of those foods touching each other?

Also dinner.

This is why I love burger bowls.

It’s an adaptable dinner without me making separate meals.

Apparently I’m Leaving Town Again

Now, why did I immediately make another batch of summer sausage when I just got home?

Because apparently I’m traveling again this week.

Who am I?

I am normally very much at home, doing school and cooking food. I do not typically have back-to-back trips on my calendar.

But this one is pretty special.

Last week I was invited to attend the beatification of Fulton J. Sheen in St. Louis on Thursday, and I’ll be there with media credentials as a content creator.

Which is a sentence I still find slightly hilarious.

I post cooking videos on the internet.

And now I have media credentials for a beatification.

Okay!

Chris is coming with me, and I’m really excited about it.

And, naturally, one of my first thoughts was:

What are we putting in the cooler?

Homemade summer sausage, obviously.

It travels well, it’s easy to slice, and it’ll make a great substantial snack while we’re on the road.

So tomorrow I’ll cook the teriyaki summer sausage that’s curing tonight, and we’ll start getting everything ready for Thursday.

Apparently we’re doing another travel week.

At least we’re going into it with bacon, burger bowls and summer sausage.