Saturday: Crispy Brat Bites, Leftover Pasta & Saturday Dinner at Mom’s

Got up this morning and everybody did a little bit of whatever for breakfast.

The kids had some of the bacon I’d made earlier in the week with toast, and Chris made eggs and sausage.

Then we got to work on our Saturday chores.

The Kind of Lunch That’s Faster Than Fast Food

When lunchtime rolled around, I started looking through the refrigerator to see what needed to be used.

I found about a third of a jar of Rao’s marinara left from making the focaccia pizza this week.

I had cooked pasta from last night’s dinner.

And then I remembered the big package of brats I’d bought at Costco last weekend.

Perfect.

This is exactly the kind of lunch that feels like you made something without actually requiring much cooking.

Crispy Brat Bites

Whenever I buy a big package of brats, I like to slice each brat into about 8 or 9 pieces….unless I plan to grill them, but I find that dicing them just works better for my family.

And since I’m standing there slicing anyway, I do the entire Costco package at once.

Half of the sliced brats went directly into a freezer bag and into the freezer.

There’s no reason for me to freeze them whole when I already know exactly how I’m going to cook them later. Now Future Me can pull out a bag of already-sliced brats and dump them straight onto a pan.

The other half went onto a sheet pan and into a 400°F oven.

I let them roast until they’re cooked through and browned and crispy around those cut edges.

They’re so good this way.

One Lunch, Two Ways

Some of my kids just wanted the plain brat bites.

Easy.

They had brat bites, some of the leftover pasta, and fruit and vegetables.

For everyone else, I warmed that last bit of Rao’s in a sauté pan and added the cooked brat bites.

Then I spooned the whole thing over the warmed pasta and added Parmesan cheese.

Brats + marinara + pasta is a surprisingly delicious combination.

And this entire lunch came together incredibly quickly.

This is the kind of meal I think about when people say grabbing fast food is easier.

By the time I got everyone into the car, drove somewhere, ordered food for seven people, waited for it and drove home, I could have made this lunch several times over.

The only thing I really cooked was the brats.

The pasta was already in the refrigerator.

The marinara needed to be used.

Fruit and vegetables went on the side.

And half the package of brats is now already sliced and waiting in my freezer for another meal.

That’s my kind of convenience food.

Saturday Night Dinner at My Parents’

We switched up our normal schedule this weekend and did family dinner at my parents’ house tonight instead of Sunday because that worked better for everyone.

And, as usual, my mom basically made an entire meal before the actual meal.

She put out a huge appetizer spread for everyone to graze on before dinner. There’s always so much good food that it basically qualifies as pre-dinner.

Then we had steak, shrimp cocktail, potatoes and all the sides.

And, of course, she made the chocolate cupcakes we all love.

Very good dinner. Very fun night.

And naturally, I did not come home empty-handed.

Here Comes More Leftover Steak

I brought home leftover steak.

So now I need to decide what that steak is going to become this week.

We already did steak stir-fry a few days ago, so I probably won’t repeat that.

I’m thinking steak fajitas.

Unless I come up with something new between now and then.

Tomorrow is absolutely a Costco day.

We’re at the point where you open the refrigerator and it looks almost comical.

I think we have one lone bell pepper hanging on.

The cucumbers are completely gone, which is a minor emergency considering I have two kids who could basically live on cucumbers.

Most of the cooked protein from the week has been eaten.

The fruit and vegetable odds and ends have been worked through.

The pasta is gone.

This is actually exactly how I like to end the week.