A Week of Meals and a Winter Warm-up, Too-easy Stew

It has been a week of bits of company and the last hurrah with our girl before she returned to her regular life on Thursday night. It has been an unplanned third week of homeschool vacation, but nobody complained. It has felt like a necessary holiday-after-the-holiday, in which I even felt motivated to do some extra cooking. Good thing, since there were extra mouths.

Meals this week:

Sunday:
Pork and sauerkraut
Mashed potatoes
Steamed carrots

Monday:
Beef ragu w/ deluxe polenta
Salad w/ walnuts, goat cheese, and pear, courtesy of The Daughter and The Visitor
Cheesecake

Tuesday, courtesy of The Daughter:
Pancakes — regular and pumpkin
Bacon

Wednesday:
Meatloaf
Potatoes Anna
Carrots and broccoli

Thursday:
German kielbasa and sauerkraut stew
Rye bread
Apple slices

Friday:
Spaghetti w/ leftover meatloaf in sauce, courtesy of Adolescent Males 1 and 2
Salad

I planned to leave you with the recipe for the German Stew, but then I remembered I did that last year. Here is the link:
http://inmykitcheninmylife.blogspot.com/2010/01/oom-pah-pah.html

This is a terrific fix/forget slow cooker recipe, and it tastes wonderfully om-om when reheated for lunches for the sauerkraut lovers who didn’t get enough to jumpstart their year with the traditional pork meal early in the week and this one in the middle. Caveat: it is ugly like cat sick, so don’t serve it to guests who require beauty in order to maintain appetite.

Now get up and go cook something good.