Button Sunday

Sometimes I post #foodgrams on Instagram. But during the month of October, I haven’t, because instead I’ve been posting photos of the Eleventh Earl of Houndstooth, Lord Cuttlebone. I try not to post more than one or two things a day there (it’s where a lot of dog photos and coloring photos go, too).

Lucky blog readers, because here are a few of the October meals of Houndstooth Hall that I randomly shot so I could remember that I do actually cook. Some of our takeout meals are also included. We don’t eat at restaurants during The Time of Corona.

Chili! Unlike Texans, I include kidney beans in my chili. I used to never eat chili until Timmy told me that sour cream is a great topping for it. I will do anything to find a way to eat more sour cream. Then after Harvey, Lynne taught us the trick of putting it over Fritos. So I either serve it with cornbread, or in this case, Fritos. Frito pie! This was a dinner and a couple of lunches for Tom and me.

Country-fried steak with rice and gravy, squash, salad, and corn on the cob. Normally that meal wouldn’t have corn on the cob, but it was eat it or watch it go bad.

This is baked hen, cornbread dressing, leftover rice from a prior meal, green beans, and salad. There was lots of hen left, and it went into chicken and dumplings, chicken sandwiches, and there’s still some in the freezer for what will probably be the next pot of chicken and dumplings.

This is a takeout breakfast burrito from Tacos A Go Go. I’ll eat this for dinner when Tom is in the mood for Mexican food, because I can order it non-spicy. This has eggs, cheese, potatoes, refried beans, and spinach.

Roast beef with potatoes and carrots (all cooked in the crock pot with a can of cream of onion soup that adds flavor and makes a gravy), salad, yeast rolls, and zucchini. Tim belongs to a food delivery service where they deliver all the ingredients in a kit for food preparation. Anytime his meals come with squash, zucchini, or cucumbers, he gives those to us because he doesn’t eat them. This zucchini was sautéd and delicious. Thanks, Tim!

Takeout cheeseburger and fries from Little Bitty Burger Barn.

Homemade Tex Mex. Chips and queso, and tortillas loaded with refried beans, taco-seasoned ground pork, and black olives topped with lettuce, tomato, and sour cream. That pork was another donation from Tim. He doesn’t eat pork and forgot to order ground turkey in place of it in one of his meal kits.

NOTHING goes to waste at the Hall. This is a big pot of soup made in the crockpot from leftovers. I keep a gallon zipper bag in the freezer, and every bit of leftovers goes into it until there’s enough for soup. This served not only Tom and me for a couple of days’ dinners and lunches, but I also sent soup and cornbread to Tim and Debby. Offhand, I think this contains these leftovers: roast, tomato meat sauce (from a spaghetti meal), rice, Rice R Roni, carrots, potatoes, navy beans, green beans, corn, black-eyed peas, stewed tomatoes, and kale.

Tomato meat sauce over bowtie pasta with garlic bread and salad. This is not the meat sauce that went in the soup. This actually was all devoured by Tom and me for dinner and lunches over a few days.

Another time we had takeout, this time from Chipotle. Most of their stuff is too spicy for me, but I can control that on a salad like this one. This has a mix of lettuces, spinach, corn salsa, pinto beans, and steak strips, topped with sour cream and shredded cheese.

This is a brunch tray I made for myself to eat while I was writing. I was using up the rest of a bag of broken potato chips; usually I’d have Triscuits instead. Then there’s hummus, celery, cucumbers (from Tim’s meal kit!), apple slices, a tangerine, and sharp cheddar cheese slices.

Homemade fish feast! Okay, the fish filets are Gorton’s, but other than that, this is all homemade: fries, hushpuppies, coleslaw, and corn on the cob (once again, had to use that corn before it went bad). I was STUFFED after this.

These are just a few of the meals we’ve eaten, and though they seem to have a lot of meat, we actually have reduced our meat consumption. We don’t have meat at every meal, and the meat we do eat is usually spread over several meals, so we’re eating it in smaller quantities.

Less meat is part of an overall effort to be mindful of climate change and ways we can help, along with: recycling, keeping our energy-efficient cars in good condition and using them efficiently, and little or no air travel. We also replaced all our windows with energy efficient windows, keep our thermostat set correctly, have energy-efficient appliances and lightbulbs, and are conservative with our water use. We donate clothes and household items to keep them out of landfills. We’re trying!