Well, that's a switch

For the past few days, my sleep schedule has been buggered in the other direction, as in, I keep waking at 4-5AM and not being able to get back to sleep. Last night, after a few days of this, I couldn't keep my eyes open til the new 10PM...slept til 4, yay.

I made it work for me, though. I get up and was out the door to the food bank shortly after 6. When I signed in, I was number 218, and they were on 89, so I had a while to wait and listen to the conversation of some women in the row behind me, talking about a raffle at some smoke-filled pool hall, and how there hadn't been much of a turn-out for it because it was a cheap cue stick from palMart and serious "pool people" use high-end...blah-blah-blah.

Made out pretty well---got some cinnamon swirls, a Paula Dean Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake, a loaf of whole-wheat bread, some onion kaiser rolls, Sandwich Thins, ground beef, ground pork, eggs, baby spinach, tomato sauce, two cans of beans (one kidney, one vegetarian) and some snacky things: two PopTarts, a can of Pringles and some Wheat Thins Stix (Cheddar Chipotle...I'm not a huge fan of chipotle, but hey, free is good!).

My food stamp card doesn't reload til the 13th...mind you, I'm not going to starve, either way. I've got acres of pasta and boxed stuff in my pantry, as well as soups and legumes. Butthis gives me a few more options (I'm thinking out loud here)...french toast. I haven't had french toast in aeons. I can fry up that pork and season it and add it to a can of Save-a-Lot sausage gravy and do something like sloppy joes over the kaiser rolls. Ground beef+beans+a can of RoTel tomatoes (which I have already) = chili, which sounds really good. I've got some turkey kielbasa in the freezer, that'll cover a couple more meals, a couple cans of tuna---I swear, when my card gets reloaded, I'm going to BJ's and snagging a bunch more tuna, and maybe a case of hash---Tuna Helper in the pantry, I might try something somebody mentioned over the course of the poached egg post, namely, poached eggs over spinach---or spinach salad. I can hard-boil a couple eggs and I have some precooked bacon I could snip into it. I have turkey gravy and stuffing; I might attempt stuffin' muffins ala Mb. I have a can of biscuits. Mmm, biscuits and sausage gravy.... So it's not going to be ramen noodles for a week solid. Yay!

Anyway, I was back home and unpacked by 7:45, and feel a sense of accomplishment. Now, If I can just withstand the desire to crawl back into bed--!

Here's what I'm thinking....

Okay, so I have ground beef and ground pork. Both are frozen/thawing in the fridge. Given my fridge, they ought to be malleable tomorrow. Pork being more...what's the word I'm looking for here? Time-sensitive, basically. Anyway, pork tomorrow, ground beef Wednesday.

At first, I was just going to bung it into the skillet with some black pepper, and when it had a nice tan, dump a can of gravy over it. That seems a little anticlimatic, doncha think? Seemed like it to me.

So, here's what I'm thinking now. For starters, I have a still-viable onion in the pantry. Chop it up good and saute it. While that's happening, mix up the pork with a beaten egg and some bread crumbs with the pepper added to it. Along the lines of meatballs or meatloaf, but dropped by the pinch in amongst the translucent onion bits. When satisfied that I'm not at risk of trichanosis, I'll smother it with the canned gravy and allow them to meld at a simmer. Serve over onion rolls, which ought to be used ASAP, because by Wednesday, it may be too late.

Yes, I've been meditating obsessively* about tomorrow night's dinner. Haven't had anything tonight, not really in the mood. No firm plans for the ground beef yet, although something chili-ish still sounds good.

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* Mb once said, "Fluffy, you LUST after food!" I don't recall the exact circumstances, but I just *looked* at her and said, "Honey, nobody who doesn't like to eat gets to weigh 350." (This was a few years ago, but still....)

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