Sunday Insanity (or how to make food for the next week)

It's Sunday and it's a downright beautiful day! And a beautiful day off only means one thing....

Cooking! Yes, cooking. Sundays are designed for great works in the kitchen. You can get up as early or as late as you desire, with no time constraints. Today, I got up at 8:30 to start on my make-ahead meals.

I ended up baking a whole chicken for shredding and multi-use for the next week, I handmade tortillas (with vegetable oil this time) for breakfast burritos (more on that later), and I made pierogies.

Mmm. Pierogies. Y'know, I had never had a pierogi until I met my fiance. My mother, nor my grandmother (both of Czech and Polish descent) had ever made these little suckers. Didn't even buy them in the store. But one day my husband-to-be did, and pan fried them for me. Since then, I've been in love with the food, but not the grocery store price for them. I figured if my ancestors had made them, I could too!

Pierogi Dough

Makes 20-ish pierogies

• 1 egg
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 c. Sifted flour (or if you're lazy like me, 1 1/2 c. flour, then adding more until your dough comes together)

I mixed the dough until it came together, then turned it out onto my floured counter, and kneaded it until it was smooth. If you're making your pierogi same day, let it rest 20 minutes. If you're doing the dough beforehand, wrap it in plastic wrap and toss it in the refrigerator. The dough will still be good for up to 2 days before needing to be rolled out and pierogi-fied.

Now, my pierogi had a semi-traditional filling of potato and cheese. But instead of cooking, mashing, and then mixing my potatoes with cheese, I used mashed potato flakes (one serving of potatoes according to your package, plus about 2-3 ounces of cheese should be a perfect match for the dough recipe), and velveeta with some onion powder. The filling tastes pretty awesome, and since I'm out of cheese this was the only way to make them. Velveeta melts nice, so I didn't end up with weird stringy bits of cheddar in my potatoes.

I ended up making about 20, but most of them were very ugly. But I figure beauty will come with practice, and really, as long as they taste good, it doesn't matter.I made the dough for the pierogies the night before (well, sort of. I made the dough at 1 a.m. so technically, I did everything on Sunday) chilled it overnight, and let it come to room temperature alongside the tortilla dough while I quick-thawed the chicken in the morning. 

The one thing that really stinks about my kitchen is the complete lack of counter space. Every time I roll out dough, I end up having to relocate my dish strainer to have enough room to get everything nice and flat.

Which brings me to my tortillas. I used a different recipe this time (3 c. flour, 1 tsp salt, 1/3 c. veg oil, 1c. warm water), and let it chill out overnight. Rolling it was a LOT better than the last time I made tortillas. A lot rest makes a world of difference. They were still thick, though. I might have to experiment with different ways of pressing them out. Hm.

Anyway, the tortillas were for another make-ahead meal; Breakfast burritos. 

I've been wanting to make microwavable breakfast burritos for ages. Seriously. I love breakfast burritos, and I hate having to go to a Mickey D's or a Gas station in the morning to get one. I just popped these in the freezer, and they were so easy.

Okay, once again, since I don't have everything for a 'classic' breakfast burrito, I winged it.

Breakfast Burrito Filling

Makes filling for 6 burritos

• 1/2 Lb. Hamburger, thawed 
• 4 oz velveeta cheese, cubed
• 1 egg
• Splash milk
• 3 Tbsp chopped onion (I just took a hunk and cut it up nice and tiny. No big onion bits for me, thanks.)
• 3 Tbsp medium salsa

Brown the hamburger, and drain off the fat. Set the hamburger aside. In a bowl, scramble the egg with the splash of milk (and no, I have no idea how much a splash is. If you can scramble eggs, use your best judgement), and cook them (yep! Scrambled!) in the pan you cooked your hamburger in. 

Once your eggs are almost done, throw the hamburger back in, and add your velveeta cubes. Let the cheese melt into delicious goodness, then mix in the salsa. Spoon into tortillas and either serve hot, or freeze.

The filling is pretty close ringer for McD's burritos, but not 100%. If you have breakfast sausage, use that, and if you like more filling in your burritos, then by all means, add an extra egg. 

So that's what I did today. Lots and lots of make-ahead cooking!