I decided this weekend to make two week’s worth of High School Huddle food. With it being such a busy time of year, anything I can do to get ahead is great!
And so, on Saturday morning I cooked up several pounds of hamburger meat and chicken breasts at the same time. Not in the same pot. Just at the same time. In different pots. Try to keep up.
Then I boiled noodles in the hamburger meat sauce for Italian Pasta Bake. And I cooked rice in broth for Creamy Chicken and Rice. Thankfully, I didn’t mess up and put the rice in the red sauce and noodles in the chicken broth. I mean, I could have made do with that, but it would have certainly made for some interesting concoctions that I’m not sure the High Schoolers would have appreciated.
Several huge casseroles (and a lot of dirty dishes) later, we are ready for the remaining Huddle get-togethers before Christmas.
You may be very interested to know that, at the suggestion of my good friend Kim, I also experimented this weekend with my Fudge Brownie recipe and my Homemade Caramel Sauce recipe – to make Caramel Brownies. Let’s just say that this was a very successful experiment and you will be hearing more about it soon. The kids at Huddle tonight will be testing them out for us. But since my family and I already tasted them, we’re pretty sure they will approve. ;)
I’m hoping to get a little freezer cooking done later this week. If that happens, I’ll be sure to take pictures of the mess for you at that time too. :)
Here’s what our menu looks like for this week:
Sunday, December 9
Oatmeal bars, clementines
Potato soup, raw veggies
High School Huddle – Creamy chicken and rice casserole, carrots, green beans, bread and butter, peanut butter brownie cups
Monday, December 10
Whole wheat waffles, blueberries and whipped cream
Cheeseburger macaroni, green beans
Beefy enchilada bake, salad
Tuesday, December 11
Baked oatmeal cups, bananas
Chicken burritos, fruit salad
Pizza boats, tossed salad
Wednesday, December 12
Mini breakfast pizza, clementines
Easy noodle stir-fry with broccoli and carrots
Italian cream cheese chicken, tossed salad
Thursday, December 13
Honey whole wheat bagels, apple slices
Pigs in a blanket, baby carrot, pineapple
Fiesta chicken, tossed salad
Friday, December 14
Easy no-knead bread, fruit and yogurt smoothies
Sloppy cornbread muffins, baby carrots, apples
Lasagna casserole, tossed salad, green beans
Saturday, December 15
Giant breakfast cookies, applesauce
Leftovers
Grilled cheese, tomato soup, veggies
Heya, a friend of mine just sent me these awesome persimmons from California. I’m very excited to use them as I never have tried them before. I just wondered if any of you have some fun recipe suggestions for me?
I’ve got a great persimmon cookie recipe I’d be happy to e-mail you. It does triple duty as Harvest Cookies (dried fruit, nuts and cinnamon) and the base for my fruit cake (no candied fruit over here!)
Persimmons are SOO delicious and such a rare treat that I just eat them all whole. (Don’t eat the skin, though.) I for one am very jealous of that big box!
Put some in the freezer for a day or so (longer is fine too) . Pop out the stems and dig in with a spoon. The frozen flesh tastes like sorbet.
I posted a recipe for persimmon bread on my blog a couple of years ago. You can find it here:
http://blessedfemininity.blogspot.com/2010/11/persimmon-bread.html
Happy Baking!
Blessings~
Katie
I was about to post a link to your blog in answer to Laura’s question!! I printed a copy of this a while ago and my sons love it. Funny! :)
My aunt used to give them to me. I think I made bread/muffins with them.
I just a bunch from Bountiful Baskets and have never had them before so I am looking for recipes. I think I may try to make sorbet with them..
I never tried persimmons until I moved to Japan! The fresh flesh (say that five times fast) is incredible. The Japanese hang them out to dry, and they are equally incredible that way. Sounds like something up your alley! (I don’t have any idea how to do this… All I know is that they tie them up and hang them around their balconies!)
Fuyu persimoons are known for being better for fresh eating; hachiya can be eaten, but are more commonly used for baking. Yours look more like hachiya, but I’m not sure. If so, make sure they are really ripe or they’ll be very astringent. They should feel like a bag of jelly. I cut the tops off and scoop out the pulp, puree it, and use it in recipes. I stirred some pulp into pancake batter, bread pudding, and refrigerator oatmeal(with a bit of almond extract). They were all great!
Chocolate chip persimmon cookies are the way to go in my opinion. Growing up that’s the only way we liked the hachiya variety.
Two words Persimmon Pudding :D
That’s EXACTLY what I was going to say. Persimmon pudding is delicious, like a really moist snack cake.
i once discovered persimmons at a fruit stand in my town here in indonesia. having no idea what they were (i’d never seen them before!) i bought them and decided to try them. my husband and i loved eating them raw! like a scrumptious cross between a carrot and a mango! but when i looked online for recipe ideas it was all pudding! i think adding the puree to various baked goods was a good idea!
I’ve never had persimmons so this has been an interesting read. :)
persimmon bread with nutmeg and cinnamon spices
This is a family favorite recipe brought from CA to Chambersburg, PA. Mom makes it every year at Christmas.
Persimmon Pudding:
1 c. persimmon pulp, 1/4 t. cinnamon, 1 c. sugar, 1 c. sifted flour, 2 T. butter, 2 t. baking soda, 1 egg-beaten, 1/2 c. milk, 1/2 t. salt, & 1 c. chopped nuts
Cream sugar and butter. Add beaten eggs. Beat well. Add milk alternately with flour, salt, cinnamon sifted together. Put soda in persimmon pulp and add to mixture. Add nuts and steam for 2 hours on stovetop without lifting the lid.
We found a persimmon tree on our property last year! It didn’t take us long to find out that the persimmons HAVE to be fully ripe or the astringency will leave your mouth feeling like it’s full of cotton! But I have never been able to use them in baking/cooking because they are eaten too quickly. My kids say they taste like candy and I agree so we just eat them fresh! Someone mentioned not eating the skin…we have always eaten the skin and flesh, just not the seeds. Mmmm…delicious!
I substituted persimmon for part of the pumpkin in my pumpkin bread recipe (I pureed the persimmon really well first). Worked wonderfully! As a family, we don’t love persimmons on their own, but had some from our CSA this year & certainly didn’t want them to go to waste!
Those would never make it to a recipe here! I love them. Just don’t eat the skin.
I love persimmons……skin and all…..I have wanted to bake but end up just eating them!
I made a persimmon chiffon pie last week. It was really good, very rich and on the sweet side. It was the first time I’ve ever used persimmons, as well.
http://www.food52.com/blog/263_persimmon_chiffon_pie