thanks, chef jason

After making Paul laugh on Sunday, I finally decided
I'd had enough of being the chief cook and grocery shopper and bottle washer around here.
Time to let someone else make my meals!
Jason's Deli has been volunteering to do so for the past few weeks, and, since they had a pretty good range of foods for pick-up, I "hired" them.
That was on Tuesday, April 28th.

They prepared for me the Garden Family Feast, for
less than forty dollars.
That gave me one cup of Chicken Tortilla Soup and
two slices of a kid's pepperoni pizza for slunch
that afternoon, plus a huge side salad.
How magnificent it all was -
especially as it was food I had not prepared!!!

For dinner, I chose their Irish Potato Soup, although it cost me a Lactaid pill (as had the pizza).
This was the first bowl of two, as I had added milk when I reheated it.
It was so smoky-flavored that I kept expecting to find chunks of ham, but the soup was full of potatoes!
I really think my Irish stepdad would have approved.
(smile)

What to have for my Wednesday brunch???
The kid's meal Mac'n'cheese, plus another Lactaid pill!
Well worth it - that was so very rich!
I had cooked some extra pasta, as I could tell it was slap-dap full of cheese - and it was, too!
I was only able to eat half of this!
No worries, I had plans for it later...

...but not for slunch, no sirreebob.
The day was warm and I wanted one of my favorites:
a "big" salad, as Elaine Benice would say.
Tuna from the pantry, with the balsamic vinaigrette and croutons from the deli, turned it into a protein-rich feast for the taste buds and the eyes.
What a wonderful treat!
Good fuel for sawing off dead azalea branches!

After a couple of hours of yard work, it was time for "Quantum Leap", followed by a comedic spaghetti western from that zany PFS guy.
I made a little more pasta to go along with the brunch leftovers, sliced up some ham and an apple from last week's grocery trip, and I was good to go!
Who would have thought a kid's meal could go so far?

Speaking of kid's meals, I had the other two slices of the pizza for brunch on the 30th.
So good to have real pepperoni, and mozzarella, too!
Lunch was "on my own", so to speak, but Jason's Deli stepped in for dinner, with a very spicy Seafood Stew!
I served it over a wild rice medley from the pantry...
what a delectable flavor and magnificent aroma!

That brings me to today, the fourth day after buying the feast from the deli.
The pepperoni omelet pizza is my own brunch creation, but that glistening topping?
That was cheese, lovely full-fat cheddar, from the huge garden salad container.
Jeff and Amy approved, as they looked on from the coffee cup commemorating our February 2019 trip to Odd Lot. (smile)

Late lunch found me dining on another "big" salad, this one the third and final one from the huge container.
This time, I diced more of my ham steak, sliced the grape tomatoes, drizzled on balsamic vinaigrette, and added a sliced apple for color.
It almost looked too pretty to eat...
but I ate it, every last bite!
I had three hours of yard work ahead of me, y'all.

My dinner was the last item from the deli: the second cup of Chicken Tortilla Soup.
I chunked it up with a can of garbanzos from the pantry, then opened a bag of nacho-style chips from the bounty brought by Michael yesterday.
That wasn't quite Mexican, but it was close enough!
By my count, I had eleven meals, fully or partially contributed by Jason's Deli -
and all, as I'd said, for less than forty dollars.

Best of all, I'd had minimal preparation and cooking time involved.
Wow - what a deal!
I'll be doing this again, but maybe try one of the other family packs.
Now, however, it's time for "La La Land"...
so, la-la-later, dudes and dudettes!