WIS, WWA | so tidy
Very random, I know, but I want to give a little shoutout to whoever left all the colorful kettlebells lined up so nicely at the gym.
What I Spent
I spent:
- $24 at Safeway
- $65 at Aldi
- $8 at Giant
- $30 on a Hungry Harvest box
So, $127.
What We Ate
Saturday
Chicken quesadillas 🙂
Sunday
Zoe wasn't here, and I wasn't especially hungry, so I just had a bowl of yogurt with fruit and some chia seeds.
Monday
I boiled the last of a box of protein pasta and made a quick pan sauce by browning some fresh tomatoes and onion, deglazing the pan with chicken broth, and adding some half and half plus salt/pepper, etc.
Tuesday
I made these chicken enchiladas so that I could have leftovers for lunches. I haven't made them in forever, since 9x13 pans of things are too much for two people....unless one of those two people needs lunches! 😉
I used chicken thighs this time instead of chicken breasts, since chicken thighs hold up better when reheated at lunchtime.
I also prepped some high-protein chocolate overnight oats for breakfasts for the next three days.
I use this basic idea, but I leave out the carrots, raisins, orange peel, and spices, and I add in some cocoa powder.
Wednesday
Workday ⅓! Overnight oats for breakfast.
For lunch, I ate enchiladas, plus some fruit and other sides.
After work, I switched out my usual cold cereal for cottage cheese.
Thursday
Work again! A lather, rinse, and repeat on all fronts.
Friday
Shift 3/3 for me, and I'm out here copy-pasting the last two days. Interesting? No. Did it get the job done? Yep.
Aldi had protein pasta on the regular pasta aisle. I wonder if it is going to be a normal item. It was 10 grams vs. 7 grams for the normal pasta.
Less heat, so also cooked veg and meat on a few days instead of just salads. And actually even fries on one day.
Tonight will be chili beans.
Everyone in the US: I hope you will have great celebrations tomorrow!
Thank you!
Enjoy the weekend! I expect Chiquita and/or Shelly would have liked to help with the chicken 😉
This week's eats (not sure if it was in this exact order):
Saturday: Veggie burgers with hamburger buns and salad. I had strawberries with natural yoghurt and granola afterwards.
Sunday: Spinach with mushrooms, onion, garlic and cream cheese over pasta
Monday: Pesto and sundried tomatoes and spinach over pasta
Tuesday: Mushroom omelette. I had a strawberry smoothie with protein powder for dessert.
Wednesday: Burritos with mixed veg, black beans and brown rice with sauce
Thursday: Pizza
Friday: Undecided. I'm cat-sitting for my friend and staying in her flat. I'll probably end up having pasta again!
Sophie, thanks for your reply yesterday on where you swim in the sea!
Enjoy your cat sitting time and have a wonderful holiday back home soon!
Thank you! 🙂
This is where those 8x8 and 9x9 pans come in handy. But, I definitely do this for lunches for a couple days. I work swing shift. Working the same shift 7 days in a row. Some shifts are easier to meal prep than others.
Saturday: Chicken drumsticks, using the Smitten Kitchen recipe for slow and low dry rub chicken, which actually made good drumsticks. Not something I usually say about drumsticks. We also had rice. My husband had a breakfast burrito, as there weren't enough drumsticks. And watermelon.
Sunday: Grilled steaks, leftover mashed potatoes or spaghetti, carrot sticks, and not at all seasonally appropriate pumpkin custard. A Smitten Kitchen recipe again, this time for silky smooth pumpkin pie, except minus the crust. I made it the day before when I had the oven on for a long time for the chicken,
Monday: My husband flew to New York in the morning with three of the four children. The eldest stayed home. He had a cold, so he just had leftover mashed potatoes and spaghetti (not together) for dinner, plus some of the butterscotch pudding I had made to use up excess milk. I was exhausted because I had been painting my kitchen, so I had vodka and seltzer first, then a hardboiled egg, then some granola with milk, and finally some butterscotch pudding.
Tuesday: I had a salad with hardboiled egg and feta cheese. Son wasn't hungry for dinner. I think he ate something before bed, though I don't know what.
Wednesday: I had one small steak, which I chopped up and fried with chopped potatoes, frozen peas, and cheese for a very ugly but tasty skillet meal.
Thursday: I got a rotisserie chicken at Walmart this day, some of which went into my salad. Son made a toasted burrito with some of the chicken. We both had ice cream.
Tonight: Not sure. I think I had some tuna salad in the refrigerator, so maybe tuna quesadillas. Almost certainly ice cream. It hasn't been as hot and miserable here as it is in a lot of places, mostly because we have lower humidity, but it's hot enough that ice cream seems justified. Especially because we don't have any air conditioning.
No A/C in this passive solar adobe house. It goes down into the '60s overnight so I just run the fan on the evaporative cooler (no water) and it cools the whole house. I just have to remember to shut it off as soon as the sun comes up and the outdoor temps quickly climb into the high 90s+. "But it's a dry heat!" as the saying goes.
WIS: $43 at Aldi and $26 at Ollie's.
WIA: The usual nothing much interesting, this week because of the heat. But I did make a potato salad for the first time in ages, to use up some elderly potatoes, eggs, and celery, plus my abundant garden dill. My salad (I don't really follow a recipe; I just eyeball stuff) goes heavy on the bread-and-butter pickles and light on the mayo, since I don't like a lot of mayo in it. And I did also roast some 50% off chicken drumsticks from Aldi; along with kristin @ going country, I prefer a dry rub and a low oven.
It's been an especially yummy week again!
Monday: Pasta with garden basil and chard, parmesan, red pepper, garlic, and chopped up bacon. I only used two pieces, which is plenty to get the flavor throughout the dish.
Tuesday: Mushroom lentils from BudgetBytes, served over couscous with a giant pile of sauteed garden chard on the side. This dish is so delicious, cheap, and filling that it's become a household favorite. https://www.budgetbytes.com/lentils-with-creamy-mushroom-gravy/
Wednesday: I used the rest of the mushrooms to make savory mushroom mac and cheese, with gouda and sauteed onions. Another side of chard!
Thursday: As my husband's prize for mowing in the heat, I used the last of the bacon to wrap venison backstrap steaks (courtesy of my brother, the mighty hunter). Our side salad was composed totally of garden goodness, with cranberry beans, kohlrabi leaves and centers, the last of the current chard, and cucumber.
Tonight my husband is making tacos (he cooks Friday - Sunday), so I'll be raiding the garden for lettuce and cilantro.
ALSO!!! This isn't food-related but is definitely frugal:
I stumbled across a grant program for teachers who want pets in their classrooms. Applications open today! https://petsintheclassroom.org/ I've passed the link on to every teacher I know personally, locally, and only wish we were able to use it for our local library. Have at! 🙂
Those enchiladas are a favorite in our house.
This week we ate:
Saturday: A taco bar, fruit salad, lemonade bar, and ice cream cake for my daughter's 8th birthday party with a bunch of her sweet little friends.
Sunday: Shrimp, devilled eggs, salad, fruit, chips, and angel food cake with strawberries to celebrate her birthday with grandparents and her uncle.
Monday: Brats and hot dogs, chips, baked beans, and fruit
Tuesday: Southwest chicken alfredo and fruit
Wednesday: My in-laws took the kids for dinner and my husband and I ate at Chipotle
Thursday: Chicken nuggets, copycat Panera mac and cheese with bacon, and devilled eggs
Friday: We are going to my friend's house and they're making burgers. I'm bringing a couple of side dishes and popsicles.
WIS: $5 Dollar Tree, $3 Target
WIA: This week I have had salmon patties and mashed potatoes a couple of days in a row. Today I will have a salmon pattie on rye bread with mustard and pickles.
Yesterday I ate scrambled eggs with chopped peppers tucked into tortillas with cheese. That was breakfast. I didn't eat again until I had a slice of bread and butter in the evening. I think the heat is affecting my appetite.
Several of my main meals have been yogurt with nuts and granola.
WIS: $42.43 (not including $5.98 for a stuffed squeaky toy for the dog which should be inedible but somehow never is).
WIA: Sweet Corn Elote Bowl*. Chicken and beef fajitas. Caesar salads with chicken. Corn chowder. BLTs on toasted brioche with heirloom tomatoes. Shrimp scampi on ramen noodles. An enormous Asian pear that was a delicious meal all by itself. All except the salad and pear had been pre-cooked and either frozen or refrigerated because it’s been just too hot to be cooking.
*Fire-roasted sweet corn, brown rice, chickpeas, red quinoa, parmesan cheese, olive oil, potatoes, red bell peppers, and a ton of spices and seasonings: apple cider vinegar, lime juice, cilantro, serrano pepper puree, sunflower and pumpkin seeds. To which I added some leftover chicken.
Happy 4th, everybody!
WIS: $39 at Food Lion and $11 at Ollie's Outlet.
WWA: DH had sandwiches with fruit, homegrown cherry tomatoes and sweet peppers as the sides, along with a big pan of beef-veggie stir-fry that made several days of leftovers. I made for myself a pot of delicious "use-it-up" soup that included some pork, turkey, the last of a bag of green beans, a baggies of long-frozen shredded carrots, and the last potato. Also used a small can of salmon to make salmon patties with steamed broccoli and applesauce.
Desserts this week were chocolate pudding and peanut butter cookies.