WIS, WWA: a boring food week
I have a rather uninteresting week of food to report on, thanks to it being colonoscopy time. But...look at these beautiful leaves from my walk yesterday!
These ones are beautiful too, but they are poison ivy!
What I Spent
I spent:
- $14 at Giant
- $71 at Aldi
- $18 on curry takeout
So, $103.
What We Ate
Saturday
I have absolutely zero recollection of what I ate, but whatever it was, I know it had no seeds, nuts, or raw produce. Ha.
Sunday
I had two acorn squash staring me down, so I made a small batch of soup, using the basic method that I use for my butternut squash soup. This works pretty well, but the soup is never as beautiful as it is with butternut squash.
I also made a grilled cheese sandwich (on white bread, for no fiber!).
Monday
Colonoscopy prep day; I was on liquids all day, and then the prep + all the water started in the evening. So, I obviously did not make any dinner.
Tuesday
Colonoscopy day! They told me it was advisable to go gentle with the food choices afterward, so I heated up the rest of my squash soup and made a grilled cheese sandwich.
Wednesday
This was the day I did two exams and finished my chemistry class; after that, I was seriously fried. Zoe was out with a friend, so I decided to treat myself to some takeout panang curry with shrimp and it was so delicious.
Just what one needs after chemistry exams. 😉
Thursday
I'm working Friday and Saturday, so for dinner on Thursday, I made a pot of gnocchi soup so I could have leftovers for my lunches.
I also froze a portion in my new Souper cubes, as an experiment; my gut (which is informed by many other freezing experiences) says this soup will freeze well, but the only way to know for sure is to try!
Although, hmm, I wonder if the celery is going to be weird once thawed. What do you predict?
Friday
I'm eating my prepped overnight oats for breakfast, I have my soup packed for lunch today, and I will most likely eat a bowl of shredded wheat when I come home tonight.
Aldi $109
I'm attempting to raise the veggie intake of the guys, so...
Fri: will probably be shrimp, rice, mixed veg, w/soy & brown sugar
Thurs: leftovers/shift for yourself
Wed: burrito bowls with 7 different veggies & spicy beef for the beef eaters; my husband even said that I was pushing his boundaries with the veggies 🙂
Tues: leftovers/shift for yourself
Mon: tacos night
Sun: one skillet chicken, broccoli, orzo, rice, & thickened broth made with bullion cubes. Tasty, but the texture was less appealing. I think it would do better as a casserole so the broccoli holds together better
Sat: southwest stew: burger, black beans, corn, ~ 1.5 C salsa, spices
Yay celebration curry! Celery freezes fine when raw, so maybe it will be okay in the soup?
I planned the whole week's meals for once, so I know what we ate!
Monday: Bread, brie, and cantaloupe. I get one Apathy Dinner per week, and this busy day was it!
Tuesday: Spicy pumpkin Soup with caramelized onions and naan for dipping. This was the first dip into our substantial freezer stash of garden pumpkin puree.
Wednesday: Raph's Rude Shrooms from the TMNT pizza cookbook. Mushrooms, caramelized onions, rosemary, garlicky pizza sauce = devine, but definitely rude breath-wise!
Thursday: Brie mac and cheese (used the last of Monday's brie) and garden green beans cooked with two pieces of chopped bacon, onions, and red pepper.
Friday/Tonight: Chocolate lamb chili in the crockpot. Our anniversary weekend begins, and a lazy dinner is a must. 😛
Saturday: Lamb chops and whatever my husband (the weekend cook) decides to do with them/serve them with. I suspect Middle-Eastern, and I loves me couscous. We have Italian Soda for extra fanciness. 😛
Sunday: Ditto above, only a roast (sale!) chicken to balance out the lamb splurges. I may add some frozen okra and potatoes to roast with it.
Gah, forgive all the typos and misspellings! I should have finished my coffee first.
Happy anniversary!
"A boring week" for food, Kristen? That might describe most of mine, even when I'm not prepping for a colonoscopy!
Now, WIS (for 2 weeks, since I never got around to commenting last Friday): $37 at Wegmans, $101 at Price Chopper (this included some supplements), and $20 at Aldi.
WIA: The highlight for the fortnight was the chili I made yesterday (the Pierre Franey turkey chili recipe from NYT Cooking, halved and slightly tweaked). Nom nom nom. The Bestest Neighbors are coming over tonight to help me finish it off.
Cooked celery is OK to freeze in a soup or dressing. I freeze leftover dressing every Thanksgiving.
This week I spent $40 at HEB, had McDonald's one day for $10ish, and took my son out for Banh Mi and Assam milk tea to the tune of $52. I've been treating my kids to a nice lunch, a card with cash, and a listening Mom for their birthdays. He is my Halloween baby (:
M - Chicken Armadillo (jalapeno, chicken breast, cheese, rolled up) twice baked potato half, broccoli
T - Mole Enchiladas with some cubed butternut squash
W - Steakhouse seasoned pork tenderloin (froze a bunch of this), baked potato
T - Tilapia tacos with red pepper and onions, (frozen) Birria seasoned rice
F - eating the leftovers for lunch and dinner, packing meals for the weekend!
Happy Halloween - I will be at work!
I've frozen soup with celery in it before, and it was fine.
Saturday: At my niece's wedding in Vermont. They had a very eclectic selection of foods, of which I chose pizza, roasted vegetables, tomato and mozzarella salad, stuffing and cranberry sauce (there was turkey, too, but I don't particularly care for turkey), potato things that I think were kind of like fancy-shaped twice-baked, brownie, and cake. My sister's fiance made the cake at the bride's request, an entirely homemade chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, and it was certainly the best wedding cake I've ever had.
Sunday: The last day at the rental house with my family, and we were all trying to finish up all the food, so it was a random assortment. I had the last of some pork stew I had made for everyone on Friday, plus leftover boursin cheese from the wedding. Most people had rotisserie chicken plus various fruits and vegetables.
Monday: Flew home from Vermont this day with the two kids who traveled with me. We got home just about when my husband finished his school bus run. I made some very fast breakfast burritos with eggs, cheese, potatoes (pre-cooked in the microwave), and salsa. And an entirely lettuce salad (because I had no other vegetables) with the lettuce I was surprised was still usable.
Tuesday: Chicken and rice with caramelized onions, baby carrots with ranch dip (I dislike baby carrots, but my options for vegetables at the tiny store in the village are very limited), and some of the HUGE honeydew melon we got from commodities (like a food bank, but delivered).
Wednesday: A cheeseburger casserole with ground beef and potatoes, frozen green peas
Thursday: Chicken and rice soup, garlic bread, cheese. I was very pleased to use collards, leeks, carrots, and garlic from the garden in the soup, plus last year's canned sauerkraut. And then also use up a couple of the many cans of white chicken plus some canned spaghetti sauce in the soup. I made all of this the day before, including the garlic bread while I was baking bread anyway, so it was a very easy meal to get on the table.
Tonight: Tuna patties, mashed potatoes, creamy stewed leeks, green salad with vinaigrette. I was amused to see self-seeded lettuces popping up all over the place--in and out of the actual garden--after our big rains, plus apparently one of the arugula plants self-seeded in the pasture through the fence. So the salad will have baby lettuce, arugula, and collards in it. I might make cookies today. Or maybe we'll have more melon, as I have one more volleyball-sized honeydew to use.
Ooh, most wedding cake is not worth eating (to me) but this one sounds like an exception!
A woman in the town where I grew up made ours - it was good and I used the "topper" from my folks wedding. The slices my mother froze were edible on our one year anniversary. Otherwise our wedding dinner was make your own deli sandwiches with sides - smack dab during the raygun recession when the unemployment rate in our area was 25%.
Oooh, homemade wedding cake— love the simplicity and meaningful nature of this when friends and family are involved!
If a bag of shredded lettuce, put a paper towel in the bag once you open it. Change it daily (I reuse the paper towel). It helps keep it from getting slimy. I suppose the same could be done with a head of lettuce in whatever you use to store it.
The soup looks yummy. Have you shared this recipe before?
I have not! It's an Olive Garden chicken gnocchi soup recipe that I changed up with hot Italian sausage in place of the chicken, just because that's what I had on hand.
I’m more concerned about the gnocchi holding up after freezing. Cooked veggies (aside from potatoes) usually hold up well in soups when frozen in my experience.
Friday: Our free monthly pizza! We split a supreme pizza and brought home a pepperoni and sausage pizza
Saturday: We attended a fundraising gala. I enjoyed salad, lemon chicken, and scalloped potatoes
Sunday: Smoked salmon, lemon dill rice, salad
Monday: Pulled pork sandwiches, baked potato slices, chick fil a style kale salad
Tuesday: Creamy Italian soup, toasted sourdough
Wednesday: We took my son out for a fancy dinner to celebrate his 16th birthday. There were several courses of fun food. The staff made his plates a little fancier than the rest of the table and made a fuss over him.
Thursday: Birthday dinner! I made my son’s favorite, orange chicken, and invited his best friend, his best friend’s parents, and my parents to join us. We also had rice, roasted broccoli, and blondies.
I will let you know how the gnocchi fare. 😉
WIS: $60-something at Food Lion and about $15 at several nearby stores for a few things FL does not sell.
WWA: This was kind of all over the place. DH continues his stretch of eating sandwiches with fresh fruit and veg on the side. I went two nights to book club and had a jasmine iced tea with a cookie at one and sparkling water with three pieces of Halloween candy at another. Last night DS ate late and I made a cup of microwaved mac and cheese to eat with him. In between those nights that I usually had a protein smoothie and peanut butter toast.
WIS: $18 Kroger, $4 Target
WIA:
Saturday -- traveling day --my biggest meal was breakfast. Sausage McGriddle, hash browns, orange juice
Sunday -- Caesar salad, personal size cheese pizza.
Monday -- Panera -- some kind of onion sandwich that I got instead of onion soup. Long story short, they were desperately understaffed and mistakes were made. Also had a bag of chips.
Tuesday: French dip sandwich but without the dip, berries
Wednesday: Scrambled eggs, veggies of some kind, can't remember!
Thursday: Beef stew from the freezer, last serving
Today: I will probably have a chicken-tomato-parmesan patty on a bun, again, from the freezer
Lovely leaves!
This week's eats seemed to be heavy on pasta, but there are worse things!
Saturday: Pasa with tomatoes, onion, garlic, spinach and mushrooms in a white wine sauce with feta cheese
Sunday: Tortillas with egg, spinach, tomato and mushroom in a chilli sauce with feta cheese
Monday: Baked sweet potato with a mushroom omelette
Tuesday: I got back late from watching a film with a friend so had a quick pasta dish with aubergine
Wednesday: Chilli mac and cheese
Thursday: Chinese food
Friday: I'm going out tonight so will probably eat the leftovers I should have had yesterday 😉
Happy Friday, everyone! We spent $210 ($121 at Target, $52 at Eastside Coop, and $37 at Trader Joe's).
-- Rice bowl with veggies and tofu
-- Melting cabbage
-- Wild rice soup
-- Salad
-- Pasta with broccoli
-- Coleslaw and green olives
-- Joe's Os
Saturday - We went out to dinner instead of our usual takeout, it was one of the most pleasant meals we’ve had dining out with the kids, the benefit of them getting older. I had veggie tacos.
Sunday - My son had a big project due that we worked on all day while my husband took my daughter out of the house (to reduce distractions) I made my son veggie potstickers from the freezer and I had lentil walnut gyros from the freezer, husband and daughter ate while out.
Monday - Normally I try a new vegan recipe on Sundays but I moved it to Monday this week. It was a vegan lasagna, with red lentils added to the sauce and “ricotta” made from tofu and cashews. It was mostly a hit, one kid loved it and had seconds, the other kid said he didn’t like lasagna (of any kind, not just vegan) so he wouldn’t eat it.
Tuesday - My mom fed the kids dinner, I had leftover lasagna from the night before.
Wednesday - bean burritos, Spanish rice and corn for the kids, homemade black bean dip spread on crisped corn tortillas with avocado and salsa.
Thursday - kids had veggie and shrimp dumplings, I had acorn squash soup and acorn squash bread with peanut butter. Like you I also had two acorn squash I needed to use up!
Friday - My daughter has a soccer game right at dinner time so I think we will get takeout (and we won’t be getting our usual Saturday takeout this week anyways due to Halloween)
My also-experienced gut thinks the celery will freeze fine. My theory is that it loses its crunchy structure when it's cooked, therefore freezing doesn't affect it.
I also think that someone has some fun money to spend to celebrate finishing chemistry.
I think you are right on both counts. 😉
The blue skies showed up just as we were finishing yoga this morning.
No shopping this week.
Sunday Supper pork roast, eggplant fries, kale salad, roasted squash and pumpkin Texas sheet cake.
Monday pad Thai
Tuesday grilled chicken thighs, stir fry veg
Wednesday fajitas, rice, beans, fudge sundae cakes
Thursday meatballs in bbq sauce, mac and cheese, green beans
Friday leftovers before the game (hs).
Saturday dinner in a pumpkin, salad
Soup can really be comfort food. I made NYTimes' slowcooker cauliflower soup with white beans the other day and it went down a treat with all.
Our food was not too adventurous this week. We had a number of stews, and also more meat than we normally do. But all were happy and the food was homecooked, with plenty of vegetables. I ate a lot of carrots at my desk; I like having something to chew on when I am thinking.
Tonight will be leftovers.
I love soup! I always have. And it makes a great packed lunch.
My fatal faw is that I hate soup! It's something to do with the texture.
I slice and freeze celery in small quantities for soup and just used some the other day. You really couldn't tell it had been frozen. I also freeze soup portions with celery and again, no difference.
WIS: $121.19 at Fred Meyer. I need to pick up ingredients today for our friends dinner (tomorow), so that'll probably run another $30 depending on the cost of the chuck roast.
WWA: Saturday - I was supposed to work but...head cold. I had scrambled eggs and hash browns, he had cereal and misc. left overs.
Sunday - another sick day, but also football, so turkey Nachos!
Monday - I had a rotisserie chicken carcass in the freezer taking up to much space so I made a pot of chicken soup.
Tuesday - leftover soup for me at work and him at home
Wednesday - repeat
Thursday - I was beat from 2 night shifts and recovering, so I had a tuna melt and he had some kind of leftovers (thankfully he eats leftovers, in any combination, even when the combination makes no sense!)
Tonight - it'll likely be a night out since tomorrow is Halloween
Saturday - a dinner gathering at a friend's house. My contributions will be beef barbacoa, tortilla's, avocado and chips (and maybe pumpkin streusel donuts!) . We are having beef soft tacos, chicken enchiladas, bean dip and tortilla chips.