WIS, WWA | I made chowder that Sonia can eat!
What I Spent
More on the chowder down below. For now, grocery shopping:
I spent $130 at Aldi and $90 elsewhere.
So I had kind of a high spending week at $220. Which is exactly what I anticipated after lazily skipping a shopping trip last week.
December Spending
Week 1: $82
Week 2: $229
What We Ate
Saturday
Mr. FG and I did a takeout date night (Panera, with a discount thanks to a Fetch rewards gift card), Lisey bought sushi on the way home from her work shift, and Sonia and Zoe ate some easy stuff here at home
Mashed potatoes with chicken sausage for Sonia:
Grilled cheese and soup for Zoe.
Sunday
Sticking with our new habit of getting local takeout on Sunday nights (trying to help them out during these times of high restrictions), we got Chinese from a little place near us.
Monday
I pressed the easy button and cooked some chicken sausages, which we ate on toasted buns with cut-up produce on the side.
I really phoned it in with the produce sides this week...pretty much every night it was just cut-up raw produce!
Tuesday
I made spicy pork tinga with rice, which we ate with applesauce from the freezer.
Wednesday
Sadly, I woke up with a stiff neck.
(What adventurous thing did I do to get a stiff neck? I carelessly went to bed and poof! stiff neck for me.)
So my energy level for dinner making was a little low. I made Aussie Chicken, which we ate with some cut-up produce (!) and some random toasted bagels/bread slices.
Thursday
I made clam chowder, but this time I tried a modification to avoid the half and half for Sonia. Heavy cream does not seem to bother her, but anything with milk in it does.
So, I watered down some heavy cream with a 50/50 ratio and used that in place of the half and half. I'm pleased to say it worked out just fine.
We ate our chowder with cut-up produce and some cornmeal buns from the freezer.
Friday
I think I'm gonna make pizza tonight, but I will have to do something else for poor Zoe.
She had a big orthodontic appointment with lots of adjustments yesterday, so her teeth are really bothering her right now. I imagine pizza will be out of the question for her tonight!
What did you eat for dinner this week?
P.S. I have a giveaway from Third Day Naturals tomorrow and one from Novica on Sunday. These are gonna be super quick turnaround giveaways, so pop back in here over the weekend for a chance to win.
Clam chowder is always hit or miss for me taste-wise, I guess I’m super picky. Have you ever made Manhattan clam chowder? If so maybe you can do a recipe post?
Love your WIS, WWA posts.
I have not either made or eaten Manhattan clam chowder! I have tried both cream of crab and vegetable crab soup, though, and I do prefer the cream of crab.
However, some people mix the two together and I bet that would be tasty...sort of like a pink sauce, which I love.
I'll bet that chowder was good! I had some menu changes this week, but I still had everything I needed to make our meals, so no extra trips to the store were required. This week I get my produce box, so I'll have less to shop for and a head start on what I'll cook this coming week.
We had:
Thick loin chops, with broccoli and cheese and carrots for the sides.
We ate the leftovers from the meal above on another night.
Cassava pasta with tomato based sauce for him and nomato sauce for me, with a from the freezer leftover burger patty crumbled in to both sauces. We had sliced raw vegetables on the side.
Flanken steak with peas, mashed white potatoes and gravy. I have no idea what flanken steak is, but it's been good both times we've tried it.
Fried chicken with leftover peas and just honey carrots because it was chilly and drippy outside and I didn't want to go cut the rosemary for rosemary-honey-carrots.. Frying chicken after work on a week night is not the best idea ever. At least using the Dutch oven contained most of the mess and made it cook faster.
Steak from a farm on the grill pan, with oven fries - white potato for him, parsnip for me, plus sliced cucumbers with homemade ranch dressing.
Saturday: Bunless cheeseburgers, roasted potatoes, fried onions, green salad with ranch dressing
Sunday: Shepherd's pie, pots de creme (made with evaporated milk! it works! I was so excited I did a whole post about it)
Monday: Leftover sheperd's pie, leftover pork and potatoes fried, calabaza squash. Must be a workday.
Tuesday: Green chili, pork, and potato casserole--an experiment that worked and I will definitely do again--frozen green beans
Wednesday: Taco meat from the freezer to make soft tacos with storebought corn tortillas. Another work day.
Thursday: Hot dogs from a thing at school. This marked the first time in 336 days that I ate a dinner I did not cook. Kinda sad to break my streak. 🙂
Friday: I took out some boneless chicken thighs, which I will probably just season and fry with bacon. I need to use a half can of tomatoes that have been languishing in the refrigerator, so probably pasta with marinara sauce for the kids, rice for my husband, and salad for all to get through some of the slightly elderly lettuce also in the refrigerator.
Haha, I love that you have been counting the days this long!
Time to start a new streak. 😉
I hadn't actually been counting, but since I've been posting every dinner I make every Friday for, um, years now, all I had to do was go back to around the time I remembered eating restaurant food and finding it in my post.
The only way I remember anything anymore is my blog.
Ha!! Sounds like a dry busy momma to me! I sure remember those days. This to shall pass....all too quickly!
Very busy...not dry busy.ugh!
I feel that on a personal level. I have looked things up on my blog so many times before!
"I really phoned it in with the produce sides this week…pretty much every night it was just cut-up raw produce!"
Ahem. This is most nights in my house.
I've had a bad cold (I got tested - not covid) so the easy button was permanently on. There's been leftovers a couple of nights, a couple nights of take-out, sausage that just needed to be baked, pork chops that just needed to be broiled,... You get the idea. I eventually got smart and planned take-out for the days I went to the office, and saved the easy-cook ideas for the days I teleworked.
I have to ask: What's so special about Panera sandwiches? Aren't they just like... sandwiches?
Their sandwiches are indeed just sandwiches...but part of the point of a takeout date night is to give me a little respite from cooking (or from making sandwiches!)
Saturday- The hubby was excited about a game that was on in the afternoon, and he really wanted game food, so we ordered the kids’ favorite: fried chicken and jojos with pizza from a local place. Then for dinner I made pumpkin pancakes with the last of some pumpkin leftover from a pie I made. We had blueberries and bananas on the side with the pancakes.
Sunday- after church Panera drive-thru to get mac & cheese/bagels for the girls, and a chicken frontega sandwich for me-Yum!! The hubby opted for the leftover pizza (he is the more frugal one after all) 😉
Monday- leftovers: pizza, chicken, jojos, french toast bake, sausage & orzo for all my peeps. I had a little salad topped with the last of some kalamata olives my husband bought me as a treat.
Tuesday- meatloaf, mashed cinnamon sweet potatoes, corn
Wednesday- leftovers
Thursday- I had planned to make meatballs, roasted cauliflower, and mashed potatoes. But I didn’t feel like cooking when it came right down to it. My grandma is in the ICU with covid and we received word from the doctor yesterday that she isn’t recovering and she’s being put on hospice care. Not a good day for me. So my husband and girls picked up a pizza on the way home from gymnastics.
Friday- My grandma isn’t expected to make it the rest of today after they remove the intensive therapy treatments so I don’t think I’ll be cooking today either. My heart feels too heavy and I just want to hang out with my family. We’ll probably order Mexican or something like that.
Have a good weekend everyone. Love on your family. <3
Sorry to hear about your gram. Sending peace & positivity to you and your family.
Thank you
I'm really sorry to hear about your grandmother. I hope her memory will be a source of comfort.
My heart is heavy for you. Prayers for your family during this difficult time.
Oh Sarah, I am so sorry! Big hugs to you.
I'm so sorry to hear this. I hope you find peace and healing during this difficult time.
I'm so sorry. Grandmas are special. ❤️
My heart is with you during this difficult time.
I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother. May she rest in peace. I am sending you and your family comfort.
And adding that ai am also very sorry to hear your grandma seems to be a victim of this horrible infection. Wishing peace and comfort for her and you, from Illinois.
Thanks everyone for your kind words... <3
I have recently implemented what I call our Frugal Fare menu. Basically this means that we are using way less cheese, but are eating a wider variety of meals. 🙂
- Saturday: Burritos
- Sunday: Pancakes with butter and maple syrup
- Monday: Taco Soup with cornbread
- Tuesday: We ate dinner at the home of friends, and were served spaghetti with venison meatballs, homemade bread, salad, and brownies with ice-cream
- Wednesday: leftover Taco Soup and cornbread
- Thursday: Potato Soup with homemade bread
- Friday: Beans and cornbread, and pumpkin bread with white chocolate chips
WWS: $45; WWA:
Sat: arepas with carnitas, black beans, feta; avocado, cucumber & red pepper; salsa verde
Sun: roasted salmon with za'atar; Moroccan carrot salad; roasted broccoli; Israeli couscous with preserved lemon, cilantro, cumin & cinnamon
Mon: cream of tomato soup; grilled cheese sandwiches (with mustard!)
Tues: leftovers
Wed: baked macaroni & cheese; roasted broccoli
Thurs: sweet potato & sausage jeon; banchan of cucumber salad, pickled carrots, spicy radish & kimchi
Fri: empanadas (ground turkey); cabbage salad & avocado; salsa verde
Great to support your local restaurants 🙂
Friday -- Pollo Loco Takeout (with $5 dollars off) followed by Jamocha shakes at Arbys -- it was treat night
Saturday -- Tofu patties/Buddha bowl with brown rice, sauteed broccoli, carrots, cuk,e & tomato salad, avocado slices and miso dressing (still using up the shelf-stable miso bought on discount)
Sunday -- Last of tofu and rice for husband and eggs for me with homemade salsa from a friend, plus green salad.
Monday - Big salad with chicken breast
Tuesday - Husband had frozen pizza; I had eggs with avocado and salsa (it was a long day)
Wednesday - Big Salad with chicken breast
Thursday - Red lentil curry (used up 1/2 price lentils and full fat coconut milk -- OMGoodness -- coconut cream is OUT OF THIS WORLD!) plus sauteed broccoli and spinach.
Tonight is treat night -- so something take out -- would be happy with a can of coconut cream.
Happy Friday!
Friday - Salmon, rice and brussel sprouts with pomegranate on the side
Thursday - zucchini cheesy bake and leftover lentil soup for the adults. My two very thoughtful daughters (7&9) said they would make all their meals so that I could have a break (sniff, sniff - they're such lovely humans) so they warmed up some pizza with raspberries and carrots.
Wednesday - Buttered noodles, corn on the cob, and apples w/peanut butter.
Tuesday - Taquitos with fruit
Monday - Tofu fried rice and PB toast (younger daughter doesn't like fried rice), cucumbers, and blackberries
Sunday and Saturday...too long ago; can't remember sadly.
Saturday- ordered out Portuguese BBQ food, kind of shared, so not so costly.
Sunday- mom/dads my sister/bil made raviolis, meat (meatball, sausage, pork chops) , mom made a cake.
Monday- had a late lunch, out day late for our anniversary, no one was hungry at dinner time, so cooked no dinner.
Tuesday-hot dogs
Wednesday- home made Chicken pot pie.
Thursday-Fried breaded chicken cutlet, noodles, corn
Friday- might be breakfast for dinner tonight... maybe Belgium waffles
Monday: Tacos
Tuesday: Japanese curry rice. Pure comfort food for not so comforting times.
Wednesday: Breakfast for dinner. Hash browns, eggs, bacon, fruit etc.
Thursday: BLTs,
Friday: I'm not sure. I think my wife is making BBQ chicken and potatoes and vegetables.
Sat: carrot top pesto pasta, leftover focaccia pizza, salad
Sun: reimagined leftovers: one cheeseburger on a bun, quartered and pan fried with leftover French fries and a handful of sliced Brussels sprouts; salad with mixed greens and various cut up fruits topped with pomegranate seeds
Mon: salmon on bed of kale/cabbage; jasmine rice; sautéed Brussels sprouts in soy sauce; salad with mixed greens, peppers and cucumbers
Tue: leftover salmon; leftover Brussels sprouts; leftover rice and greens; pasta salad (made with leftover carrot top pesto, chopped cucumber and sweet pepper, a squirt of balsamic vinaigrette); leftover salad; grapes and pomegranate seeds
Wed: cauliflower soup (with cream and chicken broth); artisan sourdough rye bread; salad with mixed greens, cucumbers, carrots, a dollop of leftover pasta salad
Thu: leftover cauliflower soup; sourdough rolls; leftover salad
Fri: focaccia with peppers, mushrooms, basil, garlic and onions; salad with lettuce, cucumbers, yellow peppers, tiny tomatoes and blueberries
I want to eat dinner at your house!
Ooooo, I love hearing what other people make for dinner! Here's what we had this past week:
Sat.: Tofu and veggie stir fry with sticky rice, pear quarters
Sun.: spicy pinto beans with spaghetti squash, turnip greens, green chile cornbread, orange slices
Mon.: spaghetti casserole, green beans, Caesar salad
Tues.: chickpea paolau, curried kale and potato, grapefruit halves
Wed.: red lentil and green bean curry, cabbage and green pea bahji, hot mushroom rice (I'm trying out new recipes in an Indian cookbook!)
Thurs.: Russian borscht with boiled eggs, grapefruit halves
Fri.: homemade pizza every Friday!
The week got away from me...work through a climbing covid-19 rate in our area has been a challenge. I never made it to the grocery store. We relied on the freezer and pantry.
Saturday - Cheese tortellini with broccoli and pesto sauce.
Sunday - Build your own pizza.
Monday - Leftovers.
Tuesday - pb&j sandwiches and buttered egg noodles.
Wednesday - Chili with homemade biscuits.
Thursday - Grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup.
Friday - Turkey subs with lots of raw veggies and chips.
Monday: Bacon-wrapped venison tenderloin bites, corn, cranberry apple sauce. We left the jalapeno slices off of the tenderloin chunks and I think next time I'll also leave out the cream cheese so it's just bacon and venison. It was a fun way to eat the venison, though!
Tuesday: Cheeseburgers and oven fries
Wednesday: Aldi's red bag chicken sandwiches for the adults, chicken nuggets for the kids, sides of peas and roasted butternut squash
Thursday: Ravioli and garlic toast (the garlic toast was made from the last of the homemade hamburger buns... So good!)
Friday: Tacos and pineapple. Dessert was provided by my 6yo. Generosity is one of her gifts and she spent every penny of her spending money to buy a giant cookie from Hungry Howie's for the whole family to share as we watched The Star, which is a movie she purchased for a family gift with points she had earned from something at church. She planned out our whole "family fun night" and it was fun to see her excitement over making a special evening for everyone.
I love reading through everyone's meal plans every week, so I decided to join the fun!
Sunday: I had made a chicken ragout with fennel, which we had over pasta. Chicken was on sale, which made this a fairly frugal meal!
Monday: Chicken salad with a dressing of yoghurt, sesame oil and honey (I love the dressing!). We had it in tortillas which is made by this small company of Mexicans here, such a treat!
Tuesday: I had made a big batch of potato soup on Sunday, so we had that with some cipolata sausages. The cipolata is a splurge, but it's just so good!
Wednesday: More potato soup, this time topped with yoghurt.
Thursday: I scrambled some eggs and sauteed some bell peppers with chiles in adobo. We had toasted bread on the side. Quick, delicious and frugal!
Friday: pizza! we ordered 2 pizzas, but neither of us were very hungry, so we have plenty of leftovers. 🙂
today: Our fridge is empty and we have plans tomorrow, so I think I need to do my grocery shopping a bit early. I may make a chicken stir fry or meatballs (inspired by Sarah Beth below) and perhaps a vegetarian soup to keep the grocery bill reasonable.
Potato soup! That's a good idea. I think I'll add that to my menu for next week.
WWS £140
WWA
Saturday take out curry for DH and I (lamb rogan, Delhi butter lamb, spinach & sarson greens and garlic nann). The kids had frozen pizzza with broccoli on the side.
Sunday I made a batch of pork meatball (made from cut up pork n apple sausage) and root veggie (carrots, sweet potato and parsnips) pasta sauce. We ate it with penne and cheddar. 2 family sized meals added to the freezer.
Monday leftovers from Sunday
Tuesday mash potatoes, chicken, broccoli, carrots and sweetcorn.
Wednesday cod, Mac’s cheese (homemade from my freezer) with broccoli, carrots and sweetcorn
Thursday chicken and rice with broccoli, carrots and sweetcorn for the kids. Supermarket butter chicken with frozen peas for us and rice.
Friday homemade fish and chips, with baked beans, broccoli and sweetcorn.
I ate home-made soup Monday- Wednesday and canned tomato soup Thursday and Friday for lunch. Kids ate at school (free for DD and £2/day for DS), DH ate at work all week- his meals are a free. I also bought a flat white coffee to celebrate completing my monthly treatment at the hospital (I have medication via an IV that keeps my autoimmune disease under control).
I had a really busy week at my job and DH was super busy too so I just grateful we got to the end of the week and I managed to feed everyone.
Our meals have been simple this week. I roasted a chicken on Tuesday I roasted a chicken which Christmas gravies. I made rissoles which have fed us for two meals. I have cooked eggs for mum but can't remember what I had. Sadly I have allergies and cannot eat crustaceans, eggs and several grains to name a few and cannot tolerate lactose. I do feel for Sonia and Zoe.
A lovely quiet week in our house.
Monday- BBQ pulled pork sandwiches
Tuesday- Meatloaf, baked potatoes and peas.
Wednesday- We tried something new thanks to pintrest- Chicken with a balsamic and thyme sauce over rice. I will make it again.
Thursday- Chicken and JoJos. My pick for take out and our support of the local restaurants. We talked about JoJo's in a post a few weeks ago and it has been on my mind since then. This is not the healthiest meal so we do not get it often, but yummy!
Friday- homemade pizza
I tried to think of easy ideas but nope. They were more involved....
- Shrimp scampi- It was supposed to have scallops but I didn't like how the scallops smelled so they got tossed.
- Baked mushroom chicken- I had really old mushrooms but peeled them and the chicken thawed and has to get cooked fairly quickly, so that was not planned but ok.
- Chicken noodle soup- I got the recipe from food.com and forgot celery and only had celery seed. It would've been great with more salt but the crackers took care of that.
- Chicken enchiladas- I had long grain rice that I over cooked and it was mushy but oh well. The chicken had to be used. The fam ate it all.
- Chicken and fries from a bag- all pre-fried from Tyson and Ore-Ida. I don't eat fried food so toast and hot chocolate for me.
So our evening meals in no particular order
1. Bacon cheese quiche with eggs from our girls (Maple, Chowder, Chickaletta, and Crouton.) and a salad
2. Biscuit wrapped hotdogs and biscuit wrapped leftover sausage and pepperoni both stuffed with bacon and cheese. Fruit and salad
3. Spaghetti squash no one liked but me. Sad face
4. Spaghetti and meat balls with roasted veggies
5. Butternut squash soup for the adults chicken veggie soup for son. Toasted bread.