What I Spent (less!) & What We Ate
What I Spent
To start out, here's a quick reminder that a little soak in water magically revives wilted greens.
My downcast cilantro:
And my cilantro, revived:
This works great for herbs as well as greens like lettuce or kale. And it costs almost nothing!
This week, I only spent $76 on groceries; a departure from the last few weeks of my spending. Whew.
Maybe I can keep this up for a few weeks to level things out after my expensive July.
What We Ate
Saturday
I made the German apple pancake recipe from the latest Cook's Country for the girls, and Mr. FG and I had a takeout date night.
Verdict on the new recipe for those of you that subscribe to Cook's Country: really good; only problem was that the pancake rose so high, some of the sugar dripped over the edge of the pan onto the bottom of the oven. I made mine with coconut milk so that Sonia could eat it.
Sunday
I made toasted sandwiches with smoked gouda, bacon, and chipotle mayo.
Here's how I store my blended chipotle peppers; that way they're always available for making chipotle mayo or sour cream.
Monday
We'd all eaten lunch at odd times, so no one was actually hungry at dinnertime. Those of us who got hungry before bedtime just fended for ourselves.
Tuesday
I tried the pork taco recipe from the latest Cook's Country magazine.
Verdict: it was fine, but not so good that I will find myself toasting, rehydrating, and blending peppers to make the marinade again. It just seemed like too much work for the result.
Wednesday
I made shrimp and grits, and we had fruit on the side.
This was one of the first times that I felt annoyed at having half my stove broken; it was a little hard to cook the grits for 40 minutes while also cooking the bacon, shrimp, and sauce.
But I made it work.
Come on, new stove! Show up soon!
Thursday
I used leftover taco meat from Tuesday to make burrito bowls (rice, cheese, pineapple salsa, veggies, chipotle sour cream, etc.)
Friday
My new-to-me waffle iron arrived from eBay, so I think we might have waffles to try it out!
Saturday- small gathering for my nieces collage graduation- penne vodka sauce, sausage and peppers, pizza, salad, dessert.
Sunday- Mom/dads, eggplant parm, sausage, pork in cherry peppers, salad. Kids had burgers. and I did 4 hair cuts.
Monday- raviolis, homemade sauce, salad.
Tuesday- sausage/ peppers/potatoes (gosh we had a lot of sausage this week) Kids had naan pizza.
Wednesday- BBQ chicken on the grill, butter noodles, corn
Thursday- DD has a soccer scrimmage, so before we stopped at chick-fil-a and had a car picnic (this was our take out night)
Friday- not sure yet, but I do have some left over taco meat in the freezer for tacos, and I have a piece of chicken I need to cook, maybe chicken fajitas.
Hi Kristen, you might want to cook the grits for 25% of the cooking time, then cover the pan in an old pillowcase and cover it in a sleeping bag, douvet or similar, there leave there for double the ordinary cooking time. It works well for rice too. It is a take on the oldfashioned "hay chest" technique used over here (NL) during WWII when there was a fuel shortage. It is easy as well as frugal.
Cool idea!
At first, I thought this was a snarky response, but now I want to try making something like this with my students in a Food History class!
Hi Betta, I use the technique myself still, for instance when I have pea soup or make broth, and I have to leave home for an hour or so and do not want to keep the stove on. And actually, it is great for camping as well! Apparently it is also good for making yoghurt, but I never tried that. If you want to know what a hay chest looks like, google "hooikist" or "hay box" as I discovered just now.
I'd love to hear more about your Food History class by the way! J.
Cool! Where’s NL? Did they make a chest or box out of hay to insulate it? Kind of a slow-cooker/clambake thing!
NL is Netherlands, Western Europe, on the coast across the channel from England.
It does work like a slowcooker!
On the topic of wartime efforts to cut down on food for cooking: I also read that a simple pressure cooker was created by putting a big stone on the lid of a pan. But I do not know of anyone in my family who did that.
This is the best taco marinade I’ve ever used. I add 1/2Tbs. more lime juice and 1/2 Tbs. of the adobo sauce from the chipotles in adobo. I’ve used the marinade for grilled chicken and also for pork roasts, which I then cook in my crockpot for shredded pork tacos.
https://gimmedelicious.com/the-best-taco-grilled-chicken/
Sunday: meatloaf, potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans
Monday. Chicken stir fry (with broccoli, cabbage, and carrots)
Tuesday: leftover pancakes from the weekend for me and the boys, leftover meatloaf for H
Wednesday: black bean tacos with green beans
Thursday: burgers at a friend’s house
Friday: pizza? I’m liking the Friday night pizza tradition.
I went to the store yesterday and prepped everything for meals next week. I’m trying three new recipes so we’ll see how it goes!
I'll also use the adobo sauce to make a delicious salad dressing that is a copycat for Chilpotle's dressing (I've only eaten at Chilpotle 3 times in my life, so I don't know if it tastes like it or not), which is delicious over a carnitas salad/grain bowl. The recipes says to use the peppers in the sauce, but once I'm out of the peppers, I just use the sauce itself. https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/copycat-recipe-chipotle-mexican-grills-chipotle-honey-vinaigrette.html
Monday: Cooked some chicken legs on the grill using some barbecue rub I found in the drawer. I liked it. The kid ... ate it. We also ate salads and roasted potatoes.
Tuesday: Pork chops, rice and some other vegetables.
Wednesday: My wife made meatloaf. She's good at a lot of things in the kitchen but I have to say that I really enjoy her meatloaf. We also ate leftover roasted potatoes and the like.
Thursday: Ate leftovers. We have a lot of them in the fridge so it's a good idea to clean them out.
Friday: Probably leftovers unless we decide to do something else.
Saturday: Pork sirloin chops, curried split peas, rice, garlic bread, fried cabbage/carrots/onions, roasted green beans. This meal sort of expanded without my noticing it until I was left with what is essentially two full meals. And the dishes to go with them. 🙂
Sunday: Brisket cooked overnight in the oven, boiled potatoes, green salad with ranch dressing, shortbread
Monday: Pork stir-fry, rice
Tuesday: Italian sliders (small hamburgers seasoned like meatballs), pasta with roasted tomato sauce, green salad with ranch dressing
Wednesday: Bunless hamburgers, leftover pasta, frozen green peas
Thursday: Pork chops, rice, sauteed green beans, sauerkraut
Tonight: My husband is taking the older two boys scouting for a December elk hunt and they'll be camping on the mountain tonight, so it's just me and the younger two. I promised them we'd have fun while the others were gone, and of course that means chocolate chip pancakes for dinner. I'll probably have a big salad, though, since I would dearly love to eat like a two-year-old but don't actually function well when I do . . .
Yesterday I made America's Test Kitchen easy pancakes. I saw it on a rerun show and thought to give it a go. I cut down sugar because I added 1/3 c. of homemade apple butter.
These were great pancakes - fluffy and yummy. https://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/10906-easy-pancakes
I'm sorry to hear about your stovetop troubles! When something breaks here, it makes me feel bratty. I guess I take all of these conveniences for granted! This week the daily menu got switched around and a bit jumbled, but these were the dinners:
Monday - Meatballs and Rice Skillet (with carrots), dinner salad
Tuesday - Lemon Garlic Chicken Bites, chard, twice baked potato
Wednesday - Cowboy Casserole (using ground turkey), brussels sprouts
Thursday - Link Sausage with onions and peppers, scalloped potatoes, broccoli, Nana's Lemon Pie
Friday - Hamburgers, Charro Beans, chips, Oreos!, and probably wine
Saturday - TBD
Sunday - Take out
Everything got cooked and eaten, just sometimes on different days than I planned...
Curious as to what Cowboy Casserole is.
It appears to be a tater tot topped type of casserole. I've never had it, though! https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/cowboy-casserole/
Tater tot casserole is a staple here but somehow it didn't occur to me that it wasn't everywhere! Ours has a layer of green beans (French cut are best) where this one has corn. Also, two cups of tater tots won't do a casserole for my crew. I need two and a half pounds of them. lol.
I somewhat recently decided I didn't need to be spending money on canned cream-of-whatever — for the random people who might be put off by that soup, it's easy to substitute — make a flour-and-butter roux with some salt, pepper and onion powder and use milk or chicken broth to thicken it.
It is common here too dad called it meatloaf casserole. My mom always did meatloaf on bottom, peas, cream of anything soup then tater tots. It was a real treat as tater tots were not something she normally bought. Most times it was mashed taters on the side.
Do you use canned coconut milk with the cream layer? What do you sub it for? Cows’ milk? I have kids with dairy allergies too so I am curious.
Generally when subbing cow's milk with coconut milk you would use the kind that comes in the carton in the fridge section not the cans from the shelf.
Yeah, when I sub coconut milk for cow's milk, I use the kind in the half gallon carton. I buy the unsweetened type, figuring it'll be the closest to dairy milk.
It's worked out well in most of the ways that I've tried it!
Thanks!
Spent about $42 on groceries this week because the garden is still going strong.
Saturday - Honey-brined fried chicken, potatoes au gratin, green beans and asparagus.
Sunday - Stopped at a local burger joint after husband's motocross race. Had a hot dog with the works, fries and a soda.
Monday - Worked late that day so it was fend-for-yourself night. I had fried green tomatoes and an English muffin with homemade jam.
Tuesday - Breakfast for dinner with scrambled eggs and potato pancakes with applesauce and sour cream.
Wednesday - Blt's and chips.
Thursday - Shish kabobs with chicken, onion, green peppers & pineapple. Veggie ones for the vegetarian in the house.
Friday - Stuffed shells with garlic cheese bread.
Managed to stay away from take out this whole week, which given a broken dishwasher and array of doctor appointments, I'm feeling a bit proud of.
Sat - leftover pizza from Friday
Sun - fish sticks and cucumber slices
Mon - one pot sun-dried tomato pasta with broccoli
Tues - tacos with blistered shisisto peppers
Wed - frozen pizza, garlic bread and broccoli
Thurs - Clean out the fridge night. I made fresh rice and we topped it with any and all leftovers in the fridge.
Fri - not sure what we will have tonight, probably a tofu stir fry to use up some veggies before out hungry harvest delivery tomorrow.
When my stove blew during a hurricane voltage disaster, I had only that little 2-burner drop in cooktop to cook on until I got a new stove (that's the one I mentioned breaking in the oopsies post comments). Yes, it was very, very aggravating at times! I feel for you.
My July food bill was way over. I think that might be my new normal for a while.
Well, what did we have to eat?
I made a pulled pork in the pressure cooker with a recipe I found that is compliant with my diet and has the added bonus of being delicious. With it we had beans and cole slaw one time, and fried zucchini and cole slaw a different time.
We had tacos one night. Since I rarely eat tomatoes/tomato products anymore, I put chopped previously frozen mango on mine and it was surprisingly good.
One night we had sausage, which is just ground pork that I season with spices I can have, along with acre peas and fried okra with okra from our garden. I fried the okra in the skillet in which I had fried the sausage patties. So good.
And one night we had rice pasta with tomato and meat sauce on his, seasoned meat and onions on mine. We had a vegetable on the side, but I have no idea what it was.
Tonight, we will have hamburgers with.... something on the side. Maybe a salad. I will hold my hamburger with two leftover cassava flour tortillas.
I don’t have any problem with new recipes - as long as they come fromYou!!! You get Five Gold stars in my book for doing all that work for me! So I don’t have to do it! I love the way you put the recipe so it can be printed out. Keep up the good work. And thank you for turning me on to Aldies, I can’t imagine how much money you have saved me over the last couple of years.
.
WWS: $111, WWA (working backward):
Friday: Vietnamese pork chops with plum, cucumber and herb salad; grilled green beans & lemongrass-plum ice tea (fingers cross on the ice tea!)
Thursday: CT-style lobster rolls, corn on the cob, golden zucchini "fries"
Wednesday: French omelets with tarragon, salad with green olive & shallot vinaigrette
Tuesday: salmon roasted with za'taar, sauteed golden zucchini. I had made tabbouleh a could of days prior to serve, but when I opened the container, it reeked of acetone so much that I had to throw out the entire container. 🙁
Monday: leftovers
Sunday: arepas, roasted "taco-seasoned" cauliflower, cumber/pepper/feta/cilantro. Made a big batch of black beans from scratch. After overnight soak AND 3 hours of cooking the suckers never softens. I had to throw out the entire pot. 🙁
Saturday: Grilled tri-tip with santa maria rub, feta sauce, grilled "baked potato" and broccoli.
I'm really hoping that tonight's dinner makes up for a lot of failures in the kitchen this week.
Despite the failures, your menu looks great. Minus the za'taar salmon (not such a fan of the spice), I want to eat all of this.
We got 2 huge cauliflower in our produce box that I didn't know what to do with. Thank you for the idea to use taco seasoning with it. I think I will try it.
I can't wait for plums. Not quite ready here yet. I hope the ice tea is as amazing as it sounds!
We make cauliflower tacos fairly regularly. Once you add all of the toppings, you don't really miss the meat, if you use the same seasoning!
The plum-ice tea was good, but it didn't have as much plum flavor as we would have wanted. The base was black tea, and our plums--even when just tasting them on their own--were wanting in plum-ness.
Monday: Almond Orange Sticky Chicken with Sesame Broccoli
Tuesday: Nachos with Black beans and guacamole (we both worked late and nachos are a fallback for those nights!)
Wednesday: Grilled halibut and Pasta with Kale, onions, and feta
Thursday: Thai flavored vegetable soup with halibut ( I accidentally ended up with a box of Thai curry style chicken brother my pantry so this used it up)
Tonight: Barbecued pork in the Instant Pot, our favorite broccoli salad
We've been eating lots of rice for lunches (our big meal). I did rice cooked in a sauce with chicken, a beef sauce over white rice, and today a peanut sauce over rice. Suppers have been bread and eggs, leftovers....and I can't remember what else...
I fond baking my bacon is easier than the stovetop. I put it in a cold oven and heat to 400 degrees. When it gets to 400 the bacon is usually finished. Or just needs a few more minutes. Less mess than on the cooktop.
I have been cooking in the over for a while now, less mess! and do not have to stand over the frying pan!
My family always did bacon in the oven growing up; I hadn't seen it cooked on a stovetop until I was a teenager.
Saturday-beef crescent rollup, yellow squash, carrots, green peas
Sunday-stuffed zucchini, black-eyed peas, cooked apples
Monday-leftovers
Tuesday-barbecued pork chop, baked potato, applesauce
Wednesday-leftovers
Thursday- grilled cheese, salad, watermelon
Friday-probably fried egg, toast, tater tots, cantaloupe
Gat an air fryer it will change your life.
I second this!!! I ordered one in May From Target during their Memorial Day sale and have used it almost every day since I received it. I actually got it as an alternative to turning on the oven during these HOT summer months. There was a bit of a learning curve at the beginning, but it has really worked out great.
We have had some wintery meals this week. I made Osso Bucco which lasted two meals. I made a red curry which lasted two meals. We had fish and salad at lunch one day so had salad rolls for dinner that night. I can't remember the rest.
Mistake this week. I had 2 helpings of soup: mushroom and cauliflower cheese. I asked husband which he wanted and he insisted on mixing them. I warned that they would taste awful and...they did. Neither taste could be distinguished..
Other days: Husband cooked hamburgers with etcs.
Really good take-out burritos from a favorite restaurant
Chicken and leek pot pie, for 2 days running
Desert was ice-cream from University Dairy, along with fresh fruits; blackberries, blueberries and melons
A glass of cold water will perk up floppy celery too. I just cut the bottom off (and plant, of course!) then put the cut ends in a glass of water and stand it in the fridge. If the celery is really floppy, it might take overnight to perk back up.
So AGREE on the new recipe thing. Is it just me, or do recipe instructions seem overly complicated these days? Like use a skillet, and use the stove, and then use the skillet again...every item must be cooked separately and then put together. That's just not my style. Give me all oven or all skillet. Usually, one can swap the order of the cooking ingredients to make it way easier. I sometimes use meal delivery boxes. Those are the worst when it comes to simplicity!! And they are geared for new cooks. Whew. Drives me nuts.
Ok rant over....
Backwards from tonight, Sunday: sweet and sour chicken stir fry with rice and Rhiannon had macaroni and cheese and then rice and canned tuna. Saturday: fish fingers and leftover spaghetti bolognese, and she had lots of toast. Friday: one-pot spaghetti bolognese. Thursday: Rhiannon had 2 frozen chipotle chicken quesadillas but I can't remember what the rest of us had. Wednesday: KFC with mashed potato and gravy and coleslaw. Tuesday: I can't remember what anyone had but no one starved. Monday: Rhiannon and I had steak, her dad had fish, and we all had mashed potatoes and mixed veggies.
Great save on the herbs! I revive all kind of stuff, herbs, lettuce, broccoli .... by cutting the ends off and putting them in cold water, cut end in the water. I’ve gotten great deals at farmers markets because I’m will to buy end of the day silty stuff.
I'm curious if you have a source for your shrimp and grits recipe? It looks great in that picture.
Here's what I base mine off of. https://kellehampton.com/2019/02/heidis-kitchen-blackened-shrimp-with-cheesy-grits/
I think the salt measurements are a typo, though; I think maybe she meant teaspoons instead of tablespoons?