What I Spent, What We Ate | $62
What I Spent
I didn't do tons of grocery shopping this week. Which probably means next week will be nutso.
I made a $32 trip on Monday, and then a $17 trip on Wednesday.
And yesterday I made a $13 stop for some dinner ingredients plus a cantaloupe and some sausage that was on sale.
So, just $62 this week. Yay!
What We Ate
Monday
I tried a Cook's Illustrated recipe for Zha Jiang Mian, which is a noodle dish with a bean paste sauce.
It kind of looks like an Asian version of spaghetti with meat sauce, doesn't it?
The recipe serves six and uses only a half pound of ground pork, as part of the bulk of the sauce is chopped shiitake mushrooms.
Sometimes Hungry Harvest sends me shiitakes, and now I know exactly what to do with them.
Tuesday
Our new next-door neighbor had gone fishing on Memorial Day and he brought us a bag of fresh rockfish. Lucky us!
I coated them with panko and cooked them in a cast-iron pan. So, so good. I always forget just how deliciously non-fishy the fresh caught stuff tastes.
Wednesday
I made the sizzling Korean lettuce wraps for the second time, and was re-impressed with how tasty and fast they are to make. You should totally add this to your dinner-in-a-hurry recipe rotation!
Thursday
I tried a new recipe for a Thai-inspired fish and rice dish, from Dinner Illustrated (which I just checked out of my library). It was just ok, and I don't think I'll make it again.
Friday
I'm planning to make BLTs. I last had one at a diner and it didn't have nearly enough mayonnaise. Ever since then, I've been wanting to make a better one.
I'm a person who always thinks everything needs more sauce, and that applies to sandwiches as well as other dishes. 😉
BRING ON THE MAYO.
What did you eat this week?
(Whatever you ate, I hope it was saucy enough. 😉 )
This was The Week of the Grill.
Monday: Grilled London broil with garlic butter, mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus, stewed rhubarb, peanut butter cookies Grandma brought when she came to visit
Tuesday: Very Special hot dogs with buns (special because we have them about twice a year), leftover London broil for those who don't like hot dogs (me), broccoli, sweet potatoes, cannellini beans with olive oil and garlic, salad
Monday: Grilled Cornell chicken drumsticks, rice cooked in ham broth, cucumbers with ranch dip, cooked radish greens
Thursday: Grilled Italian sausage, grilled bell peppers and onions, sauteed mushrooms, storebought dinner rolls courtesy of my MiL that somehow manage to be both slightly sweet and slightly sour. Storebought bread is really not very good.
Friday: Thunderstorms all day today, so the first night without grilling all week. 🙂 Maybe we'll have ground beef tacos, since I'll be cooking inside.
What is a Cornell chicken drumstick?
Cornell chicken is a recipe developed by a Cornell University poultry science professor.
https://whatscookingamerica.net/Poultry/CornellChickenBarbecue.htm
It's an upstate New York specialty. The marinade is mostly vinegar, with an egg to make the chicken brown and crispy. I used drumsticks this time; thus, Cornell chicken drumsticks.
Thanks for the recipe! I am going to make this soon!!!!
I made Cornell Chicken last week. It was very good, but it didnt brown up very much ( we didnt mind) but I grilled the chicken,due to the heat. So it may have turned out different if it had been done in the oven.
Huh. We always grill it and have never had a problem getting the skin crispy and brown. Maybe it needs to be closer to your fire?
I agree about the Korean lettuce wraps; we've been making them since you first posted - so tasty! And in fact everyone loves the simple marinated cucumbers so much that we make them even more often; just as a side to burgers, bbq, etc. Not to mention the Sriracha mayo.. (Gotta love it when not only is the recipe good, but the component parts also come in handy for other dishes...)
Yes, Lisey loves those cucumbers! And they're so easy to make.
I just can't bring myself to make BLTs until there are garden-fresh tomatoes.
Mmm-- BLTs-- I have been searching for the quickest and cleanest way to make bacon; not sure if I saw this here or not, but I love it: George Forman Grill it! Make sure to heat the machine for five minutes, then lay the strips on it to cook both sides at once. The grease runs into the little pan. If you don't have a GF grill in the back of your cupboards-- ours hadn't been used in a decade-- they are quite prolific at yard sales.
I can do bacon in a frying pan or in the oven, never could get it right in the microwave, and like this best.
Try it in the conventional oven! I can do a whole package in a sheet pan!
our family loves it - we call it 'George'
Monday- grilled keilbasa links and served with weekend leftovers- baked beans ,corn bread, fresh fruit and green salad..
Tuesday- Taco Tuesday night.. ground beef tacos, seasoned black beans and a large pot of white rice so leftovers could be cooked down to a creamy rice pudding!
Wednesday- came home front work and made a lasagna.. then realized I had no foil and needed more cheese... left to get those and got a call to help a friend... tossed plastic on pans and ended up at Wendys hours later ...
Thursday- Lasagna and garlic bread
Friday- I don't wanna! but it might be time to pull the huge pork roast out and cook that down.. so that would be shredded pork for tonight and a lot of leftovers for future...
need to cook the last of the sweet potatos.... finish the fresh fruit...
Wow the fish sounds really good. Your neighbour is so nice and generous!
Neither hubby nor I like fishing. But it's great to get some fresh fish for free sometimes!
M - Memorial Day. We did a Shrimp Boil and poured it all out on the table to eat with our hands. My 4 year old particularly loved this.
T - The Library had a Summer Reading Club Kickoff Party with Ice Cream Sundaes, so we went to that and called it dinner. Hey, it's to celebrate summer, right?
W - Crock Pot Chicken Posole
T - Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup
F - I have a women's group thing at church tonight, so I'm not sure what the hubby will feed the children!
I love sauce too! Dips, sauces, spreads.. love 'em all.
As for what we are this week:
Monday - we went to the lake before it was closed because of flooding. Brought along a hibachi and cooked smokies. Add veggies and chips and you've got a meal.
Tuesday - fish, rice and broccoli and carrots
Wednesday - roasted chicken with string beans and brown rice. And corn that I thought would be freezer burned but turned out fine!
Thursday - I found a stray bag of deer ribs in my freezer, so into the crock-pot the went. With cauliflower, brown rice and a green salad.
Friday - probably rib leftovers with a green salad which I can add spinach and baby Swiss chard from my garden.
I went way over budget last weekend, by about $60. Too much catching up to do after some low-budget weeks. I'm sad about that, but (in light of yesterday's post) I'm moving on and planning a smaller grocery budget this week.
Since I'm re-introducing tomatoes (but not cheese or wheat flour yet), I added pepperoni to a frozen veggie pizza for my husband, then made a cassava tortilla-crust pizza with tomato sauce, onions, mushrooms, spinach, basil leaves, minced garlic and lots of dried Italian seasoning. Although I missed having cheese on it, it was actually pretty good.
As part of trying out tomatoes, we also had sloppy joes this week. I didn't have bread, and I seasoned mine separately from his since I can't have all the normal seasonings yet. I made his my normal way and hoped it was good, since I couldn't taste it to see. He said it was. We had cut up carrots and celery sticks, with homemade ranch dressing on the side.
We had burgers with parsnip and sweet potato fries one night. No bun for me.
We had steak one night with something on the side.
One night my husband wasn't very hungry, as he'd had a late lunch. I cooked squash n' onions for us both, which he loves, and added raw veggies plus lamb chops for me. He hates lamb. We were both happy.
Tonight is a mystery at this point.
How was the Zha Jiang Mian? I'm trying that tonight (with more meat, less noodles) - any tips to share?
I'm working on REALLY emptying the freezer - there was an incident involving a jug of cider and how the freezer needs to be scrubbed and not just defrosted. Bit by bit I'm using everything, including the weirder stuff. The stash of spices, 15 lbs of butter, and 10 lbs of sale+extremelyrarecoupon lunchmeat will have to find another home for a while. I'm also working down the pantry contents, ditto.
Monday: Ham (using up a quarter boneless ham from the freezer), spinach & carrots (tons of leftover carrots from a party), blueberries.
Tuesday: Take-out sushi from the good nearby sushi restaurant, strawberries.
Wednesday: Shrimp (freezer), cocktail sauce (pantry), whatever veggie were on hand.
Thursday: Taco night (taco sauce & shells from the pantry, some of the shredded cheese from the freezer), the rest of the spinach instead of lettuce, and strawberry pie (frozen pie crust (long story)).
Friday: Zha Jiang Mian, for which I'll double everything but the noodles (using noodles languishing in the pantry), broccoli, more strawberry pie. This pie uses so little sugar that I consider it as fruit rather than dessert.
Saturday: More scrounging. Might have the Gorton fish fillets I bought as emergency dinner.
Sunday: I plan to smoke the happy pork roast (from the freezer, natch) that's been marinating in bacon rub, berries, whatever veggies are on hand.
I thought the Zha Jiang Mian was good...only complaint is that it was slightly salty, so I think next time I will use low-sodium soy sauce to help with that a bit.
I routinely use low-salt soy sauce, so good to go there.
I made a bunch of modifications: twice the meat, half the noodles, less water, simmered the cooked noodles in the meaty sauce for a few minutes. I liked it.
Hi FG - this is britern3 from IG. You have may have started something with that mayo comment. I am Team Hellmans BTW. I am not going to post what we ate but I let my husband & daughter grocery shop last weekend so it was been an interesting week. I did want to mention we are out of the most random things: black pepper, garlic powder, white vinegar, soy sauce, rice??? I have been on a fried rice kick but jeez...Def hitting up aldi this weekend. Our Harris Teeter has seedless watermelons for $2.99 for the rest of the summer!!!!!!! Does yours?
Ha, I'm not picky about the brand of mayo. But I do want there to be plenty of it!
Nice neighbors are the best. 🙂 Our neighbor likes to bring us honey from his beehives from time to time. I keep meaning to take him some homemade yogurt in exchange.
This week we ate:
Monday: Curried egg noodles
Tuesday: BLT pasta salad with chicken
Wednesday: White chicken chili
Thursday: Scrounging. We had tough days at work and just nibbled on things. Hubs ended up buying a sandwich on his way home.
Friday: Southern slow steaks. This is a beautiful way to use up tougher cuts of beef. They cook for 12 hours and come out as tender as tenderloin. Yum!
I hope you'll be sharing the recipe for Zha Jiang Mian - it looks awesome!!!
i agree, looks really yum
I also did not spend much at the grocery store this week (I think $13) and I'm making my grocery list now and it's HUGE.
Monday- Leftover chicken from my mom (thanks, Mom!), cantaloupe, green beans
Tuesday- Hot dogs, strawberries, cooked carrots. (Funny note: this was the night I realized that my 1yo's first two-word phrase to say is "hot dog." Proud mom moment. )
Wednesday- Hubby worked late and the kids and I went to my parents' house for dinner.
Thursday- Pizza and watermelon.
Friday- Either pasta and green beans and watermelon or spinach artichoke chicken and watermelon. We'll see what kind of time I have after getting groceries and if it's cool enough to tolerate turning on the oven. I'll probably go the easy route and do the pasta.
Saturday: homemade pizza with basil from our garden and left over chicken from an earlier dinner, and bacon, from an earlier breakfast
Sunday: eat out splurge (we've got to work on this!)
Monday: Sandwiches at the park with friends
One pan dinners seem to be the theme this week:
Tuesday: potato and sausage skillet with oodles of veggies
Wednesday: Tex-Mex chicken and rice skillet from an ATK cookbook
Thursday: Eggplant and sweet potato curry from same ATK cookbook with fresh cilantro from our garden and canteloupe (Not from our garden)
Friday: grilled chicken with mango salsa and salad
M - Roasted chicken, brown rice pilaf, roasted veggies ( carrots, broccoli, onion), orange slices
T - Beef stew, biscuits, fruit salad
W - Chicken Bbq, wheat buns, cole slaw, peaches
T - Pork tenderloin, cheesy noodles with broccoli, strawberries
F - Pizza, salad, fruit
I spent $79 this week. Kids are home now from school but we have eaten all meals at home this week. Yay!
Monday: Ribs, bbq beans, mashed potatoes
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Spaghetti, corn, fries
Thursday: Sloppy Joes, chips, pickles
Friday: Not sure. I'm thinking pizza.
Monday- Grilled chicken, grilled asparagus, baked beans, watermelon and chocolate cupcakes
Tuesday- Baked chicken, stuffing, carrots and applesauce
Wednesday- Turkey, Cheese and spinach with hummus wrapped in a Tortilla shell.
Thursday- Waffles, eggs, and bacon
Friday- Taco salad: Chicken, lettuce, black olives, grated cheese, avocados and mango salsa
I have had mackerel fish stew
Rice
Vegetable soup
Beans and potatoes this week
I don't remember exactly what I had each night but I worked my way through a Blue Apron box and so 2 nights I had smoked gouda cheeseburgers. They sent the stuff to make a zucchini slaw for a side, but not being a fan of raw zucchini, I used it instead to make zucchini fries in the oven. There was also a balsamic glazed chicken thigh recipe that came with mashed potatoes and broccoli and a steak meal that came with kale and roasted potatoes. But I subbed asparagus for the kale and am saving the kale for a soup I am planning to make this weekend. I had a hot dog the one night I did not eat the Blue Apron food.
Kristen---have you checked out the ATK book Just Add Sauce? I checked out form the library and found so many things I wanted to try that I finally bought my own copy. Really has helped me turned chicken into something different each time.
I haven't! But it sounds like a book right up my alley. ALL OF THE SAUCE PLEASE.
Here's what we had:
oven fried chicken, frozen meatballs, beef and noodles, sloppy joes and enchiladas. Another sloppy joe night tonight.
The Zaycon 40 lb of beef stares at me from the freezer, so I'm working on using it. The cod got pushed to July (was supposed to be a May pick up, then June, now July) and I ordered 40 lb chicken for October. Gosh, I hope we can get through all of this food.
The week started out frugal, but then we had a car for the day and my husband went grocery shopping. A thousand rolls of toilet paper and enough kitty litter to get us through the zombie apocalypse later...... not such a frugal week anymore. At least it is stuff we need.
I don’t remember everything we ate, but I did try a new recipe. It’s sicilian, and I was doubtful, but it was very good. Pasta with eggplant, garlic, a little tomato sauce, and mint. Chopped almonds are sprinkled on individual servings. Surprisingly I really liked the mint. I get mint in my farm share sometimes and I have some growing in my garden, so I am trying to learn how to cook with it more.
DH's week
Sunday: chicken/apple sausage with mac&cheese and broccoli
Monday: roasted chicken with leftover mac&cheese and peas
Tuesday: leftovers
Wednesday: pork green chili
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: corn on the cob, broccoli and pea leftovers, garden salad, rice
I have been cooking lately so no memorable meals. Julia just has not been feeling up to cooking, even though she Loves to cook. But three years of Chemotherapy has taken its toll. We recently took a 4 week vacation - cruise and 2 weeks in England so she has been off the chemo and now feels up to doing some cooking Yay! Now at least we can do some of it together. I get to do the “hard” part - washing, peeling, chopping etc - while Julia does the creative bits and tells me what to do. But chemo started again 3 days ago and it looks like it will be back to me doing it all. She is not even up to eating out, so that route is not on. I should be getting better at cooking, right? You’d think so, but it just escapes me. I can clean house, take care of a beautiful sick lady, mow the lawn and fix almost anything, but cooking it seems is beyond me!
I'm with you on the mayo! When I see the side of the jar that says 1 tbsp (tsp?) is 100 calories I just ignore it. It is makes everything taste so good! Have you tried the avocado oil mayo from Costco?
What do you usually serve with Korean lettuce wraps? I would be happy with fruit, but I am afraid my husband might divorce me...the man needs his carbs. Any suggestions?
Fried rice is good! Or frozen potstickers from Costco.
I can make great fried rice!! And we love the pot stickers from Fresh Market here!
Thanks for the idea, this will make it work for us!
Grilled chicken and salad on grainy rolls, sweet potato oven fries, fruit salad and yoghurt.
Dahl and brown rice. Stir fried veggies.
A crock pot thing - it doesn’t have a recipe - a whole lot of vegetables, some chicken legs, and fragrant spices - garlic, coriander, cumin, ginger, garam marsala, turmeric and cinnamon served with a brown rice, quinoa, lentil, and kidney bean mix.
Roast vegetable lasagna, garlic bread, and salad.
A baked potato topped with a sweet corn, tuna, and natural yoghurt topping, and a salad.
Crock pot leftovers
Steak, baked potato, and salad.
I usually try daily to reflect on a positive note of each day in my bullet journal (aka the monthly calendar page of my planner), but I'm kind of in a funk lately and some days it's hard. I need to try a little harder!