What I Spent, What We Ate | Happy Birthday, Sonia!
Sonia is now 15 years old!
What I Spent
Let's see!
I spent $109 at Aldi, $25 on my Hungry Harvest, and $32 elsewhere.
That makes my total $166 for the week.
March Spending
Week 1: $76
Week 2: $166
What We Ate
Saturday
This was Sonia's birthday party night.
She chose fettucine alfredo topped with chicken, a fruit salad, garlic pull-apart bread, and a layered Oreo dessert.
Sunday
Mr. FG roasted a chicken and veggies, I made some buttermilk biscuits, and cut up some fruit. Teamwork. 😉
Monday
I made the shrimp and grits recipe I'd seen on Enjoying the Small Things, and it was really yummy!
Definitely recommend.
Tuesday
I made a pot of chicken noodle soup, plus some loaves of French bread.
I never cease to be amazed by how yummy that bread is, given that it's just water, salt, yeast, flour, and a little bit of sugar.
Somehow, those plain ingredients become crazy delicious.
I gotta add that this bread is a pretty easy one to make, even if you are a beginner yeast baker. Lots of my fledging-baker readers have tried it with success. Recipe is right here.
And here's a more printable version. I really need to add a printable recipe card right to the recipe post...I'll put it on my to-do list!
Wednesday
I made quesadillas with a lime, corn, chili, and cheese filling.
Of course, we also had pico de gallo and guacamole. I cut up some grapefruit as well.
Thursday
I cleaned out the fridge and discovered that we were a little overrun with veggies. So I scrapped my original plan and made ramen bowls, which are handy for using up random vegetables.
Friday
I have book club on Saturday, so Mr. FG and I will likely do our date night tonight instead.
And I will probably make a small pot of broccoli cheese noodle soup for the girls because I still have more broccoli to use even after our ramen bowls last night.
Happy Birthday Sonia!!!! My fellow March Birthday girl!
Sunday, Had a family dinner out, for my birthday (it was tues) I had chicken Balsamic, veggies, cake of course!
Monday, Dh took me overnight to AC for my birthday (it was a milestone one) We went to McCormick & Schmick's, I had braised short ribs, and scallops! yum!
Tuesday- (my actually birthday) returning from AC, dd has soccer practice, so we hit Chick fil la before practice.
Wednesday- We had shrimp scampi, I also had salad, ds had fried leftover mac/cheese.
Thursday- Chicken cutlet, yellow rice, and corn.
Friday, think it going to be breakfast for dinner, thinking French toast, cut up apples
And going to make banana bread and brownies for over the weekend, as my sister and I will be cooking at my moms this weekend, as she is having surgery today!
What's AC? And happy birthday!
Maybe Atlantic City?
Yes Atlantic city.....
Friday: Chinese lunch special takeaway. Can't beat that for a takeaway meal.
Saturday: Leftover spaghetti, bacon, pea, and onion frittata.
Sunday: Pork sausages, a lamb rump steak, and veggies.
Monday: I had sausage spaghetti made with 2 leftover sausages, leftover tomatoes, onion, garlic, sour cream and parmesan cheese. Everyone else had bbq chicken.
Tuesday: More bbq chicken.
Wednesday: I cooked Aldi frozen burgers, and we had them on buns with whatever else we wanted.
Thursday: Basa fillets cooked in garlic, salt, and pepper with plain rice and coleslaw made with a pre-shredded mix from the supermarket.
Friday: Beef mince chow mein with instant noodles and a bag of coleslaw mix and rice.
As usual, I can't remember it all.
Saturday: party food, at my dojo-mate's black belt test party. Lots of good wine (his spouse is a sommelier) and tasty grilled things. And chocolate chip cookies.
Sunday: snacky foods; I chose Tyson's Naturals chicken fingers.
Monday: Spanish meatballs, from CI. I skipped the almond--based sauce because I don't like almonds.
Tuesday: steamed dumplings and steamed broccoli. I don't remember the fruit; maybe clementines?
Wednesday: smorgesborg, cukes & tomatoes, I don't remember the fruit.
Thursday: Jiang Jia Mian from CI, a beef & lo mein recipe. Probably not a keeper. Veggies of choice, strawberries.
Friday: the plan is shrimp risotto, new updated recipe from CI.
Oh I love risotto
Monday: Pot roast, carrots and green beans made by me, a Husband Special Stew made by my, um husband. He made this by simmering duck giblets to make stock, then adding more duck bones after we ate the duck, then pigs' feet, then a rabbit my son caught in his snare, then some leftover potatoes and carrots. This is what happens when my husband gets in the kitchen. 🙂 It was better than I expected it to be, actually, and with the addition of more vegetables--and the removal of the actual pigs' feet--I'm going to eat it as vegetable stew tonight.
Tuesday: A Fat Tuesday feast of smothered pork chops, collard greens, and cornbread. My mother is from New Orleans, so I always try to do at least a New Orleans-inspired meal on Fat Tuesday in honor of Mardi Gras
Wednesday: Ash Wednesday, so no meat. Eggs it is. Scrambled eggs, that is, with stir-fried vegetables in a peanut sauce, and rice
Thursday: Ribeye and T-Bone steaks, rice, green peas, leftover Husband Stew
Friday: Friday Lent, so again no meat. My husband bought some tilapia that he's planning on frying, and I'll make the vegetable stew in the aforementioned manner. I have to bake bread today, so maybe I'll make a loaf of garlic bread too. Or maybe I'll fry some potatoes in the duck fat. We'll see.
I repeat -- I want to eat at your house. And your husband's "Man Stews" sound hilarious 🙂
I've already spent way more than I meant to this month. I have found that if I go to the grocery store for one or two things I always spend $40-50 on other stuff. ☹ï¸
For this week:
Saturday - we went to a local pizza place for my birthday and ended up with almost two whole pizzas as leftovers
Sunday - chicken thighs and spaghetti squash
Monday - fish sticks, hash browns, and artichokes
Tuesday - Burger King as a last fast food meal before beginning Lent
Wednesday - a deep dish frozen pizza from Aldi that turned out to be fantastic, served with sliced cucumbers and bell peppers
Thursday - husband is sick and I was delivering a meal to some friends who could use good thoughts and prayers, so it was a miscellaneous, fend for yourself night.
Friday - I thawed hamburger to make stuffed bell peppers for a group coming to our house tonight, but we had to cancel due to illness, so now I'm not sure *I* want stuffed peppers. We'll see what I'm in the mood for later.
Which ramen recipe did you use? I googled the blog and came up with a slow cooker one. Is that it? Thanks!
Yuur dinners sound soooo good - especially since they involve bread, which is something we have cut back on. We are forging forward with our healthy eating plan and now that its not so new, it is becoming easier to follow automatically. Go us.
Monday - Taco Chicken Bites, sauteed collards and onion
Tuesday - Crockpot white beans (last week's beans were so good! Pintos, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and ham hocks. I sorted and rinsed them, added all to crockpot on high 2 hours, then on low for about 6. Perfect creamy beans.)
Wednesday - Baked Shrimp in lemon butter, collard greens and shallots
Thursday - Leftover turkey veg soup from Sunday when only one person ate...
Friday - Orange Chicken, spinach salad with red onion and tomato
Saturday - We are playing it by ear but I would lurve some sushi
Saturday - Turkey Sloppy Joes on whole wheat buns, celery and carrot sticks
*My Imperfect Produce boxes have been super fun - we discovered things that we didn't usually buy! that we d
Sunday and Monday- lasagna pasta
Tuesday and Wednesday- tandoori chicken with saffron and cashew rice
Thursday and Friday- pork and green bean stir fry over brown rice
Spent $61 at grocery store and $17 at Aldi's this week. We don't have an Aldi's close to our house, so I go every once in a while to stock up on stuff there ($1.15 bags of flour!)
Hard to believe your little ones aren't so little any more. I know I've said this before but Sonia has a look right out of an early 1930s magazine.
But yeah, we had a nice little week at home, I guess.
Monday: Finished up a leftover rotisserie chicken and some rice by making a sort of curry stir fry thing that I half invented.
Tuesday: Barbecue chicken in the crock pot: aka the go-to "I'm too tired to plan anything complicated dinner and just want something my kid will eat."
Wednesday: Found some waffles in the freezer so we had waffles, eggs and fruit for dinner.
Thursday: Tacos with ground turkey instead of beef. Used up some leftover rice as well.
Friday: I have a London Broil in the fridge but I'm also traveling for work today and my wife suggested we get a pizza out (there's supposedly a good pizza place here.) Still I don't know if getting a pizza at 1 and saving it for 6 is such a good idea.
I thought the same thing about Sonia--she looks like a glamorous young lady (sorry, mom, hope that doesn't scare you!!!).
Happy Birthday Sonia!
My list of meals is at home and I am at work, so can I do this?
The meals were, in no order:
Homemade chicken tenders and parsnip fries with cole slaw
Seasoned pork chops cooked as a sheet pan meal with asparagus, mushrooms and onions. We actually had this twice -- the package had six chops in it, so we have some for lunch, too.
Shrove Tuesday pancakes and sausage meal
Ribs, sweet potato fries and coleslaw
Tuna salad and fruit (easy button night)
I was about $25 dollars over for my weekly budget. I'm hoping to get that back down this week.
I used a LOT of stuff that we already had or that was in the freezer, so it was a pretty frugal week.
Farro bowls with mint and squash: https://bit.ly/2J9OO3U (Swapped out feta and added goat cheese because of personal preference).
Pork Meatball Banh Mi sandwiches from Epicurious: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/pork-meatball-banh-mi-356790
I make some tweaks to this recipe, but follow it loosely, served with salad
Excellent chicken picatta, I followed a suggestion from one of the Times newsletters and made it with thighs instead of breasts https://nyti.ms/2SWqwdi Served with asparagus and salad
Tonight: ham & cheese croissants and homemade chicken soup, I have finally made *really good stock* using your suggestions, Kristen!
Sat: we had friends over we at Carne Asada burrito and tacos with rice and beans, chips and cheesecake
Sunday: we went out to lunch with friends after church to a local burger joint
Monday: left over Carne Asada
Tuesday: this is always are crazy night, I’m at church from 5-830 and hubby is usually studying at the library. We grabbed fast food late. I think we had Taco Bell but I’m not sure.
Wednesday: we have our young adult Bible Study at church we were responsible for the salad this week
Thursday: we cooked up the last of the Carne Asada. He made a burrito and I made mine a quesadilla.
Friday: No idea have to see what in the fridge. Probably not Mexican we have had that I lot this week.
Glad I checked the Hungry Harvest link, because they have started delivering in my area!
Su: McDonald's. (Youngest is now too old for the nursery at church, so we bribed her with nuggets for lunch if she behaved herself in the service, and it worked!)
M: spaghetti and meatballs
T: hot dogs and pretzels for the kids, Urban Ramen for husband and I
W: honey-balsamic fish with rice and brussel sprouts
R: cold-cut sandwiches
Tonight will be breaded chicken, instant-pot Parmesan risotto, and roasted broccoli
Woohoo! I hope you love Hungry Harvest. 🙂
Monday- I had some pork and fruit before we went to a basketball game, then I had some cookies at a moms ministry event. I think the rest of the fam got Wendy's after the game.
Tuesday- BBQ pork sandwiches, sweet potatoes, asparagus
Wednesday- Chicken thighs, broccoli and cheese, pineapple
Thursday- We ate dinner at the cafe where my husband works. My daughter had a coupon for a free meal from her birthday.
Friday- The plan is chicken pot pie, smoothies, and I don't know what else. Right now I'm just hoping to survive until my husband gets home without losing my mind. My kids and I need some space today and we didn't get it. 😉
Monday - hubby cooked steaks and pork tenderloin on the grill. We had steaks, mashed potatoes and salad.
Tuesday - pork tenderloin and asparagus and I can't remember what else.
Wednesday - My birthday! Went to Outback. Yummy
Thursday - Cooked a frozen pepperoni pizza,
Friday - pulled pork sandwiches, chips and slaw. Cooked the pork in the instapot.
Saturday -celebrating my birthday and my husband's 60th (later this month) with family. Will probably have seafood.
Happy birthday Sonia.
I can't truly remember what meals we have had. Lots of soft stuff to keep my mother happy and things I truly don't like. We have so much scalloped potato I could scream'
Happy birthday to Sonia! Still remember reading your blog when all of the kids were so young!
We have been having a hybrid of recipes due to food restrictions. Last week was:
-Chicken, cheese, cauliflower casserole
-Mini burgers cooked in a tomato sauce, served with cabbage
-Carnitas
We had those throughout the week, plus one meal out with a gift card. I ended up with four teen boys after soccer, so this seemed like the wise choice.
Your biscuits look amazing, and the chicken looks pretty good as well. Yes, love teamwork.
Monday- Leftover pizza. I took pizza over to my dad, did not think he would eat it but he did! He is 95. Thus the soup and mashed taters I made him can be for his dinner or lunch the next day.
Tuesday -Tacos & Nachos with salad
Wednesday- Birthday for FIL his is 86, currently dating a 90 year old. I'm glad they found each other. MIL died in early 2018.
Thursday -Aldi Chicken Lo Mein. Needed something that required 0 energy to prepare. It was pretty good but way to salty. Next time I would add more chicken and veggies.
Friday another too tired to cook. We scrounged veggie soup, sausage and salad out of fridge.
Saturday -I was on my own so dinner was yogurt & a heated tortilla. Not that those go together...
I did manage to use my Instant Pot to make a huge batch of dog food. I have enough for at least 2 months. Glad to get it out of the way. That was their meal but I could have ate it too!
Happy Birthday to Sonia!
Monday: burgers and salad
Tuesday: (cannot recall...)
Wednesday: lamb, rice, green beans
Thursday: lamb, salad, roast peppers
Friday: zucchini, tomato over polenta
Saturday: Ate out (Zinburger - very good veggie burger!)
Sunday: Salmon and mushroom risotto