What I Spent, What We Ate | I am a marinating fail.
See Thursday's meal for my fail.
Also, thank you all so much for your helpful comments on yesterday's post. Maria has so many good ideas to help her navigate family life without dental insurance now. You guys are the best!
What I Spent
Let's see. I had a $25 Hungry Harvest, and then I spent $156 at the grocery store.
My fridge is so stuffed full of food right now! Which hopefully means I will manage to spend less next week.
May Spending
Week 1: $119
Week 2: $191
Week 3: $181
What We Ate
Saturday
Zoe had her last dance recital so we all kinda fended for ourselves (sandwiches, etc.) before we headed out to see her dance.
Sunday
Mother's Day! So Mr. FG and the girls made waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, plus bacon.
Monday
I tried a new recipe from the latest Cook's Country magazine. It was chicken breasts topped with a creamy sauce with poblano peppers and onions.
I thought it was good, except the poblano peppers ended up being way hotter than I imagined! And this was after removing the seeds and veins.
Oh well.
We ate this over rice, with fresh fruit on the side.
Tuesday
I made penne with bacon and asparagus; a recipe from Cook's Country.
Wednesday
I tried the recipe for pork gyros from the latest Cook's Country issue. The verdict is that we all liked these.
Although, honestly...I think the main reason I like gyros has more to do with the pita bread + tzatziki sauce than it does with the meat. 😉
Thursday
I'd planned to make a grilled mojo chicken recipe but...I forgot to thaw and marinate the chicken.
And I remembered this around 2:30 pm. Ugh.
And it's the second time this has happened in two weeks!
So.
We had grilled cheese sandwiches and watermelon.
Friday
I haven't decided for sure, but Sonia and Zoe are having some friends over for a sleepover, so it will be something fun. 😉
What did you eat for dinner this week?
Sunday- Husband did all the shopping and cooking.. (yeah.. that was pricey! lol) Lots of leftovers for lunches this week...
Monday- out to supper at a local restaurant for the oldest son's 17th birthday!
Tuesday- So so busy and stressed with my calendar this week I throw the towel in and take advantage of my T-Mobile Tuesday deal.. Pizza hut for the people before I leave for 2 different evening meetings...
Weds- Tossed frozen meatballs on to simmer with sauce.. served with fresh fruit, spaghetti noodles and homemade garlic bread.
Thursday- pulled a container of beef tips and gravy out to defrost.. reheated with carrots in the pot... served with egg noddles and corn...
Friday- I am not sure... either tacos ( from precooked ground meat in the freezer).. or keilbasa and the baked beans in the fridge... and salad.. b/c the lettuce needs used...
On Sunday, we went out for brunch for Mother's Day. We weren't that hungry at dinner time and so we had a simple meal of hummus, pita and veggies. Monday, we had meatball subs with carrot and cucumber sticks. Tuesday we had chicken fajitas and all the fixings. Wednesday we had chicken pad thai. Yesterday, we were supposed to have pesto pasta with fresh mozzarella but things got busy and we ending up with some people eating leftovers and the others fixing grilled cheese sandwiches. We will do the pesto pasta tonight and postpone the homemade pizza that I planned for tonight for sometime over the weekend.
Sunday- (mothers day) late lunch/ early dinner at 5 guys, before oldest soccer game in the rain, (the rain wasn't as bad as it was for DD at 10am!)
Monday-I went grocery shopping, so it was hot dogs and tater tots after I got home and put it all away!
Tuesday-chicken cutlet, pasta in garlic/oil, mixed veggies
Wed- Pancakes, pork roll, sliced apple, before dd practice.
Thursday- Spaghetti, salad after dd practice.
Friday, took out Kielbasa, think we will do it on the grill, and I am going to make homemade mac cheese with it for after ds practice. Might throw in a veggie..
Saturday: Kids party! Hot dogs, cut up veggies, chips and dips. I ate leftover beans with corn chips.
Sunday: Homemade pizzas with lots of different toppings per everyone's taste.
Monday: School concert! Quick pasta with garbanzo beans and veggies, and green salad with the leftover cut-up veggies from Saturday.
Tuesday: Homemade focaccia bread, cucumber garbanzo bean salad and a pea/mint salad. Lots of herbs featured from our garden. Some meat also that I can't remember.
Wednesday: Baseball game! Quick meal of mac n cheese, sausage and beans, and melon mint salad. (Again, mint from the garden)
Thursday: Baked sweet potatoes, fried eggs over bean gravy, grilled halved carrots and fennel.
We did not do our normal weekly shopping last weekend due to party shopping, so we are digging pretty far into the pantry for snacks and breakfasts. Good to clear out some things that have been just pushed back.
Been a sort of crummy week for a lot of reasons and dinner kind of suffered because of it.
Monday: Was working a lot of overtime in another city so the wife and kid fended for themselves. I came home and ate a sandwich.
Tuesday: Leftovers from the weekend
Wednesday: Cleaned out the fridge and had miscellaneous food.
Thursday: Made a sort of Singapore Noodles type dish using Mei Fun and leftover pork tenderloin.
Friday: Actual dinner tonight (sort of!) We're doing breakfast for dinner and finishing up some stuff in the fridge to go with it.
I did a little more cooking than
Sunday - fend for yourself
Monday - chicken w porcini sauce (CI recipe), tomatoes & cukes, strawberries & apples
Tuesday - beef yakosoba (CI recipe), minus the soba, strawberries & grapes (main dish includes a substantial amount of napa cabbage)
Wednesday - taco night, grapes & bananas
Thursday - supermarket sushi, cukes
Friday - smorgesborg, aka leftover night, possibly supplemented with a small half-rack of pork ribs, veg of choice, watermelon or berries
My parents gave me about 1 c. fiddlehead ferns, which are something of a mystery to me. Other than sauteeing them in butter & herbs, what can I do with them?
I grew up eating fiddleheads. My mother always said they were a good source of Vitamin C.
Wash the fiddleheads well and then boil them in salted water for 15 minutes. This will kill any bacteria they may have picked up "in the wild." And the fiddleheads will be more tender. After that saute them in in butter. I like to add some scallions and dill. The cooked fiddleheads can also be added to stir-fries. I've had them dipped in batter--after the boiling--and deep-fried.
Never eat fiddleheads raw. You can end up with food poisoning.
A comment about lovely Zoe's dance recital photo. As a former ballet mom, I have to comment on Zoe's perfect posture, head position, arm position, leg position & even finger position. The big smile on her face displays confidence & the joy of performance. Thank you for sharing this wonderfully expressive portrait. Hats off to the amazing photographer, Mom.
Aww, thank you! I passed your compliment on to Zoe. 🙂
Compliment well deserved & thank you for passing it on to Zoe. In my humble opinion, she looks to have foundational potential & aptitude to become a talented ballerina. Very impressive!
I was seriously lacking motivation this week - I started my summer classes on Monday while husband was out of town and my 2 year old had an ear infection, all after I was sick in bed for almost the entirety of mother's day weekend.
Saturday : husband picked up sandwiches from dibellas
Sunday : husband and 2yo went to the in laws; I think he picked up fast food for me?
Monday : naan pizzas
Tuesday : McDonald's
Wednesday : eggs and toast
Thursday : steak, mushrooms, carrots, and broccoli (finally felt up to cooking a full dinner)
Friday : probably breakfast for dinner - maybe pancakes and bacon
We are supposed to have a birthday party for the 2yo tomorrow, if everyone is healthy enough.
Your food photos always look so great - makes me want to try the recipes! This week we had:
Monday - Indian Spiced Chicken Breast, Superfood Salad, smashed red potatoes
Tuesday - Pintos with brisket onion and cilantro, corn muffins
Wednesday - Crock Pot Ribs, corn on the cob, leftover beans
Thursday - Tuna Salad on Toast, red pepper strips, fresh fruit
Friday - Mole Chicken Tacos, sauteed zucchini
Saturday and Sunday - Take-out nights? Not sure. Maybe we will grill.
My daughter cooked a late lunch for me on Mother's Day, so we never did eat dinner. I think my husband grabbed a snack before bed. I had insisted, since she's a mom, too, that my daughter not do much work on cooking a meal; her answer to that was cheesy potato-burger loaf and southern-style green beans. I don't think she really got the message about keeping the meal easy, but gotta love her!
We had fajitas one night, with homemade cassava tortillas.
One night I pushed the easy button and it was Lebanon bologna sandwiches (cassava wraps for me), cottage cheese and fruit, chips and any raw veggies anyone wanted.
We had pork and a salad some night this week.
Last night I cooked smoked jowl and we had roasted beets and sauteed okra with it.
Tonight is still a mystery, but I know Saturday we will have bean soup. I was going to make it earlier this week and I forgot to soak the beans, so I'm right there with Kristen forgetting to prep the chicken.
Kristen, what are you doing with the costumes from dance recitals? My kids used parts of some costumes for Halloween costumes, but I finally packed up all the best and cleanest ones and sent them to a little great-niece for dress-up. They were taking over the house.
Oh my gosh, you are SOOO not a fail! I thought you meant that you had scrapped it all and just gone out for dinner that night or something. You still whipped up a frugal homemade dinner even though you had the challenge of forgetting to thaw and marinate that chicken. I am really inspired by your example and it encourages me to live more frugally. I will say, however, that I also do truly appreciate you sharing your struggles and missteps along the way because that makes it seem more like real life. Thanks for sharing!
Heh, well, grilled cheese sandwiches did get the job done. 🙂
Sunday- We had a late Mother's Day lunch of homemade chicken salads, therefore no dinner
Monday and Tuesday- jerk pork loin, rice and beans, sauteed plantains
Wednesday- pulled pork (given to us by my aunt) sandwiches with peas
Thursday, Friday, Saturday- spaghetti and meatballs
My husband is smoking A LOT of pork this weekend for his birthday, so that will be on the menu for next week! We will also be making him a cake!
Last week of school craziness ahoy . . .
Monday: T-bone steaks, rice, roasted bell pepper/onion/sweet potato, green salad (still with MY LETTUCE HOORAY!)
Tuesday: Skillet meal of leftover taco meat, leftover rice, and shredded cheese. Plus steamed broccoli. I am obviously raising foodies over here. 🙂
Wednesday: Bunless hamburgers, boiled potato chunks, green salad. And it sure was handy that I had done almost all the prep ahead of time so that when I walked in the door at 5:15 p.m. with four exhausted children (field day, kite-flying contest, last day of preschool, AND a 4-H meeting all on the same day) I didn't really have an excuse for not cooking. Or rather, for cooking scrambled eggs, which is my version of "not cooking." Although I did rather grumpily mentally refuse to add cheese to the hamburgers, because that was apparently just a step too much? I dunno. It was a long day.
Thursday: Last-day-of-school pizza (from frozen homemade dough, which turned out really tough and greasy--will not do again), a steak that I didn't have room for on the pan on Monday, and some random leftovers for me.
Tonight: I took out some cube steaks, so I guess I'll make grillades and rice. Probably frozen green beans.
Ooh, schools are already out there? They'll still be in session for about a month here.
Yeah, it's crazy early. Well, crazy for those of us accustomed to eastern school schedules. But I gotta say, that last stretch in June in New York was THE WORST. No one wants to be dealing with school when the weather finally gets nice, and the teachers kind of gave up and the kids were SO over it . . . I used to have to bribe my kids every morning with "countdown candy" (a single Reese's Piece every morning for the last twelve days of school) to get them on the bus. I much prefer the early start/early end.
The children picked all of the recipes you tried from this month's CC but we haven't had a chance to make them yet, so it is good to hear positive reviews. I've been trying to do a bit of freezer/pantry cleaning so using up stuff has had priority (last night we had spring rolls!)
I think it's a spicy part of the year for poblanos... peppers seem to vary in spice depending on when we buy them. Sometimes I can eat them raw no problem, and others they're like a milder jalepeno.
Saturday: we hosted a cookout and went through 61 bratwurst, 25 hotdogs, 4 lbs of dried beans made into Boston baked beans, and 2 heads of cabbage for slaw.
Sunday: we have no oven and it was another cold & rainy day in New England, so I made sauerbrauten in the crock pot.
Monday: eggplant and zucchini caponata; served with polenta
Tuesday: 75% discounted Easter candy. For dinner. Sometimes I'm really pathetic.
Wednesday: out for Thai food
Thursday: a total failure stopped for fast food. It was really gross, but had limited options on the Mass Pike at 9:00 p.m.
Friday: homemade tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches
Does anyone have any suggestions: I teach from 2:00-7:00 p.m. and then jump in my car for a 3.5 hour commute home, once a week. I don't want to take the time to cook or heat up a meal, and I want to be able to eat it while I'm driving. Any other creative ideas other than a sandwich? I need a better solution than stopping at overpriced convenience stores or fast food.
What about snacky type foods, like crackers with cheese and sausage? You can add veggies like carrots, celery, and sliced peppers and fruits like grapes and apples. Maybe think in terms of appetizers that can be made ahead as an actual meal.
Carla has the snacky food covered, here are a few other ideas.
Hand pies, such as Cornish Pasties.
Burritos.
Chinese dumplings, such as roast pork buns.
If you can, consider making a homemade equivalent of whatever overpriced convenience food you would buy.
I think part of giving ourselves grace is to separate the person from the action. The marinating failed, bu you are not a fail. Language matters 🙂
This is important not just with our kids, for example, telling them that they DID something rude or disrespectful, rather than telling them that They Are rude and disrespectful. As we parent, it makes a difference for a kid to hear that, but I think we also have to parent ourselves and separate those two things when we talk about ourselves.
I always tell my kids for example, don't say "oh, i'm bad at math", because your brain hears that, and your brain will believe it and won't try. Say instead "oh, I have to work harder at math" and that is what the brain will hear and go with.
I say that to myself too, it's not always easy, but I try to say wow, "well, that a dumb thing to do at work" and not "I was dumb at work", I don't want my brain to hear that I think I'm dumb, because then I might believe it and act accordingly.
So, yeah your marinating intentions failed. Bummer. But you are rolling with the punches and still moving on.
You are right...and I do try to be mindful of that with my kids. I was mostly being silly when I wrote my post title, but I suppose even silly self-deprecation has a cumulative effect over time.
Yeah! I know it's a way to try silliness but I really do feel, and have seen in myself and family, the cumulative effect on our own view of ourselves when we say these things about ourselves regularly. I guess I'm very sensitive to it since it's something I work very hard on to slowly destroy the effects of earlier overuse of this. I just hate to see others talk about themselves like that too when there is so much loveliness there. 🙂