What I Spent, What We Ate | Welcome to December!
What I Spent
I started out with a $25 Hungry Harvest.
Then I spent $73 at Costco, and $33 at a local grocery store.
So, I'm at $131 to start off December. Yay me!
What We Ate
Saturday
Mr. FG and I went on a date to a gourmet pizza place, and we got McDonald's for the girls before we left (their request!)
Sunday
We ate a bunch of leftovers for lunch after church, and at night we had a snacky dinner (cheese, lunch meat, crackers, fruit, dip, etc.)
Monday
I made a shrimp taco salad (except I cooked some chicken to top Zoe's, due to her shrimp allergy).
I made garlic bread with hot dog buns from the freezer, and I think we had some fruit too, but I can't remember!
Tuesday
I had a little buttermilk to use up, so we had pancakes, bacon, and Orange Julius.
Wednesday
We had grilled cheese sandwiches and I tried a Cook's Country recipe for tomato soup.
"Will this be as good as the kind in the can?" Zoe wanted to know.
The verdict: negative.
(That's my Vitamix, which I wrote all about here.)
I thought it was pretty good, though, and I happily ate the leftovers for lunch the next day.
Thursday
We had Asian chicken lettuce wraps plus potstickers on the side.
(I haven't posted that recipe, but here's a beef lettuce wrap recipe!)
Friday
I think I want to use up the rolls from the freezer, so I'm going to pick a main dish that needs rolls on the side.
I realize this is a slightly backwards way to plan a meal, but hey, a freezer challenge ends up like this sometimes!
What did you have for dinner this week?
P.S. I have a weekend giveaway from Third Day Naturals for you. Hop on over here to enter; you could win a gift for someone on your list (or for yourself!)
This week has been strange. I have had chicken four times and mum has had pork and seafood. The joys of being allergic. IT has been hot so there have been lots of salads for our main meals and late int he day I have been making spread out of low fat cream cheese and tasty things such as sun dried tomato and meats. Fruit has been eaten but it is mainly berries and cherries as it is Australia's season.
I totally plan around sides. I have 10# potatoes, so we had baked potatoes twice this week, and deep dish pizza today. We also had Bi Bam Bop (ATK recipe), and Chicken Tikka Masala, Beef Stew, Chicken Enchiladas and Chili.
Are those broken chunks of enormous carrots in your Hungry Harvest stuff, or some other root vegetable I'm not familiar with?
We're finally settling in, and I reeeeeally need to get out into The World to buy some meat other than chicken. Maybe next week.
Monday: Pork chops, mashed potatoes, green peas, curried squash soup (a good way to use some of the very bland but huge squash I cooked this day)
Tuesday: Sausage and potato skillet (sliced smoked sausage+sliced potatoes+onions+chicken stock); pinto beans from Miss Amelia, our elderly neighbor; green salad
Wednesday: Paella made with saffron my husband grew, paprika my MiL grew--maybe experimenting with growing unusual spices is an inherited trait?--and totally untraditional chicken and basmati rice, because I do not habitually have seafood or bomba rice on hand. It was good anyway, though. And another green salad.
Thursday: Lots of leftovers to choose from, plus Miss Amelia sent over some green chili soup (ground beef, celery, carrot, potato).
Tonight: If I can get the chicken thawed in time, we'll have Cornell chicken in the oven. If not, tuna patties it is.
I'm curious how you keep your frozen rolls/buns from getting freezer burnt? Whenever I try to freeze them, they come out of the freezer with hard edges.
I wondered that too. Mine just don’t taste good at all.
Hmm, how long are you freezing them? I usually only have trouble with this if I keep mine in the freezer too long. Are yours in an air-tight bag? Exposure to air tends to make things get freezer burnt.
I usually just use the original wrapper. Do you double wrap? I try to avoid all excess plastic and mainly use glass except for bread.
My kids love the taste of the tomato soup in the can, too. The secret is cloves!! I know it seems weird. I really don't like the medicinal taste of cloves but when you add it to the soup, as in the recipe she uses over at humoroushomemaking.com, it taste exactly like the canned stuff. The recipe is called Mama's tomato soup, I think. It's really good! You don't taste cloves, or I wouldn't eat it, but they give it that special flavor that only the campbells can has. It's a very smooth soup, which my kids love. They don't like soup with chunks, lol. I make up a big batch and freeze it in "canned sized" servings just for grilled cheese sandwiches...or...you could just buy the can, lol.
Do make sure you remove all the cloves. Your kids will never eat the soup again if they chomp down on one of those. I put mine in a small sachet when I make it.
We had a decent grocery bill last week, but this week I need to clamp down hard -- with the holidays and medical bills combined, we have taken a beating. Oh, and having to have our dishwasher fixed, our stove replaced, and now our upstairs heat isn't working. I think this will be the first time I've been eager to see a year leave. This one has mostly been hard.
We had:
Sausage dogs and coleslaw with something else (no bun for me). I bought the sausage from a local farmer -- it's delicious, but it has more spice than I should eat.
Homemade chicken tenders and the rest of the coleslaw plus fruit, I think.
Pot roast, which we had twice again. I don't remember which day we had what, but we had parsnips, carrots, onions, mushrooms, and pan-fried okra with it between the two days. I also got three lunches out of it for work.
Last night we were working on the heater and a meal never got cooked. My husband opened a can of soup and I cooked some frozen veggies for me. Not too inspiring, but it put food in our stomachs. We still don't have heat upstairs, though, and the nights are in the 30's. Getting ready for work in the morning is not fun. Our good space heater just died (of course!) and the remaining one is pitifully inadequate.
Boy, I sound down today! I'm not, though. A good friend heard my tale of no-heat yesterday and ordered a jam-up new space heater for me, that I can pick up today at no cost to me! Friends rock!
This week has been full of soups and left overs, cold weather and haze here in UT. Regarding the give away, would give to a friend that could use a pick me up gift, she is particularly careful about what you can put on your skin.
Isn't the inversion awful? I remember when it was limited to a couple weeks in January and then it was done. Motivates me to drive as little as possible at least.
BTW I think you have to comment on TFG's December 6 post to be entered into the giveaway.
I'm spending bucks on holiday food for Christmas, so trying to keep it less spendy until then...
Monday - Roast, mashed potatoes, green beans (need to cook up some potatoes before they go bad)
Tuesday - Pot o' beans with turkey legs, biscuits (also adding in some mire poix that's been in there a while..)
Wednesday - Thanksgiving dressing with pork sausage added, Sunshine Corn, carrots
Thursday - One Pot Pasta (using up some bell peppers, 1/2 a package of elbow macaroni, sketti sauce), zucchini
Friday - Chicken and rice bowls with 1/2 a bag of frozen peas added, Hawaiian crescent rolls
Saturday - Who knows - I'm on call unless someone will take it for me, then I will go to a winery pick-up with Hubby and eat fajitas!
Sunday - Ba$tard BBQ, sweet potatoes with mini marshmallows (baked too many sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving), turnip greens
Dessert this week will be Cranberry oat bars as I have oodles of cranberry sauce left!
I love the ginger bread house. It's so pretty! We are going to have a hotpot and invite our friends right before Christmas eve. It's a great opportunity for us to catch up and enjoy good food without having to do a ton of cooking! 😀
I'd give the 3rd Day Prize set to my Mom, who is sensitive to strong scents, but having used the products before, I know how nice they are. So, I hope to win and put a real treat in her stocking this year.
Love the gingerbread house!
"P.S. I have a weekend giveaway from Third Day Naturals for you. Hop on over here to enter; you could win a gift for someone on your list (or for yourself!)"
You won't win by posting on this post... sorry, copying and pasting didn't work too well. Please scroll up to where Kristen posted this or go to the actual post about the give-away.
I would love to give the Third Day products to my daughter.
I am hoping you can post the recipe for the mint truffle balls rolled in sprinkles. They used to be in Lisey's blog. We make them every year for the holidays. They are wonderful and I never kept a copy of the recipe. Thank you!!!!!
I remembered your freezer challenge as I'm making a chicken in a skillet recipe tonight (Cooks Illustrated or Cooks Country, I forget.) Anyhoo, I needed some bread for the dressing and dug through my freezer and found a neglected bag of hot dog buns.
Oooh, I am so proud of you!
Sunday- Thai pork loin and roasted cabbage
Monday and Tuesday- chicken tacos with rice, beans, olives, lettuce, and homemade salsa
Wednesday- leftovers
Thursday- ate dinner in hospital, as my 3 week old is admitted
Friday- eating in hospital again, but husband and son are having roasted Brussels sprouts and Italian sausage at home
Spent $55 total in groceries.
Oh my gracious! I'm so sorry your tiny person is in the hospital. That must be so hard. I hope you guys are all at home together again soon.
Thank u!
I'd split the Third Day Naturals products to my friend and my family :). Thanks for the giveaway.
*between!
Monday - fast food
Tuesday - pork chops, coleslae, roasted squash
Wednesday - frozen pizza, bell pepper slices, sauteed mushrooms
Thursday - lasagna, Frozen mixed veg
Friday - leftovers, possibly with lentil soup
Monday: spaghetti with red sauce and broccoli
Tuesday: Canned soup (sickness....)
Wednesday: Can't for the life of me remember, probably leftovers (this, too, is sickness related)
Thursday: Chik-fil-A (sickness)
Friday: Potato/sausage skillet
Food has been low on our priority list with the colds all of us have. Can I just say that cooking is so much easier when no one wants anything more than tea or cocoa?
This has been a week of tearing through the freezer, fridge and pantry and using up all sorts of randomness...Reasons include trying not to waste, not wanting to go out in the cold and shop, preparing for holidays, feeling lazy, wanting to save money, to organize freezers better and lacking cooking and shopping motivation! lol
Sunday- marinated chicken to grill in the beautiful nearly 60* crazy weather... but the wind was crazy wild so I used my forman grill inside and the kids just ate chicken with dip or on a bun before we ran out to take the oldest to a school singing performance he was in.
Monday-Linguini and jarred red sauce (last of both on my shelf), salad, last 5 chicken patties with sauce and cheese, frozen garlic bread...
Tuesday-Kielbasa links, pirogi's, salad. fruit
Wednesday- beef roast, mashed potatoes, corn, leftover Thanksgiving rolls from the freezer...
Thursday-clean out freezer, small Thanksgiving leftover casserole, quart of chili, pint of veggie beef soup, applesauce, cottage cheese, crackers, last of the salad
Friday- 1 had egg and bacon roll ups before work, pepperoni/salami/cheese cracker tray for the 2 who decided they did not want to go out.. so parents had impromptu date night with Burgers at Red Robin! lol
Saturday Morning... I have frozen blueberries so I am thinking I will whip up some muffins or mini breads here in a while.. I woke REALLY early so I am just slowly starting to think of my day! MUST get Groceries!
I would give the gift set to my daughter-in-law
We still have a landline phone too. Nice to see someone else with one!
Love the gingerbread house 🙂 and congrats on your freezer challenge!
Well, it's been a long haul from Thanksgiving, which was a mess, due to unexpected doings, but back in the saddle. Shout out to Cooking Light magazine (CL) for healthy & tasty recipes.
Sunday - WAY marked down ground chicken (50 cents!) that had to be made into patties immediately or frozen, with sugar snap peas, marked down brown/rice quinoa medley that was meh.
Monday - Coconut curry stirfry kit (with added tofu and veggies)
Tuesday - Baked potato with black bean/quinoa topping and homemade tomatillo salsa (CL)
Wednesday - Asian noodle and lean beef meatballs with fresh veggies (CL)
Thursday - Husband out; used up ancient barley in mushrooms saute with lime sourcream (CL)
Friday - Dinner out with husband -- Indian food, not too expensive, veggie platter
Saturday -- Reprise of Asian meatball and noodles using up frozen marked down turkey meatballs and rest of carrots, red cabbage and green onions. (CL)
And on to the holidays!
Here's another recommendation for a good tomato soup. I'm a bit lazy and freeze a bunch of the soup so I don't usually make the cheesy bread lids. I love using the oven for much of the cooking! I think you get the rich flavor without tons of time on the stove.
https://smittenkitchen.com/2011/09/roasted-tomato-soup-with-broiled-cheddar/
Do you have a recipe for the shrimp taco salad? That dressing looks amazing!
Here's the recipe I use for the dressing! http://cocinamarie.com/recipe-items/best-ever-cilantro-lime-sauce/ For the shrimp, I just coat them in taco seasoning and then pan saute them.
And I fry corn tortilla strips in a pan on the stovetop in vegetable oil until they're nice and crispy.
I am starting a freezer challenge as well. We have 3 freezers and once a year I try to use up as much as possible.
Monday was Lemon ginger chicken soup with orzo. Homemade chicken stock out of the freezer, roasted chicken breast that I had frozen, and chopped carrots celery and onions that I had frozen. It went together very fast. had that with leftover baguette from Panera.
Tuesday Bbq turkey meatloaf with cauli rice and Brussels.
Wednesday leftovers
Thursday planned salmon blt sliders but that didn’t happen as dance was longer than expected. Freezer to the rescue. elk sloppy joes from the freezer along with tater tots and veggies with Greek yogurt ranch dip
Friday will likely be pizza/ you guessed it, from the freezer. Lol. Leftover from one child’s birthday last month. Or, the salmon I have thawed. Either one. Well have Greek salad with whatever we choose.