WIS, WWA | kombucha observation
Since my digestive system has calmed down, I am still drinking kombucha, just at a slower rate. Please enjoy Chiquita observing the kombucha bubbles.
Her fluffy cheeks are really 10/10.
What I Spent
I spent:
- $37 at Safeway
- $30 on a Hungry Harvest box
So, $67.
(Are Gen Alpha kids still obsessed with the whole 6-7 thing? My kids are all Gen Z, so I have completely avoided the 6-7 craze. Ha.)
What We Ate
Saturday
I made a big bowl of Greek pasta salad, and I cooked some shrimp to go with it. I used the Barilla protein pasta, of course. It honestly tastes like regular pasta to me, and I appreciate that it makes pasta salad a little bit more of a stick-to-your-ribs meal.
Sunday
I worked, and I ate Greek pasta salad with shrimp for my lunch. After work: a trusty bowl of cereal. 😉
Monday
I worked again, had Greek pasta salad with shrimp for lunch again, and had a bowl of raisin bran after work.
Tuesday
I was originally scheduled to work (three in a row), but a coworker needed to swap. So she took my Tuesday shift, and I took her Thursday shift.
I ate the very last of the pasta salad for dinner, since Zoe was with friends.
Wednesday
I saw I had some frozen blueberries that needed to be used, so I made some blueberry pancakes. It's been a minute since I had a pancake night!
Thursday
Shift 3! Overnight oats for breakfast, and for lunch, I had a rather random combo of things.
Here we have cottage cheese with fruit, some popcorn chips, an orange, some cucumbers mixed with a Greek yogurt dressing (just plain Greek yogurt with dill, salt, pepper, and garlic powder...plus two pieces of chocolate. 🙂
After work: plain shredded wheat with a banana, because I am always trying to get plenty of fiber.
Friday
I'm off today (two Fridays in a row!!), and I have absolutely no idea what my plans are for dinner, but I will figure out something easy.
I have started subbing canned great northern beans for pasta in many dishes. Adds fiber and protein while decreasing cooking time and cost.
Mary, that's a great idea! The older I get, the less work I want to do. Plus my husband dislikes pasta.
Saturday: This was the final day of the county fair, which is also always the most tiring. I have a couple of hours in between getting home from the rodeo and leaving for the dance in which to feed everyone. I always make it as easy on myself as I can. In this case, that meant thawing a quart of gyro-spiced ground beef to mix with the rice I had cooked in chicken stock in the morning. I also added some feta cheese before heating that up. Pickles for a very low effort vegetable.
Sunday: Grilled steaks, leftover chicken-y rice, leeks (the ones I entered into the fair --grand champions 🙂 sliced and cooked in butter, chicken juices, and cream; coleslaw, and my daughter's grand champion gingerbread with whipped cream. The gingerbread was one of her fair entries. They only need three squares for judging, so I froze the rest of the 9"x13" inch pan of it for dessert this night. These were grand champion, too. It was a very victorious meal.
Monday: Hamburger steaks with milk gravy and some leeks in the gravy, mashed potatoes, leftover coleslaw
Tuesday: I had both leftover steak and hamburger steak, which I divvied out according to preference. Most people had leftover mashed potatoes, too, although a couple of people had fried bread. And carrot sticks.
Wednesday: Bacon and cheese omelets, fried potatoes, cherries
Thursday: I thawed a whole, fully cooked ham, then I cut steaks off of that and fried them because this is not the weather to turn the oven on to bake a whole ham. I also made mashed potatoes again, and we had corn on the cob from the produce bus in the city (most places have trucks--this is New Mexico, and so the produce comes in an old school bus), watermelon
Tonight: The whole family is driving to town--100 miles--so my eldest can get his unrestricted drivers license and all the kids can get their passports. I was planning on making a Spanish tortilla before we leave so it will be ready when we get home at dinnertime. However, I reserve the right to eat at Sonic or something if our DMV and passport appointments run late.
Oooooh! Getting everyone a passport sounds like fun days ahead!
Sounds like a great victorious meal- congrats on all the fair wins!
For those who are interested (I certainly was), there's a photo in today's post on kristin's going country blog of the grand champion leeks prepared as kristin describes above. And there are photos of her daughter's grand champion gingerbread and the raw leeks in her Tuesday post. Congratulations to the winners!
Thanks, A. Marie. As I noted in that post on Tuesday, our county fair (like our county) is unbelievably small, so my announcement of "GRAND CHAMPION" is mostly a way to amuse myself since, to be honest, there is not too much competition. Still. The leeks did win over some very nice sweet corn! 🙂
Oh, Kristen, I meant to say: My kids still kind of smirk when 6-7 is mentioned, but mostly at this stage it's a way for adults to annoy them with it, because they HATE IT when we do the hand thing. Very entertaining to make them roll their eyes and say "MOM" in that particular voice of exasperation and embarrassment.
I don't even know what the hand thing is for 6-7!
Palms up, move them up and down like you're balancing a scale. There are probably YouTube videos. 🙂
Consider me educated now 😉
Adults made 67 "cringe" so it's currently done for teenagers haha.
Hooray for passports and champion ribbons! I used to participate in my very rural 4-H county fair and loved those awards. And I learned some basics of embroidery, knitting, cooking, cake decorating, and camp cooking from my time in 4-H. A great time for all!
Congrats on the Fair wins!
For fiber, have you tried Kashi Go Original? 7 grams fiber per ounce, all of it from "real" fiber such as bran (rather than inulin). Also 7 grams of protein.
My usual breakfast is about 4 oz yogurt, about 2 oz cereal, and some soaked chia seeds. Not only do I find it tasty, it's means a good nutritional start to my day, whatever else happens after.
Happy Friday, everyone!
The 6-7 craze ... I was talking with a girl the other day and we were sharing our ages. When I told her I was almost 67 (she guessed 16), she got the biggest grin, clapped her hands, raised them in the air and yelled 6-7! She's five.
We spent $101 ($51 at Aldi, $25 at Eastside Co-op, and $25 at Trader Joe's).
-- Raw cauliflower and dip; graham crackers
-- Wedding reception: pasta salad, potato salad, veggies and dip, bun, rhubarb bar and pecan bar
-- Egg bites, cottage cheese, and warm pumpkin bread topped with vanilla yogurt, toasted almonds and cinnamon
-- Mediterranean orzo salad
-- Banh mi sandwich (homemade bread, spicy tofu planks, cabbage, cukes, mayo, sriracha sauce) - twice, sooo good
-- Zoodles with homemade tomato sauce
Somehow 90% of my meals this week ended up being some kind of pasta dish, apart from Sunday when I had burritos, and Monday when I went to the cinema. On Monday I just had some fruit with yoghurt and pumpkin seeds before I left and then had some toast when I got back. I also ate a fair amount of candy during the film 😉
I don't know what I'll eat tonight, but it won't be pasta lol. I bought a plate, bowl and cup with Snoopy on earlier, which are sure to improve mealtimes!
I was wondering how you did meal planning as a fellow single!
I don't meal plan as such as it makes me feel hemmed in; instead I buy a range of food for the week which I know will cover general meals I enjoy. I also usually make one or two dishes which will include leftovers for the following evening. I tend to eat a reasonable amount of pasta, although this week was more than usual 😉 I am fortunate to have a supermarket over the street!
I haven't had kombucha in a hot minute, but I really loved the Central Market brand. This wee:
M - ham sandwich at home
T - Enchiladas and a veggie I can't remember
W - Garlic Herb chicken thigh with potatoes and carrots in my mini cast iron skillet
T - TJ's Garlicky pasta, mini meatballs. green beans
F - Haven't worked that out yet - maybe tilapia? And I have two bell peppers to use up.
I spent $120 at HEB for two weeks and that included air filters (: And I ate all of my lunches at home, so I am going to take myself out to breakfast this morning. (:
WIS: Approximately $100, mostly at Food Lion.
WWA: For DH, sandwiches with sides of cheese, pickles, cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, sweet peppers and plums or nectarines. For myself, I made spicy black beans and yellow rice with chicken in the rice cooker, followed by a pot of burger-vegetable soup. Watermelon and tangerines as fruit sides. For desserts, I made cookies and chocolate pudding.
WIS: $17.25 at the Regional Market and $101.50 at Price Chopper. The Price Chopper tab included $12 for a bag of 50 Maine clams (on special and steamed for free), plus $40 for a gift card for Grad School BFF's birthday.
WIA: I had two highlights this week. In addition to my second ratatouille of the season, I made a New England clam chowder for the first time, keeping a promise I'd made last week to Dr. Bestest Neighbor. I followed Clarissa Dickson Wright's Two Fat Ladies recipe (available on the Food Network site), with a few variations. The main one was that I substituted hot lobster stock (my own, made/frozen some time ago and thawed) for her boiling water. Dr. BN approved heartily of the lobster stock addition, but did say that he found the chowder a bit thin, as I did myself. Next time, I'll use more potatoes (and/or corn, as Dr. BN suggests) and use half and half instead of whole milk.
But here's the funny part: The good doctor also said that a thin chowder is more "Rhode Island style." According to the recipe as given in the second TFL cookbook (Two Fat Ladies Ride Again)--which Dr. BN has never seen--Clarissa picked up her first version of it when she was "cooking on a yacht out of Newport, Rhode Island." Does he know his New England chowders or what?? Not too surprising, though: As I've mentioned in the past, his mother used to take him and his two brothers across the state line from MA to RI whenever they wanted to indulge in non-kosher seafood without their neighbors or their synagogue finding out!
As someone who has lived in the middle third of the country her whole life, I had no idea there were such specific regional variations on something like clam chowder! What a delightful fun fact though.
I knew better than to make a Manhattan clam chowder for Dr. BN; nobody in her right mind sets off the New England vs. Manhattan food fight. But I too had no idea that there were regional chowder variations *within* New England. Live and learn!
My family is from an island in mid-coast Maine, and we make our chowders (or chowdahs😉) thin, using 2 percent milk, evaporated milk and butter. We wouldn't even think about making a thick chowder! That is for the "flatlanders" - those who fo not live in Maine!😜🦞
A Marie - The Two Fat Ladies were so entertaining and a joy to watch!
Diane, I meant to respond with this to kristin @ going country's comment about St. Lawrence yesterday: Jennifer Paterson (the other Fat Lady, the one who drove the motorcycle while Clarissa rode in the sidecar) died on August 10, 1999. Her beloved TFL producer/director Patricia Llewellyn noted that August 10 was, appropriately, St. Lawrence's feast day. Llewellyn mentioned only that he's the patron saint of cooks, but if she'd also known that he's the patron saint of comedians, she'd have agreed that this was even more appropriate--considering how many laughs Jennifer and Clarissa gave us all!
A local author in my neck of the woods wrote a cookbook "Never trust a skinny cook". She also was a columnist for the local newspaper and played Julia Dent Grant (she lived not far from Galena).
Stock over water in any hearty dish!
WWA: Watermelon & fresh corn at every meal
Lasagna, green salad, baguette, green beans, cucumbers onions tomatoes basil, cheesecake with berry sauce.
Burrito bowls, Watermelon, carrot cake & apple cake.
Grilled fresh tuna, potato bar, layered salad, cabbage apple slaw, apple pie
Elk fajitas, curtido, beans, cucumber onion tomato
salad, Spanish rice.
Burgers and dogs,three bean salad, sauerkraut
Fish tacos, curtido,
Pork cushion smoke 18 hrs into pulled pork, buns, potato salad, veg and ranch. Apple pie
If anyone else is struggling for ideas to keep up with their cucumbers, I present cold cucumber soup!
https://www.loveandlemons.com/cold-cucumber-soup/#wprm-recipe-container-58717
The recipe calls for Persian cucumners, but I used our garden's Boston pickling cucumbers (which are purposefully on the smaller side) with no issue. I made this for the first time last night, and my husband and I both loved it. We had it with falafel and naan, which we merrily dipped in our soup.
Thanks for the cucumber soup recipe, N. One of my neighbors keeps anonymously leaving bags of cukes on my front door knob, even though I'm pretty much done with refrigerator pickles for the season. And I think that JASNA BFF (who is coming up next week for our Triple Birthday Celebration with JASNA Panera) will love it.
Glad to share! We've had Asian cucumber salad, dill cucumber salad, etc., plus refrigerator pickles galore. I'm always looking for another way to use them up!
Ooh, that looks so good!
I am pretty sure the only thing purchased at the grocery store this week was burger buns and black beans, so about $4. The rest was from the freezer or left from last week’s post-vacation grocery run.
Saturday - Went out with husband for a veryyyyy expensive dinner out to celebrate our anniversary (neither of us realized quite how expensive it would be - he’d only done business lunches there before), whoops. But also worth celebrating so it’s fine. (Also why I tried hard to not shop this week!) Kids ate at their cousins’.
Sunday - I went out with a few girlfriends for overpriced pasta followed by a walk to Trader Joe’s for tiny ice cream cones. Family had nachos at home.
Monday - Burgers with aforementioned buns, baked beans, cheesy broccoli, and really excellent local watermelon.
Tuesday - Homemade chicken pot pie.
Wednesday - Grilled pork chops, salad, and garlic bread out of the leftover burger buns.
Thursday - Spaghetti with meat sauce and salad for those of us at home, husband and teen son ate at a men’s event at church.
Friday - Two kids have late soccer, so planning on take n bake pizza.
We got a used smoker for my husband’s bday and I promised him smoked meat twice a month this year, so I need to work some into the menu plan for next week. Also, youngest misunderstood and opened 3 cans of black beans for the nachos on Sunday, so I need to freeze or use up the rest of the opened beans.
I feel like we're staying on top of our CSA veggies this year and I haven't resorted to freezing as much as I have in past years. The boxes seem to have a more reasonable balance this year and more variety - 4 green peppers this week as opposed to 10. I've been able to keep our grocery bill to around $50 a week between the CSA box and what we have on hand in the pantry/freezer. I am not taking into account what my husband brings home to cook to the smoker.
Friday: My husband made a date-night-in dinner for us since my son was at a friend’s house. He made rosemary chicken with mushroom sauce, a Greek salad, and roasted potatoes.
Saturday: My in-laws came over for dinner because my husband wanted to try smoking “party ribs.” We also had tater tots, baked corn with orzo, and leftover Greek salad.
Sunday: Peri Peri chicken over rice
Monday: Honey Sriracha salmon bowls
Tuesday: Pasta with summer squash, corn, and chicken sausage
Wednesday: Beef and green bean stir fry over fried rice
Thursday: Roasted tomato pasta, garlic bread
Rosemary chicken with mushroom sauce?? Can you send us the recipe, or a link to it?
Yes, please! I would love to make that!
Out of six meals, we had salad three times and pasta once. Also we went out of dinner one day and that left one day, where we had potatoes and chicken, with spinach (and salad).
I am becoming a very lazy chef. I cooked the chicken and later added the parboiled potatoes in the same pan. Less washing up to do.
Tonight we have salad again but I may have to do a plum tatin as well. I bought more soft fruits than I should have. In this season they all taste so good!
Saturday - we normally do takeout but since we’d treated my parents to Nations takeout for lunch, I just made the kids some bean burritos at home and I had minestrone from the freezer and toasted sourdough with hummus and tomato.
Sunday - We did end up getting takeout this night, my daughter had two back to back events at the same park so we were there until dinner time. We tried a Chinese restaurant near the park we had never been before, they had some really good meatless options, the whole family enjoyed the meatless orange chicken and didn’t even think it tasted that different.
Monday - I made coconut rice pilaf which used up a lot of veggies.
Tuesday - Last day of summer break so we had a fire in our backyard and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows for s’mores.
Wednesday - First day of school, both kids had wanted the hot lunch at school, but I guess the menu was incorrect so they didn’t actually like what was served. My son ate a banana for lunch and my daughter said she ate half a hot dog (she apparently likes hot dogs at home but not the school ones) So they were ravenous when they got home from school. They had big bowls of spaghetti and meatballs for a “snack” and then were not very hungry for dinner. I had homemade black bean dip spread on corn tortillas I had crisped in the oven, topped with avocado, coconut yogurt, and mango salsa.
Thursday - We had the leftover coconut rice pilaf, reheated in a pan to make it more like a fried rice. I had mine with some kimchi mixed in. I also made Trader Joe’s veggie pot stickers for my son and my daughter wanted a bean burrito to go with her fried rice so I made that too.
Friday - Planning to make Swedish meatballs with steamed broccoli for the family tonight, I will likely have more of my beloved toasted sourdough with hummus and veggies on top.
That Greek salad looks so tasty! I’ve been using the Brami brand of pasta for pasta salads lately, as it’s also a protein pasta. It’s slightly more expensive than Barilla, but it has two ingredients: durum wheat and lupini beans and 21g of protein in a 3.5 oz serving! Best of all, it’s delicious. My kids will gladly eat it as buttered noodles. I sound like an ad, lol, but it’s just really tasty and I’m happy with the nutrition of it!
Kristen, in less than 1 week you will only need to pack 2 work lunches ☺️
YES! 🙂
WIS: about 250 at Aldi and Giant this week.
WWA:
Fri: focaccia
Sat: breakfast casserole, spinach and sliced tomatoes
Sun: leftover focaccia and breakfast casserole, spinach, sliced tomatoes
Mon: salmon, butt noods, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers
Tue: leftover breakfast casserole, sliced tomatoes, bowls of cereal for “dessert”
Wed: focaccia two days early at the request of the kid going off to college, salmon, rice and sliced tomatoes
Thu: veggie burgers and salmon melts (like tuna melts but using leftover salmon), sliced tomatoes
Fri: since my husband is driving a kid to college this weekend, I’m making tacos instead of the usual focaccia
Happy weekend, everyone!
I'm getting to this late since I was out all day. Now I have a taste for blueberry pancakes! I think I have some frozen berries. I need to find them. It's been too hot to do much real cooking here. It was 103 today (Friday). I tried to keep it simple this week.
WIS/ WWA this week
I spent $20 at Kroger, $57 at Walmart
Saturday – I finally made The Frugal Girl’s Butter Chicken and it was delicious! My family loved it and said it was a keeper. I served it with brown rice (had some leftovers), ramen noodles, broccoli with cheese sauce and egg rolls. We had enough left for a leftover lunch.
Sunday – grilled strip steaks, coleslaw, sliced tomatoes, corn on the cob.
Monday – chicken salad sandwiches with leftover cole slaw, chips.
Tuesday – rotisserie chicken from Sam's, boxed au gratin potatoes, brussel sprouts, marked down croissants I found at Walmart. We've been eating them all week
Wednesday – tacos. I was going to make some beans to go with them but I added a half can of black beans to stretch the taco meat. So just tacos were filling enough for us. I added tomatoes, onions, Greek yogurt, salsa and avocado slices to spinach tortilla wraps. They were yummy.
Thursday – we had leftovers – pizza a friend made and gave to me, rotisserie chicken, taco fixings and fresh filled cucumber salad I made.
Friday – I'm out visiting my old friend all day so we'll eat out at a new BBQ place we've wanted to try.
$40 at Aldi, $215 for vacation meals/drinks/snacks
I really have no ideas about what folks ate this week other than my daughter and I because we were on a girls' vacation. We ate some delicious meals at a trustworthy gluten-free safe restaurant/bar in Newport, RI, 22bowens.com and enjoyed two lovely evenings and dinners at their waterfront bar. Otherwise we cooked our meals in our suite kitchen. I suspect that there was a lot of snacking and "whatever" kinds of meals by the guys at home.
I do know that I made a pot of vegetable beef stew yesterday to use up the veggies that were languishing in the fridge.
Maybe I'll go to Aldi tomorrow...?