WIS, WWA | I can't stop eating watermelon
What I Spent
I have been happily eating so much watermelon this week...somehow, even at the end of summer, I am not tired of it.
I spent:
- $55 at Safeway
- $21 at Giant
- $35 at Chipotle
So, $111, which is pretty good considering we got takeout one night.
What We Ate
Saturday
I made pulled chicken sandwiches, and on the side, we had watermelon and sauteed asparagus.
(I almost said, "sauteed asparagus and watermelon" but then that sounded like I had sauteed the watermelon. And that's a big nope for me. I do not want my watermelon cooked in any way. 😉 )
Actually...I recently learned that some people bake watermelon to make a vegan raw tuna dish and I gotta say: I AM EXTREMELY SKEPTICAL that this tastes anything like tuna.
I will continue to eat my cold, crisp watermelon as-is, thankyouverymuch.
On another note: did I use my handy-dandy silicone cover to store the other half of the watermelon?
But of course.
If you want more info, here's a little YouTube video I did about the silicone cover.
Sunday
We were not all home together at dinner at all; I ate a late lunch/early dinner and then went to the outdoor symphony (which I mentioned in this week's Five Frugal Things), Zoe was with Sonia, and Lisey was with a friend.
Monday
Labor Day! I spent almost the entire day working on homework. And at dinnertime, I emerged from my office (err, study cave) and the girls and I ordered Chipotle.
Tuesday
I made quesadillas to use up some random things in the fridge and freezer.
On the side: cucumbers and watermelon.
Wednesday
I made those bahn mi style sandwiches again (from a Cook's Country recipe.) Basically, they're filled with lime-sriracha mayo, chicken, pickled veggies, and cilantro. So good!
Thursday
The girls wanted French toast, which is a very easy dinner request. Excellent.
We topped our French toast with whipped cream and strawberries and we had some orange juice to drink.
Friday
I dunno! Zoe's working, and given that it's Friday night, I'm guessing Lisey may have some social plans.
This week we had
Sambal telor (spicy eggs over rice)
Lamb chops and salad
Millet with a leek/carrot/cocos stew, almonds and baked banana
Chicken sateh and vegetables
Pasta with homemade ragu
French beans and steak
All-were-fed freezer hamburgers and canned vegetables - we had an unexpected rush time at dinner.
Prices for fresh vegetables have increased frightfully. We will probably include more frozen veg in our meals in winter. And anyway yesterday's dinner showed me that it is better not to be snobbish about canned or frozen food and just be able to whip something up in a few minutes. What's not good about dinner if we were fed and had lots of laughs?
@J NL, I read somewhere that frozen is just as good for you as fresh because the veggies are frozen so quickly after they are actually picked. So I keep some in my freezer always...they are so easy to incorporate into meals that way. Plus, if you buy the large bags, they are a bit cheaper per ounce.
@J NL, do you have a recipe you'd be willing to share for the sambal telor? That sounds really good!
@Danielle Zecher,
The recipe I used was dutch, but I found an english one: http://www.tinydutchkitchen.com/en/recipe/sambal-goreng-telor-indonesian-spicy-eggs/
We had them with spicy french beans, and it tasted really well. Also I like having some meatless recipes that still give that Indonesian flavor.
The millet recipe is also vegetarian but not really oriental despite the bananas, curry and cumin powder and coconutmilk. It is a bit sweet and you can add blanched almonds and/or small cubes of (dutch!) cheese. The recipe dates from the 80's, when both vegetarianism and oriental cooking were new to most people. It brings back memories of my student days!
@gina,
Yes they are a good staple! I also like that you can just add in few frozen peas for colour etc
@J NL, thank you! That looks delicious! I had egg curry for the first time a few years ago and now I can't enough of hard boiled eggs in spicy sauce dishes. 🙂
@Danielle Zecher, Have you had shakshuka? The eggs aren't really hardboiled though. More poached.
@Rose, yes, I love it! I HATE making it, though. I always have trouble poaching the eggs in the sauce. Last time I ended up just making fried over medium eggs to put on top of the sauce.
@J NL, I have tried to always eat fresh veggies but recently use up a bag of frozen cauliflower from my freeze and my goodness was it good!! I forgot that frozen CAN BE tasty and healthy.. I will also be using more frozen in the coming months.
Your dinners sound delightful! And yeah, some of those things you see on Insta are kinda far=fetched, food wise! There's no need to improve on wateremlon! Or tuna, for that matter...This week at my house:
Monday - Sriracha Honey Chicken Thighs, skillet sweet potato cubes
Tuesday - Broccoli and Chicken Bowtie Parmesan Skillet, buttered corn
Wednesday - Greek Chicken Breast over white bean salad
Thursday - I got some take-out fried chicken and ate it for lunch and dinner; the leftovers are going with me for a Friday lunch at work, okra on the side. And I deboned it first, so I could make bone broth in my crock pot. The house smelled amazing when I woke up this morning.
Friday - I'm going to use up the last of the Mole Pork in my freezer to make a couple of great quesadillas that include bell pepper and onion, salad on the side
Saturday - TBD {on call this weekend}
Sunday - Dinner with The Girl - she has requested a meal I used to make long ago, involving pork sausage and spinach wrapped in crescent roll dough (think empanadas), and butternut squash. I'm also picking up a mini Bundy tower from Nothing Bundt Cakes.
Happy Weekend!
https://cannaryfamily.blogspot.com/
@gina, we pick up the Bundtlets while in Columbus they are so good!
I have wanted to try making watermelon burgers, but haven't actually bit the bullet yet. Probably because I'm lazy. This description sounds tempting though: https://thetakeout.com/watermelon-burgers-with-goat-cheese-and-gremolata-a-gr-1844471871
WIS: 73.15 @Giant and 212.90 @Aldi for a total of 296.05. Like, whoa...so now I have this crazy plan to limit myself to only 95.82 more for the rest of September because this would make my grocery bills for the last five months average out to 700/month (not counting my farm shares which I paid for in February). This means I can do basically one more Aldi shop, but I think it's doable. Time will tell.
WWA:
Fri: celery sticks, carrot sticks, red pepper strips and ranch dip, pepperoni and mozzarella focaccia.
Sat: spinach salad with tomatoes, frozen cheese pizzas from Aldi, rose-shaped ice cream cones from Aldi.
Sun: salad, corn on the cob, rice and shrimp gumbo from the freezer with crumbled queso.
Mon: rainbow salad, corn on the cob, pasta and leftover immediate sauce with shredded parm, brie baked sourdough bread ring, more rose cones.
Tue: salad, corn on the cob, zucchini and crumbled tofu fajitas with homemade tortillas and shredded cheddar cheese.
Wed: salad, sungold tomatoes, fig and ricotta flatbread, granola bars with whipped cream on top.
Thu: I had back to school night, so packed a double lunch of leftovers, family had leftovers in crunchy corn tacos.
Tonight: focaccia and probably sliced heirloom tomatoes.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
@Becca,
I don't know about the burgers but I have been treated to a lovely salad a few times with thinly sliced beetroot, watermelon, seasoning, goat's cheese and some mint? It tasted wonderful!
@J NL, I make that without the beet but with cucumber.
@Rose,
I don't care for beets, so your version sounds really good to me! @JNL, great idea - I was just gifted a watermelon that a friend grew in her garden. 🙂
@Liz B., I lurve beets especially pickled but I know I'm in the minority there. My kids usually look at me with disbelief when I eat them.
@Rose, you have another team beets member over here!
I have long wanted to try the vegan tuna watermelon thing! I’m not a vegan, but I have close family who are. I’m fascinated by vegan food, especially aquafaba (bean cooking liquid that can be whipped like egg-whites. We use this weekly to make oil-free sugar-free granola.)
This week we had a big cookout on Saturday night. We contributed wings, steaks, zucchini, squash, peppers, and sugar snap peas, all grilled. The grilled sugar snap peas were a surprise favorite. We grilled them bc they came in the Hungry Harvest box and they weren’t the freshest peas ever. I highly recommend trying this!
I ended up not needing to go to the grocery store all week! Besides leftovers, we had: shredded cabbage salad with sesame oil vinegarette with leftover pulled pork from the freezer, whole wheat pancakes with strawberries and bacon, cabbage and chickpea coconut garam masala curry with homemade flatbread, ramen made with kale, ramen eggs, and stock from my ongoing bag of vegetable scraps and bones, and black eye peas with collards and cornbread. I was out of eggs, so I made the cornbread with mayonnaise. Everyone preferred the mayonnaise recipe to my usual recipe. Tonight my kids are going to a birthday party and I’m meeting a friend for dinner out. DH will probably have leftover black eye peas.
@Tarynkay, Do you have a recipe for the sugar free granola? I tried using xylitol to make sugar free granola but it didn't clump very well.
@Karen A.,
Yes, though I’m sorry it’s inexact, I figured it out through experimentation. I have found recipes for this online, but they all included sugar.
Preheat your oven to 325. You need one can of chickpeas. Shake the can well before opening. Drain the liquid out into a large bowl, saving the chickpeas for another use. A beat it with an electric mixer until it forms soft peaks. I add cinnamon and vanilla at this point. You can add whatever flavoring you like here. Then stir in old fashioned oats until they are all coated in the aquafaba foam. This usually takes 4 cups of oats, but it does seem to vary based on the volume I attain with the aquafaba. You can replace any amount of the oats with chopped nuts, coconut shreds, seeds- whatever you prefer. Spread this mixture out on a parchment lined jelly roll pan. Bake until the oats dry out, about 30-45 minutes. They won’t get perfectly crispy in the oven, but it will crisp up as it cools. Let it cool on the pan and don’t store it until it’s completely cool. I don’t know how long it lasts bc we always eat it within a week. I leave it on the counter in a canister, though.
@Tarynkay, how did you grill the sugar snap peas? Did you use a grill basket?
@Natalie J,
Yes, we tossed them in oil and salt and grilled them in a grill basket. Add any other seasonings after grilling so the seasonings don’t burn.
I spent $248 @ Costco but $50 of that was for some sweatshirts and another $35 @ Publix. I still have another grocery run to do as we were out of all the essential items but I am shopping sales so that means multiple trips.
Saturday…I made a large pot of corn and sausage chowder with cornbread. This was a lovely meal as it was raining and it used fresh summer corn. Yum.
Sunday…I canned a bushel of tomatoes and made a huge pot of chili for us to eat along with leftover cornbread.
Monday…pork chops in the crockpot, rice and roasted okra; half bushel of okra was put into the freezer
Tuesday….leftovers
Wednesday….I had to go into the office and my sweet husband roasted chicken breasts and we ate those with leftover veggies
Thursday…this was the night of the Costco run and we ate hotdogs for dinner
Friday….more grocery shopping tonight so I expect dinner will be some
Kind of takeout
Saturday…friends coming for dinner and I am making an Italian feast
For us so I expect leftovers will be eaten on Sunday
Happy weekend!
Saturday: One pizza with just cheese, some of the meat I pulled off the pressure-cooked beef ribs (just fried in olive oil and then I put the last of a can of spaghetti sauce in there), cucumber
Sunday: We ate our big meal for lunch because the pork ribs were done a lot earlier than anticipated, but I still had to kind of cook dinner. More fried rib meat, cornbread left over from the big lunch, and peach pie and ice cream. The kids had the choice of actual food and then dessert, or just pie and ice cream, and three of them chose the latter. They thought it was great.
Monday: My husband took all the children fishing and they came home with one trout. I fried that and served it with melted butter and parsley. And then there was, um, more fried rib meat. Plus a mayonnaise-based potato salad and carrot sticks.
Tuesday: Rib steaks (I promise I didn't intend to serve something rib-related every night!) with herb butter, rice, leftover sauteed calabacitas, raw green beans
Wednesday: I had very little energy for cooking when I got home from work, so when I finally dragged myself out of my chair to go the kitchen, all I did was put the meat sauce from that day's school lunch spaghetti over rice and microwave it. To rave reviews from my children. 🙂 I threw some raw green beans on their plates, as well. I had also made popsicles that morning by pureeing some of my abundant peach-plum jam with cream. These were to celebrate my daughter's first day of school. Also, it was hot.
Thursday: The kids' judo instructor had a party for everyone who passed their belt tests last week, and he provided all the food. So there were tortilla chips with nacho cheese, hot dogs, Puerto Rican rice, and freshly-made funnel cake. Because their sensei has a funnel cake machine. Because why not?
Tonight: The only Friday this year I have to work. I'll probably just fry a couple of cans of commodities pork, use some of the GIANT tub of spaghetti sent home with from the cafeteria, but sauced with roasted tomato/garlic sauce I made yesterday as the meat sauce is all eaten, and raw green beans. Or cucumber. It's a theme.
Sat.: We grilled burgers and hot dogs and made a variety of sides, including fruit salad, pineapple cheese casserole, fresh veggies, and corn on the cob.
Sun.: Leftover burgers, etc.
Mon.: Leftover burgers, etc.
Tues.: Spaghetti
Wed.: Hubby had a late lunch. I had Aldi frozen pot stickers cooked in the air fryer. I like those better than takeout!
Thurs.: Chicken pot pie. I used fresh rosemary which took it to a whole new (and wonderful!) level.
I’m not sure about tonight. We don’t quite have fall weather yet, but it’s definitely cooler than it has been, and it’s supposed to pour rain. So soup sounds really good. I’m thinking something I can make a huge batch of so we can share with our neighbors. They’re driving back from a hospital out of town after one of the kids had surgery yesterday. I think it might be nice if they don’t have to worry about dinner when they get home.
WIS: $76 at Price Chopper and $16 at Wegmans.
WIA, most interesting: I made a stock from accumulated poultry bones on Monday, and used half of this stock to make a gumbo on Tuesday. I used a new-to-me recipe: Leah Chase Gumbo, from the Marcus Samuelsson cookbook "The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food" (the source for the Fred Opie hoecake recipe I mentioned several months ago).
I followed the recipe pretty closely for me, though I did tweak one or two ingredients to accommodate what I had on hand (for example, I used 4 cups of the poultry stock instead of 2 cups each of fish and poultry stock because I didn't have any fish stock). This recipe makes a smaller batch of gumbo than the one I'd been using previously (one of Emeril's), which makes it more suitable for cooking for just me--although, as usual, I did send some over to the Bestest Neighbors!
@A. Marie, I always use Leah Chase's Gumbo Z'Herbes recipe! It makes a ton but it's yuuuuuum. (She was from Nola, as is my BFF.)
@Rose, yes, I will have to learn more about Leah Chase and her gumbos (I'm sure there are many!) and her everything else. Both the Marcus S cookbook and your testimony indicate that she was a NOLA culinary legend.
@A. Marie, And she lived to be 96 or so.
"The story of Leah Chase reads like a social history of New Orleans. Creole-born across Lake Pontchartrain, she started waitressing in 1941—part of the first group of female servers in the French Quarter—when the men were off at war. In '46, she began working at her in-laws' restaurant, Dooky Chase's, where jazz greats such as Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, and Sarah Vaughan would congregate. "There was no place else for them to eat when they came to town," Leah said. Then in the 1960s, with desegregation, Leah began "learning what they were doing on the other side," in places like Commander's Palace, where her clientele now had the opportunity to dine. For her, the strength of the SFA is its ability to transcend borders and bring people together over food. Every year on the Thursday before Easter, she used to cook up to 100 gallons of her Gumbo Z'Herbes, made with nine different types of greens. All of New Orleans, from Catholics to Jews, whites to blacks, would flock to her gumbo pot en masse. "The best way to know people is through food," she says. "Get them to talk about food. Talk over food. It might be about food, but you're also talking about issues.""
@Rose, I love Leah Chase, thanks for that info!
My daughter keeps threatening to grill watermelon, which is fine by me.
We had hamburgers with watermelon salad
shakshuka
potato-bacon-sausage-kale soup
spaghetti
pulled pork sliders with coleslaw
Most of the meals were designed to use up the watermelon, tomato, peppers, etc from the garden.
Steaks with bearnaise sauce, caprese salad, green beans, and beets
Beef fajitas and corn on the cob
Brats on the grill, fried sweet potatoes, roasted broccoli
Sweet potato gnocchi and sautéed mushrooms
Leftovers night
Crescent pizza roll ups with marinara dipping sauce and cooked carrots
Tonight we are having pork and vegetable stir fry with rice
Sunday - BBQ at a friend's house
Monday - chicken and barley soup with a ton of vegetables, brioche rolls from Aldi
Tuesday - Oatmeal with toppings, smoothies, bacon
Wednesday - pasta (shaped and colored like fall leaves and pumpkins!) with smoked sausage, apsagaraus, and mushrooms
Thursday - frozen pizza (the kiddo is at his dad's every Thursday night, so I work on homework and we have an easy dinner)
Friday - take-out, I think.
Saturday - takeout from a chicken place so chicken strips for the adults, Mac n cheese for the kids
Sunday - we live on the coast where it rarely gets above the 60’s even in summer (although we did get up to 90 this week during the heat wave) but we spent the day visiting my grandma and where she lives it was over 100 degrees (and she does not have AC!) so we were all so drained from the heat, we just came home and made some cold sandwiches .
Monday - we were supposed to go to a friends for a bbq, but due to the above mentioned heat wave, everyone flocked to the coast and traffic got too bad to go anywhere (it would have taken 2 hours to get to the friends house) so I made beyond burgers for the adults and defrosted leftover sloppy joes for the kids , frozen French fries and reheated some Kraft Mac n cheese leftover from the kids lunch
Tuesday - tacos with black beans, chicken and corn
Wednesday - ground turkey and mushroom stroganoff
Thursday - leftover alphabet soup from the freezer, canned biscuits
Friday - I’m hosting my very first book club, which I’m excited and a bit nervous about (we read The Giver of Stars, which I enjoyed, we’ll see what book club thinks!) I have a can of pilsbury pizza dough so I will make a quick pizza before book club.
Baked watermelon is supposed to substitute for raw tuna? This isn't sounding possible. I also want my watermelon cold and fresh, so I doubt I will ever bake one to see if it works.
What I spent was about $10-$15 because I picked up a couple of things on sale to stock up in-between my bi-weekly shopping trips.
What I ate:
Leftover meatloaf with cauliflower and grapes on the side.
Stir-fry with cabbage, carrots, and whatever veggies I found that sounded good, with the last of some kielbasa tossed in. No soy sauce, sadly, but soy and I don't get along these days.
Slow-cooker beef heart with spinach and... something else I've forgotten. I made an Otto's Cassava flour recipe for vegan chocolate cake for dessert, and I confess, I ate more cake than I did meal. It's been a long time since I had cake.
I actually bought a steak on sale at long last. It was small but really thick, as all of them were, so I sliced it in half lengthwise and had one for dinner, one for lunch. With it I had crispy okra and raw carrot sticks.
Beef cutlets, cauliflower rice and English peas. I'm pushing the English pea envelope by eating them regularly lately, and so far, I think I am handling them well and they can come back into my diet. That's good, because I love English peas, as long as they are fresh or frozen. I don't like canned peas.
Last night I got home quite late because when I visited my husband I found he had refused his insulin and glucose testing all day and his blood glucose was obviously very, very high. I got him to accept testing and then his insulin and reminded them to CALL ME if he becomes recalcitrant about testing his glucose or taking medicine. I will get with them again today to make sure they all know I have the power to make health decisions for him, since his thinking isn't always clear and gets worse if his glucose is out of whack. So, long story not short, when I got home, I fried a couple of eggs and broke into a snack bag of potato chips, which I keep for visitors because I'm not a real fan of potato chips, and let that be it.
Tonight, I go shopping and I may pick up something to cook, but it depends on what, if any, sales I find.
@JD, no jury in the world would convict you for breaking into a bag of potato chips after the day you had. I've had many trials with my own DH, but he has no diabetes or other major physical health issues. I hope you and the staff can get your DH's diabetes under control.
I was really jet lagged from a work trip, so my husband did most of the heavy lifting:
Friday - we did Greek takeout, as I had just gotten back from Japan
Saturday - my husband grilled chicken & made rice
Sunday - we ended up hosting a huge pool party, with lots & lots of teenagers. We grilled hot dogs & served that with watermelon & potato/macaroni salads. This was the second meal we served, since they stayed for the entire day
Monday - I defrosted prepped taco meat, and we had tacos.
Tuesday - leftover chicken & rice
Wednesday - my husband grilled the rest of the chicken, while I drove kids around to various sports. We had that with salad.
Thursday - leftover hot dogs, & salads.
Friday - TBD, but likely the last of the second batch of grilled chicken. With some sort of fresh side, to spice things up.
Finally fell off my almond milk and cheerios wagon and looking for something new. After updating the switch and minecraft at Starbucks we stopped by the Italian place with the giant meatball doorway. Gluten free options didn't look good so on the way home stopped at another Italian place that is always packed. Ordered a few gluten free dishes to go and headed home. New obsession. I can never make gluten free pasta taste this good. And what do they put in the vodka sauce. Last two mornings i get up, put some in a dish, nuke it and sit out on the deck enjoying the view. Insane. WIS? I don't even want to think about that.
Monday: Ravioli with tomato sauce.
Tuesday: Leftover ravioli with tomato sauce.
Wednesday: Scrambled eggs, toast, fruit, and cheese.
Thursday: Pasta with tomato sauce and meatballs from the freezer and a bagged side salad. The cashew bagged salad is a treat I buy when I go to Costco.
Friday: We're at my parents with family from overseas.
Baby got sick again this week, so all the schedules got thrown off, hence pasta with sauce three times in five days!
Your Thursday dinner sounds so decadent! I have not had French toast for awhile. I too love cold crisp watermelon.
Watermelon is tasty, wet, and easy, and is the reason I bought a silicon cover as well. I find that buying a whole one is cheaper than cut even though I can rarely finish a whole one before it goes bad. I also found that buying a half or quarter, even at the higher price, is less expensive that buying a whole one that I can't finish in time.
First week back at school for us (homeschooling). We always start after Labor Day.
Monday: Oldest made burgers, fries and we had the last watermelon of the season. I refuse to buy them once they are 6 bucks a pop, and pumpkins are next to them in the store.
Tuesday: Taco Tuesday, always and forever, because it's easy for me to remember.
Wednesday: Second oldest kid made salmon burgers and we had crockpot corn on the cob. The grapes are really good right now, so we had those too. I had leftover taco stuff, because the salmon burgers I could find had yeast extract, which I'm staying away from (migraines).
Thursday: Lentil soup and sub sandwiches.
Tonight is tuna cakes and tater tots, husband is going to help the youngest make dinner.
All told I spent more than last week, not sure why exactly, I think prices here are finally hiking up. About $397, but some of that was toiletries as well.
Any tried and true pumpkin spice granola recipes out there?
I have a 79 cent can of pushy pumpkin. make me, make me
@Tiana, not pumpkin spice granola, but I like to mix canned pumpkin with vanilla yogurt and eat it with granola on top.
This week I took requests from my daughter and, while it was all good, it felt like too much meat. I prefer two vegetarian and one seafood meal in the weekly rotation. Need to find some more family friendly vegetarian mainstays…
WWA:
Saturday - Vietnamese pork meatballs on vermicelli with nuac cham and veggies (Budget Bytes recipe hit it out of the park)
Sunday - bbq peri peri chicken, couscous taboule, chocolate covered ice cream bars
Monday - pan fried steak, French fries
Tuesday - oven fried chicken fingers, baked potatoes, peas
Wednesday - make your own subs
Thursday - cheeseburger macaroni (aka homemade hamburger helper)
Friday - leftovers
Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend
@kj, ooh, I love budget bytes but I haven't tried that one. I'll add it to the list!
I only spent 78 dollars Kroger pickup. College age son back to school so we are trying a freezer pantry clean out.
M. Stir fry rice and avacado salad
T. Leftovers see above
W. Double mushroom ( canned and fresh) marinara in slow cooker over noodles. Salad.
Th. Leftovers see above
F. Our version of takeout. Frozen pizza and bag salad.
Have a nice weekend.
I don't know about baking a watermelon but I *have* made poke bowls with watermelon instead of raw salmon. It was surprisingly good. My husband and daughter are both poke fans and they enjoyed it too. all kinds of stuff out there!
I've actually had compressed and sous vide watermelon & it can pass a bit like tuna! Also had grilled watermelon. In both instances, it intensifies the flavor. But, there is nothing quite like a really good fresh summer watermelon.
$2.65 using FlashFood app at Stop & Shop
Sat: out to dinner with friends
Sun: grilled flank steak, sauté of corn off the cob, summer squash & peppers
Mon: homemade macaroni & cheese, pulled pork, roasted cauliflower
Tues: leftovers
Wed: homemade ramen. I made the broth by using homemade chicken stock, cooked down, with some porcini mushroom powder, miso & a dash of soy
Thur: whey pancakes & bacon
Fri: cauliflower tacos
@BettafrmdaVille, this seems like such a fun week of meals! I especially want to be there for the Monday meal.
oh Kristen! I am also going through a robust watermelon phase. I have been salting the fruit and love it even more.
Monday - dal, rice, prawn pickle, and okra sabzi.
Tuesday - pasta bolognese and salad
Wednesday - maggi noodles (indian ramen - SO good!) and fistful of arugula
Thursday - smoked eggplant sandwich and m&ms
Friday - we are going to Sarvana Bhavan, which is a south indian restaurant. Planning to get a mysore masala dosa and rava kesari for dessert
@Samosa,
I like how you included M&M's in your menu on Thursday. A wise choice, I say.
@Samosa, I learned the other day that maggi is totally different depending on what country you're buying it in. Different flavors, textures, everything! They tailor what they make to the local country's tastes.
@Natalie J, oh yes! maggi noodles in UAE is completelyy different. I live in a bangladeshi/caribbean neighborhood in Brooklyn and the maggi packaging in stores looks deceptively similar to indian maggi but SO SO different and I can't seem to enjoy it. I am also so intrigued by your comment about different textures! I haven't experienced that and so curious.
@Samosa, I'm grew up with German Maggi, which isn't noodles at all, but sauce in a bottle. When I first had Maggi noodles it threw me for a loop haha
Sunday - I roasted a chicken, plus an assortment of colored potatoes from my garden. I can’t remember what veggie we had on the side, but it probably involved some of the surplus of carrots I’d been digging up.
Monday - I didn’t feel up to cooking. My kids had turkey bacon sandwiches and I had a cheese sandwich. Probably some sort or fruit or carrots on the side, but I don’t remember. My husband fended for himself, so I have no idea what he ate.
Tuesday- I made fish and hamburgers (I can’t eat beef and the hubby doesn’t like fish). My teenage son happily devours both! We also had brown rice, and a salad of garden cucumbers and red cabbage with a sweet spicy dressing.
Wednesday - Leftovers for the boys. My daughter and I made Boboli pizzas.
Thursday - I sautéed chicken, roasted sweet potatoes, and made a green salad with garden peppers and tomatoes. The adults also had roasted okra and tomatoes from the garden.
Friday - I have both ground turkey and tofu to use up, so I’ll have to cook one for dinner and save the other for lunches. I’ll serve one of those with noodles and whatever vegetables I can harvest. Maybe carrots and Swiss chard?
Saturday - I hope to get take out!
WIS: Approximately $130. Don't have the receipt because I gave it to DH to take to the Aldi cashier to correct an error. We are spending a chunk more on groceries due to buying some items for our son: his paycheck is tiny and seriously eroded by inflation.
WWA: Monday night supper was homemade pizzas. The rest of the week I made myself little chickpea salads without lettuce and had toast and strawberries on the side.
This is going to sound crazy but someone I watch online said they squeeze a bit of lemon on their Watermelon and it's a game changer!
This week we have been eating Orange Ancho Tacos with homemade "refried" beans. (I cook the beans in the slowcooker so they aren't really fried but I add a healthy spoonful of lard so they taste like really good restaurant refried beans.)
We are a left over loving family so taco week is a big hit.
My Rancho Gordo heirloom bean order came this week aaaannd I finally made it to the top of the list to join the Rancho Gordo bean club (quarterly box of 6 different beans) so guess what….various bean dishes were and will be on the menu. This week I made beans and rice and added chorizo and also homemade refried beans and fajitas. We also had takeout pizza and an appetizer night. A couple of recipes that came with my bean club box that I plan to make next week are a vegetarian chili and warm cranberry beans with radicchio and pecorino.
Sunday: Pasta carbonara with salad.
Monday: We were going to make pork lo mein, but we were invited to a neighbor's BBQ. We brought watermelon, and we ate that the rest of the week.
Tuesday: Celebrated our daughter's first day of preschool! She requested "The restaurant with the chocolate strawberries" (aka Zupas).
Wednesday: We made the lo mein from Monday. It was fine, but we won't be doing that recipe again. Watermelon on the side.
Thursday: Tacos! We tried the pre cooked carnitas from Trader Joe's, it was about the same price as a pound of ground beef not on sale. Our AC is still out, and we were in the middle of a nine day streak of 100+ weather, so it was really nice to be able to just microwave it. Watermelon on the side.
Friday: Leftover tacos and lo mein, watermelon on the side.
Saturday: Probably leftovers, probably with watermelon!
I don't think I could ever get tired of watermelon. It's just so good! Glad to hear you are still enjoying it too.
That flower at the beginning of the post is so pretty. 🙂
Let's see, this week I ate: chicken fajitas and potatoes (those lasted me 4 nights, yay!) and a chicken Alfredo Lean Cuisine tonight because I didn't feel like cooking (which is bad, I know, but it's a once-in-a-while treat, not something I have regularly).
@Natalie K., I am a strong believer that there's no such thing as "bad" foods. All food can serve a purpose, and if it gets you fed, that's half the battle!
@Natalie J, Love it! I think that is a GREAT attitude! 🙂
WWA, RV’ing Edition
We are on a 28 day RV trip along the Calif Central Coast, which was a great place to wait out our just-now-departing heat dome/wave! Anyhow, normally we enjoy dining out a few times a week during any RV trip, but our current local in Santa Cruz is so commute hour traffic-y, we have been dining in instead. It’s all about simplicity when we are RVing - my prep galley and fridge are both very small!
Sat- Mini pizzas, salad, garlic bread
Sun- Tacos, fruit
Mon- Taco salad, fruit
Tue- Steak w/sautéed mushrooms, rice, broccoli
Wed- Tacos, green pepper strips
Thur- Cheeseburgers, air fried potato fries, green pepper strips
Fri- Grilled cheese and ham sandwiches, air fried potato fries, salad
Next week we’ll be in a less traffic-y town, and I am looking forward to some dinner out once again.
@Tamara R,
If you like ice cream, I can definitely recommend Marianne’s, 1020 Ocean street. 🙂 There’s usually street parking on the back side of the block.
@KristaZ, We went there a few days ago! We’d hiked 10 miles in The Forest of Nicene Marks SP, and decided we’d earned it! We shared a scoop of Heaven, after our server pointed it out as one of their top sellers. It was great!
Not my best week as I'm still adjusting to life with more evening activities than we're used to. But no one starved.
Sunday: Pizza and breadsticks
Monday: Leftover pizza and some fruit
Tuesday: Soccer practice is 5:45-6:45 and I've not yet figured out a good dinner plan for these nights. I made chicken tenders in the air fryer (my first week of using an air fryer!!!) and I don't think we had anything to go with them.
Wednesday: I made IP macaroni and cheese plus green beans for everyone else, I had salad and pizza at a meeting.
Thursday: Chili cheese fries and watermelon
Friday: I was at a birthday party with my 6yo and we had pizza. Those at home had more chicken tenders.
Like I said... Not my best, but no one starved. The one plus is that I gained confidence with the air fryer this week!
Monday: Buttermilk blueberry pancakes with bacons (Kristen's pancake recipe)
Tuesday: Chicken tenders and salad
Wednesday: Spaghetti and sausage (I usually make my own sauce, this week Rao's did)
Thursday: Potato and leek soup
Friday: Fend night