WIS, WWA | a chicken-full week
What I Spent
I did not even realize how chicken-heavy my week had been until I sat down to write this out. I guess my tolerance for chicken is quite high!
And when you are in a small household, buying a rotisserie chicken means you gotta do some serious chicken-eating to get it all eaten in time.
This week, I spent:
- $7.50 at Giant (a rotisserie chicken!)
- $27 at Safeway
Sooo, only $34.50. But...I probably need to stop in at Sam's Club next week, so don't anticipate two such low weeks in a row!
What We Ate
Saturday
I was on my own (Zoe was at the beach with friends for the weekend), and I made a green bean/chicken dish, with some fresh basil courtesy of my neighbor Kate. 🙂
Sunday
I had a chicken lettuce salad with nuts and fruit.
Monday
Zoe had some orange chicken (from Trader Joe's frozen section) and I have no memory of what I ate. I don't think I was very hungry because I took my lunch break at work really late.
Can you tell last week's Hungry Harvest box came with more green beans than I had anticipated? I'm doing my best to get them all eaten (Zoe hates green beans!)
Tuesday
After work, I made myself some potatoes and eggs, with fresh cherries on the side and then I went to BED.
Wednesday
I used the last of the rotisserie chicken to make a small pan of chicken enchiladas, topped with pico de gallo.
I didn't have any canned jalapenos to use, but I did have a fresh one in the fridge, so I just chopped that up and cooked it with the onions as I made the sauce.
Thursday
Leftover enchiladas!
Friday
Zoe's gonna be at work until 10:00 pm so I will probably make something that can easily be reheated later when she gets home. Or maybe I'll make a cold main dish salad.
Perhaps with some chicken. 😉 Ha.
I’m headed for Publix soon. I go at 7 AM when they open and am home by 7:30. I have my list too- I only buy BOGO items there and usually go to Aldi once a month. I have fresh shrimp to steam late- I got it in my farm share delivery yesterday plus some beautiful looking produce.
WIS: Approximately $65, including $15 for canned goods (red kidney beans, cherry pie filling, salmon, and apple butter) at Ollie's Outlet. $21 for a meal out with friends that fed me twice.
WWA: Leftover roast chicken, homemade hamburgers, kidney bean and veggie casserole, gluten-free spaghetti with a red sauce jazzed up with ground Italian sausage, sweet peppers, onion and cherry tomatoes from the garden. Fresh melon, grapes, strawberries, and garden tomatoes. Gluten-free brownies from an Aldi mix for desserts. These were a big hit with the family.
First week back to school! For me and the other teachers, that is. Kids come next week.
Sunday: Homemade pizza (except for the dough). We're getting the hang of it!
Monday: I went to my cookbook club, which means I got to try lots of delicious food.
Tuesday: Preschooler's choice, spaghetti again!
Wednesday: Leftovers, I purposely cooked taco meat for the next night.
Thursday: Tacos after meet the teacher at my school. Since the meat was pre cooked, it was quick to throw together.
Friday: Massaman curry with fridge stragglers.
Saturday: Neighborhood potluck, I'm bringing Sriracha snack mix.
Saturday - Cool ranch crunchwraps
Sunday - Pizza and breadsticks
Monday - Stir fry (all of the veggies were odds and ends in my fridge, which made me happy) and cherries
Tuesday - Gene Wenger's Hamloaf that my in-laws brought from Pennsylvania a few weeks ago, zucchini, cut up peppers
Wednesday - Spaghetti with saucy beef ragu and zucchini, plus skillet corn on the side
Thursday - Fajitas and watermelon
Friday - Beef stroganoff and peas is what's on the menu, but I'm not entirely sure that's what the final result will be.
That's a lot of chicken! I make chicken shawarma nearly every week, about 8 pounds of it, so we must have a high tolerance for chicken...I don't eat as much meat as I used to, but the guys here like it a lot.
WWS: $411.24 at Kroger. Not too bad. Of course, DH and I were fasting for part of the week.
Saturday/Sunday: homemade pizzas
Monday: DH cooked burgers and hot dogs over the fire, I made crockpot garlic potatoes.
Tuesday: hamburger stew made with leftover burgers. Annie's mac and cheese for Selective Eater.
Wednesday: chicken shawarma, minus the Disappointing Homemade Hummus. I tried making it from scratch with cooked-from dried chickpeas, and while the chickpeas were great, I messed up somewhere and got runny yet granular hummus. Boo. Oh well, the rest of the meal was splendid.
Thursday: taco night plus leftover shawarma for me.
Tonight is fish burgers and corn on the cob.
@Karen A., when I make hummus homemade I overcook the chickpeas til they are very tender...add some baking soda as it softens the skins...and strain the skins that come to the top. Blend while hot and add enough fats (olive oil/tahini). America's Test Kitchen had all of these tips in something I read years ago and they do make a difference.
I also have found canned beans work just as well...I add the baking soda and cook them an extra 20-30 minutes to get them good and soft and to remove the skins.
@Marlena, Thanks! Usually I've cooked the chickpeas in the slow cooker, but it was being used for something else, and I must not have cooked them long enough on the burner. The idea of cooking canned beans to soften them is intriguing--a little less work.
@Marlena, I used to just put canned beans straight into my blender. That blender (25+ years old ) died and my new blender isn't as good as the old one, so I haven't been able to make homemade since. I didn't know about cooking canned garbanzo beans for hummus!
@Gretchen, just add some water and baking soda and you're good to go
@Karen A.,
This is a ridiculous method, but I peel the chickpeas first. I haven’t tried the baking soda method bc I weirdly enjoy peeling them, they just pop right out of their skins in a very satisfying way. If you enjoy tedious repetitive tasks like I do, give it a try.
WIS: $1.53 at Wegmans,* $20 at Trader Joe's, $7 at Tops, $12 at Panera (lunch with my next-door neighbor [NDN] and her friend), and $25 at Ollie's.**
*The Wegmans tab was reduced by $21 in container returns.
**One of my Ollie's purchases was a 92 oz. bottle of Tide Coldwater Clean liquid. I recently noticed at Price Chopper that the 92 oz. size of any type of Tide liquid seems to have been replaced by an 84 oz. size, for which the old 92 oz. price is being charged. Product shrinkage strikes again, it seems. And Ollie's seems to have bought up the remaining 92 oz. size inventory (and other old sizes). This is a public service announcement from Tide Addicts Anonymous.
WIA: The $7 at Tops was for a marked-down 3 lb. package of ground turkey I found when I took NDN shopping there. I used 1 lb. to make some turkey burgers (which I seasoned with my "new" Goya Adobo seasoning, and to which I added tomato and homegrown arugula), and I froze the other 2 lb.
@A. Marie, from another Tide addict who happens to live in the same town as you, THANK YOU!! Adding a stop at Ollies to my to do list. 🙂
@A. Marie, I wondered why the whole center aisle of my Ollie's was filled with cases of Tide. Mystery solved! DH is allergic to Tide, so that's a deal I won't be able to take advantage of.
@A. Marie,
Oh, wow! I wish there was an Ollies near me! We're a Tide household. That dumb shrinkflation strikes again!
Green beans freeze really well, if you want to have some for winter when you're not getting them so fresh. You can just stick them in a freezer bag, even without snapping the tops off if you want.
Saturday: This was the last day of the county fair. We got home around 5:30 from the kids' rodeo and left at 7:30 for the dance. In between, there were showers and ironing. So dinner had to be easy, because I was exhausted and helping children with things. My husband had the last of a bag of lamb chops I had thawed a few days previously, plus some rice. My children had burritos made with flour tortillas, cheese, and leftover bull taco meat, microwaved. Also cucumber slices. I just ate the partial burrito my daughter couldn't finish. Mom dinner, indeed.
Sunday: I had found a couple more bags of elk in the freezer. These were stir-fry pieces. I also had a bag of stir-fry vegetables that had been in the freezer a very long time, so I made stir-fry, adding some carrots to the frozen vegetables. Rice, of course, and I had some milk that was past its use-by date, so I made chocolate pudding.
Monday: I was in town with one child at dinnertime. My husband used the last of the leftover bull taco meat to make burritos for those at home. They also finished the pudding. I shared the rotisserie chicken drumsticks from the grocery store as we drove with the kid with me.
Tuesday: I cooked a pork shoulder early in the morning, also using the oven to bake potatoes and cookie bars. So at dinner, I fried pork pieces in its own rendered fat, scooped out the potatoes and roughly mashed them with lots of butter and salt, and sauteed green beans (from the garden, yay!) with bacon fat and shallots. Cookie bars for dessert.
Wednesday: Full day of meetings for teacher in-service, and also very hot, so fast and easy was my goal. I used some of the leftover pork to make pulled pork, which we had on the sourdough buns I had made a couple of weeks ago and stashed in the freezer for just such a meal. Also carrot sticks with curry dip (sweet yellow curry powder+mayonnaise), store-brand Fritos, and strawberries and cream because strawberries had been on sale at the store. My daughter prepared the strawberries for me, which made both of us happy. She isn't quite 7, which is still an age when helping in the kitchen is fun instead of an obligation. Actually, it made everyone happy, because I probably wouldn't have done it myself, and then they wouldn't have gotten to have strawberries and cream. 🙂
Thursday: Another full day of meetings, so leftovers. I made fried rice for my husband with the last of the stir-fry, with some pork and scrambled eggs added. I had made spaghetti in the morning for the sick child, and used some of it for the other children by adding a few cubes of frozen pesto from last year. They had leftover pork with their pasta, too, and grape tomatoes. I had the leftover pulled pork--eaten cold while I was making dinner because I was really hungry--and a tomato/cucumber/feta salad. Then we all had ice cream, because this day of training was all about child abuse, suicide, active shooters, etc. and it's so depressing that I felt the need for ice cream. I am aware that food is not meant to be used in this way, but I do it anyway sometimes.
Tonight: It's cool! It's rainy! ALLELUIA. I have so much kitchen work to do, but for dinner, we'll have meatloaf, baked potatoes, salad with vinaigrette, and I think baked apples with cream if I have enough apples. I also need to make pesto, pickles, bread, chocolate syrup . . . this is what happens when I start work: all my kitchen work gets crammed into one or two days.
@kristin@going country, we had that training day this week too, it's always hard. Good to you for choosing the ice cream!
I always thought you had to blanch green beans. No?
@Kristen, You don't have to. They might be a bit more mushy when they're thawed, but since I'm always cooking them anyway, I don't mind that.
@Kristen, I never blanch mine but freeze them fresh from the garden after a wash and a snap. They cook up just fine and taste marvelous in the dead of winter 🙂
@Angie,
Same here, I just wash, dry, snap, freeze. They turn out great when I pull them out of the freezer at a later date.
My green beans have done pitifully this year, not sure why.
@Kristen, we do the same with asparagus. Haven't had a lot to freeze since we sold our prior house (we had three well established asparagus beds) but that's how we do it. Don't eat it as a side dish but same as kristen@going country says.
@Kristen - same works for zucchini (grated or sliced) and yellow squash. Always freeze paste tomatoes whole also.
Friends, we are in ICU for the 4th hour of pneumonia this year and a newly discovered brain bleed. I'm concerned about the pneumonia (dh is 64 and we just can't seem to end it, but the brain bleed is scary. I'm hopeful that it will resolve itself but if not, this is a Level One trauma center with great surgeons. Needless to say, any prayers and good thoughts will be welcome.
Kristen, I lost my love for beef about 10 years ago and don't like seafood so eating chicken multiple days in a row is easy for me and I don't mind it at all. Even though we've never met, I find myself thinking of you when I come across a kind nurse. I'll say to myself, I bet that's what Kristen would do/say. 🙂
@Jennifer, 4th bout - autocorrect outsmarted me!
@Jennifer,
Wishing for you peace, strength, and healing.
@Jennifer, I'm hoping for the best for your husband and you.
@Jennifer, praying for your DH and for you.
Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry that you guys are in the hospital again. Hang in there.
And I am touched that kind nurses make you think of me!
@Kristen, kindness of any kind makes me think of you. And resourcefulness.
@Jennifer, Praying for you and your husband Jennifer.
@Jennifer, Good thoughts for your husband, poor guy. At least you know he's in the right place.
@Jennifer, Thinking of you and sending all good vibes for the very best outcomes. Glad you’re with outstanding and kind medical personnel.
@Jennifer, Praying for you and your husband.
@Jennifer,
Oh my goodness. Hoping for the best for your husband. I work in a cardiovascular ICU, and those nurses are just the best. Glad your hubby is in a place with highly skilled and compassionate staff (not meaning I'm glad he's there). Hugs.
@Jennifer, I'm reading this late in the day but if your hospital is anything like ours, you could still be there. I surely hope not. Wishing your hubby a speedy and complete recovery.
I love a good rotisserie chicken! I like to let mine cool, then debone it and make broth. I freeze the chicken in portions for a meal, but that first fresh drumstick - so good! This week:
Monday - kitchen closed - I had a sammich and a protein shake at work
Tuesday - Strawberry Chicken Salad
Wednesday - Salmon, chard
Thursday - another Strawberry Chicken Salad - so delicious
Tonight - Garlicky Shrimp and pasta with the rest of the chard
Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed, but I'm on a salad kick lately, so I'm probably going to make two of those, and I have a freezer meal for the other day.
Happy weekend!
@Gina from The Cannary Family, These dinners sound yummy, especially strawbwerry chicken salad. And garlicky shrimp too, which I like to put on toast sometimes instead of with pasta to absorb more of the sauce.
WIS: My husband had been WFH the last several weeks so I have kept more food in the house. We spent $20 buying shrimp directly from the shrimper. I made two trips to Trader Joe’s. The first was $45.75. This included water and storm provisions. The second was approximately $41. My husband made a $25 trip to Publix for BOGO blueberries. He didn’t stick to the list. He bought Hurricane snacks for himself. We spent $30. For a total of $166.75. Ouch!
WWA:
Saturday: Panera salads when taking care of the Grands.
Sunday: Pork roast, roasted corn and sautéed shredded Brussel sprouts.
Monday: DH had eaten a late lunch of Sunday’s leftovers, so we had a light dinner. I think I made a salad and a piece of toast for myself. I’m not sure what DH ate.
Tuesday: I had a meeting so it was fend-for-yourself.
Wednesday: beef, rice, and a peach/spinach salad
Thursday: GF ravioli with sautéed spinach and baby tomatoes.
@Bee,
I hope you weathered the storm okay. My mother in law, who was a Navy wife back in the 1950's, worked for a time weighing the shrimp for market after the shrimp boats came in for the day. I believe this is when they were stationed...maybe in Georgia? I forget exactly. Needless to say, she and my father in law got a wee bit spoiled, having access to super fresh shrimp like that. 🙂
spent $66 and spent most of the week home with Debby and all the rain.
Saturday: leftovers from family gathering the night before
Sunday: ravioli in sauce with salad/breadsticks
Monday: shrimp/ramen/broccoli stirfry
Tuesday: sausage/grits/air fried okra
Wednesday: cold chicken wraps with veggies. Combined some hummus with a bit of cottage cheese that needed to be used up. Blitzed it in the blender and it was fine.
Thursday: Baked chicken with potato wedges and sala
Friday: We may go out tonight since we've hardly left the house this week and the rain is finally gone! Maybe go eat at a place by the lake and soak up some sun.
$244 this week. Ugh, I can not keep it under $200! But my husband and I both eat breakfast at home and I always take my lunch to work, so maybe it's not quite so bad?
Friday - Hubs and I went grocery shopping but stopped at Whataburger first.
Sat - Trader Joes Orange Chicken and Vegetable Fried Rice
Sun - Meatball Subs and Chips
Mon - TS Debby was visiting, so my husband grilled burgers & we also had fries. I set the meat out intentionally just in case we didn't have power, he could use the grill. We did have power and it had stopped raining at that point, so it was all good.
Tues - Chicken Parmesan made in the instant pot (new recipe) with angel hair pasta and salad
Wed - French Toast and Sausage
Thurs - Chicken & Broccoli Fettucine Alfredo w/salad and garlic twists
Yes, eating breakfast at home and packing a lunch are such frugal choices! If two people get an $8 breakfast five days a week, that's $80 right there.
I didn't shop last week and my kids treated me for a few days while in Orange Beach, so I really, really didn't spend anything, even eating out.
Once again my menu kind of went by the wayside. Hurricanes and trips can do that.
While in O.B., we had, let's see:
Chicken, shrimp, salmon, rice, broccoli, salads, a frozen pizza, and one meal at a seafood restaurant where I went old school with fried fish, French fries and cole slaw.
At home without power, I had peanut butter sandwich with banana and apples on the side, plus a small salad made with just-picked shredded longevity spinach, nuts, raisins and a vinegar and oil dressing made of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
When I was home and had power -
I finished up some homemade fried chicken with peas and mashed potatoes.
Chicken again with asparagus and mushrooms, plus the last of some cherries.
Kielbasa with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut, with fruit for dessert.
I made a pot of "white chicken chili" adapted from a frozen meal I had enjoyed from Paleo on the Go. Their got out of my price range so I don't get it anymore. I had looked at the ingredients list on their packaging and recreated it from that. There are no beans and no chili spices, just garlic, per the AIP protocol, so calling it chili is a stretch, but I like it, plus it has veggies in it. I had this twice, with a little GF bread and some butter on the side. I also portioned out two servings for my freezer, for emergency lunches for when I have nothing to pack.
Tonight is unknown, since I go shopping after work. It depends on what I find.
We are a chicken heavy household. I like to pick up rotisserie chickens, break them down and save portioned out meat in the freezer. This helps when I need to throw together a quick meal because the chicken is already cooked and chopped. I save the chicken bones to make “scrap stock” along with veggie scraps.
I refused to go grocery shopping when we got home from our trip. We had enough in the fridge/pantry to get us through the week, I just had to get a little creative. I also feel this sense of satisfaction when I use the last of something and our fridge starts to empty out - oddly enough I don't feel the same with my pantry.
Friday: Nashville! Since we were celebrating a friend we went out for a steak dinner. We got there in time for happy hour so we ordered a collection of things and shared.
Saturday: Another night in Nashville and another yummy meal out - birria tacos for me.
Sunday: TJ’s Japanese Fried Rice with rotisserie chicken mixed in and TJ’s frozen pot stickers. I was really thankful to past me for picking up an easy meal for when I would need it!
Monday: Cheeseburger soup and biscuits. My husband has been raving about it for days so I may have to make this one again.
Tuesday: Stir Fry over brown rice. I have had Brussels sprouts in my fridge forever so they made the perfect base. I was also able to use up a good amount of our CSA veggies before picking up the next box.
Wednesday: Mushroom Stroganoff. My son isn’t a fan of mushrooms so this was the perfect meal for my husband and I since my son wasn’t home for dinner.
Thursday: My husband was at a work dinner so I made BBQ Chicken Flatbreads for my son and myself with a side of roasted green beans.
Saturday - my sister arrived from out of state so my parents hosted dinner at their house for all of us, we had hot dogs, potato salad, corn on the cob and fruit with cherry pie for dessert
Sunday - chicken thighs, Parmesan risotto, roast zucchini and cabbage, corn on the cob
Monday - chicken or bean tacos, Spanish rice, corn
Tuesday - we went out to dinner at a seafood restaurant with my family for my birthday, I got a delicious lobster roll. We had ice cream cake at home after
Wednesday - spaghetti Al limone with leftover ice cream cake for dessert
Thursday - salad night with chicken for husband and a black bean burger for me, kids had their leftovers from our dinner out on Tuesday
Friday - defrosting some soup from the freezer and trying a new plant-based corn muffin recipe to go with the soup
@LB, What ingredients are left out of the traditional corn bread what's added to make them plant-based, if I may ask? I'm making some corn muffins soon!
@Gretchen,
I'm gonna guess it is a recipe that omits lard and/or bacon grease.
@Gretchen, it seems to use apple sauce and non dairy milk in place of oil/butter and milk. I ended up not having time to make them so tbd on how they taste, maybe next week!
I fed a lot of teens over the past week (typically my two, plus at least 1-2 additional teens), as we had house guests and another friend over quite a bit.
-Ground beef tacos x2
-Chicken shawarma x2
-Caprese salad, skillet squash & salmon (squash, tomatoes & basil from the garden)
-Leftover pizza
I never know who will be home on Friday nights, but it's unlikely both teens will be here. If it's just me + DH, eat will likely be big salads + protein. I need to plan a menu for next week, clearly!
WIS:
$102 at Aldi
$95 at the Latino grocery
WWA:
Lentil soup and bread- our oven has died and the YouTube told me I could make yeast bread on the stovetop in the skillet- it was pretty good!
Greek turkey meatballs with Greek salad over cauliflower rice
Chicken shawarma with hummus, cucumbers, tomatoes and bell peppers on flatbreads. I tried making tahini to make the hummus but then realized that the sesame seeds were rancid. So I made hummus without tahini and discovered that we like it better that way.
Cod stew- I have convinced everyone this is a summer appropriate soup bc it is very lemony and tomato-y.
Hamburgers, potatoes, and green beans
Tonight we are having 2 other couples over for tacos- pork carnitas and some chicken, with salsa criollo, mango salsa, salsa verde, esquites, guacamole, and pintos.
Saturday we have stuff for skillet pizza, as we continue to procrastinate about replacing the oven. Sunday we will probably have more lentil soup as everyone is just tired on Sundays and wants simple food.
@Tarynkay, Can you share your recipe for cod stew?
@Meira@meirathebear,
I am interested in this too...I'll probably save it for the fall though.
@Meira@meirathebear,
Sure:
Garlic and Tomato Fish Stew from the Washington Post
Ingredients
4 cloves garlic
1/2 medium onion
8 small Dutch Gold or other yellow-fleshed potatoes
1/2 lemon
12 ounces frozen cod fillets (may substitute other firm, thick, white-fleshed fish)
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup vegetable broth, preferably no-salt-added
One 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, plus their juices
Leaves from 4 stems parsley
Steps
1. Cut the garlic cloves into very thin slices. Cut the onion into thin half-moon slices. Scrub the potatoes well, then cut them into halves or quarters (bite-size).
2. Use a Microplane zester to grate a teaspoon of lemon zest from the lemon half, then cut the fruit into wedges for serving.
3. Cut the fish into large chunks, then season it all over with salt and pepper.
4. In a large saucepan over medium heat, heat the oil until it shimmers. Add the garlic, lemon zest and onion; cook for 2 minutes, then pour in the broth, and add the tomatoes with their juices (crushing the tomatoes as you go) and the potatoes. Cover and cook for about 12 minutes, or until the potatoes are just tender when pierced with a fork, then add the chunks of fish. Cover and cook for 4 minutes, until the fish is opaque and cooked through. Taste the broth and add more salt and/or pepper, as needed.
5. Chop the parsley leaves. Divide the stew among wide, shallow bowls. Top with the parsley and serve with lemon wedges.
It's true, a whole chicken for two people is a commitment!
Sunday: A wedding! I had salad, salmon with farro, and missed dessert because I was dancing. Lots of fun.
Monday: My mom and my MIL had both given us food earlier in the weekend, so we ate the odds and ends (egg salad, garden lettuce, roasted veggies, etc.)
Tuesday: I was working overnight. My supervisor provided a falafel wrap; I also ate some chickpea/potato/squash stew that I made, plus frozen mango and homemade mini-oat muffins. I left macaroni and cheese for Toddler and babysitter (a.k.a my mom,) and Mr. B fended for himself after he got home late.
Wednesday: Baked chicken schnitzel and roasted squash. And a late-night pineapple as a treat 🙂
Thursday: Hard-boiled eggs, sliced produce (cucumber, pineapple), cheese, and french fries.
Friday: Mr. B is making fish, challah, and roasted vegetables.
Phew, what a week. Here's to restful weekend!
@Meira@meirathebear, your comment that you "missed dessert because I was dancing" made me smile. I'd rather dance than eat dessert myself, but age and arthritis have pretty much taken me off the dance floor. So you go, girl!
We eat a ton of chicken because we're all picky as hell. But I don't buy rotisserie chicken any more since the birds are now pigeon sized, and my daughter and I only like white meat anyway. I hate fish and shellfish, so I never make that, so it's just chicken-beef-pork around here. Very rarely turkey because ground turkey is gross and a whol turkey breast is kind of a big pain, even though I love turkey. I also loathe ham. Picky, picky, picky. My son's favorite food is lobster and he'll eat anything, so meals are always a pain.
Tonight, I think breakfast for dinner with French toast, berries and bacon.
Last night, frozen chicken kievs (I so miss my homemade version though), saffron rice, and tomato-basil salad.
Wednesday, zuppa toscana, which was gonna have extra kale on the side but tasted weird so I tossed it.
Tuesday: pad thai made by my daughter who could honestly work as an Asian chef
Monday: spagh and meatballs and salad.
I am so stressed. My bank debit card disappeared and I am 95% sure a puppy ate it. The credit union won't overnight a new one, but I can have "quick ship!" in just 3-5 business days. GRRRR. Or I can drive a couple hours through Hamptons weekend traffic and get a new one at my closest branch, and then a speedy two hours home.
@Rose, lock step with you for ham - always served at family events on mom's side and since first pregnancy, the thought of it turns my stomach. I started bringing other meats for picnic type events but my pappaw loved ham. I can handle pasta prosciutto but probably due to small amount of prosciutto with brick cheese. Baked with unsweetened whipped cream spread over the pasta rolls.
I talked my mother in law out of buying and roasting a whole chicken for us while we were visiting. She always makes about ten times as much food as we can eat and then is frustrated by too many leftovers when we leave. She is also ironically surprised by how much produce my kids regularly eat. I always have to supplement whatever she has on hand.
WIS: just 32 and change at the Aldi by my mother in law's house. Was that 32 dollars spent on mostly produce? Yes, yes it was.
WWA:
Fri: salad (romaine lettuce with sliced heirloom tomatoes, yellow peppers, blueberries and balsamic vinaigrette), focaccia topped with cherry tomatoes, shredded Italian cheese, mozzarella cheese, feta cheese and fresh basil.
Sat: breakfast for dinner: salad (romaine lettuce, yellow peppers, blueberries and sliced heirloom tomatoes with balsamic dressing), grits and scrambled eggs with peppers and chicken chorizo.
Sun: salad (romaine lettuce, sliced heirloom tomatoes, croutons and balsamic dressing), reimagined leftovers: small amounts of buttered noodles, tomato pie, scrambled eggs with chicken chorizo, grits and tofu and peppers all mixed together on top of jasmine rice, eggplant kefethes, and tomato, feta and basil focaccia.
Mon: salad (mixed greens and Italian dressing), pizza from my husband's childhood pizza parlor. Apple crisp and vanilla ice cream for dessert.
Tue: tacos: just corn shells, seasoned ground turkey, diced peppers, diced tomatoes, mixed greens, diced avocado, salsa, shredded cheese and sour cream.
Wed: breakfast for dinner again: salad (just mixed greens and sliced tomatoes with Italian dressing), scrambled eggs, blueberry pancakes and turkey bacon. My mother in law thought that salad didn't really go with breakfast for dinner, but one of my kids asked for seconds of the salad, so I felt justified in insisting that we have it even if it didn't seem traditional.
Thu: we got back home kind of late, so we just had a snacky dinner: salad (the last of the mixed greens from my mother in law's house and some strawberry dressing), cheese, crackers and turkey lunch meat.
Tonight: I think we have what we need for tuna melt sandwiches, but I'm not sure what produce we have at home since we ate everything down before leaving. Maybe frozen veg? We'll see. I'm trying to put off grocery shopping until tomorrow when I pick up my farm share.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
WIS: $202 @ Publix and $145 & $76 @ Kroger
Saturday:
Sunday: Chicken breasts in the crockpot with a brown gravy, jasmine rice and mixed veggies for some; date night for me & the hubby - we had salmon & grilled chicken
Monday: I cooked chicken breasts the night before in salsa & taco seasoning so I shredded those over a salad with tomatoes, cabbage, greens, carrots, & peppers added pinto beans, a bit of cheese and called it good
Tuesday: I pulled homemade meatballs from the freezer and made spaghetti and meatballs with protein pasta, zucchini from the freezer sauteed with onions to round out the meal
Wednesday: roasted chicken breasts with a bit of BBQ sauce, roasted broccoli with yellow peppers and onions, and roasted sweet potatoes with cinnamon and chili powder
Thursday: Leftovers for some & a cheeseburger salad made with ground turkey for others
Friday: I think tacos will be our jam tonight made with ground turkey and corn tortillas plus all the veggies
Happy Friday everyone!
Sometimes I take half the rotisserie chicken and chop into small pieces. I then freeze it and use for future recipes
WIS: $0
WWA: Sun - tuna steaks, salad, broccoli saute
Mon - Chix stir fry over rice
T - leftover stir fry
W - hamburgers, home made baked potato chips
Th - bbq meatballs, cheesy cauliflower tots, green salad
Fr - more meatballs, 3 bean salad, cucumbers & onions
S - work. Instapot beans & rice, green salad
Made sweet and spicy baby dill pickles - 25 pints, froze 3 gallons blueberries, 2 gallons blackberries, eating fresh plums and apples. Picked and roasted tea leaves and mixed with my lemon thyme and lavender. So tasty! Next batch will be my spearmint/tea leaves batch.
Fun Fact: in 1950-60s average American chicken consumption was 16lb/person/yr. In the 90s it increased to 60 something lbs. A few years ago, we are now up to 113lbs/yr.
@Jaime, holy smokes!!
Green Beans! I recommend: green bean casserole (it doesn't have to be a side dish!); skillet green beans with mushrooms or bacon; vegetable soup (dice the green beans small); raw beans (yum! like raw carrots!). Anyway, you get the idea: the possibilities are endless. These are a few of my go-to options when the green beans in the garden are growing well.
@Daisy, I also make a 4-bean salad. We love raw string beans! I also freeze leftover green beans after I’ve cooked them and they are fine when thawed and reheated.
You reminded me of a sign I saw recently that said, "Wash your hands as if you've been chopping jalapeños and you need to remove your contacts." 🙂
88 spent at traditional grocery.
Garden lettuce and snap peas given to us by friends. Basil harvested and made into pesto. (( Olive oil prices. WAH!))
M. Slow cooker pork roast carrots onions and potatoes. Pork roast purchased on mark down.
T. Leftovers and corn on the cob and garlic bread.
W. Lemon pepper chicken. White rice. Garden salad. Garlic bread.
Th. Pesto pasta with peas. Garlic bread.
Salad.
F. Going out for fish fry
Sat. Leftovers
Sun. Going to a baptism and brunch. Taking a pasta salad.
Sat - I think pork loin with yellow rice enhanced with home grown garden veggies
Sun - dine out Mexican
Mon - burgers. I finished left over home grown potatoes-salad and better half had leftover rice
Tue - eggs, spam, fried home grown potatoes and toast
Wed - steak for me, salmon for better half & kiddo. Baked boiled and sliced home grown potatoes, zucchini, onions covered with cream of celery soup. It wasn't bad
Thu - take out sushi as kiddo was in town (no inflation on sushi take out cost)
Fri - Fried spaghetti with meat sauce with sliced Italian sausage, mushrooms, halved cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and onion.
Sunday: Linguini and Red Clam sauce and side of garlic broccoli
Monday: Chana Masala (chickpea meal) over brown rice with palak paneer from Trader Joe (1 frozen container feeds 2 of us and the whole meal makes leftovers for one of us to have for lunch the next day.)
Tuesday: The rest of the linguini and clams with a large greek salad
Wednesday: Pan fried cod with stir fry veggies (refrig. cleanout)
Thursday: Pizza (frozen,Screamin Sicilian I get 2/1 on sale and have them in freezer) and a large chopped salad
Friday: Eggplant Parmesan and a salad.
Saturday:Eat down the refrig. Fruit salad and cottage cheese for me, need a light food day.Husband can eat all the leftovers.. he is so good at that!!
Next week;
Sunday: Salmon on grill, Santa fe orzo salad, carrot coins
Monday: Spaghetti and salad
Tuesday: A chicken from costco, some mashed potatoes and green beans.
Wednesday: Pizza and salad
Thursday:Enchiladas (chicken from costco) with salsa,rice and calabacitas ( mixture of chopped tomatoes, corn kernels, chopped onion, chopped zucchini and some of the Trader joe chile lime seasoning)
Friday: Lemon pasta from trader joe with artichokes from jar and tuna in oil with some garlic warmed into a sauce. SOOOO good.The pasta is REALLY LEMONY!!
Saturday:WHO KNOWS.. maybe go out!!! I need a date night!
I will have lots of extra chicken, I cube up the meat and freeze for future meals and chicken chile, or chicken tortilla soup.
We (3 people) get at least 4 meals from a smallish rotisserie chicken. I look for sales at local grocery chains. I don't like buying the really big ones (like the Costco birds) because they are big because they are pumped with a fluid that contains salt and other chemicals. They taste weird!
For our first meal we eat all the dark meat. We are not great fans of white meat in our house. But we pick off all the white meat and chop it up. Half goes in the freezer for another meal. The other half becomes part of a meal, like chicken salad on a hot evening, or something like "chicken glop" which is chicken, rice, cheese, and veggies made into a sort of casserole, stir fry, or some other concoction. The frozen half will be used this way too. The carcass goes into our collection bag in the freezer for the next batch of chicken broth.
Bonus--a grocery store roasted chicken doesn't trash my oven!
WIS: $41 at Aldi. They had breakfast sausage and dairy-free cheese on sale, so I bought several of each, plus other things of course.
WIA: All I remember is what I had the last two nights - chili beans and dairy-free cheese on corn tortillas.
Chicken is just so good on the hot days of summer! We've been eating a lot of it lately too. (And also to balance out the fact that I think we'd been eating a bit too much red meat lately) Lots of roast chicken, grilled chicken, and chicken salad. Yum!