WIS, WWA | A non-exemplary week of cooking
What I Spent
So. I did not plan a menu this week.
And I was reminded that I cannot be trusted without a menu plan.
I know other people can do this. And they can even thrive!
But I am not that kind of person.
Because I didn't plan a menu, I didn't do a big grocery shopping trip. But as a trade-off, we got fast food two nights instead of eating at home.
Which cost $78.
!!!!
And our meals this week were definitely a little on the uninspired side.
So, this week's food expenditures:
- $78 on fast food
- $91 on a Harris Teeter fill-in shopping trip
- $25 on a Hungry Harvest box
And that adds up to $194.
I really, really need to plan a menu this week!
What We Ate
Saturday
Takeout date night, which was a Margherita pizza from a local pizza shop (normal date night expenditure).
Sunday
I had eaten some leftovers mid-afternoon, so I wasn't hungry at dinnertime.
Sonia and Zoe were heading to an outdoor get-together with a few friends (outdoors is much better for social distancing!), so we went through the McDonald's drive-through to get food.
I really do not like McDonald's, so this was a perfect time to go. Ha.
Monday
I opted to do breakfast for dinner: local pork sausage and waffles topped with my failed peach jam. (scroll down in that post to read about the jam.)
Tuesday
I'd planned to make fish cake sandwiches, but my day did not go as planned, and by the time I got to the fish, it wasn't thawed anyway.
So we ordered subs.
Wednesday
The fish thawed, so I made fish cake sandwiches and sautéed asparagus.
And we also ate grapefruit halves from the Hungry Harvest box.
Thursday
I had no plan for dinner, so I walked into Harris Teeter, hoping for some inspiration.
(Do I recommend this? No. I'm just saying it's what I did.)
I bought a rotisserie chicken and some English muffins, and we ate those for dinner, along with some green beans from the fridge.
This is not the cheapest way to make a meal, but it IS cheaper than getting takeout for five people.
Go with the lesser of two evils, I say.
Friday
I think we might do our takeout date night tonight, since I have book club (via Zoom) tomorrow night.
Here's to a better cooking report next week!
What did you eat for dinner this week?
P.S. Weeks like this are the reason I do What We Ate posts instead of menu posts. It would be easy to post an impressive menu plan, but it's much more honest to post what we actually eat. Real vs. aspirational
No one manages to be a great, creative, consistent cook every single week. At least, I don't! Ha.
Well, there was no plan at our house this week either. We got two baby calves on Saturday that are taking up a lot of time, so while their menu is pretty straight forward, mine was not.
Not sure where we were $$ wise on the groceries. Husband and son went to the store when we needed (using that term loosely) things. My 13 year old grandson was with us for a few days and drank a gallon and a half of milk by himself.
Saturday: burgers on the grill
Sunday: was a YOYO night
Monday: pancakes and waffles out of the freezer
Tuesday: salmon and baked potatoes
Wednesday: shrimp tacos
Thursday: grilled cheese and tomato soup
Friday: we’ll see, I’m hoping maybe stroganoff as I have some sour cream to use up.
Off to feed the babies! Have a great day everyone!
I was pretty uninspired all week. I do not have a strict meal plan, however I do have a loose plan in my head. For example, I know my main protein, but then I wing it from there most nights using what we have in the pantry/fridge and garden. It works for us. Anyway, this was our meals this week.
1. Chipoltle date night
2. Fish Quesadillas with red beans and rice salad
3. Ham and pinapple kabobs with rice
4. Grilled buffalo chicken w/rice and potatoes
5. Tuna Melts with bean salad and chips
6. Polenta with marinara sauce and salad
7. Tonight-probably something with Shrimp
Saturday: Pasta with creamy gorgonzola sauce wirh spinach and mushrooms
Sunday: lasagna
Monday & Tuesday: weekend leftovers
Wednesday: burger
Thursday: white asparagus, potatoes and home-made sauce hollandaise (asparagus season is ending here soon, so probably the last time)
Friday: visiting my father for a traditional „Abendbrot“ (finally new infections numbers are so low that in-person family visits are uncritical)
Saturday: Italian sliders and pasta, garlic bread, sauteed green
Sunday: Buckwheat waffles, strawberry milkshakes. This is obviously not a typical dinner for us, but it was the first night we didn't have guests in a few nights, my husband and eldest son were across the country, it was 81 degrees in my house, and the village to the south of us where we go to church and school was under a voluntary evacuation order thanks to the wildfire we could see burning four miles away. Had I not had children to feed, there would have been no cooking at all, so I'm gonna consider those waffles an accomplishment.
Monday: Pork carnitas burritos, leftover roasted vegetables, leftover rice, sauteed spinach with ice cream, mason jar ice cream from The New York Times recipe. My brother and his family stopped for the night to see us on their way across the country, so I definitely had to cook. 🙂
Tuesday: Pasta, green salad
Wednesday: Leftover pork and rice, carrots with ranch dressing. Fire still burning, half the family still gone, motivation still lacking. Leftovers to the rescue.
Thursday: Bunless cheeseburgers, fried potatoes, radishes and cucumbers with ranch dressing. The travelers returned and I was SO relieved to have the whole family all in one place again. One less thing to worry about.
There was no desire to cook this week, but there was a plan and so there were dinners.
Homemade pizza for 3 of us and a frozen gluten-free pizza for 1
Taco bowls
Zucchini-rice enchiladas
Apple pork salad
Potato chip crusted cod
Ham steaks and homemade potato salad
Breakfast casserole
All were accompanied by some grouping of smoothies, salads with lettuce from our little deck garden, steamed broccoli, raw fruit and raw vegetables.
I was so proud of myself last night! I did not want to cook, I had no plan, and my kid was in full whining mode “What’s for dinnnnnnnnerrrrrrrrr?? I’m hungryyyyyyyyyyyyyy!”
Onions, sausage, canned tomatoes in one pan.
Cornmeal from the back of the cupboard in another, sprinkled in some frozen cheese at the end.
Voila! Sausage ragu with cheesy polenta. I felt like a genius.
You were a genius!
My week was expensive and uninspired. I usually cook everything from scratch, but this week I took a lot of short cuts. I think that I’m just tired of planning, shopping and cooking. I’ll be back on track next week — maybe.
Saturday - Roasted and glazed pork loin with smashed potatoes and salad
Sunday - Dinner out at my sisters. We split a pricey takeout dinner for 4
Monday - Steak and Salad
Tuesday - Trader Joe’s Pollo Asada with rice and salad
Wednesday- Hamburgers, roasted sweet potatoes and kale
Thursday - Doctored frozen pizza
Friday - Spaghetti with meat sauce and a pan of roasted veggies.
Due to meat still being limited locally and it being hit or miss what is available at the store I am trying to keep track of what is in my freezer and pick up whatever is a deal when I am out and can find stuff... so no real meal planning.. just defrost and figure it out based on weather and cooking style! lol
Sunday- tried out making wings in our airfryer.. served that with a homemade pepperoni pizza
Monday- baked chicken and stuffing casserole, garlic green beans
Tuesday- salsa chicken in salad or burritos! It is really convenient to have taco Tuesday be the night the oldest works late.. he hates mexican!
Wed-steak-um sliders, fruit, tater tots
Thur- I had a hair appt- oldest at work.. the husband and 2 kids ate some panera mac n cheese and broccoli cheese soup I snagged at the local discount outlet! I ate some soup before I left!
Fri- wind is less, weather looks great.. pulled chicken out to grill!
Monday: hamburgers chips fruit
Tuesday: tuna salad on buns pretzels fruit
Wednesday: spaghetti and meatballs ( turkey and beef ). Cucumber salad. Garlic toasts.
Thursday: chicken strips oven fries squash and sweet potatoes with maple syrup
Friday: frozen pizza and yogurt granola and berry parfait
Feeling very uninspired!
Saturday- take out night, Burgers from 5 guys
Sunday-Hot dogs on the grill, pasta salad, cucumber salad
Monday- cheese ravioli w/sauce, salad
Tuesday- Chicken Cutlet, stuffing, corn
Wednesday- Homemade Belgium waffles, bacon, sliced apple
Thursday- Chicken alfrado, and salad DS had pasta w/sauce.
Friday- No clue yet. Chicken?
Blerg. It's refreshing to know even the pros have off weeks occasionally! I have a surprisingly hard time remembering what we ate, so here's what I recall:
Monday: Asian lettuce wraps, which finally used up the last of the cabbage (yay!)
Tueaday: Mini meatloaves, to make use of several ingredients hanging out in the fridge.
Wednesday: Leftovers, but I roasted two butternut squash for a fresh veggie.
Thursday: Chicken with a mustard cream pan sauce and green beans.
Today: Cuban sandwiches and summer squash.
I am finally back in the habit of menu-planning, which has made shopping so much easier. Unfortunately, at the same time meat prices start rising, I realized that I'm not getting enough protein to sustain me (according to dietician, a rare problem in the USA), so our food expenses are higher. Hopefully the cost will pay off and help me function well.
Meals:
Saturday-pasta/red sauce/chicken
Sunday-leftovers from previous week and tortellinis on the side
Monday-Grilled cheese with frozen vegetable?
Tuesday-ATK one pan tex mex chicken with peas
Wednesday-ATK Korean Beef with peppers and rice
Thursday-chicken sprinkled with parmesan and lemon zest with mango salsa and salad
Tonight-fajitas
Saturday - homemade pizza
Sunday - sauerkraut and kielbasa (I think)
Monday - random leftovers from the end of last week Tuesday - pork chops (in the brinerade for chicken Kristen shared), rice, peas
Wednesday - sweet potatoes and black beans with Tex-Mex toppings
Thursday - tacos (sort of)
Tonight - leftovers
I love your honesty!
Could you please share your recipe for fish cakes? Thanks.
Here you go! https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/homemade-fish-cakes/
It's linked in the post as well; I try to include links to every recipe that I can so you guys can easily find them. 🙂
Sunday - SO has been wanting to try our sous vide for hamburgers so we gave it a try and they were amazing. French fries, fresh fruit and veggies on the side.
Monday - Brats on the grill, sauteed yellow squash, fresh fruit. SO and I had sauteed morel mushrooms on the side. I spotted the morels at the store and bought a quarter pound because they are so expensive but so delicious!
Tuesday - take out pizza and wings to celebrate my son's last day of school.
Wednesday - Chili and sour cream biscuits
Thursday - leftovers
Friday - we're planning on going to Costco for "date night" so we'll probably pick something up
Don't sweat this week, Kristen. Everyone ate and survived. No biggie.
I'm used to cooking all the time but this week, we had a drawer full of restaurant gift cards and so, I took time off from acting like a chef. We ate: Chik-fil-a sandeiches, Olive Garden pasta dishes/minestrone soup/breadsticks, oven fried chicken, deli ham sandwiches and chicken enchiladas.
Monday we had Chinese chicken salad which used the last of all the chicken I'd cooked on the weekend.
Tuesday I made a double batch of spaghetti sauce so we had pasta Tuesday and Wednesday.
As usual Thursday was pizza night with cut up veggies on the side.
Tonight the plan is pineapple pork with noddle and lots of sauce. Comfort food!
Tuesday I broke down and ordered fried chicken for curbside pick up from Cracker Barrel. I got my delivery from Misfit Market on Wednesday, so I ate the two artichokes that I added to the box. Other than that, I'm not sure what I had for dinner this past week.
I do have fingerling potatoes (from MM), green beans (from MM) and ham (from the freezer) in the crock pot for dinner this evening. I'll pull some beet greens from the garden and make some cornbread and be set!
I always love your candid posts Kristen!
You inspired me to start my own little frugal minded blog as a way to share recipes and frugal tips with friends and family, who are always asking how we keep our average grocery budget at $200 a month for two adults.
Here is my take on WWS/ WWA this week (with credit given). I try to capture all 3 major meals:
https://twofrugalcats.blogspot.com/2020/06/what-we-spent-what-we-ate-back-to.html
This is my first time posting! I love this blog. Thank you, Kristen, for all your posts.
I spent $19.82 this past week. Everything else came from my pantry, fridge or freezer. I live alone so minimal cooking for me plus it was hot so I didn't want to have the oven on much.
Saturday - frozen waffles and bacon
Sunday - BLT, pasta salad, fresh pineapple
Monday - white beans, squash, cooked apples, cornbread
Tuesday - BLT, pasta salad, watermelon
Wednesday - pizza, chocolate chip zucchini muffin
Thursday - leftover beans, squash, apples, cornbread
Friday - I'm planning to have a fried egg on toast with the last of the bacon and some watermelon.
This makes me feel so much better. One week I didn’t do any meal planning and we spent way more money on random stuff at the grocery store and it didn’t even make meals! It was like random snacks and things. Now I have been making the effort and taking time to meal prep. Doubling batches and freezing meals has been a life saver. Who really likes to cook every single meal, every single day? Maybe if it were my profession but I don’t have time for that. Thanks for being honest and always inspirational.
It happens to everyone. I'm surprised it hasn't happened to me in a while, but I know my fail-to-plan week is lurking out there somewhere, waiting to pounce.
We had:
Arroz con pollo, using homemade bone broth. No tomatoes, but I never put tomatoes in mine even when I ate tomatoes a lot. Rice is back on the menu, in limited amounts.
Steak with cubed and roasted sweet potatoes.
Homemade pizza on cassava crust, as mentioned on the pizza post the other day.
Potato, onion and "sausage" (ground pork with sage, oregano and salt) chowder for dinner and the next day's lunch, which proved to be one too many days of white potatoes for my system to handle.
Sauteed cabbage, along with summer squash from my plant, cooked with onion. Leftover "sausage" made into patties served with it.
This is an off-week for my grocery shopping. I'll pick up a few snacks for my husband, probably, but that is likely it.
Last week I scored a pack of chicken breasts(4) for under $7. I threw away the skin and left them cooking all day in the crockpot.
Sunday: Chef's salad with chicken
Monday: Chicken philly steak on buns
Tuesday: Chicken barbecue on buns
Wednesday:Leftover philly steak
Thursday: Chicken salad with grapes and pecans on toast
Friday: Homemade chicken bacon pizza
Saturday: Leftover chicken salad
These meals included fresh fruit and veggies as well as angel food cake with cool whip and fruit. There were leftovers that I ate for lunch. There are only two of us but my daughter's favorite week involves a soup pot of chicken and different meals all week.
I REALLY appreciate you sharing your not-so-good weeks with us, as well as your (almost always) creative and inspired cooking weeks. Right now I have to go to the grocery store and I'm decidedly uninspired.
Let's see if I remember this past week
Saturday: hmmm, I think it was burgers on the grill
Sunday: takeout gyros
Monday: BBQ ribs, mashed potatoes, roasted broccoli
Tuesday: leftovers of ribs etc.
Wednesday: tofu & veggie stir fry with peanut sauce and brown rice
Thursday: leftovers of stir fry
Friday: takeout Indian, to celebrate our non-Indian food lover being away for the weekend
Well we all think just because we are self distancing that it’s a productivity race but it’s really just a survival race for all of us so be kind to yourself girl! Give yourself some mercy and grace just as He would.
Sunday - Pork chops, plantains, green beans
Monday- Baked chicken, plantains, green beans
Tuesday- Tuna melts baguettes and plantain chips
Wednesday- Beef broccoli and white rice
Thursday- Pizza and salad
Friday - Verdict is out????
We ate takeout twice ourselves...
Saturday- grilled steak, salad, fresh fruit, corn, baguette
Sunday- homemade potato soup with homemade bread and fresh fruit
Monday- grilled chicken, salad, baguette
Tuesday- Takeout pizza
Wednesday- grilled chicken pita sandwiches, Greek tomato and cucumber salad, fruit
Thursday- Takeout Hawaiian food
Friday- family visiting from out of town so we are doing chicken souvlaki, beef kebabs, lemon rice, a couple of salads, pita bread, fruit, and an ice cream bar for dessert
Take out Hawaiian food?? Yummy sounding. I want to look for that now!
I love ALL your WIS, WWA posts! They inspire me to be creative with my ingredients and try to cook more from home and not waste food. And the honesty about struggles is so very appreciated.
I love reading other people's meal plans. I make a monthly plan of what's available, then just choose which day I feel like and check it off.
Here's what we had this week....
Saturday- chili and cornbread
Sunday -take out pizza and salad We have a local place that makes an amazing combo that's very inexpensive. One order is plenty for the two of us.
Monday -Salisbury steak with mushroom onion gravy, mashed potatoes, and green beans
Tuesday -Salisbury steak Part 2 with rice and peas
Wednesday -salmon burgers and chips We love those frozen salmon burgers from Costco.
Thursday -honey sriracha chicken, rice and peas
Friday-maybe chili dogs or ?
A couple of weeks ago I decided that once my husband went back to work I would be done "pandemic shopping." I'll still go less than before (once a week instead of twice) but I'm done with the massive 2-week shopping trips that take up a ton of family time on Saturday mornings. My husband has been back to work for a week and a half and today was my first time doing normal shopping! My kids were SO excited to go to Aldi, my 6yo and 3yo wore their masks without a fuss, and all of our favorite employees were there. It was awesome. It was also great to spend $78 instead of $230 (that is partially due to my overstuffed pantry and full freezer).
Saturday - Crunchwraps and watermelon
Sunday - Pizza
Monday - Tacos and pineapple
Tuesday - Brats, asparagus, zucchini, and watermelon
Wednesday - Chicken broccoli alfredo
Thursday - Stir fry, peaches, and pears
Friday - Rice and bean burritos and pineapple. Since you did tacos 3x last week, I felt fine doing crunchwraps, tacos, and burritos all in the same week. Haha 🙂
Cooking is such a huge time suck.
You plan menus, you shop for it, prep and store it, cook the meal, and then there is the clean up.
Not sure about you but I can think of other ways to irritate myself.
Anyway,
Monday - Baked russet and sweet potatoes, cheese bread (I'm on a quest to re create Little Caesars cheesy bread,)
Tuesday - Daughter and I were home alone so we made spring rolls with sweet and sour sauce. They were good. Also picked up some butterscotch ice cream for a treat and I wasn't sorry.
Wednesday - Green chili enchiladas, refried beans topped with jalapenos and onions, corn chips.
Thursday - There was a little bit of this and a little bit of that in the fridge so I got all of the leftovers out and we had that with some carrots and dip.
Friday - Today is shopping day so I think I'll splurge and get stuff for a Italian Antipasto platter (I do quite a few of these...its fun to try new ethnic foods this way)and make some mini calzones...I'm thinking its a good night to share a bottle of merlot with the husband (Dr pepper for the kiddo) watch movies and just kick back.
Its hard not to get burnt out sometimes.
April...I so agree with your take on all that's involved with cooking, and, although it doesn't add to the effort involved, how about it's all eaten in 10 or 15 minutes with certain ones asking if there's anything to eat around two hour later.
April - I also agree 100% with you regarding responsibility for food consumption. As females, there are SO MANY time-consuming chores that we undertake as routine with often a simplistic nod from males @ best. My 86 year old father recently commented that he had "no idea" how much time went into food production until he became responsible for feeding himself when my mom went into a nursing home 2+ years ago. I think the same thing can be said for much of what females are accountable for in many families.
I had a birthday party this past weekend and decided to do frozen pizzas and frozen wings(dump and bake) so I wouldn’t have to do much food prep. My husband decided he wanted to grill burgers instead. This was my birthday so since I always cook when family and friends come over, I just didn’t want to this time. He didn’t realize this change involves me cutting up onions, lettuce, and tomatoes then making and seasoning enough patties for every person to have one. Plus making sure there are condiments, cheese, pickles, buns, chips, etc. Doesn’t seem like much but really adds up when I wanted to do nothing so I could spend time with others. My family brought cake and pie so all I would have had to do was put a large pizza in the oven and dump wings on a sheet pan, set the timer and be done. He didn’t do this intentionally, he just doesn’t realize what is involved because he just grills the burgers. Anyway, not trying to complain but thought this was a good example.
Jennifer - Great real life example. Someone who isn't responsible for food prep (most often men) may be well intentioned, but it takes a person who is well-versed in food production to realize all the subtleties that go on behind the scenes & truly appreciate the scope of what is involved.
Here's to your keeping it real! LOL!
Our 35-year-old range bit the dust Monday morning, so it's been a challenging week, cooking-wise, even though the new range was delivered Wednesday. The difference in features and operation between the two ranges means a STEEP learning curve for me!
Saturday dinner was a leftover rice and black bean tortilla casserole and salad.
Sunday was take out pizza ($11.71 for That Man and me).
Monday was spaghetti with Italian sausages and salad.
Tuesday was red pepper chicken in the slow cooker and rice.
Wednesday was ribs in the Instant Pot (and the broiler in the new range), corn, and rolls.
Last night was take-out pizza (again), and we'd also had it LAST Thursday, so take-out pizza THREE times in eight days! Not our best effort.
Tonight will probably be a chicken Alfredo casserole and salad. Not inspiring, but everybody likes it, I always have the ingredients on hand, and I won't have to think to hard about it!
Too - LOL!
Money spent: $159. Hopefully this will last at least 2 weeks, other than fish (we are only 2). Working backward:
Friday: cauliflower tacos, refried beans, corn & zucchini sauté
Thursday: CT-style lobster rolls, corn on the cob, salad
Wednesday: salmon salad niçoise (Saveur)
Tuesday: Asian marinated grilled skirt steak, with grilled cauliflower miso-may, salad
Monday: Ramen Noodles With Spring Onions and Garlic Crisp, leftover sweet & sour pork; silken tofu with soy-sauced tomatoes
Sunday: tomato soup, grilled cheese with garlic scape pesto
Saturday: Key West shrimp boil with remoulade, corn on the cob, salad
Sat/Sunday/Monday: Sauerkraut soup, nectarines
Tuesday: stuff cabbage rolls, oranges
Wednesday: hamburgers, baked potatoes, cukes, oranges
Thursday: toasted cheese and tuna sandwiches (a favorite around here), cukes, melon, apple cake
Friday: Filet of fish from McDonalds. (Just as an aside, when my single parent, Catholic father started taking us to McDonalds every Friday for filet of fish, he used to say he was going to buy stock in McDonalds. We didn't know what that meant, but my father laughed when he said it, so we started yelling back: We are going to buy McDonalds stock, too!" When each of us turned 18, he gave us 50 shares of McDonalds stock as a birthday gift.)
Aww, and I thought your Filet-O-Fish story couldn't get any better!
Me, too! That’s so wonderful, Lindsey!
Great story thanks for sharing, gave me my smile for today.
Thank you for the reminder and shove i needed to work on my menu plan for next week.
Be kind to yourself. I bet some of the reason for the eating out was just to break up the monotony of social isolation! We don't eat out often to begin with, but haven't really since our anniversary in February. Husband's birthday is next week and we have a gift certificate for a fancy place. Trying to decide:
1) Is it OK to use a gift certificate right now(it's a place we can't otherwise afford)? I think I will but tip generously in cash.
2) Eat in or take out? I think the eating in experience doesn't sound very nice because of all the precautions--I really don't want to sit in a mask between courses. I'm leaning toward taking out.
I always find a rotisserie chicken a frugal dinner because I can squeeze 4 meals for a family of four out of 1 chicken. We like dark meat so legs and thighs the first night (adults get thighs, kids--who are now actually adults with small appetites--get legs). We hide the white meat in stuff like homemade pot pie, chicken "glop" (our term for any kind of chicken with sauce served over rice or pasta for the pasta eaters in the family), chicken salad on hot days, etc. There's always some leftover for lunches. And we make broth out of the carcass. So we get a lot of mileage from a rotisserie chicken. And I don't have to mess up the oven or heat up the house to roast a chicken!
Our budget is a little ragged because the cost of meat has gone up. But we eat meat and lots of veggies, so we are trying to avoid waste as much as possible and suck it up a bit.
We have been trying to break up the pandemic monotony by eating outside as much as possible. Our backyard, a park, the beach - they all work right now, and help to break through the 'blah' factor that seems to build up over the course of the day.I
Monday- The last of my pandemic food- a very bland prepackaged cheese broccoli soup. I added fresh broccoli and ham, and seved it with rosemary garlic bread.
Tuesday- A repeat of last night. It was not pleasant, though my husband, bless his heart, thought it was fine.
Wednesday- Quinoa Asian cashew stir fry. The recipe was from the very excellent Veganomicon cookbook.
Thursday- Repeat of last night, but eaten cold. I think I liked it better cold vs. hot.
Friday- Takeout BBQ. I had a Groupon credit that I used for this, so free.
Saturday- We are meeting our daughter and BF at a craft brewery and having dinner on their outdoor patio.
Sunday- Chicken with green olives and capers, pasta, salad. The recipe is from Sunset magazine, so I'm looking forward to making it for the first time. I find that Sunset always delivers big on flavor.
Next week should be interesting. My daughter and her family are coming to stay with us for six weeks to get out of the DC heat. Trying to remember meal planning for a six and two year old!
Lately I have been assembling simple meals rather than following specific recipes.
- Roasted sweet potatoes and green beans, tossed with cooked wild rice, dried cranberries and vinaigrette
- Roasted asparagus and penne noodles with olive oil and parmesan cheese
- Spaghetti noodles with broccoli, tomato sauce, parmesan cheese and walnuts
- Black bean and corn salad on lettuce
- Wild rice pancakes with blueberries
I made a quick supper of gussied up Rice a Roni by adding extra spices, onion, tomato sauce and pork sausage. That was good for two evenings. Had a Florentine chicken casserole good for two more nights and then I made a huge pot of volcanically hot chili that my husband loved. I do not love hot chili and had the season's first fresh tomato sandwiches with sliced cucumbers, extra sharp cheese and watermelon on the side.
One of the things I LOVE about your blog is you keep it real! Not every picture is professional-grade, and not every week is a story of how you lovingly made every mouthful your family ate from food you gathered with your own two hands grown on your own land... or something.
Sometimes, life gets ahead of us, and convenience wins out, and that's ok!
I can usually cope without a menu plan, but do end up with things like "snack dinner" where I cut up a bunch of cheese, deli meats, veggies, and fruit, add some crackers and call it dinner, or I throw together something from my "emergency meals" stash that I can make in my sleep (like tonight's frozen ravioli with jarred sauce - only because I managed to think ahead a little, we'll also have a salad kit)
One day my kids still talk about with nostalgia, I pulled out a bunch of random individual cereal bowls leftover from a holiday (we have "fun" cereal bowls as a special breakfast thing, but sometimes because they aren't "normal" breakfast items, the extra ones get stashed in the back of the pantry), and we had cereal for dinner. I added some fried eggs for me and DH, but the kids were in heaven eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Fruit Loops.
Ha, I always wish that all my photos were professional grade.
But I totally get what you are saying; sometimes a blog with food photos that look like they were shot by a corporate advertising company can look unrelatable.