WIS, WWA | a slight improvement
Oof. It has been A WEEK.
I do feel very slightly better today than yesterday, I think, so hopefully I have turned a corner.
Today's post will be kind of short again (like yesterday's post!)
But at least the comments will be up and you guys can share your menus.
What I Spent
I made one quick trip out and spent $53.
What We Ate
Let's see. My tired self is just going to do a bullet list of what I can remember:
- Cauliflower soup plus a green salad
- Grilled pork (one of those pre-marinated ones) plus oven fries and a salad
- a fend-for-yourself night (I ate fried eggs on toast plus fruit)
- rotisserie chicken, roasted veggies, and a green salad
- the Thai red curry chicken soup I've posted here before
- A leftover night
I sat here for a while thinking I missed a night, but then I remembered, "Ohhh, right! Tonight is the night I'm missing."
I don't really know what we are doing for dinner tonight, and that is probably unsurprising to you. Ha.
Aw. That is such a sad-looking photo. I'm glad you seem to be on the mend, though.
This week at our house we had . . .
Saturday: Meatloaf, baked potatoes, baked fennel (hooray for Misfits Market), green salad
Sunday: Pot roast with potatoes and carrots, garlic bread, pureed squash, blueberry/peach pie (made with frozen fruits, which only makes a so-so filling, but the crust was perfect--yay me!) and vanilla ice cream
Monday: I had made some marinara sauce over the weekend to have on hand for work days, which this was. So I put the sauce over some spaghetti, along with come pressure-canned bull meat (further broken down with my immersion blender, because man, that bull is some very, uh, resistant meat) and the cheese I use in place of Parmesan (a local kind called Latino). The adults had leftover meatloaf, and we all had frozen peas
Tuesday: Breakfast sausage patties, lentils scooped out of the soup I made over the weekend (the kids didn't love the soup, but they liked the lentils as a side dish to the sausage), leftover rice, green salad with ranch dressing
Wednesday: Got home late from work and was so over the day, so I just dumped some barbecue sauce over the rest of the bull meat, added grated cheese, heated it all up, and served it on bread for some very, very sloppy joes. Also carrot sticks and ranch dip.
Thursday: Ground beef taco meat, homemade flour tortillas, homemade refried beans. Making up for the poor effort the night before. 🙂
Friday: Husband is taking middle son to the city for his hunter education classes this weekend, so it will be just me and the three other kids. I need to finish up the lentil soup, which the remaining three will eat, albeit somewhat unenthusiastically. I do have to bake bread today, so I'll make them all their own little breads, which makes soup much more palatable for them. And I think I'll bake one of the bags of frozen apple slices from this fall while I'm baking the bread, so they can have baked apples and cream, too. There are always more treats for the children left behind when their dad is traveling with one or more of the siblings.
I am still so happy for you about the Misfits Markets thing. Yay!!!!
@kristin @ going country,
I love the individual loaves you've started doing for them.
@kristin @ going country,
Hunter education classes sound like the promise of future free range meat!
Surprisingly even with being sick we managed to mostly cook at home, just one extra takeout night thrown in there.
Saturday - takeout taqueria, taco salad with grilled veggies for me, shrimp burrito for husband and the kids split a refried bean burrito
Sunday - tomato and sausage risotto (as part of my ongoing goal to reduce our meat consumption, I made this with meatless Italian sausage crumbles, which were very good and no one in the family noticed/complained)
Monday - salad with chicken for the adults, pearl couscous with chicken and veggies for kids, buttermilk drop biscuits for everyone
Tuesday - chicken fajitas, saffron rice, corn
Wednesday - white cheddar Mac and cheese with broccoli (recipe was for chicken and broccoli but I omitted the chicken and added extra broccoli, a big hit with everyone even though the cheese sauce curdled due to me getting distracted by kids)
Thursday - I suddenly started to feel awful in the afternoon, so I took the rest of the day off work and got in bed. My husband picked up the kids from school. There is a Japanese restaurant next to the school and ever since my son saw one of his friends go in there to pickup takeout after school, my son has really wanted to do that too so this was the day we made his dreams come true and my husband took them in to get take out after school.
Friday - homemade bacon and pineapple pizza (will also add blue cheese to my portion thanks to inspiration from one of the commenters here!)
Aww, I hope you feel better soon too!
Sunday: We ate up leftovers. Husband had some slices of pizza, daughters both had paninis made with various meats and cheeses, I used various veggies and pasta to make a sort of "primavera" dish.
Monday (no school due to MLK Jr/Civil Rights Day): Homemade ramen with toppings...chicken, soft boiled eggs, edamame, etc.
Tuesday: Crunch wraps with ground turkey, black beans and cheese filling
Wednesday: Linguine with tomato basil sauce, chicken sausages and fresh mozz.
Thursday: Asian crock pot chicken rice bowls
Friday: We will get some local take out.
Feel better, Kristen!
I’m glad you are feeling better. I hope you are 100% soon.
I spent approximately $200 this week on groceries (ack!!!!). However, this included a large purchase of beef that was on sale and 4 pounds of on-sale coffee. My husband is anxious about the empty shelves.
Saturday- Hamburgers (no bun for me) and salad. Hubs had baked potato.
Sunday - I made a huge pot of vegetable- beef soup to clean out the veggie crisper and freezer. We had this for lunch during the week and I froze some for later.
Monday - my son and DIL invited family and friends over for a special celebration. I made banana pudding for 30 people. It weighed about 10 pounds.
Tuesday - A doctored GF frozen pizza.
Wednesday - the local organic market had five buck clucks ($5 free range chickens). This does not happen often so we had that for dinner with an assortment of raw veggies and rice.
Thursday - gifted wild boar sausage with sautéed onions and salad.
Friday - we have been invited out to dinner, but we are expecting really stormy weather. If it is too bad we will stay in and eat the other half of Wednesday’s chicken
Wishing everyone a lovely weekend - good health, great food and enjoyable company. .
@Bee, 10 lbs. of banana pudding is impressive!! Yum!
@Bee,
Wow, that is an impressive pudding! Cooking for so many people means you have to calculate not just the ingredients, but also adjusted cooking times.
Do you often cook for so many diners?
@J NL, I normally only cook for a crowd during holidays, but this past Monday was a special occasion. When I asked my DIL how I could help, she asked me to make my banana pudding which is her favorite. It was the first time I’ve made it for that many people. It was a bit of a challenge!
We spent about 70 this week.
For meals we had:
Sun: Chicken casserole
Mon: Chicken quesadillas
Tues: Breakfast (our oldest and his girlfriend came over too!)
Wed: Tacos
Thurs: Mac n cheese
Tonight: BBQ meatballs
Tomorrow: date night (at home)
Glad you seem to be improving!
- Stewed lentils and tomatoes (leftovers from last week; we had it twice for dinner this week and a couple times for breakfast, too)
- Nothing as we were still full from lunch at a restaurant (a hearty creamless alfredo made with cauliflower puree)
- Roasted portobello mushroom and coleslaw
- Fresh spinach tossed with hard-boiled egg, minced carrots, wild rice, raisins, sunflower seeds and simple homemade oil/vinegar vinaigrette
- Plate of veggies (corn, broccoli and carrots) with some leftover wild rice tossed in
- Popcorn and fruit
Having those last two entries on the menu every single week means that we've automatically got two of the seven days covered in our menu plan and that we don't lose any veggies or fruit to neglect.
Monday: Chicken Tetrazzini from a double batch last week.
Tuesday: Pasta, sausage, spinach combo mixture. I bought a 10# bag of pre-cooked chicken sausage for pizza for .40/lb last summer save I'm busy using it up. Tuesday was crazy with homeschool, dentist appt, helping an elderly friend, babysitter and four hours at the office, and then home to make supper before my church small group meeting. I was so proud of myself for having something ready when I hadn't planned ahead.
Wednesday: beef stew with drop biscuits. I had never made drop biscuits before, but I was looking for a fast bread item to make the stew more palatable for the kids (your comment is so true, Kristin @ going country). My mother was here for a rare visit last weekend and helped me turn raw ingredients into so many yummy meals like this stew!
Thursday: date night for MrA and myself. So needed! The week had been full of conflict and an explosive me and the date night and joy from just connecting really improved things! The kids got a treat of chicken nuggets and apple slices for supper.
Tonight: no idea. I should stop living so reactively and make plan soon.
I often tell MrA that I can do only a couple of big things a day. Homeschool. Public school support. Mental health. House cleaning. Meals. Laundry. Ministry work. Pick two. On a good day, I can do three. And life has been picking other big things besides meals this week.
Kristen - praying for you here in CO! I'm thankful I'm not sick this week on top of everything else. I've certainly been exposed enough times.
Hope you feel better soon!
Saturday: We had a takeout date from a Japanese restaurant.
Sunday: Bread, cheese, fruit, and raw vegetables.
Monday: Baby got her first oatmeal, so we had breakfast for dinner to keep her company! Lox, hard boiled eggs, and bread.
Tuesday: I had two dinners, lucky me. One out at my parents, and then frozen ravioli at home.
Wednesday: I meant to make stir-fry but I was exhausted. I defrosted some dal from the freezer and ate it with bread.
Thursday: I finally tackled the enormous 4-lb Costco package of ground chicken that I bought several months ago and made two enormous meatloaves. One is now frozen.
Friday: My mom gave me some frozen chicken cutlets that she didn't want (and I actually remembered to take them out of the freezer), so I think we'll have baked schnitzel with salad, roasted sweet potatoes (steamed and mashed for the baby), and challah.
@Meira@meirathebear, How is your baby big enough to be eating food already?! Crazy. (And fun!)
I had the same thought! How is he this old already??
@kristin @ going country,
I know right?? Part of it is because my pediatrician starts solids at 4 months, so it's on the early end.
Sunday - I roasted a pork shoulder from the freezer with lots of garlic and sofrito and we had that with white rice and stewed cranberry beans. I was supposed to make a salad but never did.
Monday - Leftovers
Tuesday - We had our home inspection so we got pizza at a local spot on the way home.
Wednesday - Sweet & Sour meatballs from the freezer with pineapple & home grown peppers. We ate these with rice and green peas. I baked an apple cider doughnut cake using home canned applesauce & whole wheat flour.
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - I pulled spaghetti sauce from the freezer and we will eat that over noodles with a salad and garlic bread.
Saturday - I have no idea but I will be looking for inspiration in my freezer. I will definitely be making some muffins from pantry ingredients - probably pumpkin ones and some homemade bread. I have a turkey breast carcass in my freezer and it is going to be cold this weekend so soup may appear on our menu.
Feel better soon Kristin!!!!
Happy Friday everyone 🙂
I hope you feel much better this weekend!
I started really feeling better this week, so I cooked more:
Hog jowl, okra and sweet potatoes, with cinnamon applesauce.
Homemade turkey pot pie with cassava crust. I had it for three lunches as well.
Smoked bacon ends, sauteed chard, and applesauce again. I had this two nights.
Zucchini noodles with my nomato sauce and a salad with my lettuce and homemade ranch
Brats, homemade sauerkraut and mashed celeriac filling in for mashed potatoes.
Meatloaf, artichoke hearts as a salad, and honey carrots. This will be repeated tonight, except I will have parsnips instead of artichoke hearts.
I hope the rest of your family is healthy and able to help take care of you!
Saturday: BBQ chicken leg quarters, California veggies, baked beans
Sunday: pizza
Monday: chicken and rice soup
Tuesday: King ranch chicken casserole with skillet corn
Wednesday: crunchwraps and pineapple
Thursday: IP macaroni and cheese with sliced cheddar brats and green beans
Friday: fish sticks with baked sweet potatoes and probably some pineapple
Oh, golly, hon. You do look tired and sick. Glad you are seeing some improvement.
We spent a heart-stopping $165 at the grocery store. However, we bought a lot of everything: dog dental chews, cat treats, paper towels, several containers of nuts, toilet paper, fresh, canned and frozen food, almond milk, granola bars, fig bars, brown rice, carton of beer, a tray of organic chicken thighs and a pack of pork chops.
What we ate: I made beef-barley-veggie soup on Friday that we ate until Sunday, when I cooked pan-fried herbed chicken thighs and seasoned rice with diced carrots. That lasted until yesterday. Last night I had a grilled cheese sandwich for supper that was very delicious. Tonight is either every man for himself.
We had camper meals this week.. Sunday before we left I made a surprisingly good creamy turkey and rice soup and some homemade french bread. Monday we had jambalaya from the freezer with a salad and bread. Tuesday was veggie burgers with microwaved potatoes, Wednesday was leftover turkey and rice soup, last night was spaghetti and meatballs that I'd frozen ahead of time for the trip. We're headed home so tonight may be more soup (unless the pet sitter ate it...I offered it!) or homemade pizza. The french bread is drying out but will make excellent croutons!
$31 at ShopRite, $10 at Aldi:
Sat: Toad in a hole (British version), with sauteed cabbage. I do not know what I did wrong, but it did not poof, and so it was a dense hot mess. The bangers and gravy were delicious, though....
Sun: Ribeye with maitre d'hotel butter, roasted potatoes, sautéed summer squash and Brussel sprouts. Ice cream for dessert
Mon: leftovers
Tues: homemade ramen (left pork stock from carnitas, chicken broth & miso)
Wed: baked haddock with mustard, lemon & breadcrumbs; sauteed zucchini; beet & feta salad
Thurs: homemade pizza. Mine was with scape pesto, mozz, zucchini & pepperoni
Fri: duck moo shu pancakes (The Woks of Life)
@bettafrmdaville, This is the second time this week I’ve seen Woks of Life’s Duck moo shu pancakes referenced … I may need to take this as a sign!
@mkmitch, this is the recipe we made, except I didn't have cantaloupe, so I added red pepper and pea shoots to the wrap. I also should have rendered the duck fat a bit more slowly and thoroughly as I followed the timing - top was a gorgeous brown, but the fat layer was still a bit thick. https://thewoksoflife.com/easy-peking-duck-mandarin-pancakes/
Hope you feel better, Kristen!
We skied over the long weekend, so I didn't do my normal weekend meal prep. That always means scrappy meals for the week ahead. We had:
-Fesenan (a Persian chicken rice dish with pomegranate & walnuts) from the freezer, and my husband made rice to go with it. I even found the last garden pomegranate to round this out (arils on top of the dish) x2 dinners
-After a late soccer game, I made a refrigerated soba dish I picked up at Costco, plus coconut shrimp (freezer)
-While skiing, we had spaghetti & meatballs with garlic bread (prepped ahead, for easy dinner) & Costco pizza + salad on the night we arrived
Tonight is going to be another busy night, with a school soccer game, followed by tennis for one of the teens. Once everyone gets home, we are having panko crusted chicken & ravioli.
I had a bunch of interesting lunches this week, Kristen, & thought of you & your "use it up" posts! 🙂
Decided that this week we would eat those single serving items that pile up in the freezer because there is not enough left for a meal for two and I don't want things to go to waste so I freeze them. Each night it was something different for each of us, including tomato soup, chicken enchilada X 2, sausage ziti, lasagna, chicken soup, chili with beans, chili without beans, chili without meat or beans but a ton of mushrooms, turkey soup, turkey enchiladas, mushroom and sausage stuffing with a fried egg topping it. We usually had a fruit or vegetable salad each night, too. It was an odd food week but it cleared out a lot of aging items before they got so old I tossed them---my freezer used to be the way station to my garbage can. I didn't want to feel guilty and throw out good food so I would put it in the freezer and then when it was freezer burned I didn't feel as much guilt (weird, I know).
Glad you are feeling marginally better.
@Lindsey, I freeze single servings too and eat them when my husband travels for work. However, I am terrible about labeling anything. Sometimes, I’ll take something out of the freezer and I’ll have no idea what it is until it’s defrosted. I have taken out chili only to find it was enchilada sauce…spaghetti sauce that was chili… chicken that was pork. I manage to make dinner out of it anyway. It’s like the television show Chopped.
Kristen: I got Covid 2weeks ago. I was so sick. I have missed work as a nurse and was really scared I was not going to get better. I am glad u are feeling better.
@Laurie Villotta, I am so sorry Laurie. I am also sorry that your job is so hard right now.
Oh man, I'm so sorry that you were so sick! So far this has been like a really, really, really bad cold. But I am grateful to have had no breathing problems.
@Laurie Villotta, I am so sorry u were so ill&thankful u r finally getting better. My daughter had the new varient but was only sown for a few days. I was scared as she is still fighting cancer
White chicken chili tonight.
Last night, steak, potatoes, sauteed mushrooms, brocc.
Previous night, chicken piccata
Before that, roast beef with truffle mashed potatoes and brocc
Before that, pot roast with potatoes, carrots, parsnips etc
Before that, um, takeout I think?
Hope you feel better soon!
Hubby wanted to make mac and cheese with Velveeta to use up the pasta we got on sale a while ago and the smallest block we could get was two pounds. The cheese doesn't freeze very well as is so we decided to go for it and made a double batch. We put some in the freezer for later.
Saturday - Leftovers
The rest of this week we had mac and cheese with:
Sunday - Irish Bangers and Brussels sprouts.
Monday - Roasted chicken and root vegetables.
Tuesday - Irish Bangers and roasted delicata squash.
We were lazy on Wednesday and ordered in Chinese and had the other half for lunch the next day.
Thursday - Pork chops and a side salad last night
Tonight - The remaining mac and cheese and a salad.
Wishing you a speedy recovery, Kristen!
I have really been struggling to find motivation for cooking real food lately. But eating cheese and crackers and leftover Christmas candy or take out for dinner was certainly not making me feel any better. So I resolved to do better and managed to make a few meals this week although I still pressed the easy button a lot.
I only spent $38 on groceries because I did a big Costco shop the week before.
Saturday - cold leftover rotisserie chicken and fruit
Sunday - salad mix with rotisserie chicken on it.
Monday - Spaghetti, salad and garlic bread. (Packed the leftovers for lunches the rest of the week. I feel like this was my biggest win this week.)
Tuesday - Cheese sandwich
Wednesday - Pork chop with mashed potatoes, homemade applesauce and broccoli
Thursday - Met a friend at Five Guys for burgers
Friday - I will be having a leftover pork chop and potatoes with whatever veggie needs to be used up.
Husband's week this week.
Sunday - homemade pizza (FG recipe!), salad, orange slices
Monday - ravioli, broccoli, garlic bread, salad
Tuesday - wilted spinach salad with butternut squash, chicken noodle soup, orange slices
Wednesday - leftovers
Thursday - takeout
Friday - butternut squash chili, biscuits, salad
I hope you feel better soon, and hopefully, your family stays well!
Saturday-grilled cheese, tater tots, applesauce
Sunday-roast beef, rice with gravy, corn
Monday-beef vegetable soup, toasted bread, oatmeal cookies
Tuesday-steak, baked potato, salad, white chocolate raspberry cake at my sister's house
Wednesday-shepherd's pie, applesauce
Thursday-BLT, tater tots
Friday-leftovers from Sunday and salad
Monday- ( best ever)cheesy broccoli potato soup
Tuesday- soup and salad
Wed- fajitas I found strip steak marked down half off. Chips n salsa and pineapple
Thurs- Greek salad topped with Aldi Greek chicken burgers cooked in the air fryer. I make a homemade Greek dressing with green goddess spice mix from Trader Joe’s.
Friday- breakfast for dinner french toast sausage eggs and fruit
Saturday- bbq chicken legs in slow cooker rice in rice cooker corn
I'm glad you're on the mend! Fingers crossed that you keep improving.
We had Moroccan Chickpea Stew with brown rice, Aldi pizza with added mushrooms, One Pot Southwest Pasta with black beans, and leftovers. All were delicious! There's still a little bit of the Moroccan Chickpea Stew, so I'll probably have that for dinner tomorrow. 🙂
If you lived close, I'd drop off soup and bread. My mom instincts come out strong when I see sick people. I hope you continue to feel better and that your family doesn't catch it.
Monday--Some sort of soup and bread. I had a minor medical procedure done that day and apparently it affected my memory, but I do know that I prepared food ahead of time.
Tuesday--lasagna
Wednesday--sweet and sour chicken over rice
Thursday--sausage/lentil/spinach soup and no-knead bread. Another busy medical day. Gotta love crockpots and easy quick bread recipes for days like that.
Friday--taught my daughter to make mac and cheese.
Wishing you continued improvement, Kristen. The fact that you're wearing earrings (especially as I haven't put any on since this whole pandemic started) is impressive!
Just stopping by to tell you all that I am SO PROUD of you! I learn so much from Kristen and the comments. It’s January, lots of us don’t feel great, and/or are busy, but people got fed, leftovers got used, we made frugal choices, mostly!
It’s just me here, and I had leftover pizza twice, oatmeal, some other leftovers and soup from the freezer, and a fast food kids meal. Fridge is mostly cleaned out of leftovers, nothing went into garbage!
Hope everyone feels better!
Thursday: BBQ ribs, purple cabbage coleslaw and mashed potatoes with bok choy
Wednesday: Shell pasta and peas with spinach
Tuesday: tortilla soup with corn and chips
Monday: quesadilla with chicken sausage
Sunday: pasta with homemade marinara sauce and salad
Saturday: mahi mahi with veggies and pita bread
I don't know if the Twilight Zone music travels over the comments section, but we ate the same meals this week. Our pork was in the form of chops and our Thai curry was a vegetable version, but otherwise, the same. Even in the same order. Do-do-do-do.
Sat - We had a date night for chicago style pizza, made egg salad and veg and pita chips for our kids and my parents (who were watching them)
Sun - Pork stew with black beans and corn
Mon - Homemade spaghetti which was phenomenal (got the pasta maker as a white elephant gift - score!)
Tues - Grilled pork chops, French bread, roasted broccoli
Wed - Chicken and green bean stirfry with rice, egg drop soup, and spring rolls (brought to you by the fact that I saw the frozen spring rolls in the basement freezer and thought they looked delicious, and needed a meal to go with them)
Thurs - meal I meant to make was a 3.5 hour meal, which I realized at 5:15 … so we did grilled cheese, bagged salad, and sliced pears.
Tonight - husband is on his way out to grab shawarma for us for an at home date night.
Being sick and trying to run a household is no small thing! Hopefully next week will be much improved after a restful weekend. I took stock of my fridge and pantry yesterday and realized I needed to restock! $143 later and it looks like I can survive (: This week:
Monday - One of the freezer containers with leftovers, and I am cooking a crockpot of black beans to freeze in baggies
Tuesday - Chicken Fajita Rice Bowl with black beans, avocado, cheese
Wednesday - Wine Wednesday with The Girl (we had shrimp tacos)
Thursday - Pasta Marinara with ground turkey and loads of parmesan
Friday - Salmon, broccoli, baked potato
Saturday - Going to eat out somewhere...
Sunday - Birthday dinner for Firstborn! Chili Mac, cheesy ciabatta, birthday cake
Will you give us an update on Sunday? I hope you're much, much better today.
Praying, Kristen.
Bean, ham vegetable soup
Creamy pesto chicken & broccoli pasta
Frozen pizza with leftover soup
Egg, potato, cheese, bean, avocado, roasted red pepper burritos with sour cream lime sauce and smoothies
BBQ chicken & bacon pizza with salads
Chicken & gravy, kale/cabbage/mandarin/raisin slaw, roasted sweet potatoes, carrots, and rutabagas
Good to hear you are on the mend!
Your menu sounds excellent for such a week.
Our son worked late shifts last week so it was just my husband and I. We had potatoes/produce/protein on three nights and heated leftover for our son, then also cheese fondue and sauerkraut on two other days as he does not care for that ery much. On those nights he heated up some leftovers for himself. I also discovered some pea soup that we ate on Friday, our son fended for himself.
Yesterday was our first meal together this week potatoes, sausage, broccoli and a salad. I am glad I boiled some extra potatoes because as you can see from our menu, heated up leftovers appear regularly on our menu.
It is one of the positive side effects of covid/home office: we hardly waste any food at all. We do have some pizza in the freezer for nights when all other plans fail though, but this very rarely happens.
I am so sorry for you. I am assuming that you have covid omicron. We think that we have both had it, but milder than you. We finally have appointments tomorrow for tests at our local drug store--weeks after we requested them. As my husband says We would have been cured or dead by now...
Our main meals this past week were:
3 meals with various additions of vegetables, ham scraps, chicken, or shrimps, all made from Zatarain's bean and rice mixes. We buy these from Amazon, especially the boxes for 2 portions and have a big stock of them.
Then I made a vegetable casserole with a lot of cheese in it--cheddar and parmesan. This went for 2 days.
Then cauliflower and cheese soup {blue cheese}
Today we had 2 Amy's frozen Mexican meals ,1/2 0f each separated between us, with a big Waldorf salad.
Desserts were fruit + my husband's birthday cake. I made a Hummingbird cake for him, which contains everything in it but the kitchen sink!