WIS, WWA | back to eating
I eased my way back into a more regular diet this week. Yay!
What I Spent
I spent:
- $70 at Aldi
- $35 at Giant
So, $105.
You know what I didn't buy at Aldi? These ice cubes, even though they were on clearance. 😉
I guess they're some type of super pure ice that people use for cocktails. But even if I drank cocktails, I don't think I could bring myself to pay for four ice cubes. Ha.
EVEN on clearance. 😉
What We Ate
Saturday
I had gotten a little behind on my produce-eating, due to being sick. So, I gathered up all the tomatoes, cut out any questionable spots, roasted them with some onions, and then turned them into soup.
And I ate a grilled cheese sandwich with the soup.
Sunday
Zoe and I used a gift card for a Panera pickup, and I got some Mexican street corn soup. I do not normally eat much soup in the summer, but it felt easier to manage than most other foods.
Monday
Due to my digestive issues, I was an accidental vegetarian for a week. But on Monday, I decided to try eating meat, so we had burgers. And all was well.
Tuesday
I wanted to make some fried mush, which I hadn't made in eons. But sadly, my cornmeal had expired in 2023. Yikes! It really HAD been a while.
Sooo, I got a new bag of cornmeal, and I probably will store it in the freezer just to keep it fresh.
Anyway, we had fried mush and waffles for a breakfast-for-dinner meal.
Wednesday
I made some tortilla soup, a very throwback recipe! I thought it would make a good packed lunch for work the following three days.
I really need to update that post because it doesn't even have a printable version. It's from the olden days. 😉
Thursday
I worked, and had overnight oats for breakfast, tortilla soup for lunch, and yogurt with a peach after work.
Friday
Another work shift day, so a repeat! Overnight oats at breakfast, soup for lunch, but this time I might have cold cereal after work. I'll see how hungry I feel.
I'm glad you're feeling better and back to eating.
Those ice cubes were still $4.99 at my Aldi. Somehow I resisted.
Mine, too!! I just shook my head and kept walking. They’ve been in the “here only for a little while freezer” at my store for 2-3 weeks…
looks like few are nibbling 🤷♀️
I can't understand their strategy. Doesn't Aldi know that their customer base is generally frugal? And thus will not pay for fancy ice? Or was it a strategy for us frugals to tell our fancy friends about the amazing 4 big ice cubes for $5 because maybe in someone's world this is a great idea and they want to expand their customer base? I, too, am perplexed lol. I also don't drink alcohol, which saves hecka money on both the product and all accessories.
I think generally Aldi shoppers like the opportunity to buy fancy-ish stuff at affordable prices...like fancy cheeses. But cocktail ice cubes are probably just a tish bit too impractical for most Aldi shoppers.
LOL-my friend and I thought the exact same thing…
Also on clearance here in Missouri.
My son told me about them, so I checked out the freezer section when I shopped earlier this week, and indeed, they were there in all of their $4.99 glory. Usually I find Aldi to have great deals, but this one still has me shaking my head.
Your level of self-control should be studied. 😉
I saw those ice cubes at Aldi also, and sent a photo to our family text chat. My youngest commented, "Get the heated up ones."
Instead of ice cubes in the air fryer, we had:
Saturday: Smoked pork tenderloin (local store had a stock the freezer sale - so nice!)
Sunday: Sandwiches from leftover tenderloin
Monday: sliced steak and peppers over rice (peppers came from our garden); baked fish for my oldest who doesn't care for that
Tuesday: tacos
Wednesday: poppyseed chicken casserole, purple hull peas, fried eggplant (from garden)
Thursday: ribs (cooked in instant pot), Mac and cheese (shared by a church friend), baked beans
Friday: We will support our local pizza place, at the request of my middle son who will be going back to college in under two weeks and will miss having it there
We also had various fruits, and I often eat other items, as I am on a low sodium diet. I cook a main meal, eat what I can, or substitute when I can't eat the main meal. I won't be eating pizza tonight. (Well, maybe one bite!)
When I saw those ice cubes at Aldis, I thought they were some sort of silicone or resin product to keep drinks cold without diluting them. Nope, just plain water.
Yes! Same.
I was wondering this, because I have gifted reusable ice cubes (think like an ice pack) in a gift basket to a friend. I thought for sure these were like that- to keep whiskey or whatever cold while you sip without watering it down. But to pay that much for frozen water- nope!
Aww, that tortilla soup recipe is so throwback that you mention your (much younger) kids disliking spicy food. I did as a kid too, but grew up to love it. I also grew up Mennonite so my own family culture did not include spicy flavors. I had to try other cuisines and grow. I know they enjoyed things like tinga or your chipotle chicken in the following years, so I'm wondering if you or any of your children ended up growing up to love or at least appreciate spicy foods?
Spicy food can actually be a frugal win, because when I eat at Thai or Indian restaurants where the heat is at the edge of my comfort level, I eat slower and eat less, while still feeling satisfied and delighted!
Saturday: Hamburger steaks with milk and onion gravy, leftover pasta and pesto, leftover rice, frozen corn, and exactly enough Mexican wedding cookies left from the previous day's playdate for everyone to have two. Satisfying when it works out like that.
Sunday: I had had saved the rest of the leftover rice, hamburger steaks and gravy, and corn all together for dinner this night. I added more corn, some milk, and grated cheddar cheese, and that was dinner for the three children who were home with me. I had a salad. I hadn't made Sunday dessert, so we had cheater's fondue, which is chocolate chips and a tiny bit of coconut oil, melted together in the microwave, and served with marshmallows for dipping.
Monday: Last time I made cottage pie, I had enough extra of the ingredients to make an 8"x8" pan of it that I stuck in the freezer. That would not have been enough for the whole family, but it was enough for the four of us that were here.
Tuesday: Two pounds of ground beef, two cans of pinto beans, all the stuff I use to make baked beans (ketchup, molasses, etc.), a couple of extra pieces of bacon from breakfast. So I guess stovetop not-baked beans with hamburger? Something like that. I served it over rice.
Wednesday: Leftovers from the previous night, plus chocolate chip cookies I had made that morning as a thank you to my middle son's friend on the football team who has been helping youngest son out as he starts his first year of football, including giving him his old cleats.
Thursday: We had our priest and his youngest brother over for the last dinner at our house before the brother leaves for college. He's eaten here many times in the 8 months he's lived here, but he didn't want to choose his meal. He asked me to just make something. So I made ground lamb and beef spiced like gyro meat and sourdough pita bread the day before. And then I also made hummus and yogurt sauce and set out lettuce, tomato, feta cheese, and pickled onions so everyone could make their own gyros. No-bake cheesecake with strawberry-rhubarb sauce for dessert. The reason I did the actual cooking part the day before was because I was gone in the morning taking kids to the dentist and did not want to have to cook in my hot summer afternoon kitchen. Good call. It was still 85 degrees in there when we sat down to eat, even though I had only used the microwave. Really good food, though, and our guest of honor was happy.
Tonight: Hot again. I think it's going to be tuna salad sandwiches and whatever leftovers I can manage to get out of my overly full refrigerator. We have lots of cherries and grapes, too.
Those ice cubes were also on clearance at my Aldi... and I also resisted buying them. 🙂
This week we ate:
Saturday - Pizza and breadsticks for a movie night. (Unrelated win: we found a movie that the entire family loved! Rare these days with the cross from having 2nd grade-7th grade in our house.)
Sunday - We had some friends over for dinner and provided burgers, brats, hot dogs, and a veggie tray. Friends brought the rest.
Monday - Leftovers from Sunday.
Tuesday - My son turned 10! He chose shrimp fettuccine alfredo and french fries for his birthday meal. This was the first time that I have made shrimp fettuccine alfredo, but everyone liked it! It might go into the rotation of 'meals to make when I have heavy cream on hand.' He asked his sister to make copycat Cosmic Brownies for dessert.
Wednesday - Chili and baked potatoes. Weird for summer, but I needed a crock-pot meal that people could eat at different times as this was our night that different sports camps overlap between our three kids.
Thursday - My youngest two wanted to make dinner - fish and chips and pavlova (both inspirations from their Bluey cookbook) and strawberry/banana "snakes" (from a healthy kids cookbook). The fish was salmon on the Blackstone and fish sticks in the oven. Since I don't have access to a pavlova base in my MI small town and didn't have time to figure out how to make one, the pavlova was really just shortcake dessert shells with layers of homemade whipped cream and fruit on top.
Friday - I'm taking my youngest kiddo to a birthday party and we will eat there. Everyone at home will probably have leftovers.
What movie??
I’m guessing Minions? We had family in town last week. It was so hot we retreated to the very cool theater. Hilarious movie!
The Sheep Detectives. It's available on Prime Video now. I was amazed that it struck the balance of being interesting to all without being too scary for my youngest (she doesn't handle peril very well.)
My husband and I just watched this and I was surprised how much I liked it. I actually got a little teary-eyed at the end. I guess it good for kids and adults alike.
I really enjoyed this movie as well!
We thought it was a cute movie, we watched it while camping a few weeks ago.
Pavlova is just a meringue shell, shaped as you desire, and filled with whipped cream and fruits. Otherwise I don't understand the "base". I wish I could have some of your salmon!
Yes... the dessert was supposed to have the meringue base, but I've only made meringue a couple of times in my life, so I couldn't mentally pull it off on a busy day. The "base" part is just that it was supposed to be the bottom layer. 🙂 I told the kids that we're not in Australia like Bluey, so we had to do a different bottom layer. They were good with that!
I had the leftover salmon for lunch today and it was delicious!
so glad you are feeling better. have a great weekend.
We skipp3d dinner twice this week. One night we had frozen pizza, which we both found unappetizing. We decided not to keep any in the freezer goung forward. The next night we did not feel like cooking, and I had yoghurt with FG granola, while my husband heated a tin of soup. Then on night 3 I did not feel like cooking but decided we needed something substantial. So I took a big jar of homemade roasted tomatoes and stirred in the last of proteine pasta (which we do not like), baby spinach and bechamel and this turned out quite good.
Tonight will be pulled beef and kids will be invited to join since we cannot finish 2 pounds of beef together.
Happy Friday, everyone! We spent $65 ($15 at Target and $50 at Trader Joe's).
-- Salad
-- Fried egg over plant-based chicken Bolognese
-- Blueberry muffin, sesame green beans and carrot casserole
-- Curried lentils, potatoes, spinach and peas
-- Egg salad with crackers
-- Apple-celery-quinoa salad
-- Yogurt, strawberries and granola
I saw ice cubes like this when I was at the "expensive" grocery store near us, Busch's! They had a small special cooler right next to the expensive whiskey. The 4 pack of ice cubes there was closer to $8! I can't believe someone wouldn't just buy the large ice cube trays or sphere trays and make it themselves (with some kind of fancy bottled water, if necessary)!
So, funny story. When we built our house in 2016 the builder was shocked we didn't want a water line for the fridge. I had seen too many leaks from people that had to replace the flooring in their kitchen. I said, I'll just make my own ice. I bought silocone trays that make 6 giant square cubes. Everyone that comes to our house loves those cubes. They last a long time in our yeti cups and we use our own filtered water from our lifestraw pitcher!
That happened in my building. My upstairs neighbor had a leak in his water line to the fridge -- while he was working overseas for several months. He had to replace his flooring and a large portion of my ceiling!
Much better to just use ice cube trays.
Interesting - we've had a water line to the frig at both our houses and never had an issue (talking over 35+ years). Current house has one for drinking water and ice. I don't miss making ice cubes. On the fence whether a reverse osmosis drinking water system (which generates waste water and requires a "filter" - replacement) or a frig that requires filters. At least the frig warns you the filter when the filter gets close to being replaced. The reverse osmosis system just quit.
WIS: $12 at the Regional Market (mostly on pickling cukes), $13 at the no-name grocery outlet, $7 at Aldi, and $17 at Price Chopper.
WIA: The usual nothing spectacular--but I did make 8 more pints of refrigerator pickles. (Good thing, too, because my abundant self-sown dill is starting to turn brown.) I also processed some dried herbs, especially a tin of my very strong peppermint tea for JASNA Panera's upcoming birthday; the Triple Birthday Celebration for JASNA Panera, JASNA BFF, and me will be happening next month. If I remember correctly, the TBC is now in its 15th year!
The only logic I can think of behind the ice cubes is that maybe they could be helpful for disabled people (and if they are, great!), but I suspect it was more trying to get people to spend money.
I don't remember the order of these meals but we ate mushroom omelettes, veggie burgers and pizza as well as a lot of salad. I'm cat-sitting for a couple of nights and have gone for the easy option (pasta with aubergine and some readymade sauce).
I read that they are specifically for fancy cocktails!
I think the quality of liquor and mixers is more important than the ice cube!
They melt very slowly so they don’t dilute your drink but it stays cold. The first sip has the pretty much the same liquor/liquid ratio as the last.
WIS: Approximately $90 at Food Lion.
WWA: A homemade skillet meal with ground turkey, ground pork, lots of frozen veggies, canned tomatoes, and half a box of Kraft mac and cheese. This made several days of food. Watermelon and oranges on the side. Protein shakes with frozen strawberries and peanut butter toast. Sandwiches with sides of sweet peppers, carrot sticks, cheese, homegrown cherry tomatoes, and plums.
I will pay for the crunchy ice like at Chick-Fil-A, Sonic etc. Best way to drink a Diet Pepsi is with some of that ice.
I don't drink alcohol so no idea the appeal of the large clear ice cubes. It's a fun science experiment to make it I guess.
We have a package of similar ice cubes in the freezer that a friend of my husband brought over when my husband hosted his friends for dinner. The packaging is bulky and takes up so much room but I don’t have the heart to toss them knowing they aren’t cheap.
Friday: Grilled octopus and a Caesar salad at a restaurant in Las Vegas
Saturday: Smoked beef roast, mac and cheese, fresh veggies with ranch, fresh watermelon
Sunday: Chicago Beef sandwiches, bulger salad, fresh veggies with ranch
Monday: Buffalo chicken zucchini skins, home fries
Tuesday: Brats, zucchini fries, fresh veggies with ranch
Wednesday: Meatball stroganoff, sauteed shredded brussels sprouts
Thursday: Sushi dinner to celebrate my son’s good grades!
It was 2 or 3 diners each night this week, and just me another night. DS20 worked a bit, DS19 was at Yosemite backpacking. DH had a work event one night.
-We had a rotisserie chicken + grain salad from Costco x2, which came in handy when my foot was still healing from an infection & I wasn't up to cooking.
-DH grilled hot dogs one night
-I had popcorn & a nectarine on the night I was on my own.
-Fried rice & leftover rotisserie chicken another night
-Last night was fried rice as the base, with chicken teriyaki meatballs, followed by a crunchy slaw, served as a bowl
We have leftovers from last night, so might have that again.
If I ever win the lottery, there will be signs, but buying ice cubes won't be one of them! I love icy drinks but I have this wildly frugal way of making ice...can you guess?? 😛
Sunday: Chicken, roasted zucchini, and rice. My daughter request frozen peas, too. I made extra chicken and rice to use for the next day, because we always wind up with a difficult-to-use amount of leftover chicken and rice anyway, and none of us enjoy reheated chicken. I'm challenging myself to use it all though, because meat is my least favourite thing to waste. I also prepped veggies for the next day's dinner.
Monday: My mom stayed for dinner; she'd taken my daughter out in the afternoon. We had chicken fried rice and edamame. Plus a small amount of broccoli that I'd refreshed in cold water, chopped up, and then forgotten about for like a week. Weirdly it was still in great shape! The fried rice was a hit but man, for something that sounds easy it sure is a pain to make.
Tuesday: Pancakes, eggs, and fruit salad. I usually use some kind of frozen fruit, plus whatever lingering strawberries are not looking great in the fridge. This week, frozen peaches were surprisingly delicious.
Wednesday: Takeout pizza. My parents took me and the kids to the zoo, which was wonderful but we were exhausted.
Thursday: The zucchini amd summer squash I bought kn Sunday needed using, so we had a version of Deb Perelman's zucchini-butter spaghetti with some lettuce salad on the side. (Fear not, I am in Canada and our raw veggies are ok so far.)
Friday: Salmon, rice, cucumber salad, and challah, I think, and ice cream for dessert.
I think you should consider a different recipe for fried rice. Personally, I love the recipe for Vietnam Fried Rice in the More With Less cookbook. It uses one pan. Essentially you saute your onion and garlic, add in your meat, and when it is cooked, add your veggies. I usually use frozen mixed vegetables. Then add your spices and soy sauce and the leftover cooked rice. Cook until hot and as crispy as you like it. Then whisk up a couple of eggs and pour them over everything. Stir and cook until there is no raw egg showing. Serve and eat. The key to this dish seems to be lots of ground black pepper, a teaspoon of sugar, soy sauce, and lots of garlic. The ground black pepper gives a good pepper flavour, but doesn't make it spicy. I like that this can be made in one pan, provided you already have cooked rice. The texture is better when made with day-old rice.
Thank you for the tip! I think if I used frozen mixed vegetables it would be easier, and I like the order of operations that you describe. Mine is more fussy, which is probably why I don't get to eat as much fried rice as I'd like!
I bought silicone moulds for big round and big block ice cubes. 3 moulds for $1. I do make the round ones as they hold for several hours. The block mould I use for broth and soup squares. Silly fun and I didn't pay thousands for a special fridge that produces cocktail ice.
I will buy bananas today, so $1.50 ish.
I made taco salad last night. Will probably eat it in repeat tonight. So glad this week is behind us.
Hi! Is there a recipe you use for the tomato soup? I think I'd like to give that a shot! Thanks!
I spent about $8 this week, but I had a small eye surgery (ectropian repair) last Friday, so I had planned ahead for meals this week.
We ate:
Saturday: Pinch of Yum's instant pot wild rice soup with some crusty bread.
Sunday: meatball subs with veggies
Monday: Spaghetti in the instant pot with the leftover meatballs from Sunday
Tuesday: hot dogs/slaw/okra
Wednesday: lentil curry with rice
Thursday: various leftovers
Friday: We have a new restaurant that I was told is finally doing carry out. It's a smaller restaurant that I'm told is very loud (the owners have said on social media that they are going to work on the acoustics). I'm not a fan of loud, busy places so I've been waiting til they offered carry out. That's my plan for tonight.
I kinda get the ice. It would be good for people who don't have the setup to make ice but don't want to buy a whole bag of it. I have a tiny freezer myself and don't dedicate any space to making ice, especially since I don't use it much. But I have a friend who loves ice, and it would be nice to offer it when she visits.
That said -- I was gifted a tabletop ice maker, so it's no longer an issue for me!
WIS: $11 Valli Produce, $4 Dollar Tree
WIA: I didn't keep track. I know I had bean enchiladas a couple of days, and then bean soup made from the leftover ingredients. I had fish tacos at a Mexican restaurant. A day or two I had stomach issues and didn't eat much besides toast and crackers.
I'm thawing something for tonight -- I didn't label it, but it looks like chili? I've got to get off this Tex-Mex kick. Not that I don't love it, but it's definitely been a bit much.
I forgot -- I also had tuna salad sandwiches a couple of days.
Better half will eat tuna salad sandwiches for lunch but would never consider it for dinner/supper.
As he is uber diligent with not letting anything sit in the freezer for too long ("new" or leftovers), tonight's meal was the last of the gifted mostaccoili fried up with cheese, red peppers, mushrooms, and onions. Part of a container of butcher shop meatballs added at the end of frying. We both grew up with family who did not waste food. Our kiddos don't either.
Better half knew it as polenta, I knew it as fried mush.
We must be on the same wavelength. I had yogurt with peaches for breakfast, and fried mush with dinner last night! We call it fried polenta. 😉
I don’t spend much on food in the summer because I have a huge garden. With less frequent grocery trips, I feel more inspired to clear out the freezer.
My son came to visit last week, and he moaned about the lack of salty snack food in my kitchen. I pointed to the can of popcorn kernels!
I unexpectedly had to clear out the big freezer as it is NOT frost free and builds up enough frost/ice at the top that the door won't shut. Luckily I discovered this before everything thawed or melted and moved stuff fast like a bunny to the two little freezers plus the freezer compartment in the big refrigerator.
My insane cat wanted to get in the big freezer repeatedly while I was defrosting it!! So I put towels on each shelf and blocked the door shut. Now to get the towels out and wash them, plug the freezer back in, and laugh at the cat some more
Glad you're feeling better. I absolutely love fried cornmeal mush and haven't made it in a long time, either. My dad grew up in a poor Illinois farm family and I guess they ate it all the time. He made it a few times when we were kids and I loved with it. I fry it in my heavy iron skillet and it gets nice and crispy. I need to check my cornmeal!
WIS/ WWA this week
I spent $59 at Walmart, $13 at Aldi and $173 at Sam's on a meat stock up. So $245.
Friday – we had pork roast, leftover peas, roasted garlic broccoli and spicy ramen noodles
Saturday – we joined some relatives for a dutch treat dinner and ate at a local Mexican restaurant.
Sunday – grilled strip steaks, homemade 3 bean salad (since lettuce is a no-no for now), leftover spicy ramen noodles, leftover roasted garlic broccoli, tomatoes from the garden.
Monday – leftover pork roast turned into pork BBQ a meal a few days earlier, 3-bean salad, fresh tomatoes and potato chips.
Tuesday - shrimp stir fry with onions, pea pods, carrots, peppers with fried rice, cucumber kimchi from a friend.
Wednesday – beef kabobs made with sirloin steak from the freezer, peppers, onions and cherry tomatoes from the garden.
Thursday – homemade beef enchiladas (I even made my own red enchilada sauce which is so easy!) with leftover charro beans from the freezer.
Friday – we'll have gyros sandwiches from a kit I found at Aldi, cucumber kimchee, oven roasted potatoes.
Saturday - takeout night so the rest of the family had sushi and udon noodles, I picked up a tofu banh mi sandwich for myself, I am obsessed with them, they’re so good!
Sunday - I took my sister out to dinner for a very belated birthday dinner (her birthday was in April) We went to a Mexican restaurant, we shared an elote appetizer, and I had butternut squash and mushroom tacos and churros for dessert.
Monday - Emeril alphabet soup, biscuits and honey for the family, I had toasted Ezekiel bread with hummus
Tuesday - bean burritos, Spanish rice and corn for the kids, I had homemade black bean dip spread on corn tortilla that I had crisped in the oven, with avocado and pico de gallo on top.
Wednesday - I had to work 17 hours this day! Luckily this for a special event and is exceedingly rare (it’s actually the only time I’ve had to do this in 13 years of working here). I needed to pack a lunch and a dinner, so I just packed the same thing for both: a chickpea salad sandwich, sliced plums and strawberries, and some very dense cookies made with ground chickpeas, nut butter, walnuts, chocolate chips and flaxmeal. They were actually pretty good and did keep me full!
Thursday - I got to take this day off work since I worked so long the day before. So after a lazy morning I took the kids swimming and got frozen yogurt. We barely made it back in time for a scheduled play date so I didn’t get to feed them dinner, making the frozen yogurt their dinner. I had some toasted Ezekiel bread with hummus and the remaining chickpea salad, topped with sliced heirloom tomatoes and peach balsamic glaze. I did give the kids a heartier snack before bedtime to make for the lack of dinner.
Friday - I pulled some veggie ragu out of the freezer, I’ll cook some pasta and pour that over it for an easy dinner tonight.
That’s 3.42/lb for frozen water…but perhaps in my lifetime, this will someday feel like a bargain per pound price for clean water…I hope not.
WIS: Hmm, I did two Aldi runs. One which was more normal sized that was around 140 and then I spent another 42 on quick protein breakfast options.
WWA:
Fri: focaccia
Sat: leftover chicken, watermelon and garlic bread
Sun: microwave nacho plates
Mon: salmon, broccoli and rice
Tue: pasta carbonara with peas, pineapple chunks, (cheerios for me because I’m trying a gluten free diet for my thyroid)
Wed: salad and chicken patties or veggie burgers on buns or gf bread
Thu: garlic burger bombs and spinach salad
Fri: family will have focaccia and I will have leftovers
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Hi Becca, May I ask how your family likes to have the focaccia prepared for dinner? Do you buy it and then put toppings on it? Thanks for any help you can give me!
My husband makes the focaccia using his sourdough starter. Over the years, we have put different toppings on it so that it is like pizza. Usually it has marinated cherry tomatoes (halved and then pressed into the dough when dimpling), some kind of meat (pepperoni or bacon) and then mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Sometimes he rolls mozzarella string cheese into the crust to make stuffed crust and we usually use the sliced fresh mozzarella cheese log from Aldi. Also, the parm is fresh grated and he uses a full 8 oz wedge also from Aldi. Occasionally, he makes wells in the dough and cracks eggs into them before baking. It’s a pretty heavy dish, so we usually just have salad as our side. I hope that all made sense. If you have any other questions, I can have him answer them.
I may have missed this, but can you post your tomato soup recipe? We are drowning in tomatoes between our home garden and CSA subscription. Thank you!
Did you know you can freeze tomatoes whole? Then when you go to defrost them for chili or something in the colder months, the skins slide right off-no need to shock them. You can do the same thing with peaches.
If you have time, I'd love to know more specifically how you made the tomato soup.
I'm not sure if I've commented here before, but if you want to kick your mush game up a notch, buy some roasted cornmeal.
And for those who were wondering, I am still alive after being one of my son's first passengers 🙂 I will never be a pilot, I've decided, because I could never manage all that input at once. I am more impressed than ever by what he's learned. And it was fun. And a little scary/thrilling for me at times. But mostly eye-opening. And we flew over our house 🙂
Okay. I am SURE I've commented on the blog before, but I wasn't sure if I'd commented about the roasted cornmeal before. Sheesh.
Ohh what a fun experience!
What a great bonding experience! We have many pilots in the family...did you take any pictures of your home?
Yes, I did get pictures. My son likes to tease me a lot, and he delighted in how horrible the pictures I took are because it is fuel for teasing 🙂
I have to ask - has anyone tried Spam hotdogs? I love Spam (read my dad was NOT a WWII vet!). When we find them, I will try them. A bit irked that the website lists local stores which I know *do not* have them.
Spam is so versatile - grilled, fried, baked (I am a carnivore).
My mom made a casserole when I was a kid that was basically mac and cheese with spam in it. Ha.
Frozen Ice Cubes. Are there any other kind? Is Aldi going to put them in a bottle and sell Melted Ice Cubes?
I think that's in their bottled water aisle. Ha.