WIS, WWA | back to school
Hello, everyone!
I spent this week getting back into the swing of life post-Covid. And I started Anatomy and Physiology 2, so I am again drinking from the fire hose of anatomy knowledge.
I really do love this class, and as my post-Covid fatigue fades, I think I will like it even more.
What I Spent
Well, this is an extremely boring part of the post, because....I did not go to the grocery store at all.
Oh, wait, scratch that. I did pop in for two containers of panko bread crumbs; a $5 stop.
Still. Very boring on the shopping front.
What We Ate
Saturday
A burrito bowl night, much to Zoe's delight! The usual: rice, chicken, veggies, cheese, sour cream, salsa, and so on.
And we had fresh fruit on the side.
Sunday
We had quesadilla burgers, which are basically smallish burgers served in between two street taco tortillas, with some Tex-Mex toppings (like chipotle mayo, cilantro, etc.)
Sonia had hers without the cheese, of course.
Monday
We had chili, salad, and fresh fruit.
Tuesday
Some of us had leftover chili, but Zoe had her college class at dinnertime, and she ate some grilled cheese sandwiches when she got home.
Wednesday
I made chicken katsu, a dish Sonia feels we can never have too often. 😉
I use the chicken katsu recipe from Dinner Illustrated.
And my full review of Dinner Illustrated is right here.
Thursday
We had leftovers, a green salad, and some fresh fruit.
Friday
I think I might make these Swedish meatballs.
Good luck in your class! My daughter is currently finishing a second bachelor degree in microbiology in preparation for applying to medical school- she is enjoying the genetics class she is taking but not the in person 3 hour lab 2x per week.
Meals we had over the last week:
Saturday- breakfast for dinner- waffles, ham steak, fruit
Sunday- appetizer night including puff pastry wrapped Brie that my husband made- beautiful and delicious
Monday- clam chowder, homemade sourdough bread, fruit
Tuesday- chicken Caesar salad, homemade bread, fruit
Wednesday- had something else planned but I had lots of leftover chicken so I made chicken salad with dried cranberries and pecans and had it with homemade bread made from sourdough discard.
Thursday- leftover night
Friday- tonight will be pizza night
Stay safe and warm this weekend everyone!
Sunday: lemon baked chicken. Green beans. Stuffing with bread and veggie odds n ends.
Monday: odds n ends leftovers with fancy cheese and crackers and envy apples. Yummy
Tuesday: tuna noodle casserole with steamed Brussels sprouts
Wed: baked cod. Cauliflower rice. Garlic toast and pineapple
Thursday: leftover tuna casserole and Brussels sprouts
Friday: frozen pizza and salad from a bag! KISS!
Saturday: hot beef sandwiches and chips with veggies and dip
I think I am going to make zucchini oat muffins tomorrow with frozen zucchini from summer!
@Stephanie,
Envy apples are the best !!!
Wow. You did really well, given your fatigue and starting school again.
Saturday: Baked spaghetti with meat sauce, green salad with vinaigrette
Sunday: Oven-fried chicken, roasted potatoes, cucumbers with salt and vinegar, and a chocolate "fondue" that was just chocolate chips melted in the microwave with coconut oil and graham cracker pieces and marshmallows to dip. A very easy and popular dessert for children (or, okay, me).
Monday: Half the family had tacos with leftover ground beef taco meat, half had bacon and egg sandwiches because there wasn't enough taco meat for everyone. And frozen peas.
Tuesday: Pork butt (slow cooked, then pulled apart and fried in the rendered lard), corn on the cob courtesy of a child going to the store with my husband, steamed broccoli, roasted beets with butter, oatmeal/peanut butter/walnut/chocolate chip cookies
Wednesday: Leftover baked spaghetti, leftover pork, cucumbers with salt and vinegar
Thursday: White chicken chile. I'd never made this, and based on the online recipes, this is a dish that seems to almost exclusively use canned beans and quick-cooking chicken breasts (if not rotisserie chicken), and thus takes about twenty minutes to make. Being the way I am, though, I used two frozen carcasses of our summer meat chickens to make stock and strip the meat, and also used dried navy beans. Therefore, a twenty-minute recipe took me seven hours. 🙂 It was good, but I don't think it will be a regular meal for me.
Tonight: I took out two big chuck roasts and I have half a can of tomatoes I need to use up, so I guess something like pot roast. I'll probably throw carrots and potatoes in with the meat at some point, and make a salad.
Your Thursday meal: why make something simple, when you can complicate it? Heh.
@Kristen, I know. My joke in my own Friday Food post today is that if I ever write a cookbook, I'm going to call it "Fifteen Minute Meals Ready in Seven Hours." 🙂
Ha! I make a super simple version. Fry some chopped onions in a bit of oil. Then add green or red bell peppers. When it looks vaguely done, add some garlic. After a minute or two, add chicken stock. Dump some canned beans, shredded chicken, crushed tomatoes and chopped fresh cilantro along with half a can of chopped chilies in adobo sauce (this part is essential--but you can add less). Add plenty of cumin, whatever else sounds good. Let cook for a good while and then whisk in a brick of softened (left out for a while) cream cheese. Sprinkle with more cilantro, shred-ched, chips, whatever.
My recipe blog: "Cooking Vaguely with Rose"
It would be funnier if I started each recipe post with a completely made up back history.
My abuela used to make this every Sunday. We children looked forward to it all morning when in Sunday School. etc.
(In fact I doubt my grandmother ever made chili in her life. Pot roast was her thing. And that was pretty much all she was good at cooking.)
@Rose, This sounds yummy!
@Aunt Diane from Streator, Try it! It's super easy and my kids absolutely love it. I usually use two chicken breasts, one large can of crushed tomatoes and two small cans of beans. Usually one onion and one bell pepper, maybe a couple cups of chicken stock. Chili is easy to wing it with.
Although no one was really sick this week, the kids were in and out of school due to runny noses (the school is very strict on signs of illness right now) so we had a challenging week of working with them here. Having a meal plan really helped though, we just stuck to it and no extra takeout was had.
Saturday - takeout fish n chips
Sunday - SIL birthday dinner, she had said she wanted pizza or Chinese food, my MIL misheard and thought she wanted both so it was quite a delicious and interesting feast! German chocolate cake for dessert
Monday - my husbands random Costco purchase last trip was a bag of impossible burger patties. So we had those with fries and zucchini. They were pretty good, I didn’t make a whole burger for the kids but they each got a slice of ours and they also enjoyed them.
Tuesday - salads and chicken, pearl couscous with veggies and chicken for the kids (this has become a weekly meal at this point)
Wednesday - one pot lemon artichoke chicken and rice
Thursday - gnocchi with Gorgonzola cream sauce for me, I don’t know why I hadn’t made this sooner, I had it at a restaurant years ago and still think about how good it was but it was actually so easy to make at home! No one else in my family shares my love of stinky cheese though so I heated a jar of marinara and shredded some Parmesan to put onto their gnocchi
Friday - Swedish meatballs over egg noodles
Ohhh, I love gnocchi. But my kids hate it. Sigh.
@Kristen, I also love gnocchi. My husband and son hate it. I get it only in restaurants. Sighing along with you.
When I stop at your house on my tour of the Frugal Girl nation, we shall have gnocchi. 😉
@Kristen, I have a few foods like that where I’m the only one that likes it! Luckily my kids love gnocchi too, my husband has told me he doesn’t really like it but can tolerate it infrequently so I just make it every few months.
What a great menu! When I’m sick, we eat poorly. A $5 week is amazing.
I spent $135 this week to feed 2 adults breakfast, lunch and dinner. This includes one lunch out for me with a friend. I am watching my totals closely trying to figure out how much I should budget for food. This is challenging with the increasing cost of groceries. I’m making adjustments as I go and taking into consideration dietary constraints and preferences.
Saturday - I roasted a pork roast from the freezer, but I can’t remember what we had on the side.
Sunday - I went to the movies with my sister. The first movie I have seen in 2+ years. So we had leftovers.
Monday - I made sheet pan chicken fajitas and roasted corn with avocado and fixings on the side. We ate this over a bed of spinach instead of in a tortilla. ( I used peppers from the freezer.)
Tuesday - Small steaks, fresh green beans, and mashed cauliflower excavated from the bottom of the freezer.
Wednesday - I made white chicken chili using chicken broth and butternut squash from the freezer. I threw in the remaining roasted corn and peppers from Monday night. I toasted 4 taco shells that had been lingering in the pantry to top the chili.
Thursday - Hamburgers and beet salad. My husband had his with a bun and baked potato.
Friday - ? It’s grocery shopping day. I will come up with my weekly menu after I poke around in the refrigerator and freezer. Perhaps a veggie stir fry to clear the crisper.
Wishing everyone a great weekend!
@Bee, I buy a case of 36 pounds of butter a few times a year through our school Sysco ordering program, and just yesterday I was told the price went up from $100 to $125. I looked it up, and found all kinds of stories about how dairy has gone up--butter up 40% in the last year--and is expected to keep going up in the coming year. Fun.
You are the second person to mention white chicken chili this week, so it is going on my list to make next week! Part of the reason I, in particular, love the Friday meal roundups - a lot of great ideas here.
@kristin @ going country,
When it has been many months between purchases, I am often shocked at the prices. BTW, it is brilliant that you buy butter in bulk like that. Do you get a regular delivery from Sysco?
@bettafrmdaville, it’s one of our favorites during the winter months. My tummy can’t handle tomato based chili. It easy to convert into a vegetarian dish too.
@Bee, As long as school is in session, and therefore getting their weekly Sysco delivery for the cafeteria, community members can order from a list of items and it will be delivered the next week with the school order. The school started this in the spring of 2020, and for a community 100 miles from anything, it has been an incredible help. Not everything is cheaper this way--the milk, for example, is just over $5 a gallon from Sysco, compared to about $3.50 a gallon at the stores--but it's usually close enough that it makes a lot more sense to buy it from Sysco and not drive 200 miles roundtrip to get it. Then again, Sysco is . . . cafeteria food. So. You know. Quality is sometimes an issue. 🙂
@kristin @ going country, dang! Butter is always $2-2.50 a pound at Aldi and the other discount stores here in Illinois, and often on sale for that at the big chain groceries, too. I realize your logistics issues, though.
@kristin @ going country, That is so great that Sysco offers that service for your town. I regularly order from Schwan's, which isn't the cheapest, but I like some of their products.
The Aldi stores in Chicago near me are $2.99/lb...sounds like I should check out others when I make it out of the city. Thank you for the tip! Other grocery stores are $3.29 or $3.39/lb. Hadn't seen any sale in about a year, but then just had 2 wonderful sales within the last couple months of $1.99/lb (limit 2, then limit 5), that we hadn't seen in over a year. I had thought those sales might mean the price was finally coming down...rats...good intel, though.
Saturday-fried egg, toast, bacon, tater tots
Sunday-stuffing, sweet potatoes, peas, cranberry sauce
Monday-TexMex soup
Tuesday-cheese quesadilla, chips and salsa
Wednesday-pasta with veggies, salad, bread
Thursday-leftovers from Sunday
Friday-leftover soup
Sunday: tomato-lentil soup (I froze half) and grilled cheese.
Monday: Tofu and broccoli stir fry with brown rice.
Tuesday: I had dinner at my parents', not sure what my husband ate.
Wednesday: Spaghetti and meatballs. Both the meatballs and sauce were previously made and frozen.
Thursday: After a rough night with the baby, I requested Thai takeout. It was so good.
Friday: Honestly, I'm exhausted. Maybe something like chicken soup with matzah balls. The broth is easy to make, and I have matzah balls and small pieces of chicken to add in the freezer.
My week to cook.
Sunday-pork chops, couscous, garden salad
Monday-sesame chicken, rice, oranges
Tuesday-pasta with Italian sausage, salad greens, sautéed zucchini
Wednesday-pork green chili from the freezer, bean burritos, oranges
Thursday-chicken fajitas with peppers and onions, rice, salad greens
Friday-leftovers with baked butternut squash
Our grocery total this week was $90 and a few odd cents, and it included $12 worth of dog dental chews and cat treats, so I spent on people food only $78 and a few cents, well under our budget of $90 a week.
This week was every man for himself, as I had steroid shots in both knees last Friday and my body attempted to check off every side effect on the list. We did enjoy BBQ pork sandwiches and fries from the take-out only BBQ place at the foot of our neighborhood on Friday. One night this week I brought home a grilled chicken sandwich from work that was delivered for lunch that no one wanted. It was very lean but was tasty with a little mayo. Last night I had a fruit smoothie using one of the bag of bananas from work that no one wanted.
Your quesadilla burgers sound really interesting!! This was our COVID week, but because of having a bunch of fresh meat on hand (including a roast I had just set out to thaw) I tried to manage my energy to deal with the food we had and not waste any. I think the only thing that got wasted was some spinach and kale.
Saturday - Frozen pizzas and popcorn (the popcorn was because 2 frozen pizzas was not enough for our family)
Sunday - Ham, tater tots, peas
Monday - Pork roast, corn casserole, California veggie mix
Tuesday - Burrito bowls an pineapple
Wednesday - I was feeling a bit better but a number of people in the house had pretty much just eaten saltines all day so I was not about to put any effort into dinner. We finished off the stash of frozen pizzas.
Thursday - BBQ chicken thighs, cajun potatoes, broccoli with cheese
Friday - Ravioli with a bag of frozen veggies
I hope this next week is better health wise for your family!
In spite of my efforts, I got home one night at 9, one night at 8, two nights at 7:30 this work week. I managed to put something on the plate, at least:
I roasted a whole chicken on the weekend, so I had that with:
biscuits, peas and carrots
biscuits and zucchini
parsnips and salad
I also made chicken salad out of it, with celery, carrot, onion and raisins.
Pork chops with roasted parsnips and spinach
Last night I knew I would be late again due to visiting my husband so I took a frozen purchased AIP meal with me and heated and ate it there in his room - dairy-free cream of broccoli soup.
Tonight I don't know, but I'm going to the grocery stores, so I'm sure I'll find something.
Breakfasts this week were from a big pot of vegetable-turkey soup in homemade broth. Lunches were, as always, leftovers.
I am averaging about $60 a week right now, which isn't great, however, I buy from local farmers, who charge more, but I trust their food, and buy organic almost entirely. With today's rising prices, I think this will go up, unfortunately.
Ok, I am seriously impressed that you eat vegetable turkey soup for breakfast!
@JD, seriously impressed that you managed to get food on the plate after getting home so late!
@Kristen,
I load it with big chunky vegetables and some meat, and it does quite nicely! This one had onion, celeriac, carrot, celery, garlic zucchini and other things I can’t remember. It’s so easy to heat and eat a bowl of soup.
@Beverly,
I’ll be honest, I am too, ha,ha.
Chicken pot pie
Burgers and fries……stopped to get fast food on the way home from jiu jitsu because my plans fell through. As my kiddos are getting older I have to get better at having stuff ready to go during the day so we can eat as soon as we get home from activities.
Pulled pork sandwiches and baked fries and salad
White chicken chili
Roast chicken and creamy veggie orzo
Chicken and bean burritos with leftover chicken from last night.
Sunday: I made a pot roast and noodles. Some people had roasted veggies on the side and some people had coleslaw.
Monday: Lemon chicken with angel hair pasta, green beans
Tuesday: Taco Tuesday...just the basic taco kit in a box using ground turkey
Wednesday: Rotisserie chicken and we made mashed potatoes, steamed frozen corn and a big salad. Cranberry sauce as well.
Thursday: Baked potatoes with toppings bar. The toppings included butter, shredded cheese, chopped bacon, chopped steamed broccoli, sauteed spinach with cream, chile seasoned black beans and sour cream. I served some pineapple on the side but it wasn't very good. I ended up freezing the pineapple to throw a little at a time into smoothies.
Friday/Tonight: Local take out night...maybe pizza?
Saturday: I think we will have chicken parmesan and spaghetti and garlic bread
Sunday: The kids want to have some snacky things and watch football, I think that we can easily make that happen!
Glad to hear you are feeling better and that your class is off to a good start.
This week's lineup:
- Bowl of homemade tomato soup and side salad
- Open-faced egg salad sandwich topped with sauteed zucchini, onions and shredded cheese, then broiled
- Toast with peanut butter, coleslaw
- Cauliflower crust pizza with veggie toppings
- Golden beet risotto
- Plate of veggies: mushrooms, broccoli and potatoes
- Popcorn and fruit
Glad you are feeling better!
This week we had:
Saturday: frozen snack foods from Trader Joe's (leftover from the holidays)
Sunday: nachos
Monday: Irish Coddle (Sausage and Potato Stew)
Tuesday: Shrimp tacos with fruit on the side
Wednesday: steak, baked sweet potatoes, and garden salad
Thursday: DH picked up BBQ from our favorite local restaurant when he was nearby
Friday: Leftover BBQ
WWS: $27 Market Basket
WWA:
Sat: charcuterie plate/snacks
Sun: hamburgers on English muffins, roasted potatoes; sautéed beet green stems
Mon: argula, kate & beet green spanakopita (https://www.seriouseats.com/spanakopita-greek-savory-greens-pie); sliced cucumbers
Tues: snacks in car as I did my weekly 3.5 hour commute home
Wed: deconstructed eggplant parm (we don't bake the breaded eggplant, sauce & cheese together as it loses it crispness, just broil the cheese on the fried, breaded eggplant and serve over tomato sauce); [leftover] roasted potato; pea tendril salad
Thurs: gochujang tofu with scallions (food52.com); pea tendril and cucumber salad
Fri: take-out soup dumplings - getting ready for the N/E snowpocalyse!
@bettafrmdaville, that is a really smart way to handle the eggplant parm. I have never thought about deconstructing it.
I don't usually comment on the WIS/WWA posts, but.....
Tonight I am having Swedish meatballs as well, courtesy of my sister. We are NY Rangers fans, and the team is retiring former goaltender Henrik Lundqvist's jersey number tonight.
I'll bet that's not the reason you're having Swedish meatballs.
@Kristin,
Haha! That’s a fitting tribute to a hockey great. My husband is a big Rangers fan so I read your comment to him out loud.He enjoyed it too. 🙂
Nope! We are having Swedish meatballs because Sonia loves them. 😉
The "Mini torsos stored here" really cracked me up.
Refrigerator/freezer garbage soup used up a lot of sad vegetables and a long-frozen chicken carcass. We ate it for three nights, with home-made ciabatta.
Beef Wellington, made with salmon instead of beef. Salad.
Bacon wrapped shrimp, although I don't like bacon, so I had plain shrimp. Fruit salad.
Naan bread pizzas and more fruit salad.
Tonight it is filet 'o fish for me and a frozen pot pie for him. Banana pudding to use up some bananas.
Me too! The idea of a torso cabinet is funny.
It's been a good food week around here!
Sunday was pizza and salad
Monday I think was grilled salmon, salad, and roasted sweet potatoes and cauliflower.
Tuesday was pulled pork sandwiches with roasted potatoes and slaw
Wednesday we had pasta with mushrooms and white wine sauce, salad, french bread
Last night we had pulled pork fajita gorditas, which was fun. We had rice, beans and slaw with that.
Tonight we're having leftover pasta, salad and french bread.
From freezer: pulled pork, rice, green chiles in pulled pork fajita mix, peppers and onions in that, buns from Tuesdays meal, salmon, pizza dough, pepperoni and salami for pizza.
I was able to shop on my own and this week's bill was about $110$ (Aus) and another $50 on food bought to fill tummies as my daughter moved into their own home on Thursday. Meals have been very simple.
Monday: was a curried vegetable soup.
Tuesday: The same dinner again.
Wednesday: Pizza
Thursday: I can't remember.
Friday: Corned beef.
My dinners could not be less exciting:
Monday - Freezer Meal {turkey and dressing container from Thanksgiving ):}
Tuesday - 5 Ingredient Slow Cooker Chicken Legs, (freezer) skinny mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts
Wednesday - Wine Wednesday with The Girl
Thursday - Teriyaki Salmon, fried rice with bok choy
Friday - Chicken Sausage with quick cook quinoa blend and a yellow bell pepper
Saturday - The rest of the fried rice with freezer Coconut Shrimp
Sunday - Burgers at home on Ciabatta bread, low salt kettle chips
I guess the upshot is I ate.
It was an unusual and not altogether successful week on our side, but.. we made it:
Monday - the boys had a late soccer game, and convinced me to do delivery. My teen ordered on an app, and had a misfire where he used the location we were at (a high school not close to our house) vs our home. We got it sorted, for an additional fee, but the food was cold by the time it arrived. It was an expensive disappointment.
Tuesday - I was able to rescue most of the takeout from the night before, and my husband & I had other leftovers that I can't remember
Wednesday - chicken fajitas, as I had to join an evening zoom call for the kids school
Thursday - homemade taquitos
Friday - we went out after another late soccer game. Shake Shack, which the kids have been wanting to try. I've only been to the one in Tokyo, so it was an interesting experience, but we prefer In & Out, I think.
We don't typically do takeout/delivery/restaurant dinners multiple times during the week, but some weeks are just...
We spent $107 this week. That also included some needed paper products and a three month supply of coffee. Here's what we ate:
Saturday - we attended by husband's motocross banquet and enjoyed a nice buffet spread.
Sunday - Pb&j sandwiches on the ride home from banquet weekend.
Monday - Eggs and toast.
Tuesday - Hot chicken sandwiches (leftover rotisserie chicken) with mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce.
Wednesday - BLT Sandwiches and salad.
Thursday - Goulash and garlic bread.
Friday - Shepherd's pie, bread and butter.