WIS, WWA | Black Friday eats
What I Spent
Well, hello there! I am not normally a Black Friday participant because I dislike crowds and limited-number-of-items deals, and also, a lot of Black Friday deals are just not that good.
This year I am especially not interested. I worked overnight last night so I am gonna spend at least half the day in bed, sleeping with my blackout eye mask on. 😉
I spent:
- $73 at Aldi
- $25 on Saturday night's meal
- $22 at Aldi
So, $120 for me.
What We Ate
Saturday
I went to the symphony (woohoo for a free ticket!) and got a bite to eat in the city beforehand (which was good, but also was $25. Still a bargain compared to a full-price symphony ticket.)
Sunday
One of Zoe's besties was here with us, and I made chicken quesadillas for the three of us, plus fruit salad, and chips and queso.
Monday
Zoe was at work and I made myself some whole wheat blueberry pancakes because...they're easy and delicious.
And also, half the recipe has 27 grams of protein, which isn't too shabby (I put the recipe into My Fitness Pal when I was working with Ben).
I continue to use a 50/50 yogurt/milk mixture in place of the buttermilk, and it works fabulously. I always have yogurt here; I do not always have buttermilk now that I have such a small household.
Tuesday
A sweet reader sent me a Happy Thanksgiving Panera gift card soooo, I promptly used it for dinner!
Of course, I maximized it by using a "buy one, get one for $5" entree deal, and I also snagged a discounted cookie for Zoe and me to share. 🙂
Wednesday
I made French toast and bacon because apparently I am in a breakfast-for-dinner mood this week. And NO ONE CAN STOP ME.
I love being an adult. 😉
Thursday
I made some of my honey-glazed rolls, and we got some takeout fried chicken, just like we did last year!
Friday
I worked my overnight shift last night, so I do not imagine I will be up for much in the kitchen today. Grilled cheese sandwiches, perhaps.
No leftovers here- sure wish I had some of the gravy I made over mashed potatoes and dressing. I could care less about the meat! Don’t you get together with your family any more? I’m blessed my brothers from Iowa flew here and I had my 2 sisters, 2 daughters/families, son and family from England in town! 17 for dinner at local daughter’s home. What a great day! Sadly I have some health issues and had to retire this month at age 77. I hope to volunteer when I’m up to it. Now we’re on the Christmas!
@Nan, Wishing you the gift of perfect health for Christmas. Give my regards to all your family, esp. the foreign visitors!
In contrast to most people here (I'm jealous of all the Thanksgiving food!) last night's meal was mushroom omelette and a flatbread with cream cheese and tomato which I ate in the brief window between work and my exam last night!
As for the rest of the week I had veggie chilli, leftovers with a sweet potato, tacos and pasta!
@Sophie in Denmark, a mushroom omelet sounds lovely!
@Bee, AND ... she passed her exam!
@JDinNM, @Sophie in Denmark - Woot! Woot! Congratulations!
@Bee, thanks both!
@Sophie in Denmark, A mushroom omelette is always right. And big congrats to passing the exam. Enter a relaxing weekend.
@Sophie in Denmark, I join the others in congrats on passing the exam.
And I'm about to have a frittata myself tonight with mushrooms (plus a few other things), since CF was planning to distribute most of her leftovers among folks who couldn't make it to yesterday's dinner. In fact, omelettes or frittatas are among my favorite ways of using up "bits and bobs," along with soups and casseroles.
@A. Marie, thank you!!!
Cook once, eat twice is continuing to work well for us. Sunday and Monday we ate stir-fried beef with green beans and mushrooms over noodles. I would eat just about anything if it's over noodles. Tuesday and Wednesday were spaghetti with all the odd bits of veggies tossed in the sauce. Thursday is our regular pizza night and tonight and tomorrow are fish nights along with the last of a bag of potatoes which are getting soft.
Does that mean you wrote this after an overnight shift? Yikes. If so, kudos on the coherence. I would be a mental mess.
Saturday: I had made some buns while I was baking bread and took out ground beef to make hamburgers. Then the basketball player had that for lunch on his way back from his tournament, so I made sloppy joes instead. Not that he would have cared if he ate hamburgers twice, but sloppy joes are, ironically, LESS sloppy in the cooking (so much spattered grease with hamburgers) and also somehow make the meat go farther. I served it with store-brand Fritos (the Great Value ones from Walmart are indistinguishable from name brand) and more of the giant kohlrabi my sister brought us a month ago.
Sunday: Chunks of pork loin, sauteed and in a milk gravy; pinto beans and ham from the freezer; leftover rice; sauteed carrots (freezer) with sauerkraut (the jar I keep in the refrigerator for the one kid who likes uncooked sauerkraut) and onions (freezer); and ice cream and chocolate chip cookies for Sunday dessert.
Monday: I had some leftovers of the beans and ham and the rice, but not enough for another full meal for all five of us. So I cooked one package of beef smoked sausage and made some cornbread. We also finally finished the giant kohlrabi before dinner, so that was our vegetable.
Tuesday: We butchered one of the ram lambs this day and I kept some of the shoulder chops out for dinner. They were quick to cook when I got home at 6:30 p.m. from a basketball game that all three kids at home had gone to with me. I had made a pot of boiled potato chunks before I left, which I just heated with butter, salt, and pepper. No vegetable. I meant to put pickles on the plates, but I forgot. Oh well. Meat and potatoes it is.
Wednesday: Ground beef and bean chili, because I could make it in the morning and have it ready by the time dinner rolled around and I was already tired of the kitchen after some Thanksgiving prep. I served the chili with cheese quesadillas. We had carrot sticks before dinner, courtesy of the giant carrot I dug up in the garden that I had thought all year was a parsnip. Boo on no parsips for Thanksgiving, but it was a very good carrot. I also gave the kids the last bit of ice cream, as one child had a bad sore throat thanks to our family cold landing on her.
Thursday: I do not enjoy eating nor cooking giant turkeys, and since my husband also does not much care for turkey but does love duck, I bought duck for our Thanksgiving poultry this year. It was a six-pound duck, so one was enough, as there were only five of us and my daughter and I generally eat very little meat. Everything else was the same--mashed potatoes, sourdough stuffing, cranberry sauce, sauteed green beans with shallots and bacon, frozen corn, pumpkin pie, gravy--albeit somewhat rushed as the duck was done much sooner than I expected. I also made chocolate-covered peanut butter balls at the request of the one child who does not care for pumpkin desserts. I should also note, for those of you who enjoy this sort of odd food reporting from my household, that I had overlooked the duck heart in the cavity when I was pulling out the giblets, and subsequently ended up frying the heart in the pan with the liver and trimmed skin, etc. for the dogs, rather than putting it in the stock as I typically would. One child was peeking in the "dog" pan and asked what that red thing was, and then of course wanted to eat the heart himself. And then, of course, so did everyone else. They all loved it. My daughter, as she was eating her dinner, asked when I would get another duck. I asked if she liked the duck that much, and she said, "Yes. Especially the heart." Okay then.
Tonight: I'm driving to the airport and back today--around seven hours total--to pick up the eldest child at the airport, so my husband will be on dinner duty. I suspect my children will be eating the Thanksgiving leftovers all day and will be ready for something different by dinnertime. So I'll leave out the bag of store-brand corn chips and have them make themselves Frito pie (a bed of Fritos topped with chili and taco toppings--so good).
@kristin @ going country, I'm much amused by the description of the kids all wanting the duck heart--whether it was for actual good taste or for braggadocio purposes!
I feel rested and completely unstressed this morning and credit that to not spending hours and hours in my kitchen yesterday. AMAZING. I frankly love the idea of a tradition of fried chicken and those rolls – YUM. Eats this week at my house:
Monday – (freezer) Rotisserie Chicken strips, sweet potato, side salad
Tuesday – Veggie Marinara over linguini, side salad (made three containers for the freezer)
Wednesday – Rudy’s Brisket with mixed greens, pickled okra, purple onion
Thursday – Turkey and Biscuits, cranberry sauce, Pumpkin Balls (the simplest and easiest Thanksgiving I have had as an adult!)
Friday – Day after Thanksgiving Turkey Noodle Soup made with stock, bits of turkey, mixed veggies, and bowtie pasta. Might splash a little cream into it, too. Also, I think I will take myself out to lunch. (:
Saturday and Sunday – kitchen closed – I’ll be eating my freezer lunches
Happy Weekend!
@Gina from The Cannary Family,
We used to get a selection from Rudy’s for Thanksgiving and Christmas when we lived in Texas. I miss Rudy’s…
@Victoria, Rudy's was one of my very best discoveries when I moved to New Mexico. Oh, that brisket....
WIS: $41 at Wegmans, $6 at Trader Joe's, and $17 at Ollie's.
WIA: Best things prepared by myself: a split pea soup on Monday with some ham and a ham bone I put in the freezer at Easter; and the kale, carrot, and apple salad I took to Thanksgiving dinner at my next-door neighbor's other close friend's home. I do still have some of the salad left, since the group at CF's was smaller than last year's, but I'll have that tonight with a frittata.
Best things prepared by other people: Everything else at CF's dinner!
@A. Marie, I thought about you as I used a Martha Stewart method for roasting my turkey. One of my friends convinced me that this method was the best. I must say that it was very good, but was it ever a production!
@Bee, Martha's quite a production herself, which explains the recipe Degree of Difficulty score.
@Bee, @A.Marie, @JDinNM, I made Martha's mac and cheese once, finally gave up on finding the exact cheeses, and might have used every bowl I own. It was good, but nothing is worth that much expense and effort and clean-up!
A friend followed her recipe for fortune cookies and I have never heard her cuss so much as when she talked about bleep-bleep Martha Stewart.
M.S. did always have beautiful photos in her magazine (is there still a magazine?)
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, I think it’s easy to forget that she has a staff of professionals that she directs. I could get a lot done with a staff of helpers - a florist, a chef, a gardener and a cleaner. Alas, there is just me.
@Bee et al., I must confess that I've never made any of Martha's more complicated productions (and I enjoyed @JDinNM's remark that "Martha's quite a production herself," which is 100% true). My all-time favorite was the Easter ham that, as I recall, was served on fresh-cut grass from her organic lawn. I almost busted a gusset laughing at that one.
@Bee,
I once read online that one of Martha Stewart's former employees was asked how it was to work with her. The employee replied it was like having Hitler in the kitchen. Methinks the image of everything being so perfect and nice around Martha is just an illusion.
@Fru-gal Lisa, an old grad school friend of mine worked for a short while for MS Omnimedia. When a mutual friend asked her what it was like to work there, she replied, "Imagine if Stalin were into interior decorating..." I think there's a trend here.
@Fru-gal Lisa, Maybe the old expression that goes "If you can't stand the heat in the kitchen..." should be "If you can't stand Hitler in the kitchen..."
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, Only online. Meredith publications took it over around 2022, but it's only online now, not in print.
I took things a lot easier this week--it was busier and I knew I'd be tired.
Sunday: My parents fed us spaghetti and meatballs, salmon, salad, and roasted vegetables.
Monday: Leftover meatballs and salad, plus pasta and sliced cucumbers.
Tuesday: I was working overnight so I had rice, sauteed mushrooms, and a hot drink that my supervisor ordered, and then snacked on apples, cheese, instant ramen (always my 2:00 a.m. snack) and some leftover Halloween candy. The home crew had frozen pizza.
Wednesday: My mom came over and Mr. B was working late. I made us chicken katsu from the freezer (there was only a little bit left), sauteed pea shoots, rice, and frozen dumplings.
Thursday: Mr. B made ravioli and tomato sauce.
Friday: Mr. B will make us salmon, some side dish, and he'll pick up a challah.
I have a question for you experienced cooks. A few weeks ago, I prepped a big batch of chicken katsu and froze it raw and worked AMAZINGLY well. When you make katsu or schznitzel, can you just use a meat mallet to get a boneless skinless chicken breast into a uniform thickness? Or do you have to still slice them? I've been slicing each breast and it takes forever when I'm doing a whole tray.
@Meira (meirathebear.wordpress.com), I'd say it depends on the original size of the breast, but I've used a mallet before with good success.
@Meira (meirathebear.wordpress.com), I just pound bits of meat (pork or chicken) with a mallet, I don't bother slicing before unless it's really thick then I slice it in 2
Lots and lots of leftovers here!
WWS - $80 at Trader Joe’s which included non-necessities chocolate, flowers, and Harry & David Pears. $58 at primarily Thanksgiving items. $50 at Whole Foods for my visiting daughter’s specialty foods. So $188 which is just too much.
WWA
Saturday - I think we had chicken sandwiches and salad.
Sunday - I pressed the easy button. I had purchased a box of 3 GF pizza crust at Costco. Everyone built their own pizza. There were leftovers for lunch.
Monday - We various combinations of small steaks, potatoes, and salad. We all eat a little differently which is a challenge when even part of the family is home.
Tuesday - Vegetarian 15 bean soup with salad & a pot of rice.
Wednesday - We went to see Wicked. Everyone was in charge of oneself. I think I ate fruit and cheese.
Thursday - Classic American Thanksgiving fare including turkey, sausage dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans with almonds, roasted carrots, shaved brussel sprout salad, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, spiced apples, and homemade ice cream. There were a few things missing, but I was tired of cooking! Besides there were only 4 of us.
Friday - Leftovers!!! Leftovers!!! Leftovers!!!
Have a wonderful weekend and bon appétit.
@Bee, gonna have to argue about you referring to chocolate as a non-necessity! lol
WIS: $127, if I remember correctly. Mostly at Food Lion, although I bought protein shakes, keto bread, and bananas at the expensive store up the road.
WEA: Roasted chicken and baked pototoes. A casserole I call Three Sisters because it uses a base of beans, squash and corn (the Cherokee "Three Sisters" that are planted together), with added tomatoes and a little sausage. Had Thanksgiving at a relative's house and made a cherry pie, bought a gluten-free cheesecake to bring, and brought along a can of jellied cranberry sauce for the person who loves it.
@Ruby, that Three Sisters casserole sounds intriguing. If you'd be willing to share your recipe, that'd be great.
@A. Marie, most of my cooking is improvisation, but here goes:
1 can black beans, drained. Also rinsed if you need a low sodium diet like I do.
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1/2 cup frozen kernel corn
1/2 cup dry macaroni or other small pasta, cooked al dente
1/2 bag of Aldi frozen roasted butternut squash chunks, which are pre-gussied up with sliced red onion and spinach. If you do not have an Aldi, about two cups of cubed, cooked butternut squash will do.
Three cooked sausage patties or whatever savory meat you have on hand, chopped up
1 cup grated very sharp cheddar cheese
Season with ground black pepper, some crushed garlic and a little more onion if desired. I also threw on some dry Italian seasoning.
Grease well a two-quart casserole dish. Mix together the cooked macaroni and all other ingredients. Top with the grated cheese and bake at 350 F for 40-50 minutes. You want the cheese a little browned and the flavors melded. Makes 7 servings suitable for a senior citizen lunch.
This is not a creamy dish, as my husband refuses to eat anything creamy. If you like creamy, a roux or gravy made with some beef broth would work.
My dad was 1/4 Cherokee and learned to garden from his mother. They both planted in the old way, so our garden was messy looking but abundant, with the squash blocking out weeds and the beans growing up the cornstalks.
Since our immediate family got together on the 16th, I was by myself yesterday and just scrapped. I think there was an English muffin at breakfast, oh yeah, and half a Fuji pear. For lunch, I ate a piece of Lebanon bologna.
I did make a crock pot meal for work of "Sunday chicken" which is chicken (I used frozen rotisserie chicken), cream of chicken soup mixed w some melty type cheese, and box stuffing on the top. I added sauteed sausage, celery and onions to the dressing and made the mistake of using chicken stock instead of water. It was edible but it was a salt bomb. It has been one of my very favourite comfort foods in the past, but I felt bad that it was so salty. Also made apple crisp. We had rolls and cranberry gelatin salad from other contributors.
My only food spend was $48+ for Misfits box last Saturday. And $12 for milk, ice and eggs. (While our tap water is fine, I just feel better drinking distilled and buying ice. The minerals, etc. that "cook" out of the water is pretty disgusting.
I will be sleeping until time to go to work. Since I've been doing this on the regular, I can sleep pretty well during the day.
WIS: $0. WIA: No turkey!
We are into proper winter here with 16 hours of dark, tons of snow, and C -30’s or worse (with wind chill) so eating “warm”. WWA:
Saturday - homemade French onion soup, green salad, baguette
Sunday - meatloaf, mashed potatoes, asparagus, broccoli, store bought cookies
Monday - leftovers
Tuesday - mashed potatoe cakes, bacon
Wednesday - chicken noodle soup
Thursday - air fryer chicken thighs, oven fries, corn, cucumber slices, homemade bread
Friday - planning on making cabbage roll soup
Wishing everyone a warm and wonderful weekend
Nothing really spectacular in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. Burgers, baked potatoes, ham and bean soup, taco night...I did make homemade tortilla chips again, and I like them a lot. Less expensive than the storebought salt-free ones we usually get.
Thanksgiving--turkey, roasted in an oven bag. I was worried it wouldn't be big enough (15.66 pounds) because everyone likes turkey here, and turkey leftovers. It worked out, though. We had crockpot garlic potatoes, a cabbage slaw I tried for the first time, corn, gravy, homemade cranberry sauce and DH wanted to try an oat stuffing recipe. It was interesting but we have ideas for improving it.
Tonight will be leftovers, and right now I'm enjoying oatmeal with cranberry sauce on it.
Friday: Sushi take-out date night. We tried a new place and unfortunately won’t be ordering from there again.
Saturday: Puppy playdate at a friend’s house. They served sheet pan fajitas and I brought cookies for dessert. We were sent home with two jars or garden salsa and two jars of pickles.
Sunday: Tomato Eggplant Pasta (freezer/pantry meal)
Monday: Chili with Jalapeno Cheddar Biscuits (freezer meal)
Tuesday: Egg Roll in a Bowl and TJ’s Soup Dumplings (freezer meal)
Wednesday: Tater Tot Hot Dish (pantry meal) – I had another freezer meal in mind but my parents ending up joining us for dinner.
Thursday: We hosted Thanksgiving! We served pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes with gravy, sautéed green beans, roasted carrots and parsnips, cranberry sauce, parker house rolls, and we had planned on stuffing but ran into a recipe mistake. We had meat, cheese, crackers, olives, and mixed nuts when people arrived to snack on. And my parents brought pumpkin pie and apple pie for dessert.
I am now menu planning and trying to figure out how to use up Thanksgiving leftovers in creative ways AND I'd like to lean heavily into my freezer again this week.
I always got a Shift differential for working nights and
Double time or Time and a half for working holidays and sometimes an added holiday bonus so I was always compensated for any imagined inconvenience
I had some good gluten free Mac n cheese with kale and some hot chocolate with marshmallows. Today I might get a kids meal at chick fil a and get ice cream instead of the prize.
@Tiana,
When I had a job that required some of us working holidays, I jumped at the chance and took it. We got holiday overtime: time and a half plus another day off. My family lived in town, so during my lunch hour, I went over and ate with them, making sure I returned to the office on time. Thanksgiving turkey without the stupid conversations that dragged on and on and on! Perfect!
Wish I could've worked yesterday, but both the school and the store were closed. So I took a long afternoon nap instead.
WIS: $34 at Kroger.com and $32 at Dollar Tree via Instacart. There was a $15 off $40 coupon for Dollar Tree, so I decided to try it and ended up with some great deals.
WIA: It's been a week of Thanksgiving-ish food for me. On Sunday I made a mini Thanksgiving dinner with canned turkey and homemade gravy, plus mashed potatoes and biscuits. I had leftovers for the next couple of days, along with some candied yams that I ran out of time to make on Sunday.
Wednesday was pie-making day with my family and I had a quick dinner of canned pork and beans with Vienna sausage added. I didn't feel like doing any more cooking or adding to the already-huge pile of dishes.
Last night I had turkey and cranberry sauce cooked by my parents, gluten-free dairy-free biscuits made by me, and a gluten-free dairy-free pumpkin pie we made together. There were also some things I couldn't eat, but I had more than enough delicious food.
I went to Aldi this week and purchased the Chick Pea salad and cottage cheese.
Kristen you were absolutely correct. Both are delicious. Thank you for the heads up.
Our Aldi is not a huge one and it was busy and in a little of a disarray. A lot of hunting for things. I was so thrilled to find the salad and cottage cheese.
WIS: 107 @ the Aldi near my MIL's house for supplemental produce for my children who are bottomless produce pits.
WWA:
Fri: steamed arugula and focaccia with turkey bacon and tomatoes.
Sat: apple and fennel salad, sauteed beet greens and radish slices, Halloween pasta with pumpkin chipotle sauce and ground turkey.
Sun: carrot top and potato sabzi, leftover beet greens, leftover apple and fennel salad, leftover pasta.
Mon: chicken breasts and sauteed Swiss Chard over jasmine rice.
Tue: leftover carrot sabzi and sauteed kale as our salad plus the takeout pizza my husband grew up eating.
Wed: the last of the sabzi, boxes mixed greens salad with Italian dressing, pasta and meatballs.
Thu: Thanksgiving at my mother-in-law's: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rutabagas, sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli, salad, biscuits and croissants, Mexican street corn, green beans with garlic/Parmesan/slivered almonds, peas, cranberry sauce, pickles, cheese and crackers, crudites with dips, fresh fruit, shrimp cocktail, and seven pies (2 apple, 3 pumpkin, strawberry rhubarb and a plum pie).
Tonight: most certainly leftovers!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Nobody likes turkey at our house and we didn’t get together with extended family this year so the four of us had a simple meal on fancy plates (gotta use that wedding china whenever the occasion arises). We made a decadent Mac n cheese recipe that my 11 year old found that called for 2 pounds of cheese. I also threw in a frozen eggplant Parmesan and we baked an apple pie. We have lots of leftovers that I’m hoping we’ll work on today. I was supposed to make Brussel sprouts too but it just didn’t happen.
WIS- I didn’t shop last week.
WIA - I made breakfast for supper while my sister was here. DH always refused to eat breakfast at night so I am not used to making it. We both enjoyed it.
Tuna casserole with Satsumas on the side. I had it twice.
I had a big lunch at work so I just cut up a jicama and ate that along with some leftover cauliflower. Weird, but it worked for me.
Chicken shawarma with shredded komatsuma and longevity spinach greens, more Satsuma.
We ate our Thanksgiving meal for lunch so I skipped dinner. Our lunch was injected and marinated turkey that my daughter made (so good) with dirty rice, dressing, cranberry sauce, broccoli casserole, rolls, salad, sweet potato praline casserole, pumpkin pie and whipped cream and a light and luscious lemon cake made by an old classmate of my daughter’s who is starting a cake business as a side hustle. If that cake is any indication, he will do well.
@JD, I LOVE jicama and am almost drooling over your Thanksgiving meal.
Love your sous chef in the kitchen! Was Chicita test-tasting the tuna? She also looked cute looking up at you in the first photo.
Last night I raided the refrigerator and had leftover mashed potatoes (from earlier in the week; we Texans don't do mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving) as I watched Mary Poppins on ABC. I hope they make that a Thanksgiving tradition! This is telling my age, but I went to see Mary Poppins in the theater -- as an elementary student when it first came out in 1964. Great memories, but never saw it again. Last night, there were songs and scenes I didn't remember, so those parts were like seeing it all again for the first time. I was alone all day Thanksgiving, so watching the movie was a happy thing to do.
At noon, I had a "soul food" Thanksgiving dinner -- homemade dressing on top of chicken with slices of canned cranberry (my favorite!) on top, and some green beans seasoned with salt pork. My friend M., who is also my cleaning lady, made it for me and had me come get it Wednesday. I think she was cooking for her entire apartment building. Anyway, during my lunch, there was a twinge of sadness when I picked up a piece of the cut-up pork to give to the dog -- and then realized the dog's not here anymore. But I'm sure my sweet puppy is running around in Heaven playing with my other dearly departed doggies. Imagining that makes me happy.
Wednesday after work, I grabbed a Burger King special Whopper, the maple bourbon BBQ sauce Whopper, and enjoyed that for supper. They upsold me a whole meal, and again, I had to stop myself from feeding a French fry to the dog.
It's going to take some getting used to, not having her here. But I'm doing better each day.
You couldn't pay me a million dollars to fight the crowds on Black Friday. I will be inside a store when I go to work this afternoon, but last Black Friday wasn't too bad. People go to places like the mall and Wal-mart for Black Friday and leave our sweet little general store (actually a pharmacy, health food store, small grocery and gift shoppe) for another day. Unless they need to pick up a prescription or get a gluten-free food. Or if they're visiting from out of town, and miss shopping with us; we have quite a fan base. It may be fairly busy, perhaps, but not overwhelmingly so.
Happy day-after-Thanksgiving, y'all!
@Fru-gal Lisa, I haven't seen Mary Poppins since it came out in theaters, either (I was 9 at the time). But I do remember getting into a knock-down, drag-out argument with my #2 sister--with whom I have had little in common since my birth--about whether the Glynis Johns song at the beginning should have had the word "suffragette" (my argument, since I'd already read a thing or two about the British suffragettes) or "suffragent" (her argument). I won. 😀
And I send my continuing sympathy on the loss of your pup. I remember those ghost toenails after we lost each of our two dogs, too.
@Fru-gal Lisa, I haven't seen Mary Poppins in years but it was one of the few films we had (taped off tv with some very 90s ads) and we usually watched it every Christmas. My father, however, is very proud NOT to have seen it.
@Fru-gal Lisa,
I love Mary Poppins!!! Watching it on Thanksgiving night is a wonderful tradition.
I am sorry for your loss. Wishing peace and comfort.
WIS: Way too much but...it was the last week of the regular farmers market, we stocked up on potatoes and squash, and there was holiday spending
WWA: Sat- Salsa Verde chicken w/ cornbread on top
Sun- Pizza at ornament decorating and carrots when I got home
Mon- Lentil, farro, feta bake
Tues- garlic and cheese chicken sausage, garlic and parsley fettuccine, sunchokes
Wed- Taco casserole and refried beans
Thurs- Thanksgiving dinner at my parents-Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, carrot/squash/parsnips, cranberry sauce, pumpkin rolls, apple pie and pecan pie
Fri- Turkey dinner #2- we usually buy our own turkey and cook it around Thanksgiving, mostly to ensure leftovers
Love the comment on your final photo! 🙂
Spent = $203, which I'm not upset about, as it included steak for Thanksgiving, and a bunch of entertaining options. We didn't get to much of the entertaining stuff & snacks for DS18, so we will be able to use those in three weeks when he's home for winter break.
Meals:
-Grilled chicken & rice x2
-A one skillet rice & chicken dish (yes, it was too similar to the above meal, but that was a last minute swap from DH, and not in the original plan) x2
-Steak with all of the Thanksgiving sides
-A meal where everyone just kind of grabbed whatever they felt like, as I was at dS17's game, he had late leftovers, and DH had an unknown meal from the fridge.
As for tonight, we'll be having steak + leftover Thanksgiving sides.
We will have a Thanksgiving family dinner next weekend as half the family are down with c*v!d and I will only work one shift instead of 3. I did participate in bfs as I've been waiting for a deal on a very nice waffle maker. My waffle maker was from 1963 and it died last January...I've been very patient!
We received coupons at work to enjoy the hospital's cafe dinner spread. They had oodles of food and gave us enough leftovers to make wonderful sandwiches in the nurse's lounge. I brought gf sourdough bread and cream cheese plus veggies and homemade ranch for the staff fridge. Today I brought chocolate/cheesecake swirl brownies for the dessert buffet. A sweet patient's family brought us a fresh fruit basket.
WIS: $0
WWA: Sunday: flank steak fajitas, rice & beans, pico de gallo and cheesecake
M: Cobb salads
T: Hamburgers, homemade oven fries
W: Breakfast for dinner
Th: work
Fr: work
Sat: work
I did a whole massive turkey-and-the-works shindig in hopes that I would not have to cook for at least three successive meals, and made it two. Ha.
Also, I have learned that my in-laws will indeed decline to come to our house for holiday meals — this fits a little with the grieving-what-has-been post of two days ago — because they cannot host because of increasing health problems and don't want to go someplace where the toileting situation is not workable for them.
So I guess now I have a toileting situation about which to noodle appropriate upgrades. I'm honestly not sure much can be done, but I will think and research to determine.
Three Aldi stops totaling $120.
Sat: roasted a chicken (which will figure highly in this week's meals), and immediately used part of it to make chicken noodle soup for sick husband. And being that he's sick in bed and the rest of the house is all mine, I just had chicken with ketchup, and some chips and salsa (& apples for an evening snack)
Sun: more chicken, rice with soy sauce, apple, dates
Mon: leftover roasted chicken, rice, carrots, apple
Tues: chicken/apple/pecan salad (used up last of the roasted chicken) with clementines, prunes, and a cookie
Wed: chicken sausage & northern beans with Italian bread
Thurs: chicken sausage & northern beans with Italian bread (again)
Fri: tuna salad sandwiches, clementines, cranberry relish
I will choose to ignore Chiquita paws on the table.
Saturday - steak/salmon with wild rice Pilaf with added sauteed mushrooms
Sunday - usual dine out Mexican, I ate my leftovers for lunch on Monday
Monday - grilled burgers with cheese and the rest of an avocado, rest of the Saturday night rice
Tuesday - leftover steak from freezer fried up with potatoes, mushrooms, onions, red & green peppers
Wednesday - all from local butcher shop - heat and eat brisket for sandwiches, double baked potatoes which we split in half. Kiddo and spouse arrived from out of town
Thursday - turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, ham, deviled eggs, rolls, green beans, corn casserole, cooked apples, cranberry sauce mixed with home grown strawberries from the freezer, pumpkin cheese cake pie/whipped cream, and peanut butter cookies with chocolate sprinkles.
Friday - take out sushi with kiddo
T-day leftovers for lunch on Friday as well as Saturday and Sunday for me (I cannot wait). Better half made turkey soup but not from stock cooked up the carcass. On my hit list for next year re: making turkey stock. But I did a good job of pulling meat off the carcass.