WIS, WWA | blue skies!
You guys! Yesterday we finally got a break from the rain and clouds and ohhhhhh, the sky was blue.
I was so, so happy. When I went for a walk in the morning, I paused in the field and just soaked up the sunshine. It feels so good after a stretch of rain and clouds!
Anyway. On to the topic at hand today: food.
What I Spent
I spent:
- $39 at Safeway
- $7.50 at Giant
- $13 at the Hispanic grocery store
- $35 at Aldi
Soo, $94.50 for me!
What We Ate
Saturday
BLTs. Because I had some tomatoes that needed to be used.
And also because I am always down for a BLT-eating session. 😉
Sunday
I tried making pizza for the first time since I moved here!
Conclusion: this oven does get sufficiently hot for pizza. Sweet.
Here's how I make homemade pizza that doesn't suck.
And here are five reasons your homemade pizza might be turning out terrible.
Monday
I browned the last of those chicken thighs that I'd bought on markdown, mixed them in with a jar of tikka masala sauce from Aldi, and we ate that on naan, with cilantro.
Tuesday
I made pancakes, fried cornmeal mush, and bacon.
Wednesday
I was at my parents' house for a small birthday dinner for my brother and me (his birthday is the day after mine). And my abandoned-house sister-in-law's birthday is also coming up in a few days.
Sooo, it was kind of a catch-all!
My parents made grilled salmon and beef, roasted broccoli and potatoes, and a fruit salad.
And for dessert, we had a meringue dish topped with berries. 🙂
Thursday
I tried a Cook's Country recipe for Sopa Seca de Fideos, which is sort of like a Mexican version of spaghetti, topped with crema, queso fresco, cilantro, avocados, and tomatoes.
I thought this was pretty good except that it was a little too salty. And I say this as someone who often thinks things need more salt. 🙂
Friday
Well, I did have a pretty decently low week of grocery spending, so I might do a takeout night with the girls, depending on whether or not they have plans.
If they end up having plans, I might use another one of my birthday freebies (I have a few that are good until June!)
Since I teach Pre-K, I am also always happy to see blue skies!
WIS: approx 150.00 of food and household items @Target, 9.35 on mall ice cream, 19.63 @Taco Bell, 11.39 @McDonalds, 29.97 @KFC (but I think this was actually also tacos), 38.11 @Little Cesar's and 195.31 @Aldi, for a total of 453.76 this week. It was a stressful week that included lots of doctor's appointments. Everyone is ultimately ok, but it was a fast food heavy week for sure. Because of the appointments, most of it happened at lunchtime, which is very unusual for us. It's alarming how quickly that adds up.
WWA:
Fri: salad (mixed greens, balsamic dressing and crispy onions), deep dish focaccia with pepperoni, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.
Sat: tacos with all the extras: ground beef, salad, avocado, tomatoes, red pepper, cheese, salsas, sour cream, etc.
Sun: homemade turkey soup with lots of veggies.
Mon: salad (lettuce, cucumber, peppers, sunflower seeds and sesame oil) and sandwiches (ham, cheese and avocado on sourdough bread).
Tue: salad (lettuce, cucumber, peppers, carrots, celery, sunflower seeds and balsamic sesame dressing), Little Cesars pizza.
Wed: leftover salad, Korean rice and beans (made with Korean spices and tofu cubes instead of beans)
Thu: spinach and arugula salad with a tasty honey lemon dressing, fully loaded nachos (ground beef, black beans, cheddar and pepper jack cheeses, red pepper and red onion) served with salsa, salsa con queso and sour cream, assorted chocolates and cereal bars for dessert.
Tonight: salad and focaccia, I expect.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
@Becca,
P.S. Did you go Giant solely to buy ice cream? If so, I can definitely relate... 😉
Hahah, no, but I DID go out last night to Safeway specifically for ice cream. lol And I also picked up three bags of Starbucks coffee. Ice cream was cheaper if you bought three, and same story for the coffee.
So now I'm good on ice cream runs for a bit. 😉
We have blue skies this morning! It's the first time in ever so long! The clouds are only thick blankets in the valleys, and oh! it's so, so welcome and beautiful.
When my children were both toddlers, the first song my mom taught them was "Blue skies, smiling at me, Nothing but blue skies, Do I see. Gray days, all of them gone, Nothing but blue skies from now on."
Sopa Seca de Fideos sounds great--I will make a note of it. Can't have enough Mexican around here.
Let's see, what did we have?
Sunday Supper Soup
Floor steak.
Chicken stir fry
Takout pizza
Last night, beef fajitas.
Tonight, possibly more takeout as Son is venturing into civilization, with its malls and chain restaurants! None of which we have here. Maybe Cheesecake Factory, IDK.
Both kids want Vietnamese. I know you were all on tenterhooks about that. My son's been to Vietnam and he adores it there.
@Rose, phew, thanks for the update. The suspense was unbearable!
@Rose,
You might not have malls and chain restaurants, but you *do* have Tate's Bake Shop....sigh of happiness....I know it's not a place to get a meal, but my friend and I stopped in when I was visiting her back in March. We both got a Tatesie (I hope I'm remembering the name right - kind of a super yummy, extra fancy Ding Dong - which doesn't even really describe it) and hot chocolate. The dark chocolate Easter eggs I bought there never saw Easter Sunday. 🙂
@Liz B., True! Since I grew up with a mom who is an expert baker (much like Kristen, I bet), I am super picky about baked goods. I know how to make a great cake/cookie/bread myself! But if I don't feel like it, Tate's is a wonderful place to stop. Plus it's just so pretty! Mmmmm.
I agree with you about the blue skies, we were having snow into mid April and it's finally warming up and getting sunny here too! You almost don't realize how much of an effect the cold gloomy weather is having on your soul until it's gone. It's like taking a nice deep breath 🙂
Also, we love fideos! I'm glad you discovered such a yummy recipe.
Sunday: Cheesy ham and tomato pasta skillet. We bought cheap ham after Easter, then we diced and froze it to use throughout the next few months.
Monday: Cobb salad, deconstructed so everyone could choose what they wanted. Easier with the preschooler that way.
Tuesday: The plan was slow cooker BBQ chicken with cornbread, the reality was freezer lasagna, doubled to also go to a neighbor who just had a baby.
Wednesday: Cupbop was celebrating their birthday with cheap dinners, so we brought home dinner from there. We went with something easy, since it was the kindergarten field trip that day, and field trips tire a teacher out!
Thursday-Saturday: Leftovers for as long as they last, pantry stuff after that.
Have a great weekend everyone!
@Natalie J,
Yay for CupBop! 🙂
Happy BDay Kristen! May the coming year deliver many joyous moments!
WIS: $39 at Trader Joes.
This week was/is the eating-things-down version, as we prepare to leave for an extended trip. An empty fridge is a happy fridge this week!
Mon- Turkey burgers on brioche buns, hot air fryer sweet potatoes, salad.
Tue- Chipotle chile over rice, which was delicious, and just the latest flavorful thing I've made from my fantastic Cooks Country One Pan Wonders cookbook.
Wed- Leftovers from Tues.
Thur- Fajitas & fixings, a thank you dinner event from an organization I volunteer for.
Fri- Scrambled eggs, apple sausage, and fruit.
Sat- Date night at a Spanish tapas place we enjoy.
Sun- Salmon with panko topping, rice, salad.
No blue skies here yet, but there are a few breaks in the clouds, so I'm hopeful.
WIS: $14 at Trader Joe's, $32 at Ollie's, $15 at Wegmans, and $7 at Aldi.
WIA: I'm calling this week's culinary highlight the Senior Citizen Frittata, since I made it with eggs, goat cheese, and spinach that were none of them getting any younger! In fact, I made it twice, both because I needed to use these things up and because it was so good.
@A. Marie, ooh, that frittata sounds delicious! We can't do eggs for dinner (my husband has an egg sensitivity), so I eat them for breakfasts, when we're often eating different things anyways. I see a goat cheese frittata in my future!
@A. Marie, I like the phrase "Senior Citizen Frittata." Very cute turn of phrase.
Maybe I missed in the past where you wrote about where you can get birthday freebies, but I would love that information! And browning chicken thighs then adding a simmer sauce is one of my favorite methods! I did Chicken Korma over rice recently and it freezes beautifully. This week:
Monday - I got take-out chicken from Cane's which was delightful
Tuesday - (freezer) Pulled Chicken Tacos, (crockpot and frozen) refried beans, salad
Wednesday - Linguini and Meatsauce, kale (this also made enough for future me)
Thursday - (homemade) Shake and Bake Tilapia, chopped salad, the rest of some red mini potatoes, boiled, smashed, then broiled
Tonight - Smothered Pork Chops, (freezer) mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts. I'm going to be out an about for lunch so I might grab a margarita and tacos for lunch for Cinco de Mayo!
Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed, but I have several containers of food in the freezer: Chili Mac, Avocado Rice with charro beans and beef fajita strips, the stuff for a big salad with seasoned tuna in olive oil, the above-mentioned linguini, or a sammie, chips, yogurt.
Happy Weekend - come on, sunshine!
https://cannaryfamily.blogspot.com/
@gina, I have an early April birthday and have been enjoying the following birthday freebies since then (I kept a list): First Watch, Portillo's, Harkins Theatres, Cafe Rio, NYPD Pizza, Panera, Red Robin, Red Lobster, Culver's, Starbucks, Target, papa John's, Potbelly Subs, Crumb'l Cookies, Kona Grill, Village Tavern, and Grimaldi's Pizza. We are going to go to Benihana next week. They gave a $30 off certificate for your birthday. Also, I am going to use my Redbox birthday code this weekend.
@Beth B., I forgot to mention Firehouse Subs. You have to sign up for the app for that one.
I'm choosing to believe the blue skies were a sign, and the Jimmy Cliff song "I Can See Clearly Now" is your theme going forward. Incidentally, that song was in the movie "Cool Runnings," which I watched with my kids a few weeks ago. I loved that movie when I was young, and it holds up, which is nice. Not all of them do.
Anyway! Food!
Saturday: Hot dogs on homemade buns because I was making bread anyway, pickled radishes and onions to give some taste to the insipid cafeteria radishes I was given, cucumber slices, chocolate chip/oatmeal raisin cookies. Yes, together. A surprisingly good mash-up cookie recipe that I totally made up.
Sunday: Ribeye steaks, leftover pureed potato soup, sauteed asparagus (still from the garden, yay!), cucumbers with salt and vinegar, ice cream with salted caramel sauce leftover from last weeks ice cream sundae extravaganza.
Monday: Leftover steak, hot dogs for a couple of kids because there wasn't enough steak, bread and butter, pickled radishes. Not the most nutritious meal I have ever served, but it was good enough for a work day after I spent all day packing and moving heavy boxes of books around. (We're building a new school, and our old elementary building is being demolished the week after school is out for the summer. As the totally amateur librarian, I'm in charge of moving the 4,000 books that are in the elementary library.)
Tuesday: Roasted chicken with gravy because my husband very randomly brought home a store chicken. It's been many months since we've had store chicken. We also had mashed potatoes, green salad with vinaigrette, peanut butter/almond cookies. They were the Mel's Kitchen Cafe recipe for best peanut butter cookies, but I added finely chopped almonds because I am overrun with excess commodities almonds and put them in every cookie I can. They were good in these cookies.
Wednesday: I was at the FFA banquet, where I had smoked pork, pinto beans, and coleslaw. My husband used the rest of the buckwheat pancake batter left from Sunday to make pancakes for the three children at home. They ate the pancakes with peanut butter, so it's not a bad dinner.
Thursday: Tuna patties, leftover mashed potatoes, green salad with mustard vinaigrette, choice cafeteria peach or apple cobbler the school cook sent home with me. They get to have cream on the cobbler at home, though.
Incidentally, does anyone have a super simple salad dressing recipe that doesn't use a lot of different ingredients? I only make ranch and plain vinaigrette (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sometimes mustard), but garden lettuce season is coming up, which means a glut of salads. It would be nice to have another option to add to my two standards.
@kristin @ going country, Oh, I forgot tonight! And it's Cinco de Mayo! Not that anyone celebrates it here (the Spanish people here left Mexico about two hundred years before the events celebrated for Cinco de Mayo), but we always did in Tucson, where I lived for several years, so I still do when I can. This year I actually remembered ahead of time, so we have tortilla chips and avocados and limes for guacamole, and the ingredients for margaritas. I haven't had a margarita in a LONG time, so that should be fun. I'll also make a bull enchilada casserole, so there's real food. 🙂
@kristin @ going country,
Honey mustard dressing is just honey, mayo and mustard. Thousand Island can be just mayo, ketchup and pickle relish. I can't remember the name, but there is also a dressing recipe that is white wine vinegar, olive or avocado oil and dried juniper berries and peppercorns, which needs to sit in the fridge for a while to meld the flavors.
@JD,
Also, that song "I Can See Clearly Now" was popular when I was in high school, and one spring during my high school years we had 42 straight days of solidly overcast days and starless, moonless nights, with at least some rain each and every day of those six weeks. On day 43 the sky suddenly cleared and the sun broke out, and our favorite rock radio station immediately played that song as the DJ yelled, "Look out your windows, people! The sun is out!"
I dunno if this is a lot but I love it.
Creole Tomato Dressing
4 ripe medium tomatoes
Juice of 1 medium lemon
6 Tablespoons mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 ½ teaspoons honey
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon white pepper
Salt, a pinch
Instructions:
Roughly chop tomatoes and put into blender or food processor.
Add remaining ingredients, except for salt.
Blend until smooth.
Salt to taste.
Store in tightly sealed container in refrigerator until ready to serve.
@kristin @ going country, Google Katy's tea towel salad dressing from The Nonconsumer Advocate. It is great.
@kristin @ going country,
Mel's Kitchen Cafe!!! LOVE her recipes so much! ☺☺
@JD, Ooo, juniper berries. There are a TON of junipers here, often loaded with berries. I might have to try that one . . .
@Rose, That does sound delicious, although I am far too lazy to make it regularly, given the fact that it requires an appliance. 🙂
@Ava, Thanks!
@kristin @ going country,
Here are two of my favorite homemade dressings...Easy to throw together and delicious 🙂
Parmesan Peppercorn Dressing
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup real mayo
1-2 tablespoons freshly cracked peppercorns, depending on how spicy you like it
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/4 cup buttermilk + more to thin to your liking
I just used cracked pepper from my pepper grinder and it was tasty
Creamy Southwest Salad Dressing
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
2 T honey
juice of 1 lime
1 T Apple Cider Vinegar
2 t cumin
1 t paprika
1 t Chili Powder
salt & pepper
@JD, did you go to high school in Central NY?? This sounds like a pretty good description of our typical weather.
@kristin @ going country, Ha! I love my little handy-chopper food processor. Somehow, it's not a big schlep like bigger appliances and the bowl, top, and knife all go into the dishwasher easily.
Anyone who doesn't have one, think about it! They're pretty inexpensive too.
@A. Marie,
Ha, nope! The intersection of far West Kentucky and very Southern Illinois.
@Rose, what brand /model do you recommend?
@A. Marie,
Same here in SW Ohio! Way too many overcast days.
@Jean, My current one is Cuisinart, but I believe we used to have a Black & Decker one at my previous house.
For me, somehow, some things just make life easier, like buying garlic already minced in jars, kitchen scissors for herbs and cutting up bacon, the little choppers, and my rice cooker. I know none of these things are exactly necessary, but somehow to me they make cooking less of a pain and a faff. I've had friends tell me "It's not hard to make rice on the stove" and "I can chop faster with my good knife," and that is all fine. These just work for me.
@kristin @ going country,
When I want to change up my dressing (my standard is just olive oil and balsamic vinegar with whatever spices sound good to me at the time, usually salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, Italian seasoning and/or smoked paprika), I just change out the oil (like sesame) or the vinegar (maybe apple cider or lemon juice) or I add honey or Dijon mustard or I put in some sort of different spice (like tony chacheres or tajin).
I'm sure it will not surprise you to hear that I am very lazy and lax about my salad dressing "recipes." I usually just combine an oil with an acidic liquid (vinegar or citrus) and then some spices. Sometimes I add an "emulsifier" like honey or mustard, but not always. Sometimes I mix it in a pyrex measuring cup first and sometimes I (gasp) just put all the different ingredients directly on the salad like sort of layered-first oil, then acid, then spices. It's rarely the same twice.
@A. Marie,
Fellow upstater here,Chenango.
It's been a dreadful stretch of gray,gloomy days and chilly too!
Mr.Buddy boo,a very polite house panther is quite distressed at his window remaining closed,he much prefers in open so he can yell at the passersby,convincing them he's a hostage,lol
@Rose, I love my kitchen scissors! Being able to cut things without dirtying a cutting board is a game changer.
They're so great for things like cutting green onions!
@kristin @ going country, I usually have ranch dressing on hand too. For a little change, try mixing in a little commercial barbeque sauce. I first did this trying to copy the dressing in a bought salad mix kit. It was surprisingly tasty.
@Becca,
Adding in the mootube (or gogurt if you're bougie) idea as a very fast salad dressing for a milder, fruitier salad. Since they are in a tube already, it's easy to snip a corner and create a pretty drizzle effect. I suppose you could do this with mayo or mustard packets leftover from fast food restaurants too. Sometimes it's really about the visual presentation.
I cannot believe that your mother did not serve a green salad at your birthday dinner. What is the world coming to? 😉
Hahaha, this made me laugh! And I sent your comment to my mom.
It IS very unusual for my parents to serve a salad-less meal!
@Kristen, Doesn't the fruit salad count? They served broccoli (green, I assume).
Haha yes, but the joke is that my parents almost ALWAYS serve a green salad with dinner. And all my blog readers learned about that last year when I lived with my parents for four months. We ate a lot of salads!
@Jan G,
Lol, I thought the same thing!! 🙂
@Jan G, I had the exact same thought!
WIS: $0. WIA: Leftovers.
And that, my friends, is why I will never have a food & recipe blog.
@JDinNM, And I just realized I fed the dog leftovers this morning. She didn't eat her dinner last night so ...
@JDinNM, With four boys here (two of them adults), and a husband who adores leftovers, I rarely have enough leftovers to serve as dinner! I had to learn a long time ago to not "count" on leftovers when meal planning.
@JDinNM, you definitely win on WIS for this week!
@A. Marie, Not only that but I just peeked in the refrigerator and saw ... eggs, leftover spinach and leftover goat cheese filling from a stuffed salmon that I thought was overstuffed and took out some of the stuffing and stuffed it in a storage container so ... Voila! I can make a Senior Citizen frittata for dinner! Thanks, A. Marie!
@Karen A., If memory serves, you can't even count on three (3!) pans of lasagna to last for one (1!) meal!
@JDinNM, I will never have a food and recipe blog because it's a giant pain. (A friend of mine writes cookbooks for a living and I test her recipes for her and....nope. Pain.) But besides that, all recipe blog posts now have to include a long breakdown of the author's life story and how this recipe changed everything, along with a long explanation of ingredients, tips on making the recipe (which is not exactly Gordon Ramsay's "Roasted fillet of beef with a truffle and root vegetable infusion") and mindblowing questions like, "Can you make the roasted fillet of beef vegetarian"?
Rose ain't got time for that.
Yep. Food blogging is NO JOKE. So much work.
@Rose, That's what the "skip to the recipe" button is for! I want a recipe, not a short story. Or worse, a novella...
@JDinNM,
Yes! Photos of recipe progress are good, but spare me the life story!
@Liz B., I like the stories usually, although occasionally I will use the jump to recipe option.
@kristin @ going country, I like the accompanying stories too. But I also read cookbooks cover to cover like a story before I try any recipes, so I'm a weirdo haha
@Natalie J,
I like the stories, but my husband Can. Not. Stand. Them. He gets so hilariously annoyed by them. This is problematic since he does most of the cooking...so I generally find the recipes, read through the long-winded blog post or whatever, buy the ingredients, and then give him the Cliff's notes version of the recipe and say "make this for me, ok? This is the dip to rival all dips...think you can somehow turn it into dinner? Also, I only have half a lb of ground beef and it's frozen, so..." I guess he likes a challenge. Why else would he put up with me? Surely I am at least twice as annoying as one of those life-changing recipe stories.
@JDinNM, Well, 3 pans of lasagna can last, and we often have leftovers that get eaten for lunch. Lasagna is pretty dense, and filling! Plus the youngest doesn't like the texture of ricotta cheese, so he won't eat it. Boo. But Chicken and Rice--it's basically rice cooked in jazzed up chicken broth, in the oven, with browned chicken on top---everybody eats it and often everybody goes back for seconds, so three pans makes for one dinner!
We do tend to have leftovers with crockpot soups and stews--again, the youngest doesn't eat it. And taco night; we make a lot of rice and ground beef and because we homeschool and everyone is home for lunch, the leftovers get eaten up pretty quickly.
Saturday - takeout Japanese food, sushi for the adults and udon noodles for the kids
Sunday - I’d had some friends over in the afternoon so I made my go-to quick dinner of pasta, jarred sauce and frozen meatballs after they left
Monday - still using some leftovers from taco night on vacation so we had cheese quesadillas with corn tortillas, leftover beans and rice, frozen corn
Tuesday - Swedish meatballs (cooks illustrated recipe for the sauce but I use frozen meatballs to make it faster and easier) My kids absolute favorite meal, they both eat all of it which even though they aren’t picky in general, they rarely finish all their food. Always nice to cook something that’s so enjoyed!
Wednesday - enchilada pie, in contrast to Tuesday night, my kids barely touched it haha
Thursday - baked pizza chicken (chicken with an Italian seasoning coating, then pizza sauce, mozzarella and pepperoni on top), steamed broccoli and baby corn, and then a variety of leftovers to use up : leftover chopped salad kit for me, leftover breadsticks for my husband, leftover Kraft for kids
Friday - possibly have to work late, I have Trader Joe’s orange chicken and fried rice in the freezer for an easy meal though
Spent last week - $72 and change for a larger than usual farm order of pork and chicken.
I'll be shopping in the stores this week and have another farm order to pick up tomorrow, so I will be spending some cash this week.
Thick cut pork loin chops, one that night and one for lunch the next day. Served with pork-pan cooked broccoli plus roasted beets.
Hot dog with cassava chips and sliced cucumbers and ranch. No bun. I had this twice.
Since I cut up chicken last weekend after the farm order, I changed the menu to have chicken tenders with baked beans and raw veggies. I rarely eat baked beans anymore - they are so good. I had this twice.
I also got my favorite mildly seasoned brats in my farm order, so brats was on the menu with roasted cubed sweet potatoes and cucumbers.
And finally, the Only-Way-I'll-Eat-Liver-Recipe for chicken liver pate', served with cucumber sticks and apple slices. Obviously, I bought a whole bag of cucumbers when last shopping.
I am loath to track down what we spent this week, mostly because we made/bought more than usual, as we had a dinner guest three nights in a row. One of my husband's students was in town to do research, and he joined us for dinner, and I just didn't know, really, what his appetite was generally like, so we cooked about 30% more for each dinner just to be on the safe side!
Monday: DH picked up deli chicken (fried and baked) at the store, and we had that with chips, raw veggies, grapes, and brownies. Hitting the easy button, as our guest was getting into town and not sure what time he was arriving.
Tuesday: Homemade baked mac and cheese, and the last time I made this (it was a while ago) I made two 9x13 pans, which was pretty sufficient. This time I made three pans, one with some ground beef mixed in--my sons like that version a lot. Green beans on the side. I had to make some boxed mac and cheese for the youngest, who dislikes the texture of my grandma's mac and cheese! How dare he. 😉 Three pans was a good call; we had a full pan for leftovers, which made my kids and husband very, very happy. I believe they had it for breakfast and lunch the next day!
Wednesday: Oldest son made burgers and tater tots, and I contributed a broccoli salad, lest our guest think we exclusively dine on meat and carbs. The broccoli salad just disappeared and was much appreciated.
Thursday: Taco night, and since I thought we might have our guest again (we did not, but that was fine), I splurged and we made guacamole and got blue tortilla chips as well as the taco shells and fixings.
Tonight will be chicken and rice casserole, if I can manage it!
Oh all right, fine, I looked it up. $573 (that includes two homemade pizza nights, not listed above), and it also includes household things like toilet paper, bleach, and a new toothbrush after we lent one of our mechanical toothbrushes to our guest, who had forgotten his back at home, only to discover that one of our remaining mechanical toothbrushes had up and died on us, so we needed another.
@Karen A., Ouch. But you gotta lotta people to take care of...
Oh how I love meringue.
I'm trying to adapt to a phase where we rarely all eat dinner together. I know this is a natural phase of having two very active teens (both with licenses) & I'm grateful they are healthy, enjoy sports, & have good friends. I do, however, really miss being able to have dinner together most nights. Their sports schedules conflict, and previously they played for the same soccer team, which meant we could always adjust around their mutual schedule. I also find it demotivating to cook. But, alas, people still need to be fed. 😉 The person who isn't at dinner sometimes has leftovers, but more often has a quick snack, which I understand, because often practice ends at 9 pm.
Friday - we all had leftovers: salmon, turkey tacos & one teen was with friends.
Saturday - my husband made a lovely Persian feast of kebabs, rice, & yogurt sauce. One teen was asleep early (still jetlagged + early soccer game), & one teen was at a birthday party.
Sunday - I made a triple batch of ground beef tacos (most for the freezer). One teen & I had that, while the other teen + my husband ate on the way back from a soccer game that was quite a distance away.
Monday - tacos for the crowd for three
Tuesday - kebabs & rice for three
Wednesday - I made barbecue chicken sandwiches (meal delivery service) with coleslaw. My pickier eater ate a chicken patty sandwich
Thursday - kebabs & rice
Friday - I'm making chicken shawarma tonight (meal delivery service). It will be interesting to see who turns up for dinner 😉
It is tricky when people are in and out around dinnertime! In the cooler months, soup is a good solution because people can just heat up a bowl whenever they ARE home and hungry.
Sat - Chicken Parm
Sun - Leftovers/fend for yourself
Mon - Taco Rice Bake with a sour cream and avocado crema
Tues - Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta w/Salad
Wed - Grilled Cheeseburgers and fries
Thurs - French Toast, bacon and OJ
Tonight - I'm not sure. We typically eat out of Friday but this has been such a long week, I just wanna go home and stay put.
@kris, I can relate to the "being too tired to have someone bring me food" feeling. There's always take-out, enjoyed in your own home. (:
After a week of eating out due to work I was very excited to get back into the kitchen!
Friday – Red Sauce (from the freezer) over Chickpea Pasta. I flew home from my conference and was too tired to think about making dinner so I hit the easy button.
Saturday – Lentil and Kale Soup paired with Butternut Squash Bread. I did a freezer clean out before heading to the grocery store and other than some jalapenos I have used up all the veggies I froze from our CSA from last summer.
Sunday – double date dinner and a show with friends.
Monday – Halal Cart Chicken with Naan and Roasted Cauliflower. I made a double batch to throw in the freezer because we have some busy evenings coming up with the end of the school year.
Tuesday – Chicken Parmesan Meatballs over Chickpea Pasta and a Caesar Salad.
Wednesday – Beef Gyro Meat with Farro Tabbouleh
Thursday – leftover night!
Spent $183 at Trader Joe's and Fresh Thyme Market. Ate:
. Leftover curried lentils (I scorched them when reheating, and they tasted like campfire ash, but I managed to finish them to avoid waste)
. Broccoli/mushroom tart x 2
. Vegetarian meatloaf
. Salad greens topped with avocado, hard-boiled egg, walnuts, raisins and cilantro-lime dressing
. Spicy peanut noodles with red pepper strips
. Plate of cooked vegetables (carrots, broccoli and yellow peppers)
How much we spent...I haven't parked my butt at my desk long enough to go through my receipts yet this week but I can ball park that our grocery runs totaled to be around...65.00ish....we did go out though so more like...100.00 and some change.
Yoiks!
Anyway, what we ate:
SUNDAY- Was at the coast all day communing with the sand fleas so we had bowls of clam chowder and we shared a platter of French fries to go with....ice cream for dessert ( I can honestly say that huckleberry cheesecake ice cream by Tillamook is the bomb, this from somebody who doesn't really eat sweet stuff...I'm more of a potato chip girl...you know...salty)
MONDAY - Pinto beans topped with jalapenos and onions, corn bread to go with.
TUESDAY - Caesar salad deluxe, baked salmon, french bread.
WENDSDAY - Kasha with ham bits, sauteed bell peppers, carrots and sugar peas.
THURSDAY - Baked lemon chicken, roast potatoes, green salad.
FRIDAY - I have some leftover chicken so I'm thinking enchiladas with guac, pico and chips to go with.
SATURDAY - I gazed into the future and determined that on this night we will be eating leftovers from tonight...spooky how I can do that...lol.
My parents have the same Corning ware pattern as yours! Now I feel like I've been to dinner at your house!! 🙂 Has anyone told you that there is a resemblance between you and your SIL? You both are so joyful looking. Have a wonderful weekend.
I often think our smiles are similar: crinkled eyes and a really big smile. 🙂
My sister-in-law is a delightful person and I am so glad to have her in the family.
@Donna Wilson, I was thinking the same thing about Kristen and her SIL. And for anyone who wants to go spelunking for Corning Ware, I live in the heart of the Corning Ware belt; it turns up regularly at my thrifts. (I'm 2+ hours NE of the town of Corning.)
I usually have no idea what I've spent on food and groceries this week, but I do have some idea today. It wasn't pay week so I didn't spend much. I spent about 70 in town at Woolworths and the sushi place on Saturday and then I bought bread and milk for 6.50 from the local corner shop on Wednesday. Today I spent about 100 at Aldi and 12 at Woolworths, and 29 on kebabs.
Tonight one person ate salmon, we ate deconstructed kebab with cheese, green onion, American mustard and bbq sauce, and my daughter was at the show and had McDonald's.
Thursday my daughter and I had spinach and cheese ravioli with tomato sauce and cooked a pot of rice and her dad had corned beef and spaghetti with it.
Wednesday we had leftover sloppy joe mince with cheese on top and a leftover bread roll. My daughter and her dad had what we call eggs and noodles, which scrambles the Mee goreng stir fry noodles with eggs.
Tuesday I made sloppy joes, and I cooked basa with rice for one person and I don't think my daughter ate anything for dinner.
Monday 2 had salmon and I can't remember what we had.
Happy belated birthday!
I'm curious... what companies you are signed up with to get your freebies? It could be a fun thread to see what places you and others have found that offer birthday treats. Thanks!
The weather here is weird too. It's May and it's still raining here. I feel we still haven't had a hot day. I kinda crave the warm sun and temperature. I'm sure it's coming soon enough.
Friday: I have no recollection of what we had. I think the kids were in the pool after school but I don't remember what we did when they got out...
Saturday: Went to a friend's house and had Thai food
Sunday: My parents came over and I made zucchini bake, tortellini, and asian pear
Monday: Taquitos and fruit
Tuesday: They all had In n Out, I had leftovers and chopped a salad
Wednesday: Baked potatoes and blackberries
Thursday: Husband made quesadillas so we had those with fresh pico de gallo, apples and raspberries. I ate some of my remaining chocolate chip cookie overnight oats for dessert.
I cleared out the refrigerator and threw out more food than I have in a while. Sigh. Food fail this week.
@CrunchyCake,
Chocolate chip cookie overnight oats?? Details and/or recipe, please?
And I feel you on the throwing food away. Not my best week in this regard, either.
@CrunchyCake, we had to toss some kiwis and it bummed me out. It's hard to tell the right balance between "soft and tasty" and "too soft and gross". Dangit.
WIS: $111 at Food Lion on Thursday. Could have been less, but one-pound packages of Smithfield lower-sodium bacon were on sale for $4.99 each and I stocked up.
WWA: Sunday was pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs. Monday through Wednesday was fresh fruit, fresh veggies, nuts, aged smoked cheese, ham, protein shakes, and some vegan dishes my doctor wanted me to try to see if it helps the arthritis. Thursday we had lunch out ($30 for gumbo, hush puppies, a big crabcake and a big salad). Friday and Saturday, more vegan delights for me.
Unless someone else has somehow EARNED money by grocery shopping this week, she wins!
Actually, I am just remembering that Lindsey and Betta regularly earn money by grocery shopping. Ha.
@Kristen, Hey! No fair moving the goal posts. And I'm not sure I could find secret shopper assignments for dark chocolate covered blueberries. But I'm open to suggestions for that ...
I grew up using those exact Corelle dishes that are pictured with the yummy-looking dessert!! I'm 52. LOL Classic!!
Yep! Those are the dishes from my childhood. 🙂
@Kristen, Mine too. My mom still has them and now feeds my kids with them too.
Your link to making great homemade pizza was exactly what I was looking for! I remembered reading it when you first posted, but I'm typically lazy with my pizza dough come Friday night and do a quick recipe with all purpose flour, but my homemade pizza is in fact very meh and it's been driving me nuts. (Your grilled pizza recipe is an eternal favorite!) I'll have to give your recipe a whirl!
Our dinner week:
Saturday - Kids had frozen pizza, husband and I had dinner with a group from church. Felt very novel to eat homemade food that I didn't cook AND with no kids.
Sunday - I went out with friends, husband and kids had tortellini with roasted veggies, chicken sausage, and pesto.
Monday - Cod tacos with cabbage slaw, refried beans and corn on the side
Tuesday - Chicken enchiladas and salad - husband left on a work trip, so I was very proud of myself for making a real dinner for myself and the kids
Wednesday - Leftovers
Thursday - Husband still traveling and we had an extra kid over, so they had smoothies and popcorn for dinner (popcorn and wine for me - highly recommend)
Friday - Debating takeout vs trying your good homemade pizza recipe. Decisions decisions! I just gave the kitchen a thorough cleaning, and I can't decide if that makes it inviting to cook in, or if I don't want to mess it up.
The King Arthur bread flour is so, so good! It makes a noticeable difference, even when compared to King Arthur all-purpose. Highly recommend!
Blue sky here too, after a full week of rain, yay!
Our week was all over the place, let's see... hmm.....
* Baked beans + carrots
* frozen lasagna
* breakfast for diner
* omelet
* restaurant with friends for me tonight 🙂
On Saturday I made a Melissa Clark New York Times meal called an Australian Zucchini Bake, which also used up a lot of leeks that have been sitting in the freezer since being harvested in August. It was exceedingly filling so we didn't eat much at each sitting, which is why we had it and oranges on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. It used up 8 eggs, though, so that was wonderful, but overall not a keeper of a recipe.
Monday the husband went to meeting where food was served. He came home with not one, not two, but three containers full of sauce-free broccoli. Not sure why anyone ordered naked broccoli when there were wonderful Chinese sauces to be had, but no one ate the broc and no one wanted to take it home so the husband did. So, I turned it into cheesy leek and broccoli soup, which we ate, with more oranges, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Tonight it is tacos for him and Fillet-o-Fish for me. Cheap, easy meals all week, although we did not clean out as much of the freezer as I had hoped. We leave on the Last Hurrah trip at the beginning of August and we have a lot of food to thaw and eat before that. And the three chickens keep outdoing themselves in terms of production.
WIS: Neighborhood-$19, Milk delivery-$19, Bakery-$28 Total: $66
WWA:
Sat: Chinese food @ the in-laws
Sun: always seems to escape me
Mon: Buffalo cauliflower, ranch chicken, mac & cheese
Tues: cajin white fish with tomatoes and okra rice
Wed: Leftovers from Tuesday
Thurs: Date night-TGTG BBQ, we split pulled pork sandwich, bbq chicken, collards, and cole slaw
Fri: Cinco de Mayo-Tacos and margs
Right after I saw this post I heard this song: Look Up by Joy Oladokun. Perfect timing and good message. Worth a listen.
Happy birthday!!
@Linda H., Thanks, Linda. I cut and pasted that into youtube. Had not heard of her or the song. Definitely worth a listen!
@Linda H., Really appreciate you sharing this song. It was wonderful and I shared it with a friend. Thank you!
Never heard of the sopa Seca de fideos, but I love Mexican food!
We ate:
- Lentil sloppy joes
- Yassa Onion sauce over rice
- Domadan (read beef sauce) over rice
- Sweet potato leaf sauce over rice
- Bean and rice bowls
And that's all I can remember
I'm late to the party today (I was at the zoo all day with my son's kindergarten class - so fun!) but wanted to hop on to tell you that I used green onions in two dishes this week, thanks to you! I usually skip green onion when it's called for in a dish to try to keep costs lower, but since you mentioned recently that you regrow them I decided to buy some. I used them in dishes on Wednesday (baked potato soup) and Thursday (air fryer black bean chimichangas) and now have 8 little green onions that I'm regrowing. Thanks, Kristen!
Ohhh, so fun that you are regrowing them! They come back surprisingly fast. 🙂
Thank you for making me acquainted with Wordle. Today I did the New York Times' and had the word right in three tries, which is not bad for a language not your own 🙂 It makes a nice change from my daily sudoku, which I messed up rather badly this morning.