WIS, WWA | Her name is Piper
What I Spent
Before we get to food...some of you asked what Lisey's kitten is named. Lisey decided to call her Piper, which I think is super cute. 🙂
I spent:
- $26 at Safeway
- $35 at Giant
- $18 at Sbarro's
- $20 for a night out for me
So, $99.
What We Ate
Saturday
Tacos 🙂 Never a wrong choice.
Sunday
Zoe was at work, so I had some shrimp for dinner (Zoe's allergic so I eat them when she's not here!)
Monday
Zoe and I went out for a random night of fun together, and we got calzones at Sbarro's for dinner as part of our evening.
We also stopped in at a Japanese store, and some of the items made me giggle because something probably got lost in translation.
Super big carrot. Heh.
And this does not look like any squirrel I've ever seen!
Tuesday
I went out with a group of ladies who are either divorced or in the process of getting divorced.
Wednesday
I grilled some chicken breasts, which I'd mixed with an eyeballed version of this brinerade.
Zoe had hers in a sandwich, I had mine in a salad.
Thursday
Leftover chicken from Wednesday.
Friday
I really do not know; Zoe's gonna be at work. But I am out of eggs! So if I'm gonna do my usual throw-an-egg-on-something solo dinner, I better get myself to the grocery store. 😉
What did you have for dinner this week?
WIS: 390 and change @Aldi. This included some vacation stock up items and gifts/food for end of year parties.
WWA:
Fri: salad (lettuce, cherries, strawberries, blueberries, diced apples, mootube drizzle), focaccia topped with turkey bacon, tomatoes and mozzarella.
Sat: salad (lettuce, cucumber, cherries, feta and mootube drizzle), assorted leftovers: focaccia, ziti bake, rice and sausage, beet greens, chia seed chocolate pudding for dessert.
Sun: salad (lettuce, cucumber which I used a small heart-shaped cookie cutter on to the delight of my kids, cherries, blueberries and balsamic dressing, pasta carbonara with turkey bacon and frozen asparagus.
Mon: leftover salad, hotdogs on brioche buns with refried beans and guacamole.
Tue: carrots and hummus because it's the last week of school and I'm too tired to make salads, chicken salad sandwiches on homemade sourdough buns.
Wed: carrots and hummus, rice and beans in tortillas.
Thu: carrots and hummus, spaghetti and meatballs (but they were vegan).
Tonight: focaccia and I will perhaps make a proper salad.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Love the name! There was a character called Piper on a show called Charmed which I loved as a kid!
Saturday: Pita bread with various fillings.
Sunday: Skillet lasagne
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Veggie chilli
Wednesday: Leftovers with garlic bread
Thursday: Mushroom omelette with pita bread
Friday: Undecided. Probably pizza
As usual, I won't take the time to remember everything. But I was thinking yesterday how much easier it is to be frugal with cooking meals now that I have more cooking experience. Yesterday I had beans and cornbread for supper. I have a couple of kids who really don't like cornbread. I decided to substitute cream of wheat cereal for half of the cornmeal to see if they liked it better; I felt confident doing this kind of thing because I knew it would be edible. It was. I'm not sure they liked it better, but it worked. This kind of thing comes in handy when you unexpectedly find out you don't have all the cornmeal you need. (I'm pretty sure regular flour would also be a suitable substitute.) It's a good thing to know how ingredients work together, and that knowledge only comes by experience. I have fewer flops nowadays when I wing it.
I feel the same way! I would have been terrified to wing it when I was a teenager and a new cook but now I wing it all the time.
What did you eat with the shrimp? 8 times out of 10 I default to pasta and need new ideas (the other two ideas are shrimp and grits or shrimp tacos).
WIS: Farmer's market-$42; Wegmans-$38; Neighborhood-$25; S&S-$16; Milk delivery-$20; Flashfood-$79; Foodocracy-$60 Total:$280
WWA: Sat: It's been a long two weeks...drawing a blank
Sun: Dinner at my parents-Burgers, dogs, grilled corn and zucchini, chips, strawberry shortcake
Mon: See Saturday; There was cacio e pepe so likely it was on one of these days
Tues: Butter bean/rhubarb stew over rice
Wed: Bibimbap
Thurs: Island teriyaki marinaded chicken, bok choy, and corn miso ramen bowl
Fri: Today is the last day of my class and early wake-ups. Haven't decided my celebratory dinner yet but probably something w/ swiss chard as I have 2 bunches
This time I did eat it with grits!
But sometimes I just go with what's in the fridge...the last time I ate it with some sautéed veggies and also some mashed potatoes.
Saturday: Spanish tortilla made in the morning so as not to heat the kitchen during the hottest part of the day, and kohlrabi sticks. This is kohlrabi harvesting time in the garden, so we ate a lot of it this week. Just raw, though.
Sunday: Pizza--one cheese, one with ground bull and onions on it--kohlrabi sticks, coconut flour cookies. Some kids used the cookies to make ice cream sandwiches with the very last of the ice cream, which worked pretty well since the cookies are very soft.
Monday: Cool day=kitchen day. So, lamb ribs, potatoes (just baked with the ribs and roughly mashed with lots of butter and salt), baked beans made with a quart jar of pressure-canned pinto beans, raw produce, baked rice pudding
Tuesday: I was in a Walmart this day, where there was a discounted pork tenderloin that I bought for dinner. They're too dry and lean for us, so I chunked it up and fried it in a bunch of bacon fat and butter, and then made a gravy with milk, cornstarch, and cooked diced onion. So much for dry and lean. 🙂 I also made rice with the juices left from cooking a pork shoulder a week prior. And then there were more kohlrabi sticks, and ice cream because going to Walmart means we can have gallon tubs of ice cream again. Much rejoicing in the house.
Wednesday: I used a package of chicken breasts to make a curry. There was leftover rice, too. I had bought five pounds of cherries from a roadside truck in the city the day before--the fruit from those trucks comes from Colorado and is always excellent--so we had pre-dinner cherries. After dinner the kids had some of the snack cookies I had made for our laborers this week, which were peanut butter/almond/chocolate chip.
Thursday: I had to make more rice, but we had leftover lamb ribs and curry already. And more kohlrabi. 🙂
Friday: I'm taking one kid to a city for an appointment, and my friend called me Wednesday to let me know her mom's house there with a few apricot trees had lots of apricots ready to pick, so I can get as many as I want. That means I will be making and canning apricot jam this afternoon, and THAT means I will not be enthused about cooking a lot. So I will take out one of the bags of pressure-cooked bull meat to further process with my immersion blender, and then just heat that up with barbecue sauce for sandwiches. I'll make coleslaw before I leave this morning too. Apricots for dessert. 🙂
I love the name Piper-it also happens to be the name of our pug. Lisey's kitten is adorable! Dinners this week were mostly leftovers thrown together from a graduation party we hosted on Saturday, but here we go.
1. Grad party day, so fruit, veggies, chicken kabobs, ham sliders, pasta salad,etc...
2. Leftover kabobs and salad
3. Leftovers again
4. Final day of leftovers (thank goodness-we really need to invest in a freezer!)
5. Pork, slaw and rice
6. Tuna sandwiches and veggies
Welcome, Piper! (But, Kristen, don't let Chiquita know how much everyone is ooh-ing and ahh-ing over Piper. She'll get jealous.)
Now, WIS: $5.50 at Aldi, $37 at Wegmans, $11 at Price Chopper, $20 at Tops, and $5 at our local baseball stadium.
WIA: One highlight was the oven-barbecued chicken wings I made with Reduced for Quick Sale wings from Tops. I followed a food.com recipe that calls for adding the BBQ sauce about two-thirds of the way through the cooking process, and it came out great.
Another highlight was "cheap eats Thursday" at the ballpark, where I went last night with the Bestest Neighbors. I got a hot dog for $2 and a can of our good local hard cider for $3. That's a food and beverage deal you won't get in any major league stadium! (And our team, the AAA affiliate of the NY Mets, beat the Phillies AAA affiliate 14-4, scoring 7 runs in the eighth inning alone!)
88 at Kroger pick up.
Monday and Tuesday: homemade turkey ground chuck meatballs in slow cooker with pasta sauce over thick cut spaghetti. Caesar salad. Steamed broccoli.
Wednesday: chicken salad on wasa crackers. Cottage cheese. Celery sticks. Sliced tomatoes.
Thursday. Bangers and mash. Steamed mix veggies. ( air fryer chicken sausage)
Friday: something with cabbage. I have a lot of cabbage.
Saturday: I am making slow cooker pulled pork
Piper is so cute!
S: dinner at reunion
S: fried fish
M: tofu stir fry
T: grain bowls, Ali Slagle white beans
W: snacks with friends
Th: teen made ravioli with saged butter
F: probably sausage broccoli pasta
Piper is adorable!
WWS: $412 at Kroger.
Saturday/Sunday: homemade pizzas, as always. DH likes to joke that my personal pizzas look like they're from the garden. I am the only person to put sliced broccoli on my pizza. I learned to love that after having it at Ha-Ha Pizza in Yellow Springs. The others don't know what they're missing.
Monday: Chicken Shawarma, again. I was under the impression that we would be sharing dinner with an out of town guest, but it turned out to not be so, so I ended up making 12 pounds of chicken shawarma meat. That exactly fitted in my 6 quart crockpot. It took us until Wednesday to eat up the leftovers. No regrets. I always make basmati rice with shawarma, and tahini sauce and yogurt sauce.
Tuesday: Leftover shawarma, burgers for those who wanted a change.
Wednesday: Hamburger stew, boxed mac and cheese for the Selective Eater, the last of the shawarma for me.
Thursday: taco night!
Tonight: salmon filets on buns, french fries, watermelon if I can find a good one at the store.
@Karen A., I’m right there with you on your pizza. Ages ago I had pizza at a fabulous pizza place in our town and one of the options had Greek salad as the topping. We make our own pizza normally and since then, I’ve always included some salad components and/or veggies (not the dressing!) on mine. It’s super delicious and feels healthy.
@Karen A.,
Yellow Springs, *Ohio*??? Only one of my favorite local towns! I live maybe 30 minutes drive away from YS. We always go to Young's Dairy for ice cream. (Okay, maybe not always, but we have been known to drive up that way just for Young's ice cream.) 🙂
@Liz B., Yep! Long ago when DH and I were dating, he lived in Clifton right near Clifton Mill. Yellow Springs (and Young's Dairy) were some of our favorites places to go, along with Clifton Gorge.
@Erika JS, I love it with those marinated artichoke hearts.
@Karen A.,
Small world! We like Clifton Gorge as well.
Piper is the best name for a kitten adopted by someone in aviation. She's Lisey's Piper cub! 🙂
WIS: $97, divided between Food Lion and Dollar Tree. This is slightly over budget but there have been no sales the past couple of weeks.
WWA: roast pork with sweet onion, sweet red peppers, carrots and sliced cherry tomatoes cooked in the same pot -- yum! Veggie burgers on English muffins. Fruit salad with cottage cheese. Lots of garden produce as sides: cherry tomatoes, cukes and Cubanale sweet peppers. Cantaloupe, strawberries and blueberries.
I did a huge grocery shop before I had skin cancer removed from my scalp last Thursday since I had no idea how long I would feel rough.. so eating down the stockpile this week.
Husband air fried chicken tenders and mini tater tots for us one evening, fresh fruit.. I was really craving Chinese but did not feel well and he used my line "we have food at home we already bought" when I talked about him grabbing take out (all kids were gone for the evening)-lolol
Frozen hamburger patties grilled with brioche buns I found in the freezer. The rest of the bowl of green salad in the fridge, fresh fruit and homemade macaroni and cheese
COLD DAY!- made a large meatloaf and baked it, served with mashed potatoes I know there was a veg, mac and cheese and more fruit was on the table...
I had a late Dr appt one night so I grabbed a family deal at a local pizza place which was an XL pizza, chicken and jojo's and I ordered a fried veggie assortment appitizer.
Leftovers the next night essentially cleaning out ALL the random containers in the fridge...
oven baked a sheet pan of quartered mini potatoes and chunked chicken pieces, served with variety of sauces and a bowl of peas!
Today I MUST grocery shop... MUST lol
WIS: $131 for adults, a bit above our norm because I did some protein stocking up. Wild salmon, ground turkey, ground meat, and baby back ribs were all on sale this past week, and the freezer is newly re-stocked accordingly.
WWA:
Sat- Volunteered at an event that provided us with dinner.
Sun- A Happy Hour dine out after attending the symphony: Beethoven's 9th + the Ode To Joy for inquiring minds. It was wonderful. 🙂
Mon- Salmon topped with mango & cilantro salsa, rice, green beans.
Tue- Shrimp scampi, pasta, green beans.
Wed- Leftovers from Tuesday.
Thur- Slow cooker chicken marinara, pasta, salad.
Fri- Leftovers from Thursday.
Our grocery bill has spiked recently, so I need to be much more on top of things. We were feeding 7 for some of the week:
-Grilled chicken + rice
-Chicken fajitas with guacamole
-Burgers & fries at home
-Gyros
-Leftovers of the above
Multiple meals featured caprese salad, as we have a wild amount of basil in the garden.
What a funny teapot! I was on vacation this week and went to Mr. B's work conference with him.
Sunday: First conference day, had peanut noodles with Mr. B's colleagues. It said it was spicy but had no discernable heat lol.
Monday: Greek restaurant meal of fried fish, lemon potatoes, and tomato salad.
Tuesday: Fancy conference gala. I had vegetable soup, leaf salad, risotto with vegetables, and a lemon tart.
Wednesday: My birthday! We were home. Salmon, rice, sauteed spinach (I wanted green beans but they looked rough at the store,) leftover salad.
Thursday: We had pasta and tomato sauce, and peas on the side.
Friday: Mr. B's birthday, so he'll choose something.
I managed to make 2 entirely plant based meals, one meatless and 1 reduced meat this week that my family actually ate, I didn’t think I’d even be able to do one but similar to the frugality discussion earlier this week, the creativity of trying to figure out substitutions and new recipes made it a bit fun.
Saturday - we had gone out to eat the two previous nights for various end of school year celebrations so we did not do our usual takeout. I made a sweet potato burger that I chopped up over a salad for myself, a chicken patty sandwiches for my husband, chicken nuggets for the kids and raw veggies and peas for everyone
Sunday - I made a pasta sauce, using some impossible ground meat and chopped mushrooms instead of ground meat and chicken Italian sausage. Served over pasta for the family and over cauliflower rice and sautéed beet greens for me (diligently increasing my veggie intake)
Monday - chimichurri tofu and rice, this is normally made with chicken but I substituted extra firm tofu and the whole family ate it (my kids enthusiastically, husband begrudgingly but at least he ate it!)
Tuesday - our usual beach picnic night, pb&j with fruits and veggies for the kids, nut butter and banana sandwich for me
Wednesday - a rare date night with the husband, we went to a seafood restaurant that offers a 20% discount to locals on Wednesdays. I got a beet salad and small bowl of New England clam chowder, husband got a lobster roll, root beer float for dessert for me
Thursday - vegetable pot pie, using potatoes and mushrooms as the main way to replace the meat
Friday - salad night, deconstructed for the kids, topped with a black bean burger for me and topped with chicken for the husband, also some breadsticks from the freezer
Piper is precious. I love that you and your girls have become cat people in this new stage of your lives. Animal companionship is a wonderful thing.
It’s a beautiful Friday. WWA:
Saturday- not much (vaccine side effects)
Sunday - shrimp tacos with red cabbage and avocado, sliced strawberries with vanilla ice cream
Monday - balsamic glazed chicken thighs, oven fries (freezer clean out time again)
Tuesday - ham and cheese sliders, cucumber and carrots sticks
Wednesday - pizza bagels (with sauce from freezer)
Thursday - air fryer drumsticks, perogies (freezer), Caesar salad
Friday - planning on trout baked in foil, horiatiki salad, maybe more oven fries from the freezer
Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend
Aww, Piper is adorable!
WIS: $26 at iHerb.com after using a $5 credit; $51 at Kroger
WIA: Last weekend I had chicken and rice, and I can't remember what else. On Monday and Tuesday, I did some baking for the rest of the week. I've been eating gluten-free foccacia (this recipe: https://moonandspoonandyum.com/gluten-free-focaccia is fantastic for gluten-free) with tomatoes on top and frittata with potatoes and spinach in it, alternating with cornbread and ranch-style beans, for the last few days. I'll finish the beans and cornbread for lunch today and have something easy, maybe pasta, for dinner.
Of course her name is Piper.
@Amy cheapohmom, Her name reminds me of Sandpiper Airlines, from the show "Wings". Kristen, has Lisey ever watched that show? We recently found it on Amazon and enjoyed it, for the most part--there's some cringey stuff in it, but the flying bits were fun.
I will have to ask her!
Friday: Double date night! Friends invited us to join them for dinner and the symphony (Hailstork's Symphony #1, Beethoven's Concerto #4, Adams' Doctor Atomic Symphony). We met them at a new-to-us Italian restaurant and ordered multiple dishes to share since everything on the menu looked amazing (we were not disappointed).
Saturday: Caramelized Onion, Bacon, and Parmesan Risotto with air fried trout. This was my first time caramelizing onions and I was thrilled at the results.
Sunday: Jambalaya. I taught my son how to make bread pudding for dessert.
Monday: Sandwiches in the car for my son and me after his game, leftovers for my husband.
Tuesday: Garlic Chicken With Giardiniera Sauce, Arancini (using Saturday’s risotto), Green Beans with Mushrooms.
Wednesday: Jamaican Beef Patties and leftover green beans.
Thursday: tried a version of Gigi Hadid’s Spicy Pasta and garlic bread. Super easy to make with items we always have on hand so I will keep the recipe just in case but it wasn’t my favorite.
WIS: $106 @ Sendik's
WWA...
Sun - Salmon, rice, edamame
Mon - Philly Sloppy Joes with coleslaw
Tues - Jambalaya with some raw veg on the side
Wed - Leftovers
Thur - Hot dogs, guac, grapes, carrot sticks (had nephews over for cookout)
Fri - Leftovers
One of my many cats was Piper. Sounds cuter than Cessna.
The teapot and mug remind me of some nonsense I've seen in my limited travels: in China, a girl was wearing a tee shirt that said "Sparkle Kitty"; in Israel, I saw a tile for sale that said "Shalom, Y'all".
I am sick this week so seem to be surviving on tea or some variation of slop-in-a-skillet.
Haha, Lisey and I laughed hard at the idea of a tiny kitten named Cessna!
The cat pics are a boost for me. In no way do I want to own one, but I so love looking at others' photos of their pets. So cute. I was a big cat lover in my youth and had cat motifs everywhere! My menus this week:
Monday - kitchen closed - I had my usual almond butter sammie and fruit
Tuesday - Korean Beef Bowls with cauliflower rice and green beans
Wednesday - (crockpot) Lemon Pepper Chicken Drums, chopped salad, and some mashed potatoes
Thursday - Cheese and Black Bean Enchiladas, corn on the cob
Friday - I was going to fix Lemon Alfredo Chicken, but even at 11 a.m. I know I will not feel up to cooking. I just need a day of complete rest. So it remains to be see what dinner will be. I'll wait til closer to six and figure it out.
Saturday - kitchen closed - ABJ for the win
Sunday - I am off half a day, and most likely will order food to go. Again, getting a cooking break and missing Hubby.
Happy weekend!
Lisey's kitten pics are a boost for me too! 🙂
Sending you love in advance of Father's Day. <3
Tacos made with Beyond Burgers
Ramen with vegetables
2x - Baked potato
2x -Apple with peanut butter
Hummus with sourdough bread, guacamole, kalamata olives, onions
No, I'm not a vegetarian. I just don't much like meat.
Cute name.
WIS: zip
WWA: Sun - family bbq potluck I made brisket, veggie pasta salad & slab pie
M - leftover bbq, green salad
T - Chicken stir fry w/lots of veggies
W - leftovers
Th - taco salad
F - smothered burritos, marinated veggies
S - Taco soup & Cornbread
Made batch of granola, banana nut bars & harvested beets for canned pickled beets
I'm assuming she named her after the plane. When we lived and worked at an airport we had a dog named Tractor becuase of the Air tractors that were there.
We had:
- Riz gras (chicken, rice and veggie meal)
- Chicken and rice burrito bowls
- teriyaki noodles
- beans and noodles
And that's as far back as I can remember
@Katy, I named a kitten "Dozer" once because he was big compared to his littermates and he pushed them around.
We are in an odd situation of moving and traveling. So meals are odd. I did make chicken parm, enchilada, and beef stew this week! May I ask how you find a ground of divorced/soon to be divorced women?
@Ingrid Knight, a GROUP not ground 🙂
This group was from a local session of Divorce Care. 🙂
@Kristen, Divorce Care has been a real blessing in several of my friends' lives. Glad you have a group!