WIS, WWA | I didn't feed us much!
What I Spent
Man, this past week has been a blur. And it was also a week where some other people fed us!
I spent:
- $22 at Panera
- $27 at Safeway
What We Ate
Saturday
I had all-day clinicals and a friend popped by with enchiladas, rice, and beans for Zoe and me. So kind.
Sunday
Another all-day clinical, plus we gave our presentations.
A friend had brought me some marinated thin fajita meat, so I used that to make tacos, which we ate with applesauce and chips.
(The applesauce and chips are separate, please know. I can think of no circumstances where those two should be combined in any way!)
Monday
We had burrito bowls with leftover meat from the one friend, and leftover beans and rice from the enchilada meal from another friend. 🙂
Tuesday
It was the last day of our semester! And I had another downtown appointment shortly before dinner....
...so I picked up some Panera for Zoe and me and we watched a movie together.
Wednesday
Zoe was out with a friend, so I had some soup that a neighbor had dropped off for us, and I also made a cheese quesadilla.
Thursday
A friend took me out for dinner, and Zoe was out with a friend at the mall, so neither of us was here for dinner!
Friday
Today, I need to take a good look in my fridge to see what's in there. It's gotten to be a bit of a disaster because of the last few crazy weeks, so once I take inventory, I will decide on a dinner plan that uses up some of my fridge contents. 🙂
Time to get my life back in order, post-semester!
Congratulations! It is so nice to have good friends who brought you good food to keep you going. Enjoy your break and get lots of rest!
I have noticed that the weeks I am short on time to feed everyone heavily feature tortillas and Mexican-ish food. I see it was the same for you. 🙂
Saturday: Elk goulash, mashed potatoes, green salad with vinaigrette
Sunday: I cooked a pork shoulder all day, then fried that in its own rendered lard with spices. Also made rice, cooked some broccoli in the microwave. Our Sunday dessert was chocolate ice cream. Not homemade, but appreciated.
Monday: Half the family had leftover goulash and mashed potatoes, the other half had quesadillas made with corn tortillas, cheese, and leftover pork.
Tuesday: Christmas program and FFA dinner at school. We were served ham, cheesy potatoes, green beans, rolls, and dessert. I was grateful I didn't have to cook dinner, because I spent almost all morning in the kitchen making bread, Mexican wedding cookies, and crispy rice treats for the silent auction.
Wednesday: Canned clam chowder, grilled cheese sandwiches for a cold and drizzly night.
Thursday: Elk steaks, plain spaghetti with just butter, garlic powder, and Parmesan cheese, and a salad with vinaigrette
Friday: My husband's birthday. His request was for lamb, so I'll marinate one of the tenderloins from the ram we butchered recently and cook that. Also will make a yogurt sauce for it (just yogurt, lemon juice, crushed garlic, and salt). Then I'll make roasted potatoes using more of the lard rendered from the pork roast, and a green salad with homemade ranch dressing. He asked me to use the extra pumpkin pie filling from Thanksgiving I had frozen to make a pumpkin custard. I way overbaked it yesterday when I got distracted with the chaos that ensued with Zoom school and an earlier than expected basketball game for my middle son. I hope the squash in it will make it more forgiving of overbaking than a plain custard. And if not, then maybe lots of whipped cream will help. We'll see, I guess.
@kristin @ going country, Those are also my go-to's for quick meals. Tacos, burritos, and fajitas are quick and easy!
@kristin @ going country, my husband mentioned wanting to get his hands on some elk the other day and I instantly thought of you!
@kristin @ going country, Whipped cream cures a multitude of chaotic culinary oops! Or so I'm told ...
@JDinNM, my thoughts exactly! Or straight out of the bowl with a spoon or finger.
@MB in MN, Well, it is a healthy dairy product, right? There must at least be a dab of calcium in there somewhere ....
Oh man do I need friends like that! Sounds like they are worth their weight in gold. (: I have been sick all week and food tastes like nothing, but here goes:
Monday - kitchen closed. I stayed home sick for work and might have had some soup? {I am covid and flu negative, but I am fighting off some kind of viral something that has thrown me for a loop!}
Tuesday - I didn't cook this night either and I can't remember what I may have eaten...
Wednesday - Cast Iron Chicken Thighs with onions, carrots, and new potatoes
Thursday - Chipotle-Style Pork Bowls (pulled pork, rice, roasted corn, shredded jack cheese, pico), tortilla chips . This was merely OK, because I still could not taste anything
Tonight - Tilapia, oven roasted veggies (mushrooms, zucchini, red bell pepper), couscous is planned, but I don't know how I will feel about this at dinnertime. It all comes down to texture, so ramen soup might be a safer bet for me.
Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed and I work but I will have some things packed and ready to go by the end of today. The other people here are on their own!
Happy Weekend!
https://cannaryfamily.blogspot.com/
@Gina from The Cannary Family, I guess I have not been reading long enough to know this but will ask anyways--- How do you get away with kitchen closed on weekends?
@Regina, ha! I work Saturday through Monday, 12 hour shifts. The only people living with me are two working adults (sons) and I buy eggs, bread, lunchmeat, cheese, cereal, milk...which they are welcome to cook for themselves on the weekends (and any time, really) if they wish. Or they can buy their own food, which they do. I myself pack leftovers and snacks and such for work. And Tuesday I shop, then cook meals the next four days. (:
@Gina from The Cannary Family, Understandable. Thanks for the answer. 🙂
No elaborate WIS, WWA gere on my part - but I just wanted you to know Kristen, that during the last two weeks or so I did prepare and serve "brinerated chicken breast" (the recipe you shared once). Soooo good and sooooo easy. And I prepared those chicken thighs in a sauce with Whiskey - I don't remember the name - but anyways that was so, so good as well. Both dishes will go into rotation.
Thank you for sharing those recipe.
Oh! Maybe you should do one of your old food waste posts for old time's sake.
WIS: 316.32, but about half of that was holiday gifts like chocolates for coworkers, so I'm not too fussed.
WWA:
Fri: salad (spicy mix with feta and balsamic vinaigrette) plus my husband made rice and beans with an orange pepper and some cheddar cheese. Advent continues and so does the chocolate!
Sat: At my mother-in-law's house, so we had pizza from my husband's childhood restaurant, and she treated. So delicious! We also had a salad that I made using ingredients I brought up (spicy mix, carrots, cucumbers, dried cherries, cashews, and dressing). Then we played dreidel and had gelt for dessert.
Sun: my mother in law made a huge spread that included a roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing she had frozen from Thanksgiving (why, yes, it has occurred to me that my husband basically married his mother...), ratatouille made from her garden produce, and a salad made by me (because my obsession with salad is the one area where we differ). It was a base of mixed greens and also had carrots, cucumber, dried cherries, cashews and a dressing I made using some herbs she got me when she was in Greece.
Mon: salad (mixed greens and Asian trail mix, plus my new favorite salad hack: using spray versions of olive oil and balsamic vinegar), fettuccine and pumpkin chipotle pasta sauce with shake Parm/Romano cheese. Advent delights for dessert.
Tue: salad (the last of a big box of mixed greens from my mil, feta cheese, spray olive oil and spray balsamic vinegar, and tajin), whole wheat sourdough bread and fancy cheeses (imported cheddar and smoked Gouda), sweet potato latkes (using green onions from a farm share because we were out of regular and I wasn't home from the grocery yet), apple sauce, homemade jelly doughnuts, advent chocolate and cheese.
Wed: salad (just mixed greens, feta cheese, Asian trail mix, and olive oil and balsamic vinegar sprays), chicken and cabbage crescent ring (used a can of chicken, some leftover salsa and one of the two remaining cabbages), sesame seed crackers and some leftover jelly doughnuts (plus advent chocolate).
Thu: sweet and spicy kale, folatkccia (it's good, people, it's good!), apple sauce and sour cream, plus chocolate and cheese for dessert.
Tonight: not focaccia since we just had it last night, but maybe a frozen cheese pizza or maybe lefties. Plus salad. Always salad. 😉
Have a great weekend, everyone, and Kristen, I hope you have a wonderful, relaxing break!
@Becca, those oil and vinegar sprays are good for using not-too-much dressing.
WIS: $112 at Wegmans,* $28 at Price Chopper, and $22 at my JASNA Panera friend's and my favorite little Greek restaurant near the Barnes & Noble where our JASNA region meets.**
*The large Wegmans tab included the previously mentioned spiral-sliced ham and some other holiday indulgences (most with digital coupons, but still...!).
**I have been forgetting to mention the Greek restaurant lunches in previous WIS/WIAs, but I'll try to remember from now on. Friend and I try to meet here for lunch whenever I drive over for a meeting, since the food is excellent and our regular waitress has superpowers. This is about the only place I dine out nowadays, in fact.
WIA: (To the tune of the Monty Python "Spam" song:) Lovely ham, wonderful ham, ham ham ham ham! (With split pea soup made from the ham bone at the end of the week.) I'm about ready to move on to something else now; fortunately, I'll be having excellent latkes at Dr. Bestest Neighbor's latke party tonight!
Ooh, a latke party sounds very fun!
I'm so glad that people fed you this week! Also, I can totally see my 5yo dipping chips in applesauce. I don't think it would be the first time, either. She likes to dip very weird combinations of things.
This week we ate:
Saturday - Mashed potato bowls. My kids were so excited about this (it's one of their favorite school lunches) but I found it to be very bland and boring. Maybe I made it wrong, or maybe the boring is why they like it.
Sunday - Pizza and breadsticks
Monday - Tacos and applesauce
Tuesday - Chicken sandwiches, pineapple, Pringles, and a cauliflower/broccoli/carrot mix
Wednesday - Turkey tetrazzini
Thursday - I had a sickie in the house, so I made chicken noodle soup. Honestly, though, the kids and I mostly ate cupcakes for dinner! Our favorite children's librarian is retiring today and her retirement party was last night. They had a number of book-themed goodies and my kids weren't very hungry for soup by the time we got home.
Friday - Penne with sausage and peppers (inspired by another reader's menu from last week!)
@Ruth T, That's funny because when Kristen said why would she ever combine I immediately thought of young kids dipping chips into applesauce. When I taught Early Childhood & Kindergarten it was common for chips to be dipped in applesauce.
One of my girls used to dip her carrot sticks into fruity yogurt, a combo that sounded disgusting to me!
@Ruth T, it sounds like our daughters are kindred spirits!
Let's see:
Thursday, steak sandwiches with Gruyere
Wednesday: the local pizza guy
Tuesday: steak and fingerlings
Monday: leftover white chicken chili
Sunday: White chicken chili
Tonight: who knows, maybe biscuits and gravy. I have a looong lunch with friends today.
My lunch sandwich was sooooo good: fresh turkey, avocado, peppers, tomato, bacon, sprouts, lettuce, tarragon aioli, on ciabatta. My friend and I lost all track of time chatting so I threw together a very fast chicken soup with crackers for dinner.
@Rose, Hm. Who do you have leftover white chicken chili before the white chicken chili? And steak sandwiches sound so good. I have not been thrilled with sandwiches much since my face thing because extra chewing wears me out, but do like sandwiches!
@Jody S., My days go backwards. The chili was Sunday; leftovers Monday. The steak sammiches had sauteed onions as well as melty Gruyere and au jus on the side. Or as my grandmother would say, "with au jus gravy." She also referred to toads quite sincerely as "hoptoads" every time.
@Rose, I think I would like your grandmother. If each word/synonym gives you delight, why not say both? What region was your grandmother from?
@Rose, I read your explanation and still didn't get that you had written it correctly! My brain must by hardwired to expect a certain order. But sometimes I think my days go backwards in real life-- topsy-turvy-ish.
WIS: $46 divided by three stores. (Including dumplings from BJs where I doubled a coupon for $6 off).
WIA: (I always have to work backwards, or fill in where I know and go from there).
Friday- Pizza out at a local brewery for a friends birthday
Saturday- No idea...
Sunday- Pancakes
Monday- No idea...
Tuesday- Roasted drumsticks, veggies, and rice on the side.
Wednesday- Had a later evening than anticipated. Leftover roasted veggies, rice, and drumsticks.
Thursday- Steak and mashed potatoes
Tonight- Depends on if I have a kitchen sink! Maybe tomato soup and a quesadilla to substitute for grilled cheese. If I don't have a sink I'll have frozen Chicken Birayani.
Sometimes I can think back and fill in the day but I have one big blank on Saturday and Monday. I only remembered Sunday when thinking back to what else happened and where I ended up at dinnertime. I probably had leftovers from the previous week. I might have eaten a quesadilla. It will forever remain a mystery.
Here's to friends that drop by to bring food! I'm glad you ate well in spite of the busy week.
We ate beef and veg, twice, and vegetable stew, twice.
Yesterday the guys fended for themselves as I was being treated to a walking dinner at the office. The dinner was imaginative, tasty and fully vegetarian. It was a welcome diversion from my own simple meals in this busy week.
Tonight: veg and burgers
My house has been sick for about the past two weeks. The state of my pantry/fridge is beyond a disaster. We ate out Monday-Thursday. Its been expensive. This weekend, I plan on shopping and cleaning out.
What I spent---
Meijer. $40.12
Domino's $23.27
What we Ate----
●Domino's free cheese tots & chicken carbonara pasta (for me) teen home sick/tired so ate nothing
● Both sick weekend until Tuesday so nothing
●Chicken Strips with mashed potatoes
●Bacon & Eggs (I made sandwich with croissants)
●Domino's chicken carbonara pasta (for me) & pizza (for teen). Had New emergency last Friday on my app but was gone when ordered this week after being sick (???). Sometimes I wish I could see previous orders.
●Today will most likely be Rotisserie chicken & mashed potatoes since I have to go to store
My 6yr old likes to top things with applesauce. Just this week she put applesauce on top of mashed potatoes, and chicken pot pie! I could definitely see her dipping chips into it!
We ate...
Can't remember last weekend at all!!!
Salisbury steak with mashed potatoes, green beans, and applesauce , twice
Chicken pot pie, applesauce
Chicken Alfredo, garlic bread, broccoli
Tonight will either be leftovers or box macaroni and cheese since the kids have a school program
@JP,
As kids, my sisters and I would eat applesauce and mashed potatoes together....meaning, a dab of mashed potatoes and a dab of applesauce on the same fork (not mixed together). It was really good!
Supportive friends are a true blessing. WWA:
Saturday - baked drumsticks, oven fries, raw carrots
Sunday - beef vindaloo, rice, pear crisp with vanilla ice cream
Monday - freezer meals (found red beans & rice, beef stew)
Tuesday - ham & cheese sliders, carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes
Wednesday - birthday dinner at an Italian restaurant (their Brussels sprout appetizer is amazing)
Thursday - Mississippi chicken, egg noodles
Friday - planning on black bean quesadillas
Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend
Saturday: Roast beef, fried potatoes, corn
Sunday: I had a salad, hubby had a frozen pizza
Monday: spaghetti & meatballs, garlic bread
Tuesday: Marinated chicken that I grilled, peas and chicken flavored noodles
Wednesday: Jalapeno peach sausage links, Smoked gouda mac n cheese, green beans
Thursday: takeout....Hubby had a build your own calzone & i had fish & chips & a side salad
Tonight: tacos
Have a great weekend, everyone!
We're taking a trip, so I'm working on eating up food in the Pantry and freezer.
1. Chicken burrito bowls
2. Pizza
3. Riz gras (à local fish and rice dish)
4. Buruxe (ànother local dish, it's a leaf sauce over rice)
5. Sandwiches and Brownies. My daughter made your brownie recipe for my birthday.
@Katy in Africa, Happy Birthday!!
Good friends you have there!
This week we had:
Sunday - Went to Costco and we picked up some frozen pizza so we had that with some cucumbers and cherry tomatoes.
Monday - Baked chicken, yams, corn and bread.
Tuesday - Kasha with caramelized onions and leftover chicken mixed in, sugar peas and carrots.
Wendsday - Leftover Kasha, green salad, bread.
Thursday - Sauteed cabbage with onions and sour cream, sliced ham, bread.
Friday - Have guests coming over so I'm thinking taco bar with some sort of bakery dessert to go with.
You have some terrific friends!
Those shoes are confusing me—the first time you showed them, the heels looked super high. When you showed the repair, they didn't look so scary. In today's photo they look high again. Must be the camera angle, or maybe it is the pointed toes that are the scary part. Whatever the story, they project confidence and bad-assery, totally the opposite of my ubiquitous Crocs. Very impressive, and just looking at the photos makes my toes numb.
My husband the Dinner Cook worked this week so dinner was on me. The goal is to always have leftovers that he can take for lunch, because he works on a remote mountain road with nothing available (unless he wants to heat his lunch on the engine of the back-hoe). But he doesn't mind cold leftovers, so no diesel fumes flavor his lunches.
1. Potato soup using up various free things and almost gone-zo ingredients
2. Taco salad with the same approach as #1
3. Whole-wheat penne with broccoli, olives, turkey sausage, walnuts, and pesto
4. Salmon on salad
5. Pizza (from scratch—no take-out in this zip code)
6. Tortellini (those dried ones from Winco bulk bins) with pesto and broccoli
And I made a grocery run here in town to restock on seriously overpriced produce and milk ($4.99/half gal.) Came to $32 for what would have been about $16 down the hill. However, with the cheapest gas at $5.49/gal., it made no sense to drive. And it would have sucked up an extra 2 hours when I needed to be painting. Can't justify it with the unexpected husband earnings —he is VOLUNTEERING—a good-hearted man.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana,
Back before microwaves were ubiquitous, my husband used to heat his lunch in a foil covered metal pie plate sat on equipment engines at the rock mine, way out in the swampy woods. What a memory you brought back.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, diesel fumed lunches, yum!
My husband works in water and wastewater construction, so on the dirtier jobs he requests lunches that he can eat while holding onto the baggie, so as to not touch the food and potentially contaminate it. Aka, no clementines that he has to peel!
Haha, that's because I have two different pairs of heels. The one pair is more walkable, and the other pair, not so much. I only wear the spikier ones when I really need to get in touch with my inner baddie. 😉
My normal preference is barefoot or flip flops.
@Kristen, thank you! I seem to have an excess amount of time on my hands to be studying the photos and wondering about the shoes. I have an inquiring mind, for sure.
@JP, oh wow, what a hero, doing that necessary dirty job!
@JD, very resourceful! I'm guessing way out in the swampy woods, microwaves are still few and far between.
P.S. We DO have a pizza place in town. I keep forgetting about it—not worth the 4 mile drive or the price. And it doesn't deliver.
How lovely that you had friends drop off meals! It really is amazing the mental load that goes into food and having that off your to-do list must have been so nice.
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Hungarian Mushroom Soup and French Bread
Sunday: Cuban Pork Enchiladas and Spanish Rice. My husband teases me that enchiladas are my favorite food because I make them so often – he may be right. I also think they are a great way to use up leftovers in the filling.
Monday: Soup and Sandwiches (soup was leftovers from the freezer)
Tuesday: Mac and Cheese. My son needed another lesson in how to cook this because it didn’t go well when he tried it on his own.
Wednesday: American Style Goulash
Thursday: Husband had a work event. My son and I had leftovers.
You have such lovely friends, and congrats on being done for the semester! We've got one more week of high school finals around here, and I'll be grateful when they are done!
I normally prep for the week ahead by cooking Friday-Sunday, making enough for leftovers during the week. I was incredibly jet lagged & just not feeling it this last weekend, so all meals were cobbled together! I did minimal actual cooking.
-Two nights of spaghetti & meatballs, with garlic bread (jarred sauce, frozen meatballs, store prepped garlic bread). DH had his with soy noodles, and I used the last of a container of pesto to prep those, which worked well.
-Last night was grilled cheese sandwiches (all of us, except for DH, who ate leftover salmon), so I could get to DS16's soccer game
-Coconut shrimp along a delicious orzo (freezer).
-Chicken patty sandwiches (teens), salmon (DH), soup (me, getting over being sick)
-I think I also ordered Greek food one of the nights, but I honestly can't remember
As for tonight, I'm thinking we will make wings & potstickers for anyone who is home. It a Friday night and we have two teenagers, so I'm guessing it will just be me + DH.
You have been through the gauntlet these past two weeks. I hope you have a peaceful and restful holiday season to refresh your mind, body, and soul.
I didn't keep track of what we ate this week, so it may be a bit jumbled. I know we had turkey sliders with a veggie, chicken and dumplings, we had our son and daughter in law over one day and had steaks, baked potatoes, and brussels sprouts. Pretty sure we had some brats one night with sweet potatoes and green beans...and that reminds me that I used the leftover brats in an Italian sausage creamy pasta type soup with salad one night. We ate out last night and that was a big disappointment. I get irritated when I waste money and calories on something that isn't great, but last night was really not good at all. We don't eat out real often (maybe twice a month).
Tonight, we are having carnitas. I made a huge pork roast into carnitas a few days ago. I froze five 1 lb bags of it when done for busy nights in the future and kept one out for tonight. We'll have beans and rice to go with them.
Applesauce is really good on potato pancakes and latkes, though, so I don't see why it wouldn't be good with potato chips. Tortilla chips, probably not.
WWS: 332.16 at Kroger, $60 at Chik Fil A
Saturday/Sunday: homemade pizzas. I kept forgetting to chop up broccoli for mine. So I had pepperoni. Darn. 😀
Monday: Burgers and crockpot lentil soup, and I finally created a lentil soup I love. It involved using up a can of Hunts Fire Roasted Garlic tomatoes, on a whim, and it was delicious. Will be doing that again.
Tuesday: Hamburger stew, courtesy of the oldest, using up some burgers. Selective Eater had a leftover burger.
Wednesday: Birthday for my third kid, who requested homemade baked mac and cheese (my grandma's recipe), roasted brussels sprouts, and brownies. I gilded the lily by melting some sugar free peanut butter chips with coconut oil, and drizzling the brownies, then chilling them, and they were fantastic. I also cooked some burgers for those who aren't eating a lot of carbs, and Selective Eater got Stouffer's frozen mac and cheese, because he dislikes the texture of homemade mac and cheese.
Thursday: Cat shelter night! Our oldest joined us to learn the ropes, and boy, having another adult to help out really got us done quickly. We cleaned six rooms in about an hour. Everyone was happy to get Chik Fil A afterwards, and our cat Clark, to his credit, did not try to steal any as he did his first night home when he was a little stressed out.
Friday: Tonight is taco night.
I don’t comment often but read your posts & comments everyday. I’ve not been very frugal or inventive with meals since I had Covid during Thanksgiving week. My DH has more than mastered the Door Dash app these last 3 weeks! I have eaten various soups, noodle dishes & PB sandwiches. This coming week I’ll be stocking up for DS & family, who are vegan. We’ll be making various traditional dishes for Christmas the veganized way, plus the usual ham & turkey for the meat eaters. I’m getting excited for Christmas & hope that each of you have a blessed Christmas with family & friends.
You have some lovely friends, Kristen. Thank goodness you finally get a break from school and can restock the fridge.
This week I spent about $75 on people food. It can be hard for me to remember because our very old, ailing kitty boy eats some low-sodium salmon, tuna, and sardines that are people food.
We ate salads, fresh fruit & veg plates with cheese and nuts, some sandwiches, protein shakes, a Healthy Choice bowl bought with a coupon, homemade soup from the freezer, and rye crackers.
1. Salmon, rice and veggies
2. Pork & sour kraut, potatoes
3. Roasted chicken with salad
4. Leftover pork with cranberry goat cheese, potatoes and brussel sprouts
5. Chicken tortilla soup with chips
6. Beyond beef burgers, rice and veggies
7. I'm thinking bean soup tonight with salad or sandwiches.
Grace, grace, and more grace. Sounds like a week with a lot of care needed and given. Merry Christmas to you & your family.
P.S. great shoes!
I need friends like that! How nice of them!
WIS: Nuttin'. I grocery shop and get farm orders this week.
WIA: Well, over last weekend, also basically nuttin'. The stupid autoimmune disease was trying to kick in so I lived on broth, tea, soft drinks and water for 42 hours to keep it at bay. It appears to have been a success, which was excellent, since this week was our company Christmas dinner.
WIA otherwise:
Chicken liver pate with homemade cassava crackers. There are veggies and fruit pureed with the livers in this recipe, so it's a safer way to eat veggies when I need to be careful.
Our bosses had a lunchtime meeting and ordered in sandwiches. I had a Cuban, and saved half for my meal that night. I just dealt with the bread the best I could at lunch.
Goat meatloaf with chopped mushrooms, onions and celery mixed in, served with roasted broccoli and baked sweet potato. This was before the broth. Probably the broccoli wasn't a good idea, but I didn't know at the time.
Cassava pasta with sweet Italian sausage from a farm. No salad, as it was too soon for that on the day I ate this.
Last night was the company party. We went to a new steakhouse in a remodeled Victorian-era brick library, where I had a ribeye (I saved half for later), steamed vegetables and some of my salad. I left the yummy roles alone, but they sure tempted me. I did allow myself a few pieces of the calamari appetizer. It was all delicious and we had a good time. The bosses rented a party bus for the trip, since the restaurant is in Georgia.
I had some unexpected cooking breaks too this week which is always nice!
Saturday - I had some friends over in the afternoon and we had a big appetizer/snack feast so we weren’t that hungry for dinner and just continued eating the snacks all evening. My favorite type of meal!
Sunday - we got takeout this night since we didn’t do our usual Saturday takeout. Chicken tenders and Mac n cheese from a chicken place near us.
Monday - chicken pot pie (I made a grave error in using the leftover red onion I already had instead of a yellow onion, it turned the gravy into an unappealing grayish purple sludge. It tasted fine, the 5 year old could not get past the visuals though and refused to eat it)
Tuesday - creamy chicken and orzo skillet
Wednesday - my manager took us out for dim sum for lunch as our holiday gift, it was delicious and very filling so I wasn’t hungry for dinner. My husband was out with a friend so I just made a big snack plate for the kids which they loved.
Thursday - my son’s friend had a small birthday party at her house (December birthdays are tough to fit in!). Personally I loved a Thursday evening birthday party, the kids were so excited to have something to do midweek and they ordered pizza so it gave me a night off from cooking.
Friday - I missed my alarm and woke up late so I forgot to defrost anything before I left. I think I can cook sausages from frozen though if I put some water in the pan first so will probably do that!
nothing better than kind hearts with good taste . . .
Hooray, you did it!
WIA
Monday - cheesy macaroni, leftover chicken, and some sort of veggie that escapes me
Tuesday: rice with chickpeas, ground turkey and mushrooms in Asian sauce, avocado and hummus
Wednesday: bbq pork on Hawaiian rolls with sweet potato fries and cannelloni beans (preschooler has nixed adding these to the rotation ;))
Thursday: chicken thighs with leftover sweet potato fries and rolls, and roasted the leftover chickpeas (no awards given for this meal but we were all fed)
Tonight: grabbing Panera before heading out for light peeping in a couple neighborhoods. The four year old can’t get enough of the lights and I love watching the holidays through her eyes:)
Christmas is so fun with little kids, isn't it??
Kristen, I adore you. As an online friend, I'm going to ask you a question.
What would you say to a friend who was juggling a full life, if they referenced their efforts as "phoning it in" and that they "didn't feed themselves and their adult child much?" I wouldn't normally call you out, but I don't think you'd use words that suggest to a friend that they were falling short. If I'm out of line, I am truly sorry, but I see many subtle self-criticisms lately and I wonder if you have noticed too. You are KICKING ARSE, my friend, so please squash that inner critic and kindly tell her to take a short walk off a long pier, because you are SLAYING LIFE and we, your adoring fans, want you to be more kind to yourself.
Humbly and with love, Melissa
You are probably right; I'd be more likely to give grace to someone else! Thank you for the encouragement!
@Kristen, I think you were just contrasting the current actions with your normal way of living, pre nursing school, not actually beating yourself up. At least that's the way I read it.
@Melissa,
I could have lost count of birthdays, but I don't think Zoe is an adult yet. Although, I think she will be soon.
I declare - it is two weeks before Christmas and the business of the holiday season has wrecked my 'cook it all at home' strategy. I don't even know what I spent in the grocery store this week but it was small - milk, bananas, some supplies for our Christmas meal but not a whole lot.
Saturday: We had my son's Christmas concert this day. Plus I had a mammogram and my cousin's son arrived to park his car and I drove him to the airport to catch a flight home for the holidays. Dinner was fried chicken from the Publix deli and we had tortilla chips, cheese dip and salsa. People Salsa was the veggie. I was up at 430 and went to bed at midnight. Long (but wonderful). Day.
Sunday: I redeemed myself a little bit with a big pot of homemade potato soup. We had fresh fruit with it.
Monday: BBQ chicken thighs in the crockpot, baked potatoes and green peas
Tuesday: Another slam-packed day. Hot dog for my kiddo and some fruit. The hubby and I ate leftover soup.
Wednesday: Some ate leftover soup, some ate tacos.
Thursday: Another crazy day. PB & J, soup, ramen noodles, heavy snacks at a party and late night tacos
Friday: Turkey Spaghetti & garlic bread.
Love your backpack!! And awesome job!! You did it and kept life in check.
This week was a blur for me too! It was supposed to be a quiet week especially at school but it was anything but that.
Let’s see…what did we eat?:
Saturday: lasagna and veggies/salad
Sunday: I can’t remember. It was a really rough day. Maybe chips and Guac?
Monday: leftover lasagna with veggies and fruit
Tuesday: last bites of lasagna with yoghurt and fruit
Wednesday: pizza and salad at church
Thursday: friend brought Alfredo pasta over for me.
Friday: leftover pasta Alfredo with veggies.
I have had enough pasta meals to last me a very long time. Would so much rather have fajitas/rice bowls/tacos on repeat!
After Thanksgiving I made stock from our 22 pound turkey and 3 rotisserie chickens from the single guy who eats only a little of the meat and hates leftovers, so he puts the meaty carcasses in his freezer and hands them over when we make contact. Wonderful stock that I then froze with the meat and skin I'd stripped from the 4 birds before roasting and then boiling the bones for 18 hours. Into the freezer when the stock and meat. Last Monday I pulled out the stock, added the few cups of sausage/onion/mushroom stuffing I'd also frozen after Thanksgiving. I then chopped up and added a bag of baby spinach. The end product was delicious. Good thing because it made a HUGE amount and we ate it for dinner M/T/W/Th night and today for lunch. (Cannot remember what we had to eat last Saturday and Sunday.) Each day as more of the stuffing bread disintegrated, it thickened the soup so the last two days it was still delicious but stew-like. Tonight the husband has a performance for a Christmas show and on the way home is picking up McDonalds fish sandwiches, my biggest reason for loving Fridays. I could eat those things every day I am afraid.
WWA: Sun: A huge chuck roast, slow cooked, green peas and green salad
M: Mashed potatoes & chuck roast, veg & gravy
T: Roast and gravy w/homemade egg noodles, green salad
W: Rest of the roast and various veggies into big pot of soup, froze the rest
Th: Taco Salad
F: Chicken fried elk steak, baked potato & green salad
S: BBQ burgers, sweet potato fries, fruit salad
I'm from the Netherlands and here chips (fries) and applesauce are a common combination!
Had 99 cent per lb ham that was put in egg and ham. Also, ham and raw fries from our garden potatoes made in deep fryer. Roast with mashed potatoes and corn from our garden. Made a beef barley soup with leftover roast and garden veggies. We ate lots of apples we got from our neighbor in trade. No restaurant meals. We get free bread that pantry give for animal feed. Our cows eat the bread and veggies; our cats eat bread and ham fat/ grease. Very happy and healthy animals.