WIS, WWA | I got a lot of nights off!
What I Spent
I got my $25 Hungry Harvest box, of course. And I spent $140 at the grocery store.
So my grocery spending totals $165 this week.
February Spending
Week 1: $109
Week 2: $165
What We Ate
Saturday
Mr. FG and I went out for our weekly date night, and I cannot for the life of me remember what I made for the girls. I know I cooked something....
Sunday
Mr. FG and Sonia made dinner! They tried Giada's recipe for lasagna rolls.
And though this is mixing cuisines, they also made some virgin margaritas. Those were especially yummy!
Monday
This was Zoe and Mr. FG's birthday, but we let Zoe pick dinner. And she went with her perennial favorite, Chick-Fil-A.
Tuesday
We had a birthday coupon for a favorite restaurant, so Mr. FG and I went out for a birthday dinner.
Wednesday
We had a main dish salad topped with seasoned chicken. And I also made some croutons because there were a few hot dog rolls languishing in the bread bowl.
And I roasted some fingerling potatoes from my Hungry Harvest box. Those are so tasty! I cut them in half, toss them with salt, pepper, and oil, and roast them, cut side down at 450 ° for about 20 minutes.
The cut sides become a lovely, crispy brown...super good.
Thursday
Zoe suggested tacos! So I made chicken tacos with cilantro lime cream sauce and pico de gallo.
Friday
I'm planning to make some kind of breakfast for dinner, maybe with Orange Julius.
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But aren't those low key weeks lovely???
Monday being a holiday kids and I were off.. we spent a ton of money at Sams Club and Aldi.. but now we have meats!
Monday supper everyone was home so I invited my mom over and we had a HUGE meatloaf, homeade no knead bread, baked pototatos a corn...
Tuesday- my birthday, super busy night.. oldest ate the last of meatloaf supper before he went to work... made a quick supper of all beef hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls, fruit and oven fries.. then took everyone else where they needed to be...
Weds- kids went to school during the early morning snow storm.. the preschool I work at called school off last minute!! Freedom!!
Cooked a pork shoulder in the crock pot all day( already started when I heard the news).. pulled chicken breasts out of freezer and poached them and made a pot of chicken and noodles ( with a bag of frozen mixed veg added in!)..
So weds we had couscous, veg and shredded pork sammies..
Thursday I was gone and they all ate chicken and noodles...
Friday.. I believe husband and I are going to share a table of delish at the local mexican place and kids will be eating something at home!
Sunday- Lemon chicken, pasta with garlic/oil, pea/corn, at moms after I did 6 haircuts!
Monday- Beef stew, in my Dutch oven yum! (started this yesterday and just finished it up in oven on Monday) (this is my third/forth thing in the Dutch oven, all where excellent, so glad I bought this!
Tuesday-Chicken cutlet, pasta w/garlic/oil, corn. I think I also had a small salad.
Wednesday- DS had dentist wasn't sure when they would be home, so breakfast for dinner. Scrambled eggs, potatoes, pork roll, toast.
Thursday, Chicken cordon Blue (mine was broccoli/cheese) mashed, mixed veggies, DS doesn't like he had something else.
Friday- DH/DS are going to have taco ring, DD and I are going to have something else since tacos do not sit right in our tummies! Now to figure out what that something else is! LOL
Anyone have a good recipe for Chicken Cacciatore? There are so many different ones out there! (would love to do in my Dutch oven)
I had to look up a taco ring, but now I want to eat it. Crescent rolls are a fond memory of my childhood.
Chicken cacciatore: Most recipes are pretty similar (chicken, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes), but in my opinion, the most important things are the chicken parts you use (I like thighs with the skin on--the skin helps with the browning), browning them properly, and using wine. This is the perfect dish for a dutch oven, as long as it's an enameled one and not a traditional cast iron one. The acid in the wine and tomatoes would destroy the seasoning on a traditional dutch oven.
Zoe suggested tacos, and you did not argue. 🙂 I got a night off too this week, which is so highly unusual as to be unbelievable. Actually, one and a half nights, because on Sunday my husband made his tripe stew that he loves and kindly added some pork to it so I could feed the children without making them eat tripe. They ate it once without too much complaining, but I don't think they're eager to repeat it. Me neither. So that was my half night off, as the meat was cooked and I just had to add rice and frozen vegetables to make a complete meal. My husband doesn't worry about such things . . .
Monday: This was my full night off. Our incredibly sweet neighbor called at noon to let me know she had made a big pot of hamburger-green chile soup and wanted us to take some. She made usre to call early so I wouldn't start my own cooking. She's in her nineties, but said she still cooks as if she has all five kids at home. Plus, she cooks on a woodburning cookstove, and it was really cold on Monday, so I guess it was the day to simmer soup while heating the house. Anyway, my husband brought her a loaf of sourdough bread, which she luckily loves, and brought home half a gallon of soup and some pinto beans. I think a woman who raised five kids in a time when there were no restaurants or convenience foods probably remembers very well how luxurious it is to NOT have to cook for even one night. My husband ate more of his tripe stew, which makes a HUGE batch, so he ate it literally every night this week.
Tuesday: Swiss steak (with wrinkly grape tomatoes :-), boiled potato chunks, green salad
Wednesday: Beef arm roast and ribs slow roasted then covered in barbecue sauce, sourdough biscuits, green peas, baked sweet potatoes, roasted cauliflower
Thursday: Tacos made of the leftover beef roast, pinto beans I made myself early in the day and then forgot to actually serve, carrots
Tonight: Ugh. I am solidly in the "have to cook" not "want to cook" mindset at the moment. However! I will solider on! (As if I have any choice with four small children and their voracious appetites in the house). I have a LOT of pinto beans on hand, with which I will do something very creative, I'm sure. And probably something with pork. I will wait for inspiration to strike with the details later . . .
Boo. Apparently that comment was long enough that I couldn't proofread it properly. I need to either read my own lengthy comments more carefully, or just stop writing so much. Probably the latter.
Have you tried the Orange Julius without any added sugar? I think I might try to make my own version, but with vanilla almond milk and no sugar... 🙂 I'll let you know how it goes!
I am so impressed by your weekly spending.
Saturday: Birthday Dinner - Middle Eastern Restaurant
Sunday: ramen style veggie soup
Monday: tuna salad sandwiches
Tuesday: scrambled eggs, strawberries and oranges
Wednesday: Brown Rice Bowl (brown rice topped with sauteed mushrooms, peas, onion mix, pickles, hard boiled eggs) and fruit
Thursday: Boiled sweet plantains with salad (spring mix, pears, cucumbers, tomatoes, oil/vinegar)
Friday: Baked sweet potatoes (likely with a salad of sorts)
YUM to all of your food this week! Hubby and I are on a mission to eat healthier, and our Imperfect Produce boxes are helping us do just that. This week we ate:
Monday - Leftovers from Sunday - mom shops after work tonight
Tuesday - Simple Fish*, spinach and red onion salad
Wednesday - Honey Dijon Chicken Bites, kale and quinoa
Thursday - Split Pea Soup (freezer), grilled cheese on oat bread
Tonight - Roast Turkey, skillet zucchini, mashed red potatoes
Saturday - YOYO Mom and Dad will make a healthy pizza with whole wheat crust and veggies in our new Uuni
Sunday - (Freezer) Linguini and Meatballs, Caesar salad (with 1/2 the dressing)
*all I did was season it, lightly dust it with cornmeal, than pan fry in a scant amount of olive oil.
Monday we had lemon pepper chicken with stuffed potatoes and carrots
Tuesday was stir-fried beef with green beans and mushrooms over noodles
Wednesday we had the leftover beef and more noodles.
Thursday is pizza night and we had cut up vegetables as well
Friday (tonight) will be salmon loaf with mashed potatoes and all the bits of vegetables from the refrigerator including Napa, carrots and corn.
I spent part of my weekend cooking foods so I wouldn't have to cook this week. I made Kristen's spatchcocked chicken with onions, celery and cauliflower tucked in all around it to cook in the juices, and it was fantastic. Then I slow cooked a grass fed pot roast with mushrooms, onions and garlic, yum. Finally, I made a favorite casserole of mine that fills a big pan -- sage-seasoned ground pork, onions, cubed sweet potatoes and cut up apples with cinnamon and nutmeg. I sliced and sauteed some zucchini as well as some yellow squash, and I ate off of those meals all week.
You can tell my husband isn't back home yet. This would not have suited him, except for the pot roast.
My bill the last two weeks was low, about half or less, of normal, but I'm buying from a farm this week plus stopping in at Costco, so look out for this week.
Sunday and Monday- grilled hamburgers, homemade rolls, and roasted snap peas.
Tuesday and Wednesday- chicken and sweet potato coconut curry over brown rice
Thursday- ordered pizza
Friday- chicken tacos with homemade salsa
Spent $80 this week for groceries and another $15 on pizza.
I can't remember our meals from the last week. All meals had to be super soft and I am in a food rut.
Monday - baked chicken, sweet potato pasta, peas, chorizo cornbread (needed to use up chorizo)
Tuesday - leftovers
Wednesday - southwest pasta dish with black beans, baked brussels sprouts
Thursday - leftover chicken, rice, green salad, naan
Friday - breakfast for dinner (eggs, bacon, potatoes, fruit parfait)
Saturday - ??
It was school vacation week here, and we were away, but stayed in a condo with a kitchen.
Not sure which meals were each night, but it was an exercise-intensive vacation in a cold climate, so lots of heavy cold-weather meals. All were served with salad and others may have had additional side vegetables...
-Roasted Chicken with Vegetables and Potatoes
-Chili & Rice
-Beef Stew & Egg Noodles, Asparagus on the side
-Tortilla Espanola & salad
-1 Leftover night.
-1 night out for tacos
I’m confused! Some of your posts include Mr FG and others don’t. Are you back together. Either way I hope you are happy and doing well!
Oh, no, no, no, we are most definitely not back together. You maybe saw this post as a suggested one at the bottom of another post? It's from 2019.
I am in the midst of a divorce and I am 1000% not ever going back. But there are plenty of posts in my archives from the years I was married.