WIS, WWA | Just Lisey and me
Zoe's spending the week puppy-sitting for my brother while he's away, so it's just been Lisey and me here since Tuesday.
This is the brother who lives on the water, so Zoe is having kind of a big house upgrade this week. 😉
What I Spent
- $86 at Giant
- $15 at Safeway (this included my super good chicken deal!)
- $49 at Lidl
That adds up to exactly $150.
What We Ate
Saturday
Christmas Eve Day! We ate the lasagna my neighbor so kindly brought to us, and we had sauteed broccoli on the side.
Sunday
Sonia slept over Christmas Eve, so she got to be here as we started our day off with these overnight cinnamon rolls (OF COURSE).
And for our main meal, we had:
Monday
I made chicken fingers, and we ate those with leftover rolls and a fresh bowl of the same salad I made on Christmas.
Tuesday
Leftovers; we had plenty of lasagna and Christmas Day leftovers.
Wednesday
More leftovers. 😉
Thursday
Lisey was out for dinner, and I tried a chopped salad fast casual place for dinner.
Friday
Lisey and I have tickets to go see a concert tonight, so I'm not sure how we are handling dinner; maybe an early dinner since the concert starts at 6:30.
Wishing you and your readers a calm and cheerful end of the year and for the new year an understanding of ourselves, and reaching out to each other.
WWA
Runner beans and I think sausage
Bring a dish Christmas dinner: salmon wraps, beef stew, Hasselback potatoes, green salad, tirami su
Boxing day. Leg of lamb with cranberry/Quince sauce and a green salad
Leftover beef stew
Lamb shoarma and salad, from leftover lamb.
Kale stew and smoked sausage
Sambal telor tonight. I need something light!
Perfect timing on the cinnamon bun recipe! I saw a cute idea for making cinnamon bun snowmen on YouTube, but haven't been able to find the pop open cinnamon bun tubes without gross chemicals added. Going to try using your recipe instead, so thanks!
WIS: 194.58 @Aldi and 30.31 on a Hungry Harvest box for a total of 224.89 this week. I am trying to make peace with the idea that 250/week is a reasonable budget for my family of five...long gone are the days of me spending less than a hundred on a full Aldi cart. Oh, well.
WWA:
Fri: celery and carrots with roasted red pepper hummus, homemade pepperoni pizza (using yeasted dough instead of sourdough focaccia)
Sat: cucumber sushi rolls, fruit salad and yogurt, maple glazed tuna steaks
Sun: roasted radishes, pulled pork on homemade poppyseed buns.
Mon: leftovers (sloppy joes, Moroccan chicken and chickpeas and roasted radishes) in an egg wrap with spinach and guacamole. Donut ice cream for dessert.
Tue: salad, Mac and cheese, Grinch fruit skewers and cheesecake with homemade whipped cream. (Ten year old's birthday choices)
Wed: salad, chicken and rice, leftover cheesecake.
Thu: salad, chicken soup with rice (using leftover chicken and rice and turkey stock made from our thanksgiving carcass), brie sourdough bread wreath and cupcakes made by the teen.
Fri: probably focaccia and salad.
Happy 2023 everyone!!!
It's that time of year when I have trouble remembering what day it is. Thankfully the kids remind me that NYE is coming up and that means they get to stay up and watch Ghostbusters 2 and eat snacks. Usually I make tons of Chex Mix for that, but I'm pushing the easy button and just making microwave popcorn and some homemade dip. Ha.
Saturday (Christmas Eve): we did not deviate from our usual Saturday night homemade pizzas. Several of the boys have discovered that they like pizzas made on storebought tortillas, which means less baking for me, huzzah.
Sunday (Christmas): A ridiculously easy and totally indulgent chicken divan casserole. I got the recipe from my mom, who got the recipe from a recipe card she found in the hallway of the school where she worked, only to see that the recipe was written down by a good friend of hers. How it got into the school, nobody knows. But it became a Christmas Eve dinner tradition for us, and now I make it for our family, leaving out the curry powder and using gluten free cream of chicken soup. It is SO rich (1 cup of mayonnaise in the sauce) that I only make it once a year. But it's so good. We served it over rice.
Monday: Um. Nobody wanted to go to the grocery store since we were iced/snowed in/living on the surface of Antarctica still, so my husband found canned chicken and tuna and made burgers, and we had frozen mixed veggies and instant potatoes.
Tuesday: There were still leftovers from Sunday, and one of the kids made tacos for those who didn't want leftovers.
Wednesday: Hamburger stew, easy and nearly everyone likes it, and it used up half a bag of potatoes in the pantry, as well as the beef from tacos.
Thursday: Chicken and rice casserole.
Tonight: leftovers, burgers if needed to fill in the corners.
Hello from Port Aransas, Texas!
Saturday: Baked ham, scalloped potatoes, green salad with ranch dressing, chocolate roulade. Good call making the big spiral ham before a trip. It fed us for two days in the car. I still had about a pound and a half of ham left when we got here, but my oldest son left the bag in his van seat overnight, and the climate of the gulf coast is not refrigerated. Alas for wasted ham.
Sunday: Tamales, as per New Mexico tradition; eggnog, molasses cookies.
Monday: Carnitas pork, leftover scalloped potatoes, sauteed spinach
Tuesday: On the road, and stopped at a motel in Eden, Texas. I had brought chili, but it was still almost frozen solid, and was not in microwable containers. Poor planning. I ran hot water over the outside to thaw it a little and managed to chip out enough for everyone to have some with their microwaved corn tortillas and cheese. I had to microwave it in a mason jar and serve it in a random collection of gas station coffee cups and travel mugs. Leaving for a trip right after the insanity of Christmas does not lend itself to careful planning. Everyone was fed, though!
Wednesday: We rented a house, so I have a full kitchen to work in. I went to the grocery store on the island and my son chose different kinds of sausage from their suprisingly large selection. We can't get good sausage where we live, so he was excited. We had the boudin (a Cajun rice and pork sausage--I guess we're close enough to Louisiana here for that) and the smoked beef sausage this night, along with swiss cheese and crackers., and raw tomatoes and broccoli.
Thursday: We went on a charter boat to fish in the gulf in the morning. Not great fishing, but my sons caught a lot of catfish, which the deckhands threw back, and whiting, which we asked to keep. The boat crew keeps them for bait, but we cooked the largest three, and they were excellent. I guess if you're accustomed to catching giant tuna and snapper and whatnot, whiting is a bait fish. But if you're accustomed to small bass and trout, whiting is a perfectly acceptable eating fish. We also went to a seafood place for lunch at which my children demolished huge platters of various fried sea creatures, and so only two of the children and my husband ate dinner. They ate the whiting and the leftover french fries from the restaurant that I re-heated in butter on the stove. The rest of us decided to abstain from more food.
Tonight: Not sure. If my son and husband catch anything while they're fishing today, we'll have more fish. Fish-loving son is in heaven here. I also have more sausage, and some chili left. I promised the kids I would find somewhere to get ice cream, too.We're leaving tomorrow, so I'd better make good on that promise.
Happy New Year, Kristen, and everyone else. I wish you all health, wealth, and happiness in 2023.
@kristin @ going country, I'm a seafood lover, so your vacation sounds heavenly. I believe that Port Aransas is also a birding hotspot, so keep an eye peeled for feathered friends. And happy belated birthday!
$30 Market Basket; $? Chinese take-out
WWA:
Sat: Christmas Eve at BIL. We made fondue and served with homemade herb boule, roasted potatoes, broccoli, apples, and cornichons. Big green salad. MIL brought Christmas cookies for dessert
Sun: BIL made a roasted beef tenderloin, roasted smashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry compote and horseradish cream. I think there was another veg?
Mon: Take out Chinese
Tues: leftovers
Wed: homemade pumpkin soup, homemade bread, roasted Brussels sprouts
Thurs: dinner at friend's house: Dijon and Cognac stew (Smitten Kitchen: the BEST stew that I have ever eaten), endive, apple & blue cheese salad, baguette. I made gingerbread (cake) a la mode for dessert.
Fri: homemade pizza, salad
Thank you all for a wonderful year of food inspirations!
I had to click over to that scalloped potato recipe since I have been making a very similar mac and cheese recipe for special occasions and I think I want to switch things up! My menu veered wildly off what I had planned - some weeks are like that. I ate:
Monday - Made enough spaghetti for two people and I must say it was quite delicious and my college kid ate a sandwich instead! On the side I had broccoli. Now I have a couple of really good work lunches in the freezer.
Tuesday - I worked the late shift at work, so I packed Sketti with the rest of the Christmas dinner green beans. For lunch I ate a hot turkey sammie on toast.
Wednesday - Chinese take-out for a day I felt down because I took Christmas decor down and the college kid left. I deep cleaned my pantry and fridge and sent stuff home with him, too.
Thursday - Coconut Shrimp, honey carrots, salad
Tonight - I have a small steak I will fix with a tiny amount of tots I found in the freezer, and some frozen peas or green beans. Gonna take myself to Short Stop for catfish plate for lunch!
Saturday - Dinner TBD but I have loads in there to eat and I might grill something
Sunday - our traditional NY meal: Swedish Ham Balls, cabbage, black eyed peas, rolls
Happy New Year!
https://cannaryfamily.blogspot.com/
I spent about $125 not counting meals and coffee out. Meals and coffee out are rare occurrences, but they were part of our celebration.
Saturday - We had a small Christmas only 4 of us. It is only the second time in the 37 years that we have been married that I didn’t cook on Christmas Eve for my extended family. We dressed up and went out to enjoy the Feast of the Seven Fishes at a local establishment. It was wonderful.
Sunday - We made a large brunch on Christmas morning. We ate leftovers for dinner.
Monday - We took our daughter, a broke graduate student, to Costco to stock her pantry. While there, I grab a rotisserie chicken for dinner. I made rice and veggies. We had leftover baked apples and Christmas cookies for dessert.
Tuesday - Roasted Mahi with ginger, garlic and lemon along with rice and Dal. I made a salad.
Wednesday - My DH and I went to a holiday party. My adult children ate leftovers.
Thursday - My daughter and I went to my sister’s for movie night with the girls. I made a pot of chicken noodle soup with the carcass of the rotisserie chicken for the boys.
Tonight —-? I’m going to dig around in the freezer and refrigerator to see what needs to be used up. My daughter went home today. 🙁
We were out of town over the holidays, so ate with my family & came home to an empty fridge. We tried to keep our grocery shop very small, as we are heading to Tahoe today to ski. As a result, lots of meals from the freezer!
Christmas Eve - prime rib sliders + lots of appetizers, & pomegranate martinis
Christmas Day - soup, rolls & more appetizers
Monday - leftover prime rib sliders & the last of the appetizers
Tuesday - gyozos & baked chicken
Wednesday - chicken alfredo + pumpkin soup (a weird combo, but it worked)
Thursday - chicken fajitas + guacamole
Friday - since we're driving today, we will keep things simple & have pizza (freezer) + salad when we get to the ski condo. Hopefully we will avoid the snow storm that is predicted.
Lots of leftovers here too, as well as trying to use up freezer items (we have 2 turkeys, 1 turkey breast and 1 beef roast in the freezer, it’s getting tight in there)
Saturday - Christmas Eve it was just the 4 of us (didn’t want to drive home from anywhere late on Christmas Eve with the kids so we had brunch with family earlier that day) I didn’t want to cook something elaborate but wanted it to be something everyone enjoyed so it was an interesting meal of all our various favorites combined. Tomato and Burrata salad for me, sausage and pierogis for my husband, pearl couscous for the kids. Somehow it all worked together though!
Sunday - Christmas Day, we hosted my family, I had assembled lasagnas on 12/23 so I didn’t need to cook much on Christmas. I thought lasagna would be easy but it ended up being a little complicated because I needed to make 3 of them (regular with sausage, gluten free noodles with sausage and a vegetarian spinach one). I made garlic bread and a spinach salad to go with them.
Monday - dinner at my MIL house, she served ham, pearl couscous (my kids love of it is well known!), carrots and fresh baked bread.
Tuesday - leftover sausage lasagna
Wednesday - turkey corn chowder from the freezer, crescent rolls
Thursday - leftover spinach lasagna (luckily no one is sick of lasagna yet)
Friday - sloppy joes from freezer, roasted red potatoes, steamed carrots
WIS: $20 at Price Chopper, $11 at Aldi, and $39 at Wegmans. (The Wegmans tab includes discounted Christmas cards and candles, plus a 12-pack of house brand D batteries. I almost ran myself out of D's replenishing all my flashlights for the power outage that never happened here.)
WIA: I've previously described the Christmas Eve Two Fat Ladies lamb feast, and I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention the peerless quiche Ms. Bestest Neighbor made for Christmas Day brunch, even though I had nothing to do with the quiche. The lamb leftovers kept us all going for two or three days. Since then, I've made a split pea soup (flavored with the excellent rind off the second Price Chopper ham shank) and some odds and ends. This weekend, I'm looking forward to enjoying the Reduced for Quick Sale D'Artagnan duck legs I found at Wegmans this morning (I love duck and haven't had any in a long time), along with some marked-down green beans from Aldi.
@A. Marie, are the duck legs confited? I use them in cassoulet.
@Rose, no, they're just regular duck legs. (And the TFL lamb dish is enough like a "poor man's cassoulet," as the late Jennifer Paterson described it, that I probably wouldn't want a second round quite so soon after Xmas Eve.) But I will prepare them with tender loving care, believe me.
@A. Marie,
Duck lovers here, too. Our DS (married with a three-year -old of his own) often makes duck confit with the legs, roasting potatoes in the fat, and it is divine.
@Erika JS, We had potatoes roasted in duck fat for Christmas dinner. They're easy to make--the secret is to parboil them and then roast them. So crispy.
A. Marie, well, cassoulet is poor man's cassoulet, ha. A French peasant dish with whatever game was around with lotsa beans. Yum.
@Rose, yes, I am aware of cassoulet's origins. I think what JP meant was that some of the possible ingredients your average French peasant could just run out in the barnyard and grab, such as goose, can be pretty darn pricey these days. (Of course, lamb isn't exactly cheap now either.)
@Rose, I just watched a short video by British chef Daniel Clifford. He scraped the boiled potatoes with a fork before roasting to get extra crispy bits!
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl29xvrNJxp/?hl=en
Hi all! Also, what a lovely christmas meal, kristen 🙂
Monday - we had hot pot at home. Lots of napa cabbage, tofu puffs, cuttlefish balls, pork belly, and many shimeji and trumpet mushrooms. We were happy!
Tuesday - chole masala and puri. so much puri!
Wednesday - this glorious hot ginger salmon salad from howsweeteats
Thursday - roti, crispy air fryer okra sabzi with tomatoes and onions, ground turkey mint/cilantro/ginger indian cutlets, and dal.
Friday - rice, mentaiko, and crispy seaweed. I have been inspired by my fav youtuber - imamu room (highly highly recommend!)
Happy New Year, everyone!
WIS: $79 and some change at Food Lion.
WWA: leftover Christmas duck and fixings until it was gone. Then I made a big pot of spaghetti that should run out right in time to cook a New Year's Eve meal of ham, corn muffins, green beans, baked apples and chocolate pudding.
@Ruby, that sound so good, and simple to boot!
Spend:
A restock week after being gone a month, so spend was $155, which is high for just DH and me.
Eats:
Mon- Chinese takeout because this was the day I returned home and the fridge was still bare, but we split an entree, so spend was under $20.
Tue- Slow cooker vegetarian chili, salad, garlic bread
Wed- Savory onion & yellow squash tart, salad
Wed- Repeat from Monday
Thu-Repeat from Tuesday
Fri- NYEve-Eve Dinner out at a new-to-us Mediterranean restaurant in nearby, cute-as-a-button San Juan Capistrano
Sat- NYE at home with chicken enchiladas, beans, and salad. Homemade peppermint ice cream with dark chocolate fudge topping for dessert as we celebrate an East Coast ball drop (meaning 9pm for us, not midnight, lol)
Sun- Brunch of quiche, German sausages, and fresh fruit, Repeat from Saturday for dinner
I imagine that it's hard to get one-on-one time with Lisey, so I hope your time together was sweet.
Saturday: Uhhhh... Probably one of the saddest Christmas Eve meals I've ever had, but everyone was fed. We got drive-thru Taco Bell on the way home from Christmas Eve service at my brother's church in Lansing (almost an hour and a half drive for us).
Sunday: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn. Red velvet cake for Jesus'birthday cake. Turns out that my kids don't get excited about meatloaf this year. It feels like their tastes change so much that I can't keep track. At least the mashed potatoes and gravy were exciting for them.
Monday: Christmas dinner at my parents' house
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Chicken noodle soup and FG French bread. Easy meal for a night with one kiddo that didn't feel great and the night that my in-laws arrived.
Thursday: After going to look at Christmas lights, my in-laws treated us to Chick-fil-A for dinner.
Friday: My mother-in-law brought a pan of lasagna and a loaf of bread with her. (Oh, how I love my in-laws!) Your idea of broccoli on the side sounds delicious and I think we will copy that.
We had a “roll with it” holiday season with young adult offspring, and their SOs, back in town all coming and going as they do. Adopted strategies (adding/increasing sides, scalable recipes) as required. One day we will miss the chaos. WWA:
Saturday - cheese fondue with baguette, salami, roasted baby potatoes, green apple, and cornichons, wine, hot chocolate for “dessert”
Sundays - prime rib, roasted baby potatoes, green beans, Yorkshire pudding, gravy, pickles/olives, green salad, wine, and plum pudding with brandy butter
Monday - made (more) Yorkshire puddings stuffed with leftover beef and gravy
Tuesday - sheet pan chicken quesadillas
Wednesday - last of the leftover beef with baked potatoes
Thursday - cacio e pepe
Friday - will be ordering Chinese food for delivery
Wishing everyone a wonderful new year
Continuing playing the grocery store game after leaving Costco membership. One thing I have learned, the loss leaders say one item but you can go back as often as you like it just means one per checkout.
This week.
Cherry tomatoes .99
8 oz. Sour cream .49
Lil smokies 1.99
Pepsi 6pk 20 oz 1.99
Hershey kisses bag 1.50
Reeses PB cups bag 1.50
Rollo bag 1.50
Bacon 2.49 lb pk
Hamburger 1.99 lb
Lays chips 1.79 8 oz
Rotel .59 can
Sweet Baby Ray's 1.29
Cabbage .49 lb
Avocados 2/1.00
I made bacon wrapped lil smokies for the first time. Everyone gobbled them up like the recipe said but I think just make candied bacon and forget the lil smokies. I have a stash of little chocolates to last months. I gave the Pepsi and chips to family. There were also Oreos 1.49 pk but I passed.
WIS: $0 yet....I have put off a trip to the grocery store until today. I am going in to stock up on fresh veg & fruit, eggs, milk so hopefully it won't be too bad.
WWA:
Saturday: We had all of my family over and celebrated with our special dinner on Christmas Eve. We had bacon wrapped roasted beef tenderloin with horseradish sauce, chili rubbed salmon with lime & cilantro, individual low calorie sweet potatoes & sauteed spinach with onion & garlic. Dessert was a chocolate cake or lemon pound cake with fresh strawberry sauce. I also made homemade Irish Cream for our after dinner coffee and no one left feeling unspoiled or hungry in any way. It was so lovely.
Sunday: I made a Christmas morning breakfast which consisted of a sausage biscuit pinwheel, whole wheat cranberry orange muffins, & homemade cinnamon rolls. I made an enormous pot of homemade Brunswick Stew since my niece requested it and we had the freezing weather to enjoy it.
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: We celebrated our last day off eating plan with pizza while we were out running errands and my oh my was it good!
Thursday: Leftover Brunswick Stew
Friday: I have some ground beef laid out and am trying to decide what it will become. Perhaps a pot of vegetable beef soup? or maybe taco soup? Clearly I am craving soup these days.
Happy New Year to all! Let's hope for a peaceful & prosperous one for us all!
You all are pretty impressive with the variety of menus and your ability to remember both WIS and WWA. If anyone lived near me, I might be requesting your leftovers! (Pumpkin soup with homemade bread and roasted Brussel sprouts? Be right there. . .)
Last menu recall of the year! What a year!
Saturday- Christmas Eve at my parents (and we go all out). Steamed crab with salad and In n Out french fries (this is a huge treat for us).
Sunday- Christmas Day at my aunt's house. Honestly too many things to count. I brought Middle Eastern pastries and a homemade pear tart.
Monday- Pizza from a local place. my best friend has been visiting from Philly, so we treated her to dinner.
Tuesday- after three days of insane food, it was really nice to have some homemade kale and chickpea soup with bread
Weds- Back to work. I had leftover soup and toast.
Thursday- Baked potato with a bunch of veggies (had to sneak in a Christmas cookie too)
Friday- Not sure yet but it will involve avocado since our local store here had massive ones for less than a dollar!
@Heather,
What are those in and out fries? (curious about dishes someone calls their special treat!)
@J NL, In-N-Out is a fast food chain that makes french fries from actual potatoes, chopped on location. They are known for fresh food and a simple menu, and the folks who love them, LOVE THEM! The chain began in Southern California in 1948 and is only in a handful of Western states. https://www.in-n-out.com/history
WIS - $0. Haven't left the farm in 2 weeks (yay!)
WWA - low key as we had a big ice storm
Christmas Eve - ham from the freezer w/ginger ale syrup basting sauce, potato salad
Christmas - Ham, scalloped potatoes, garlic beans and cookies
Monday - leftovers
Tuesday - Fried rice stir fry w/ham and tons of veggies
Wednesday - huge pot of navy bean/ham soup (put 3/4 in freezer)
Thursday - Breakfast for Dinner (cornbread waffles, pantry fruit for topping, bacon)
Friday - Venison fajitas
Saturday - NYE : Family get together to celebrate Christmas. Appetizer free for all.
I'm making smoked salmon, chicken satay & lettuce cups from romaine grown in the greenhouse. There should be 28 of us! If it is not raining too hard, we will have a Christmas tree bonfire & s'mores. We have 14 trees to burn as townie friends have been dropping them off for a couple of days now.
Sunday - who knows...grilled burgers if I need an easy day.
Cheers to Kristen and this awesome blog. Here's hoping for a gentle beginning to the New Year and all that it may bring!
Happy New Year.
WIS: Last Friday Market Basket $20
Today Shaw's $106 I spent a lot today buying 3 pieces of meat and replacing some condiments that I just realized I had finished and not restocked. Because I am signed onto this store, I received further discounts and an extra $5 bonus for spending over $50. I think we are really good for the month except for need of fresh vegetables. Even at that I'll use what we have first.
Friday: Rotisserie chicken from the market, green salad
Saturday: Christmas Eve dinner with my dauhters, their spouses and grandchildren
Sunday: Leftover chicken from Fri and squash from Sat.
Monday: Soup from the rotisserie chicken
Tuesday: Greek turkey burgers; air fried potatoes, squash
Wednesday: Leftover turkey burgers, potatoes, and soup
Thursday: Cheese sandwiches.
@JEG, Are you the one who bought out the potatoes on sale at Shaw's? By the time I arrived at 2:00, they were cleaned out! (luckily the $2.97 per pound roasts were still available)
A neighbor who brings lasagna?? How lucky are you? Things we’ve been eating:
Christmas Eve we had tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.
We hosted Christmas morning breakfast so we had leftover sausage hash brown casserole, pastries, and fruit for dinner.
Monday I took my mom to the grocery store and I got a fresh turkey for half price. We cooked it Tuesday and had turkey sandwiches on croissants from Christmas breakfast along with salad and fruit. We repeated that dinner the following night.
I made broth with the turkey carcass and made a turkey mushroom soup. Next up with more leftover turkey will be a soup with kale, white beans, orzo, and other veggies.
Easy week here too.
Christmas Eve-brisket &all the trimmings
Christmas Day-pecan rolled leftovers
M.Chicken &dumplings with clemintines
T.add leftover pork stew to leftover chicken&dumplings. Dumplings recipe was new &became instant favorite.
W. Chili Mac&salad
Th.leftover chili with salad
F.carnetas