What I Spent, What We Ate | It’s a new year!

Happy New Year, friends!

I rang in the new year by….going to bed at 10:30.

(Good thing I have never claimed to be a party animal, because that way I have no reputation to lose with that admission.)

I regret exactly no part of that decision. Sleep trumps a lot of other things in life for me, and more sleep is rarely a regrettable decision.

Staying up late, on the other hand? I regret that almost every time!

What I Spent

First day of the year, first grocery report of the year:

I spent $91 at Aldi, and $10 at Harris Teeter for fennel, green tomatoes, and bananas.

(Aldi doesn’t have fennel or green tomatoes, and I don’t like Aldi’s bananas.)

So, I’m starting out 2021 with a $101 week.

What We Ate

Saturday

Mr. FG and I got Potbelly subs for our takeout date night. I used the Potbelly app, but their points system requires you to spend $100 to get a free entree, it’s going to be a while until I get a reward.

But hey, I have no problem being patient. And I also have no problem eating more sandwiches on our takeout date nights. 😉

Sunday

We’ve been typically getting Sunday night takeout from local restaurants (to help them out during the restrictions) but this time, the girls really wanted Firehouse subs. So that’s what we did.

I suppose you could look at it as helping the local franchise owner? Still, not as virtuous as supporting an actual local restaurant.

Monday

Breakfast for dinner to use up some buttermilk in the back of the fridge! 

I made:

• Orange Julius
• bacon
• buttermilk waffles 

And I also made a little batch of blueberry syrup, to use up some random blueberries I’d thrown in the freezer a while back.

I am definitely making blueberry syrup again, because that was really tasty.

Unfortunately, I don’t remember exactly which recipe I used, but there are oodles of them out there if you google, and most of them are pretty similar.

Tuesday

I tried a spiced citrus chicken recipe from Cook’s Country, and it was just ok. I think I do not like cinnamon combined with chicken, so I’m gonna try to remember that in the future when I peruse recipes ideas.

Luckily, I made potato cubes fried in bacon grease on the side, so at least that was a dependably good part of the meal.

Here’s my secret to making really good potato cubes that cook all the way through before burning on the outside.

Wednesday

I made slow-cooker sausage ragu with large rigatoni, and on the side we had raw veggies and fruit.

Thursday

I made French bread pizzas with garlic butter, on two loaves of homemade French bread.

Homemade French bread makes way better French bread pizza, in my opinion. The store-bought bread always seems to get too dry, almost in a shatter-y kind of way.

Friday

For something a little unusual, tonight I’m going to try a Cook’s Country recipe for fried green tomato BLTs.

We already love BLTs and the idea of doing a fried green tomato instead of a regular tomato sounds interesting to me.

Also, I have never had a fried green tomato, so I’m curious to see what those taste like!

What did you have for dinner this week?