WIS, WWA | Oooh, I am feeling so last-minute
Hello! I am pretty late getting this posted today because I went out this morning to run some errands, in an effort to beat the Christmas crowds.
I am...not quite ready for Christmas. But maybe by the end of today, I will be.
I posted this photo on Instagram the other night because I was not feeling motivated to clean up.
I set a timer for ten minutes and at the end of those ten minutes, things were looking much better.
Soooo, maybe I need to set some timers today. 😉
What I Spent
I spent:
- $30 at Giant
- $80 at Safeway
So, $110 for me.
What We Ate
Lisey spent most of the week at my aunt and uncle's house because of end-of-semester tests at school, so it was Zoe and me here for most of the meals.
Saturday
Man, I do not know! I filled out the whole rest of my menu here, hoping that my Saturday memory would kick in but nope. I'm coming up dry.
Sunday
I was gone for the night, and the girls bought pizza.
Monday
I tried a Cook's Country recipe for panko-breaded chicken fingers. They were really good, and not that much of a pain to make since I was just feeding two people*. I definitely will make these again.
*I have noticed that a LOT of things are pretty easy if you are feeding only 2-3 people!
Also: I am still obsessed with my Frywall. I love this thing, and here's why.
Tuesday
Zoe really likes those ham and swiss baked sandwiches you make with King's Hawaiian rolls, so I made a small batch of those for the two of us.
We had a fruit salad on the side.
Wednesday
I pressed the easy button hard and made Swedish pancakes for dinner.
Thursday
I got some of this pulled pork out of the freezer; we ate it on buns with some raw veggies on the side.
Friday
Lisey's back! And she passed one of her big FAA tests last night, so I think I will let her choose what we have for dinner tonight. 🙂
Yay! You posted! I'm on winter break so I'm able to comment earlier than usual with my new teaching schedule. I'm loving it, but also really loving being on break! I hope your remaining Christmas prep goes quickly and smoothly! I often find that dreading a task takes much longer than actually doing it, so I think your timer trick is a good idea.
WIS: I did go to Aldi to buy gifts for my new coworkers on Monday, but I did not buy any groceries so I officially spent zero dollars on groceries this week. However, my husband did spend 90.26 on Ethiopian take out for our last night of Hanukkah which gave us a total of ten meals (family dinner twice plus one lunch for me), so at least we got our money's worth. Still, food not cooked at home is so pricey!
WWA:
Sat: mixed greens salad, fully loaded nachos to use up taco meat/beans from thaco Thursday, along with cheddar cheese, sour cream, green onions, salsa and guacamole.
Sun: breakfast for dinner: sourdough waffles, scrambled peppers and eggs with Monterey jack cheese broiled on top, bacon and mixed salad greens.
Mon: beef and bean sloppy joes on the most delicious homemade buns I have ever had. They were yeasted instead of sourdough and I think they had butter incorporated into several steps of the recipe. I'm pretty sure my husband used this recipe:
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/beautiful-burger-buns-recipe
We also put mixed baby greens on the sandwiches to have some fresh veg in our meal.
Tue: Moroccan chicken with chickpeas, pink beans and apricots, served over brown rice, mixed baby greens salad on the side. This recipe normally uses just chickpeas, but we had only one small box that was less ounces than a standard can, so we added the pink beans to bulk it up. This was one of the cans of pink beans I got on clearance for .57 thinking they would be like kidney beans, but they function more like pinto beans which is A-OK by me. They worked well in this-added sort of a creaminess to an otherwise somewhat dry dish.
Wed: This was our family's final night of Hanukkah, so we had Ethiopian take-out: vegetarian combo meals, injera and lentil samosas. And we had christmas tree shaped ice cream from Aldi for dessert because we break all the rules, including when to celebrate holidays.
Thu: spinach salad, leftover injera and combo meals, sourdough crackers, sliced Swiss cheese and slices of roasted tofu. I accidentally left the plate of leftover tofu slices on the table while bathing my kids and when I went into the diningroom later, I found the cats had sampled them and apparently found them lacking...I was annoyed at myself because I had to throw out what would have been a small lunch serving, but I did take a picture of the evidence first because their little nibbles were pretty amusing. Stinkers.
Fri: This is the first full day of winter break, so we're having pizza, but with a yeasted dough instead of our usual focaccia. Just for a fun change.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone, and Happy Solstice, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy anything else you may celebrate this week! Sending good wishes and peaceful thoughts to all!
@Becca,
Also, regarding your missing Saturday meal, I'm gonna go with "Kristen had sandwiches" for 100 dollars, and my Jeopardy answer will be "What is Kristen's go to fav?"
Ha. I set a timer for my sons to clean their trashed room last night. Oh my goodness, THE WHINING I heard. And what do you know: In ten minutes it was clean enough to vacuum.
Anyway. Food.
Saturday: Leftover sirloin steak, spaghetti with pesto, frozen peas, pureed squash
Sunday: Youngest son's birthday. He wanted pizza, but I only had the gross flour, so instead he chose spaghetti and meatballs. Also green salad with ranch dressing, and for his birthday dessert, chocolate pudding with whipped cream. He didn't choose pudding because I didn't have flour. He just loves pudding.
Monday: Leftover spaghetti and meatballs, steak, rice, and I think I didn't even get a vegetable on there. It was that sort of day. Anyway, there are tomatoes in the spaghetti sauce.
Tuesday: Sick son and staying-home dad had meatloaf and baked potatoes at home. Those of us who went to the school Christmas program had the provided dinner of ham, scalloped potatoes, rolls, green beans, and lemonade cheesecake.
Wednesday: Leftover meatloaf and potatoes, as well as leftover posole and rolls from the school cafeteria. I was sent home with a lot of salad bar stuff, so there were also baby carrots. And the kids got to have the chocolate cake my eldest son bid on at the auction the night before.
Thursday: Spaghetti with meat sauce I found in the freezer that I think originally came from the school cafeteria, more posole, raw carrots and bell pepper, and the family-recipe molasses cookies I bake every Christmas time.
Tonight: I got a LOT of vegetables from the cafeteria that I need to use, and I took out some already cooked beef rib meat to make tamales for tomorrow. So, I think I will chop up some of that meat (plain, not the tamale filling with the chile and all in it) and stir-fry it with all those vegetables.
Merry Christmas Eve Eve to all!
@kristin @ going country, I helped my mother in law make pudding last night, and I thought of you!
@kristin @ going country, I have learned (but somehow rarely remember) that competition of any kind can motivate my boys-- competition with others or with the clock!
@kristin @ going country,
@kristin, do you happen to live in New Mexico?
@jodi, Yes ma'am! Was it the tamales or the posole that gave it away? 🙂
Sunday: Frozen ravioli with tomato sauce.
Monday: I made pizza dough the night before and my husband used it to make pizza.
Tuesday: My husband made veggie burritos.
Wednesday: I worked overnight and had takeout Vietnamese food. Delicious.
Thursday: Pasta with meat sauce from the freezer, and I put the sauce into zucchini boats, too. I really dislike leftover pasta, but a leftover zucchini boat over instant couscous is a nice lunch for me!
Tonight: Salmon, rice, broccoli, roasted sweet potatoes and then grapes. My friend is joining us and bringing cheesecake 🙂
Congrats, Lisey!
I'm glad things are going well! I wondered when the post wasn't up at the usual time, but I thought you might just be taking it easy now that school is out 😉
My husband noticed we had three separate types of potatoes on our shopping list last week, so this week is potato themed haha
Sunday: Baked potato bar. We had family over with lots of different dietary restrictions, but letting everyone put on their own toppings solves that issue.
Monday: Sheet pan potatoes, cabbage, and sausages. Not as good as last week's sheet pan potatoes and chicken (although it was from the same cookbook).
Tuesday: Fondue! For dipping we had baby potatoes, carrots, broccoli tots, mushrooms, and homemade sourdough from a neighbor.
Wednesday: Leftovers before we left town.
Thursday: We drove to my husband's family, we're staying with them until Monday. Tonight was a cousin's 11th birthday, so we had a nacho bar with brownies for dessert.
Friday: We're going to an Indian restaurant with some of my husband's high school friends.
Saturday: My husband's family always goes to a certain Chinese restaurant for Christmas Eve dinner, so that's what we'll be doing. I'm excited!
Happy holidays everyone!
@Natalie J, I'm making fondue tomorrow night - I'm super curious about the broccoli tots (I was just going to serve roasted broccoli but now that sounds dull...)
@BettafrmdaVille, we actually were going to serve broccoli but realized at the last minute that we didn't have any, so frozen broccoli tots to the rescue! They're green giant brand, there isn't a ton in the bag but they're tasty. What else are you serving with your fondue?
@Natalie J, for fondue: homemade herb & olive no-knead bread (cubed), roasted baby potatoes, roasted broccoli, apples, cornichons. Salad with radish, cucumbers and a bracing Dijon vinaigrette. Appetizers are white bean dip with crudité, rosette de Lyon, olives, and spiced nuts.
After I read your menu, I went online and found some broccoli tot recipes. Broccoli was on sale, so I bought A LOT, so I might try to make some next week, so thank you very much for introducing me to a new food!
@both:
What is a broccoli tot?
We eat our (cheese) fondu with sourdough bread, carrots, Cauliflower florets and apple wedges
@J NL, it's like a tater tot, but instead of potatoes it has broccoli and some cheese to hold it together.
When I was a teenager, one of the moms I babysat for could not believe I'd never heard of a tater tot. They're not something my family ever ate!
Of all the things in your before-and-after-cleanup photos, I liked the Temptations packets best. Glad to see that Shelley/Frugal Cat is getting extra treats.
Now, WIS/WIA: WIS: $19 at the Regional Market, $11.50 at Wegmans, and $23.50 at Aldi.
WIA: The usual medley of nothing that would impress Martha Stewart: Roasted root veg with my Regional Market purchases; a ham/potato/other veg soup with the last of the .99/lb. Price Chopper ham shank; and a comfort food dish of tilapia (on special at Aldi) and low-sodium Rice-a-Roni a bit past its sell-by date, mashed up together.
But I'm currently making banana bread (a new favorite) with a new ingredient: some mead left over from my JASNA presentation on 12/10 (long story). I'll let you know how this comes out.
And I'll be making Christmas Eve dinner tomorrow for the Bestest Neighbors and my neighbor next door, with a Reduced for Quick Sale boneless leg of lamb I picked up after Easter at Wegmans and put in the freezer. A price drop from $8.99 to $6.30/lb. ain't hay.
@A. Marie, P.S. to preceding: The banana bread with mead came out pretty darned good, if I say so myself. (Make banana bread like a Viking!) And I've just put a Frywall into my Amazon shopping cart, on your recommendation. I'm tired of doing a major stove wipe-down every time I saute something.
@A. Marie, Viking banana bread made me cackle like a loon! What a cool idea!
@Ruby, I bought the mead for a toast to Jane Austen's beloved older sister, Cassandra--the subject of my 12/10 JASNA Zoom presentation. Cassandra and their housemate Martha Lloyd regularly brewed mead (there's a recipe for it in Martha's Household Book, available on Amazon)--and JA's letters to Cassandra when she was away from home were full of questions about how the mead was coming along. So I think we can safely assume that Jane, Cassandra, Martha, and old Mrs. Austen drank mead like Vikings.
119 at Kroger pickup
Monday: chicken chili crusty bread
Tuesday: BLT pasta salad tomato soup from a box
Wednesday: work party pizza and dips
Thursday: cheese on seedy flatbreads with sweet spicy mustard CMAS cookies
Friday: SNOW DAY. Slow cooker short ribs over polenta. Green bean salad. French bread.
Sat. Xmas eve. Salmon. Rice. Broccoli.
Sun. CMAS day. Full steak dinner. Marinated in A1 and water. Grilled. Baked potatoes. Fixings. Sautéed onions and mushrooms. Cesar salad. Rolls.
Merry Christmas!
@Stephanie, goodness, Friday's dinner sounds so good. And anything served with crusty bread, for that matter!
How wonderful that Lisey can also close her semester with good results!
Like you, I cannot recall all meals. I did cook all them though.
Travelling backwards:
Runner beans and sausage
Kale stew
Pumpkin and peanut butter soup with wholemeal bread (bought) , and cheese with homemade onion chutney
Lasagna, homemade
Paella
Sambal telor with French beans
Something with cooking pears?
We were out of spuds and the green grocer did not deliver iuntil Thursday, so very few potato dishes. Husband relieved that we can go back to the old fashioned potators/veg/protein combo, but I secretly liked sneaking in some other favorites.
On Christmas day I only need to prepare the vegetable dishes. I have cranberry sauce and onion chutney already, so an easy one for me. After Christmas we normally eat light meals until new years eve.
WIS: I did grocery pick up orders this week to prepare for our older kids coming home for the holidays and to keep us all fed in the meantime! I spent $74 at WalMart, $157 at Meijer and $49 at EveryPlate. This is for 8 of us, teens to adults. We’re also in the midst of a blizzard, so stores were packed and pick up was a much easier option!
WWA:
Sunday: Dinner Style Chicken & Gravy with garlic mashed potatoes and broccoli…an EveryPlate selection for 2 that fed four people, with left overs.
Monday: spaghetti, compliments of my mother in law! She sent over a big pan for all of us! Very appreciated as I had a long day at work and then had to run errands on the way home.
Tuesday: Turkey burgers with homemade garlic aioli and mashed sweet potatoes.
Wednesday: cherry glazed meatballs, garlic mashed potatoes and roasted garlic broccoli…this was another EveryPlate selection for 2 and was again shared by 4 people, with leftovers. Also, delicious!
Thursday: homemade pizzas
Friday: TBD…everyone is home now so we’ll take a vote!
WIS: $42 @ Food Lion. Some of that was a bit of stocking up, as Laughing Cow cheese was still on sale. I also spent $16 on a very small ham for New Year's Eve.
WEA: Chili, a use-it-up soup that included black beans, tomatoes, herbs, frozen veggies, pasta and some pork no one had liked: it came out quite good, the usual nuts, cheese, fruit, muffins.
@Ruby, we like to buy ham when it's on sale after the holidays, cube it, and freeze it. We then use it for fried rice, baked potatoes, eggs, etc throughout the year.
I thought that, perhaps, you had lost electricity or internet with this crazy weather!
WWS: $48 Market Basket; $15 fish monger; $14 Star market; $9 Formaggio (cheese shop); $7 Whole Foods
WWA:
Sat.: I was in CT for annual family party. Went out to dinner with a friend who was in town for FIL's funeral.
Sun.: After a multi-state trip (CT-NY-MA), got home late and partner bought us take out. I had a Greek salad
Mon.: Nadiya Hussain’s Chicken Shawarma. I adore how simple & delicious it is, but as 2nd time making it, I adjusted the spices and increased cumin and radically reduced cayenne level. https://www.nadiyahussain.com/recipe/shawarma/
Served with a big side salad and roasted broccoli
Tues: leftovers/fend for yourself
Wed: I hosted a Solstice dinner party:
Apps: White bean dip (epicurious, super easy, always gets rave review) with crudité, rosette de Lyon, olives, sweet & spicy nuts.
Entrée: Daniel Boulud's roasted pumpkin, stuffed with bread (I made a homemade herb boule), Gruyere, bacon lardons, black trumpet mushrooms & cream. Served with a green salad with Dijon vinaigrette, sautéed green beans. (A guest brought a French almond & Cognac cake for dessert).
Thurs: I had leftover stuffing from the pumpkin so I made strata. Ate with salad
Fri: baked sole with ???
Happy Yule, Happy Hanukkah, and Merry Christmas, everyone!
@BettafrmdaVille, may I come to your home for dinner sometime?!!
@Molly F. C., anyone is always welcome. My only rule for dinner guests: if it all hits the fan, you won't be bothered if we order take-out pizza.
I don't remember, as always. But I did want to wish a merry Christmas to all.
@Jody S., Merry Christmas and happy holidays!
So I'm not strictly following the topic today although I will say that I bought a pricey prime rib for Christmas dinner. We're having friends over on Christmas, and we love leftovers, and we only buy it once a year...Whoo boy, tho, the cost of it.
I'm nearly done with out-of-the-house Christmas prep. Sigh. I am going soon to finish and it is COLD here but I'm determined to only leave our home tomorrow when we go to church.
Kristen, CONGRATS on your stellar grades. You are a smart cookie, a hard worker, and such a terrific example to your daughters.
I have been reading the comments the last few days and was so cheered. I love this community. Thank you, Kristen, for cultivating it.
you are much too hard on yourself. you aced your science classes. you are dealing with huge emotional upheaval. give yourself a break. you would do that for a friend. do it for yourself. chanukah is almost over but it was great as always. we do not go overboard, though. all the best to you and your loved ones. i am now planning hubby's milestone birthday. he is younger than I am by four years.. 1/13/23. We will go to a restaurant with our nearest and dearest.
I never buy ham but those little sliders look good. I'm eating some fish stick made in the air fryer and homemade tarter sauce. I'm still eating off groceries from first of month. All kinds of single serving portions in the freezer: smoked sausage with peppers and onions, chicken and dumplings, chili, some kind of chicken and vegetable soup, beef and cabbage soup, bean soup. I made a pan of gluten free biscuits to have on the side with butter and one of these evening I'm going to try my recipe for lace corn bread. I need to make some fried apples. Wonderful comfort food for sub zero weather. Last night I ate and watched the power crews wrestle with exploding power lines and the warning sirens from the dam were going off. Exciting times.
This was a doozy of a week, as we had a flying visit on Monday and came back on Tuesday (I think. Yes, that sounds right.) Anyway.
Monday we and two of the kids went on an overnight trip, leaving the two oldest at home with grocery store fried chicken. They did fine. Those of us on the trip packed chicken and chips and apples and had dinner at our military lodging place, which was neat.
Tuesday we got home for a late dinner of hamburger stew, courtesy of one of the at-home kids. One of the kids had some leftover Chik Fil A from the road that we had packed in a cooler.
Wednesday: back to normalcy. Taco night, courtesy of another kid, who loves making a taco bar.
Thursday: I was recovered enough from the trip to bake Christmas cookies with the kids and then make dinner, burgers and chips and whatever leftovers people fancied. My husband's exact words when I told him what dinner was: "Oh, burgers and chips, that sounds great!" My family is easily pleased.
Tonight will be tuna burgers and tater tots, cooked by wonderful husband, and Saturday will be homemade pizzas for Christmas Eve.
Partner wanted to “eat light” after having too much poutine (it was sooo good) the week before. WWA:
Saturday - odds and ends (I had an apple) because we had a late afternoon tea (with scones, sandwiches and dainties)
Sunday - after a long travel day we had chicken curry from the freezer, rice, and papadams
Monday - soup and cheese toast
Tuesday - Greek meatballs, Greek salad, grilled flatbread, tzatziki
Wednesday - leftover meatballs, salad, orzo
Thursday - garlic Parmesan white beans with no-knead bread
Friday - we will be dropping in on a birthday “come and go tea” (with wine instead of tea), so maybe nothing or we may stop for take-out on the way home
Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday long weekend
I actually wrote it down this week so I could remember.
Sun. Roast beef brown potatoes roasted broccoli
M. Leftover roast
T. Leftover(fromSat.) Chicken&rice casserole with salad
We'd. Chicken steaks,baked potatoes broccoli again
Thursday. Hubs made a great pork stew. We were both beat so had bread with it
Tonight is tuna for him &shrimp for girls &me
I am late but better late than never.
WIS: $0
WWA:
Saturday:
Sunday: Today was the day I made all the Christmas cookie doughs - 7 different ones. Plus a large batch of fudge - half peppermint & half with pecans. I used some potatoes from the pantry that were starting to sprout to make a pot of potato soup.
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: I made a pot of chili using ground turkey and added some Banza rotini to it for a kind of chili mac concoction. Everyone gobbled it up.
Wednesday: Relatives arrived late in the evening & I had a hair appointment and did not get home until late. Those arriving picked up Chickfila, those staying home had leftovers, & I had a gyro from a Greek spot near the hair salon.
Thursday: I defrosted two whole chickens and whipped up a batch of chicken and rice using all the chicken & the chicken broth. So yummy, comforting, feeds a crowd and inexpensive. We had a mixed green salad, homegrown crowder peas & sauteed zucchini & broccoli.
Friday: Leftovers...this Mama has a lot of wrapping to do.
Merry Christmas!
We ate a lot out of the freezer, as it was a crazy work week, and we were traveling on Thursday, so we didn't want leftovers.
-Enchilada rice (freezer)
-Lasagna (freezer)
-Green chicken enchiladas (freezer)
-Burgers
-Orange chicken & fried rice
We are supposed to be going out to dinner, as part of my husband's Christmas gift, but everywhere is closed due to the weather. We made one of the last flights into Portland, and while we are enjoying the lovely hotel, we'd planned to do some wine tastings & a fancy-ish lunch/dinner. Everywhere, other than the hotel, is totally closed. We're still having fun, and will make the best out of whatever we find. 😉
Wishing everyone a warm and safe holiday!
I like your "advent" candles.
Congratulations to Lisey.
As the head of the family, I never feel prepared or happy with what I have done or bought. My DH has no enthusiasm for the holiday, so this year I did not get organized to make space to bring the tree up. Yesterday I went to the basement for Santa's key.
And now I have a light cold. Hopefully we will be able to gather for Christmas Eve dinner.
I know what you mean by not remembering what I ate for the week.
WIS: Aldi: $87.32; Trader Joe’s $77.06 $70 for my half our monthly meat box; today Market Basket $30+(I needed coffee)
WWA:
Sat: I gave my husband a burger that I found in the freezer and I had butternut squash ravioli with a cream sauce. He does not like the raviolis and I have been anxiously waiting for the opportunity to have them.
Sun: Chicken marsala and vegetables.
Mon: Trader Joe’s frozen fried rice. When I bought it in the morning I planned to cut up the leftover chicken into it; but I found it had been eaten for lunch. So we just had the fried rice. I liked it. I will buy it again when I am in the TJ neighborhood. But next time I would add some protein and more vegetables.
Tues: I skipped dinner on because my grandchildren had a holiday performance with their school. I took the leftover fried rice from Monday to work for lunch.
Wed: Chicken again. I boiled up some open pasta. Cut up the remaining cucumber. And greens.
Thurs: Leftover from Wednesday and a TJ mandarin orange chicken and rice bowl ($3.99). I bought it to see if it would be good for a work lunch.
Fri: I bought a rotisserie chicken ($4.99) for tonight and I will make a soup from the leftovers.
I have gotten out of the habit of weekly shopping. As I look at my TJ receipt $30 is Christmas gifts. I usually buy my husband the TJ Chocolate Passport but I did not get there when it was put out for the holiday season. So, I bought my husband a collection of TJ chocolate bars, trying to get them from different countries. And I saw a coffee and cocoa mix that I thought we could try (he probably won’t like it but I think I will. The cashier said it was good.). At Aldi, I also spent money for the "chocolate" gift.
I did not remember that I spent money on food last week. I was busy Wednesday, so I stopped at a local take out place and picked up subs $26 (I better get back to having sandwich stuff here) and Thursday I picked up a single serve chicken pie $11 on the way home from caring for my grandson, which we shared with some leftovers that night. (I stopped at this place on the way home to order some individual dinner pies for my sister-in-law's Christmas gift.)
I don't really know what was eaten in this house this week and I'm kind of sad to admit that because no doubt the 16 yo did not eat very well. Although there's a lot of fruit scraps in the compost bucket so here's hoping. I survived on toast and soup and crackers. I had to delay chemo last week for a CT scan which then resulted in having chemo this week and let's just say that my entire Christmas schedule of tasks went out the window. Seriously! This chemo business is becoming inconvenient, lol. Anyhow I just want to say Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, also Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate, and Happy Holidays to everyone.
Now I am patiently waiting for my brother-in-law to deliver my eldest from the bus station to me, in the midst of absolutely crazy blizzard. Christmas will be very interesting here this year.
If anyone deserves some grace around Christmas it is YOU.
I hope that you have a fun Christmas with your girls, even if it is different than you expected.
@Leann,
Wishing you and your family the blessings of the season. Your strength and courage has touched my heart.
I wanted to wish everyone here a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Try to find joy wherever you can. Love to you all.
@Rose, the same to you. I've gotten a little leery of wishing people a Happy New Year recently, but I do hope that your 2023 will be better than your 2022.
@A. Marie,
I had to smile. I can remember thinking now that 2020 is over things will be better. Boy, the last few years have been doozies! Rose, I also wish you peace and love in the coming year!!
Thanks, folks. Waiting minute by minute for news of BFF's death. Puts my usual holiday stress in perspective. Who cares if the house isn't spotless? Lost in thought of all the crazy fun stunts we pulled in college.
What DID we have for dinner this week? Lets see, working backward:
Thurs - I was out and about late and my son chose to not try to translate my garbled text message, so when I got home after 6:00 I dug around in the freezer myself and pulled out two casseroles - chicken crepes and chicken enchiladas. They were solid so I put them into a cold oven and turned it to 300 until they were thawed, then up to 350 until they were all hot and bubbly. that took almost 2 hours (for once I was patient) and then I ate. FAR too late, but it was real food that Past Teri had made and I am trying to use these things long before they get freezer burned.
Wed. We shared a scant 2 cups of a use-it-up kind of soup that was far too delicious to only have 2 cups total left, but it was good. and leftovers from Tuesday
Tuesday - I roasted pans of veggies - potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower, and pan fried a bit of ling cod that I had marinaded in teriaki sauce and sesame oil. YUM
Mon - I have not a clue
Sun - I think this is the night I made the amazing soup.
Sat. - another not-a-clue kind of night. Sigh. I cooked, we ate.
Tonight will be leftovers from the casseroles, my secret plan so I don't fuss before Xmas. And the turkey is thawing in the bathtub. Need to get the stuffing made and the bird to my son's around 1 on Christmas Day as he and his SO are hosting - they are Vegan, most of the 12 of us are not, so I am providing the bird...
We have WAY too much snow here (Vancouver Island in Canada) and got frozen rain today on top... gah. I am hoping my mom (92) and my buddy (70) make it over a difficult highway pass either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day - They are going to stay with me and the rooms are the only tidy parts of my house!
Merry Holidays for everyone here, this is such a loving community you have created Kristen.
I was chomping at the bit to leave work today since I am off for three days, work one, off for five. Woo hoo! And since I have done a bang up job of buying food lately, I think I will have enough food in there to tide me over a while. This week:
Monday - Chicken Taco Baked Potato
Tuesday - Bean and Sausage Pot with onions and bell pepper, garlic toast
Wednesday - Freezer Meal Surprise
Thursday - Chicken Parmesan with some sketti and a homemade sauce that was soo, sooo good.
Friday - Takeout! I had BBQ brisket from Rudy's which I made into a sammie. coleslaw on the side
Saturday - Snakatizers and Autumn Sangria {I'm making a cream cheese cranberry dip and some baked sammies, along with other small things here and there}
Sunday - Spiral Sliced Ham, Barefoot Contessa Overnight Mac and Cheese, Arkansas Green Beans, Cherry Fudge Cake {Happy Birthday to my youngest}
Merry Christmas!
https://cannaryfamily.blogspot.com/
Saturday - 2 year old woke up early Saturday morning (3am) with a fever and wheezing/barking cough. Likely RSV since there was a case at her school. So we had to care for a sick kid and cancel all our weekend plans (of which there were quite a lot) and deal with our very disappointed 4 year old who had been looking forward to weekend plans. We just ended up eating some of the food we’d bought for some of the parties we were no longer going to.
Sunday - takeout pizza, it had been another rough night of her waking and not being able to sleep due to difficulty breathing.
Monday - sausage and veggie stir fry
Tuesday - chicken Parmesan, noodles with butter and Parmesan, steamed carrots and broccoli
Wednesday - oven fajitas, rice a roni
Thursday - pizza at my grandmas as an early Christmas celebration
Friday - canned clam chowder and a loaf of take and bake bread
Woohoo! Way to go Lisey! FAA tests are no joke. Congrats! Merry Christmas Kristen and Family! Hope you all enjoy your time together.
I have felt a little grinch-like this year. My foul mood has really impacted my Christmas prep. This week my daughter came home and now my heart feels lighter. As I’ve tried to pull it together, I’ve quoted the Grinch often who said this about Christmas, “It came without ribbons, it came without tags. It came without packages, boxes and bags.” It is really a season of the heart. Wishing everyone the blessings of love, peace and joy.
Merry Christmas! We love those ham & cheese sandwiches here too. Your toppings look so good! Poppy seed & butter?
I just use the recipe as-is from the Kings Hawaiian site!
When our boys were younger, we used the timer for either five minute frenzies or ten minute tears. Amazing what five people can do in small increments!