WIS, WWA | slowly adjusting
What I Spent
Boy, I really still feel like I am verrrry slowly adjusting to this new normal of only Zoe and me here.
I spent:
- $24 at Safeway
- $30 on a Hungry Harvest box
- $22 on pizza (see Thursday night)
So, $76 for me.
What We Ate
Saturday
We had chicken katsu and jasmine rice.
Sunday
Zoe was out with a friend, so it was just me here and I ate some leftovers.
Monday
We had Trader Joe's Korean-style short ribs (from their freezer section) and jasmine rice, plus some fruit.
Tuesday
I had some lunch meat ham to use up, so I made one of Zoe's favorites: the baked sandwiches that use King's Hawaiian rolls, and also a fruit salad.
Wednesday
I had some bacon that needed to be used up and I also had some extra bread on my counter. Soooo, it seemed like a good night for French toast and bacon!
Thursday
Zoe and I went to the gym together and we stopped for some pizza with a friend on the way back.
Friday
I think we have enough leftover pizza to cover us tonight! It doesn't take a lot in the way of leftovers for two people. 🙂
Your dinners sounded and looked really good! Its been so hot here that come dinnertime, I almost don't even feel like eating. And yes, its so hard to adjust cooking when you add or subtract a person. You get so used to a flow. This is what I fixed this week:
Monday - kitchen closed
Tuesday - Spaghetti and meaty marinara, freezer veggie
Wednesday - Grilled pork chops and okra, twice baked potatoes
Thursday - Quesadillas, broccoli cheese rice soup
Friday - Chicken, Garlic and Herb Eggplant skillet
Saturday and Sunday the kitchen is closed!
Happy Weekend!
https://cannaryfamily.blogspot.com/
@gina, how do you grill your okra?
@Natalie J, I tossed raw okra in some olive oil and seasoning, then watched the carefully and turned them often. We used to have a contraption to grill small things like okra, but I cant find it. My grill grates are small enough, tho!
@gina, How do you manage "kitchen closed" Friday through Sunday? Sounds brilliant.
@Natalie J, I thread skewers through them and then do what Gina does. Yum!
@Cynthia, I work Saturday thru Monday, 12 hour days. No way am I cooking! So, I plan leftovers in advance OR pick up dinner on the way home OR buy simple things to heat up, like pizza for one with a side salad. I'm only feeding me, so it works out. (:
Saturday: Meatloaf, baked potatoes, frozen peas
Sunday: Ribeye steaks with herb butter and caramelized onion I've gotten a lot of mileage out of those three batches of onions I caramelized and froze a couple of months ago), dill potato salad, pureed calabaza from the freezer, raw snow peas, rhubarb/strawberry slump with whipped cream. At least, I think it's slump. It's just cooked fruit with biscuits on top. Christopher Kimball tells me it can also be called a grunt, but that sounds even worse than slump. I might have to come up with my own, more-appetizing name for it. 🙂
Monday: I just had the younger three kids with me for dinner, so I mixed leftover pork with salsa, put that in folded-over corn tortillas with cheese, and fried those to make crispy tacos. They had raw snow peas, because it's that time in the garden. I had the same pork, but in a salad.
Tuesday: Leftover steak, rice, snow peas again. Still raw.
Wednesday: I used a can of the chicken we get from commodities--just like canned tuna, but chicken--to make a skillet dish with the leftover rice. It also had onion, grated cheese, frozen peas, and mayonnaise in it. It turned out pretty well, given I was just throwing things in there as I thought of them. And then there was fresh bread with butter, because the bread I had baked that afternoon was at JUST the perfect cooled down but still warm stage for eating with butter.
Thursday: Spanish tortilla--potatoes, onions, bacon, eggs, grated cheddar--and a green salad with vinaigrette.
Tonight: We're leaving soon to go to a judo tournament. My oldest son has been to the host city several time for FFA, and he informed me that the best Mexican restaurant in the whole world is there. When I looked it up, I found it was only a mile and a half from our hotel, so I took it as a sign. Mexican for us tonight. And honestly, it doesn't much matter if it's the best ever, as long as I'm not cooking. 🙂
@kristin @ going country, I vote you name the dessert a grumble. "Rhubarb-strawberry grumble" just sounds right to me. Maybe that's because I often grumble to myself when I'm washing the dishes from baking! Ha.
@Karen A.,
That name is perfect!
@Karen A.,
I have a recipe for fruit topped with a flour-based topping from the "More With Less" cookbook. It was called a crumble or something, but my husband christened it a "scruffle," for reasons even he doesn't know. All such desserts are scruffles to us now.
@kristin @ going country, we have a similar sounding recipe called a "jumble" I like how all of the options rhyme haha
@kristin @ going country, When my Mom made a dessert with no name she would dub it "Pauline's Delight." So you could name yours "Kristin's Delight."
@kristin @ going country, We call them dumplings. Any fruit in the skillet with thickner and sugar. Then drop biscuits on top to cook
WIS: $17 at the Regional Market, $1.50 at the bread outlet, $9 at the grocery outlet, and $4 at Ollie's.
WIA: The best thing I made was a chicken curry to use up various elderly vegetables and get a package of chicken out of the freezer. (The 1/4 steer should be arriving any day, so I need all the freezer space I can get.)
Thankful it’s Friday! WWA:
Saturday- grilled hamburgers on buns, green salad
Sunday- Father’s Day bacon wrapped scallops, air fryer roasted veggies, corn on the cob, rest of last month’s chocolate birthday cake from the freezer
Monday - Million dollar spaghetti from the freezer, baguette
Tuesday- I didn’t want to cook so everyone fended for themselves, I eventually had a late dinner of sriracha noodles
Wednesday- “make your own” sub sandwiches
Thursday - air fryer chicken wings and chicken nuggets (from scratch as an experiment. they turned out okay but I would like to find better recipes) Greek salad
Friday - planning on cheeseburger macaroni skillet and an early night
Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend (and fresh, clear air)
This all looks so good. And you folks eating homemade bread? I would kill to eat a loaf of warm, yeasty, homemade wheatflour bread. I would kill, I tell you. Those people that give up something basic, such as sugar or gluten, and tell you they don't even miss it anymore? That is so not me.
I went shopping last weekend and the power went out at the store where I buy most of my non-farm groceries. (We've had so many thunderstorms!) I ended up only grabbing a few things at a store that had power, spending about $38. I also bought beef from a rancher; right at $50 there.
Anyway... I left my menu at home, so we'll see what I remember.
I made an AIP version of Greek food but I can't remember who created the recipe. It was good, though. I admit I skipped the recipe's coconut based tzatziki and opted for the non-AIP tzatziki recipe from Ina Garten. I am able to consume some forms of dairy and I like it better. I ate this two or three nights plus lunches - it said serves four but I got more than four servings out of it. It called for big amounts of mint and parsley, both of which I have growing, luckily.
I fried farm bacon ends then drained most of the grease and fried squash from my yard with onions. I cut up cucumbers from my yard as a side.
I cooked farm-made brats and made sweet potato salad with cucumbers on the side. I had this once or twice, I think - most went in my lunches.
My beef purchase included an indulgence of two very little ribeye steaks. I cooked those and ate one with squash and mushrooms. Tonight is probably the other little steak, and quite possibly squash and/or cucumber, as they are both producing in my raised beds right now, in case you can't tell.
That's all I remember.
@JD, I do agree with you about glutened breads and pastries. I miss fluffy biscuits and yeast donuts. Not that I ever ate them very often but just never having them again ever is sad. I’ve tried to make them gluten free and tried others’ attempts and they are always like eating a doughy brick. On a happier note I’ve tried 2 gluten free bakeries in my new area. One is a fail but the other has wonderful things. Delicate lemon anise madalines and yummy orange poppyseed cakelets are my favorites so far.
@JD, I'm with you, I miss bread--I make a yeast-free flatbread for my kids' pizzas, and those are really good but...not for me. Sigh. And I'm done with all the gluten-free breads you can buy, they're expensive and besides have yeast and sugar, so nope!
@Karen A., look up recipes for soda bread - it uses baking soda as the raising agent. It also contains dairy (either buttermilk or yogurt) - not sure if you’re able to have dairy. It is a heavier bread (not for sandwiches) but oh so yummy, especially when still warm with butter. A friend made a gluten free version which was really good a few years back.
@Victoria, Oh yes, I've made soda bread a lot in the past, but I haven't tried a gluten free one. No, wait, I did try one that used cassava flour and it was literally a brick. I could have used it as a cornerstone for a shed. I guess I would need an all purpose gluten free mix, rather than one type of flour!
@Karen A., yes, an all purpose mix is what she used, nothing fancy. It was really good and I couldn’t tell it was gluten free. I was very surprised and impressed.
Hi Kristen, how do you manage/ overcome the "what could've been/ should've been" thoughts and the sadness that ensues? Are you one of those people who are naturally good at it or did you learn to manage it better? If the latter is true, please share what worked (and what didn't). I did read the wistfulness post :). Thank you.
Saturday - Chinese takeout
Sunday - my husband smoked chicken legs, I made corn muffins and corn on the cob, never too much corn apparently!
Monday - we had some neighbors and their kids over for a play date and the kids were having a great time (my kids often used to just ignore other kids when they came over and play on their own, but they seem to finally be reaching an age where they enjoy interacting with other kids) so they stayed pretty late. When they left, I just reheated some leftover chicken Alfredo and leftover chicken drumsticks.
Tuesday - beyond burgers for the adults, we only had one bun left so I cut my burger up and a made a cheeseburger salad, and used a feta dressing, it was delicious! The kids had more of the leftover chicken drumsticks. Everyone had steamed broccoli and carrots
Wednesday - salmon for the adults with a creamy lemon sauce that I saved in the freezer from a previous dish, not sure why I never thought to do that before when a recipe has a ton of leftover sauce. Chicken nuggets for the kids. Everyone had pearl cous cous and steamed broccoli and peas.
Thursday - oven fajitas, cilantro lime rice, corn
Friday - turkey corn chowder and corn muffins, both from the freezer
Oh gosh, I have to think. I know our grocery bills have been a little lower since we had a family conference and agreed to stop drinking seltzers like water! I mean, they are water, but we all agreed it would be better to limit our seltzer indulgence to maybe with dinner, instead of grabbing one whenever we're thirsty. And DH and I are both avoiding eating chips and my youngest has been wanting to go on "hikes" where I pack him a lunch, and I cleverly avoid packing chips in his insulated bag and send him off with a sandwich, some fruit and veggies, and a homemade brownie or something like that. He always chirps "surprise me!" and so I do. He used to have chips as a side at every lunch he made, along with some veggies or fruit, but I'm being sneaky and so our chip stash is lasting a lot longer!
I think we spent about $370 this week, which is lower than previous weeks! Eggs are no longer pricey, so that has helped.
Saturday and Sunday were homemade pizzas; DH was happy with this for Father's Day, as it's his favorite meal of the week!
Monday: chicken and rice casserole, green peas from the freezer
Tuesday: Burgers, fries, salad bar(trying to get more salad in myself and those who will eat it!)
Wednesday: Oldest made hamburger stew with the leftover burgers, youngest had leftover chicken and rice, I had a big salad
Thursday: Taco night, always and forever.
Tonight will be DH's tuna burgers, yogurt parfaits, I think, and maybe fries.
@Karen A., Frugalwoods bought a Soda Stream to help with seltzer cost.
@Nan, I've looked into it, but honestly, we have very little counterspace in our current kitchen, and my husband and older son do not drink seltzers at all. So I think it's good we just work on moderating our intake instead of expecting all our water to be bubbly! (Or, as my oldest used to say when he was very young, "Spicy"!)
@Nan,
She and her hubby also came up with a way to use a big "industrial" CO2 canister, instead of the Soda Stream CO2 canisters (which I've heard are pricey). I don't know the details of how they did it.
I buy 2 liter bottles of plain seltzer water (the store brand), and either drink it plain, or add a little of one of those "flavor enhancer" drops if I'm feeling fancy. 🙂 But then, I'm the only one in my family that drinks seltzer water.
WIS: $51 @ Kroger and $38 @ Walmart
WWA:
Saturday: I made tacos and homemade cheese dip for my husband. That is a favorite of his and it was Father's Day weekend.
Sunday: Chicken fingers, mashed potatoes, & a medley of squash, zucchini and onions (all from the garden)
Monday: I whipped up a pan of nachos with the leftover taco dinner and we watched Madagascar since it was pouring outside
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Skillet Lasagna, garlic bread and a simple salad of cucumber & tomato dressed with red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt & pepper (again from the garden)
Thursday: takeout for some, leftovers for some
Friday: Italian Wedding soup
Those baked sandwiches look really good! I have a friend that has made them a couple of times and they tasted amazing.
This week we had...
Saturday: My oldest daughter came home from summer camp this day and for a chill evening we did a pizza and movie night
Sunday: I made beef short ribs, green beans, and potatoes for lunch. For dinner we went to my parents' house and had steak, potato salad, baked beans, fruit salad, devilled eggs, and I brought a veggie tray. My brother brought pies from the Grand Traverse Pie Company. Yum!
Monday: Easy Leftover Pork Fried Rice (I remembered to leave the egg out of half of it so my kids wouldn't say "ew") and fruit
Tuesday: Instant pot mac and cheese with jalapeno cheddar brat chunks and a side of strawberries
Wednesday: Cajun orzo with sausage and a side of green grapes
Thursday: Pizza at church! It felt so good to have a night off of cooking and cleanup!
Friday: There's a family party tonight at church (the last day of our week-long Kids Camp) and I think the menu is something like hot dogs, chips, and cookies. Again, none of which I have to make or clean up from. *happy sigh*
Friday: Chicken Burritos with Mexican Cauliflower Rice
Saturday: My son and I went to his friend’s birthday party and ate there. My husband went to another friend’s birthday party and ate there.
Sunday: We hosted a huge Father’s Day lunch (steak tasting menu with sides, starters, desserts, and all the drinks) so no one was hungry at dinner. We all pulled a few snacks from the fridge through the night to nibble on while watching a movie.
Monday: Stir Fry – I had planned on an all veggie stir fry but I threw in the leftover steak from Sunday
Tuesday: Sheet Pan Chicken Tostadas and Roasted Cauliflower
Wednesday: Asian Pork Skewers over brown rice with egg rolls, roasted broccoli and Sweet & Spicy Baked Cauliflower
Thursday: Beef Gyros with French fries and watermelon
I planned for being an empty nester like you are with nursing school. I went from a family of 5 to 4 and then 3 when the older kids went away to college. Then my husband died suddenly and just the 8 year old and me. I started working when she was 16 so her departure to college didn’t hurt so much. Now she’s 35 and I’m still working and loving my career. I cook for leftovers and use my freezer a lot. I’m quite independent so had no desire to remarry!
It looks like you have adjusted to cooking for two people pretty well!! It is starting to get warm here and it is going to be over 100 when I get back to work so I am on the hunt for more recipes that are no oven and minimal stove.
Sunday- cauliflower rice bowl w/ kimchi, fried egg and avocado
Monday- I flew all night and was semi comatose so I don't remember but I think I had a repeat of the night before
Tuesday- Cauliflower rice and beans burrito bowl
Wednesday- Penne arriabiata with leftover chicken meatballs and broccoli
Thursday- roasted vegetable flatbread with chicken sausage
Friday- date night so no idea
Saturday- we have a college friend in town so we are leaving the day open depending on his schedule, so who knows
We had mostly leftovers this week, as we were out of town on the weekend. (We typically cook on weekends, and eat leftovers during the week). We also had a busy work week, with a bunch of evening meetings (due to time zones).
-My husband had salmon one night, while I had a leftover dinner delivery meal (freezer). I'm still working through a dinner delivery service a week when I was sick, and had to freeze all of the meals.
-We had grilled chicken & fried rice (both from the freezer) 2x
-We had grilled burgers 2x
For tonight, we're flying out again for a family wedding, so we will most likely be eating at the airport. Our credit card provides a $60 credit at a restaurant at the airport, so we will most likely make use of that.
Sunday: Father's day celebration with family, I brought strawberry cake.
Monday: Spaghetti with leftover sauce. We have a small enough family that a jar of sauce takes two weeks to get through, haha.
Tuesday: Preschooler's choice, mac and cheese.
Wednesday: Grilled pork loin with a side salad of grilled cherries and pearl couscous. It was from a library cookbook but it's definitely going in our rotation, it was so good!
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: We're going to the lake! So food will be sandwiches, snacks, hot dogs, and s'mores for the next few days 🙂
Have a great weekend everyone!
Kristen, your chicken katsu always looks so tasty when you post pics of it.
WIA:
Saturday: Hubby and I went to the best wedding reception we've ever been to so had dinner there. We're still talking about how great it was, for various reasons, and how much fun we had.
Sunday: Father's Day feast for husband and his brother. Son and I cooked. Steak, oysters, stuffed clams on shells (for the fathers only), grilled chipotle shrimp skewers from Aldi, grilled asparagus, homemade garlic parmesan knots, twice-baked potatoes, and small batch cheesecake with thrown-together blueberry sauce to go on top.
Monday: Leftover steak and shrimp from Father's Day.
Tuesday: Skyline chili, I find it online in cans, on top of linguine. Sprinkled shredded cheddar cheese and hot sauce to finish.
Wednesday: Grilled butterflied shrimp, steak (hubby and I split a reduced price porterhouse), and grilled asparagus. Our son does such a great job with the asparagus on the grill it is a repeat vegetable around here.
Thursday: Loosely followed recipe of chicken picatta. I used your brinerade recipe, Kristen, beforehand. Paired chicken breast with sauteed gnocchi with cream and parmesan/gruyere cheese sauce, and salad.
Friday: Chicken wings, along with cut up celery sticks, bell peppers, and carrots to go with them.
Happy Friday!
@Molly F.C.,
I live in the birth place of Skyline Chili, so you can buy the cans in the grocery stores here. My hubby eats it for lunch sometimes, usually with crackers and shredded cheese.
@Liz B.,
I just looked it up, New Englander here.
So there is no meat or beans? Its just sauce...like marinara only with chilis so spicy?
I know you all eat it on spaghetti but I didn't know it was just sauce.
@Jaime, it does have meat in it, but it is mashed so you don’t have huge chunks.
Oh!!! I’ll bring my Fork!!!
Monday-baked chicken and roasted vegetables
Tuesday-vegetable-loaded pasta salad
( I always have lots of onion, cucumber, peppers, celery and broccoli in pasta salad but this time I doubled the normal veg quantity to use up some “older” ones. I added extra pepperoni as well).
Wednesday-pasta salad
Thursday-pasta salad
Friday( tonight) French toast and bacon ( inspired by Kristen’s mention of her Wednesday’s meal)
Saturday-this will be a French and Indian feast to coordinate with watching “ The Hundred Foot Journey” with friends. A few friends are bringing desserts and the main dishes are being prepared by our friend/ neighbor. She’s making baked Brie, salmon tartare, tandori chicken wings, onion pakora and mixed vegetables.
Sunday-my husband and I are taking a salsa workshop with some other folks. Afterwards we’re all going to a Mexican restaurant for a meal.
I think next week we’ll be back to our usual green salad every night.
@Martha, I didn't have a chance to tell you that I think your pear was beautiful! Thank you for following up. There are so many different ways to paint, and people who can use watercolor and make it actually look like something really impress me.
@Martha, I love the idea of making dinner to go along with a movie! Especially that dinner, it sounds delicious.
I still work full time and am an empty nester. I make really fast stuff for dinner . We have eggs/bacon/keto toast or keto pancakes at least once a week. Yesterday I got sushi for hubby & I ate almond butter/jam. Someone just gave us 7 large avocados so we are having avocado toast with bacon tonight for dinner tonight...When I was single, I regularly had cereal or popcorn for dinner.
YUM to all of that, Kristen!
Wondering about the King’s Hawaiian rolls you use: When I tried the ones from Aldi, they were disappointingly bland. If that's what you use, does this recipe cover that up? Or have you not had that experience with the Aldi ones?
Thanks!
Hmm, I've usually used the name-brand ones but I buy them in a huge package at Sam's Club. Maybe check at a warehouse club if you have a membership?
@Kristen,
I have often wondered if your WIS includes breakfast and lunch (?)
Is chicken katsu recipe in the archives?
Your spending inspires me.
Thank you!
So now I want bacon and French toast…
Things we ate this past week:
Friday- pizza
Saturday- family from out of town visiting so I got BBQ takeout and made desserts…so much leftover food so we ate it for days…not sorry
Sunday- leftover BBQ
Monday- leftover BBQ sliders, salad, fruit
Tuesday- baked chicken, pasta, salad, garlic bread
Wednesday- pizza from freezer, salad, fruit
Thursday- chicken tortellini with red sauce, garlic bread, salad, fruit
Friday- takeout probably…
Someone made a big pot of pasta with chicken and portobello mushrooms. I don’t know what all they put in it but everyone loves it which is weird because I know it has vodka and no one here will touch the stuff in a drink. They used Jovial farfalle and it cooks up nicely for just being brown rice and water. I made some baked gluten free penne pasta with pink sauce and tiny meatballs. And some bbq pulled pork with bbq sauce. Cauliflower pizza one night. Coleslaw, steamed broccoli, beets, fresh fruits and stuff to round it out. The Rainer cherries are good this year. The price of watermelon is dropping so I need to grab one. Oh, and tamales one night with avocado and slaw.
WIS: $81 at Food Lion, $1.99 at a local clearance store that was not Ollie's Outlet.
WWA: Roasted chicken, green salads, fruit salads with cottage cheese, protein shakes, cheese, crackers, nuts, and mini ice cream bars for dessert. Lunch stood in for dinner one day when we ate out and had salad, a crab cake, hush puppies, and gumbo.
It was a big transition for me when we became empty nesters. Most of my recipes are too large for just the two of us so I no longer take leftovers for lunch so we can have them for dinner instead.
Sunday: Trader Joe's frozen channa masala, palak paneer, and naan with Basmati rice and hubby's favorite homemade peanut butter cookies for dessert
Monday: sautéed zucchini and kidney bean tostada
Tuesday: leftover zucchini tostada
Wednesday: Crockpot roast served on buns with roasted carrots and strawberries
Thursday: Leftover roast on leftover buns with chips and strawberries
Friday: went to a wedding and we had dinner at the reception
Is there a recipe for Chicken Katsu somewhere? It looks good!
We hosted my women's choir on Sunday night for a catered Asian buffet and then hosted my husband's job Monday night with another type of catered buffet. This ends up being "frugal" because we don't pay for the food and then we also get all the leftover food and wine. The downside is the pre- and post-party cleaning. So we ate leftovers for a few days until everyone was sick of that. Then it was pasta with meat sauce Wednesday, pizza Thursday, adult dinner at friend's house Friday (kids stayed home and had hot dogs).
Have no idea what we spent, my grocery store receipts lately are shameful.
We are adjusting to summer, so I'm all thrown off on what day it is! Oh, well. Better late than never!
WIS: 57.08 @Aldi, 145.01 @Giant, 87.18 @the liquor store, 129.84 on take out pizza, for a total of 419.11 this week.
WWA:
Fri: focaccia with bacon, mozzarella and parmesan cheese, the last of the leftover fruit and veg from my class (cherries, grapes, blueberries, carrots and tomatoes)
Sat: salad (arugula, balsamic dressing and crispy onions), leftover veggie and chicken rice, air fried chicken legs.
Sun: sliced cucumbers, cherries, take out pizza.
Mon: we had grilled hotdogs on buns at the pool. I brought along strawberries and blueberries as our salad, but we were too lazy to wash them, so they ended up for breakfast instead.
Tue: clementines and leftover rice (we had a lot of leftover pizza at lunch and weren't super hungry)
Wed: sweet and spicy bok choi, angel hair pasta that used up some leftover jarred sauce and topped with feta cheese, steak pieces that were marinated in some leftover dipping sauce that came with Indian food.
Thu: cheeseburger crescent dough ring using swiss chard, ground turkey and shredded cheddar cheese.
Fri: salad (lettuce, sliced cucumbers, blueberries, feta cheese and balsamic dressing), Aldi take and bake cheese pizzas topped with pepperoni from the freezer because someone forgotchia it was Friday and didn't make the sourdough the night before. Meh, summer. I'm sure we'll find the groove soon. 😉
Sat: more hotdogs and buns at the pool. Didn't even bother to virtuously bring produce this time. We did eat some produce when we got home though because we were still hungry, so we had nachos with salsa and avocado and leftover salad.
Happy summer, everyone!