WIS, WWA | with a random lunch
What I Spent
First, wanna see a super random lunch I had?
I frequently make breakfast or lunch by opening my fridge, peering around, and grabbing whatever needs to be used up. Sometimes this results in a cohesive-looking meal.
Other times...it doesn't. Here's an example!
I sliced up some cabbage (I have half a head leftover from a previous recipe) and I mixed it with some leftover tzatziki sauce.
I sliced and broiled a zucchini with oil, salt, pepper, and Parmesan, an idea I got from a previous Dinnerly recipe.
I fried two eggs (because of course.)
And I sliced up a couple of peaches.
No chef would put a meal like this together, but I used up some odds and ends, ate plenty of produce, and also got some protein in with the eggs and the tzatziki sauce (the base is Greek yogurt).
None of it took very long to throw together, and hey, I figure my body really only cares about nutritional value, not the cohesiveness of a meal. 🙂
I spent:
- $20 on peaches
- $60 at Aldi
Soooo, $80.
What We Ate
Saturday
Zoe and I both were out with friends. 🙂
Sunday
I made some ground beef tacos (bonus points for me because I found the ground beef during some freezer spelunking!) and we ate them on corn tortillas from my kitchen freezer.
Slowly but surely, I'm workin' through my stash of tortillas.
Monday
I made a teriyaki noodle dish with ground beef.
Verdict: good, but could have used more teriyaki sauce. 😉
We know I always think things need more sauce.
Tuesday
Gyros!
I made a recipe with grilled chicken and broiled veggies; I'd say it was good, but that I prefer raw veggies in my gyros.
I did lightly brush the pitas with oil and then heat them in my toaster oven, using the air fryer setting...total thumbs up to that!
Wednesday
Leftover gyros, but this time I put raw veggies in with the chicken and it was 1000% better that way.
Thursday
I made some mashed potatoes and stirred in the last of the jar of sun-dried tomatoes. I topped the potatoes with browned Italian sausage and some shredded Parmesan.
On the side, more shredded cabbage with tzatziki sauce.
I have concluded that I need to buy very small heads of cabbage from here on out.
WHY IS THIS CABBAGE SO BIG.
Friday
I think Zoe's gonna be at an event with a friend where pizza is involved. Seems like a good time for me to have a random-things-from-the-fridge dinner. 😉
I have two giant heads of cabbage in my fridge right now too. I think they may be compost bound at this point, but then again I'm always surprised at how long they can hold on. We'll see.
WIS: 153.47 @Aldi, 266.83 on the stupidly expensive mail order protein powder that keeps my husband happy, 51.43 on Pakistani food for lunch before a museum trip, 25.82 on Taco Bell for another lunch, 29.25 on take out pizza, and 96.69 on lunch at the aquarium, so another sort of pricey week at 623.49. That's mainly the cost of eating out, but we are summering a little, so it's ok. Also, the Aldi expense was mostly for the shelf stable food we will eat on our vacation next week, so hopefully my refrigerator/freezer items I buy next week won't be much more expensive than a normal grocery trip. Our rental is in a pretty rural area but we will have a kitchen in our house, so we aren't planning to eat out a lot, if at all. There are much better restaurants close to home for us, so I'm actually less tempted when we travel.
WWA:
Fri: pizza delivered to the pool. It had vegetables on it, but they were a poor substitute for salad.
Sat: twisty pasta, stir fried green peppers and sliced sausages and hotdogs (using leftovers in the fridge)
Sun: smash tacos using ground pork because it's the cheapest ground meat Aldi sells. The verdict is that it makes very good smash tacos. Toppings were sliced cheese, mixed lettuce, diced green pepper, diced onion, diced tomatoes, diced pickles, mustard/mayo sauce and diced avocado. Strawberry swirl cones for dessert.
Mon: cubed melon mixture: watermelon, cantaloupe and Korean melon, mixed salad greens with olive oil and balsamic drizzle, leftover pasta topped with leftover peppers and sausages and leftover scrambled eggs.
Tue: sliced heirloom tomatoes, lunchbox peppers and take out pizza.
Wed: got home super late from the aquarium after hitting rush hour traffic, but I did not want to get yet more take out, so I made the world's fastest dinner instead: microwaved a bag of frozen brussel sprouts, then buttered it and added salt, pepper and shake parm while I microwaved half a bag of frozen meat balls mixed with a jar of pasta sauce. We poured the meatballs and sauce over slices of bread and added a slice of provolone cheese on top. Literally ready in 15 minutes.
Thu: I had to serve on an interview panel at work, so my family ate stuffed shells without me and NO SALAD! Probably because there was no salad, they ate up all the shells and I had to eat cereal when I finally got home. Stinkers.
Tonight: focaccia and maybe crudites as we eat down the fridge.
Happy weekend, everyone!!!
@Becca, Cabbage Steaks?
@Tiana,
Even speaking as a former vegetarian, I'm gonna go with a solid "ew."
@Becca, lol, noooo, they are good! Slice about 1&1/2 inch thick rounds, brush olive oil on one side & Season with garlic& onion powder, paprika and salt and pepper then turn over and do the other side and bake on cookie sheet for about 20 minutes. A little caramelized on the outside and creamy on the inside. I’m going to try making them in the air fryer next time. Bwhahaha!
@Tiana, cut up cabbage and put it in the skillet with butter, salt, and pepper. Cook until it shrinks up and browns a litttle. Stir in cooked egg noodles and enjoy. Amazing! I promise you. It’s called Haluski. Or cut it up, add seasoning salt and butter, wrap it up in tin foil and cook on the grill, flipping it until it is cooked. Eat it with a dollop of sour cream. Sounds pretty gross, but believe me. It’s AMAZING! I wait for my first cabbage out of my garden to do this.
@JC, mmm, I will try!
@Tiana, I love caramelized cabbage. Stir fry it with some butter and really let it cook till there's browning...so good!
@JC, I like cabbage this way, but there's something about the way Tiana says it carmelizes that has sold me! Most vegetarians love cabbage for good reason!
@Becca,
Interested in what a Korean melon is? I have never heard of it.
@Jaime,
It's exactly what it sounds like. A melon whose seeds originated from Korea. My farm (the place where I get my farm shares...I do not in any way run a farm...I barely run a household...) grows them. They taste kind of like honey dew, but they are white inside and the peel is thin and sort of yellow. They are shaped vaguely like a football. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_melon
Now. Add some everything bagel seasoning to that zucchini, and it will be perfect!
Random things are so much more fun and the bowl of sausage topped mashed potatoes looks so good! I actually managed to cook this week:
Monday - kitchen closed
Tuesday - Taco Salads (Beef Taco Rio meat, romaine, avocado, bell pepper, tomato, cheese, Fritos I found in the pantry)
Wednesday - I decided not to cook what I had planned, opting instead for cheeseburgers with garlic onion fries that I made at home.
Thursday - Tilapia, skillet squash, red and yellow sauteed peppers
Tonight - Crockpot BBQ Pork Chops, mashed potatoes, veggie of some sort
Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed - cereal is planned, but we shall see
Its been a roller coaster week and I managed to feed myself and sometimes, my son.
Happy weekend,
https://cannaryfamily.blogspot.com/
I love that you throw eggs on so many dinners. Such a yummy idea and one I did frequently in my single days! I might have to bring that back into our meal rotation. As for cabbage- we love it! We mix it with everything-rice, salad, tacos.
Dinners this week included:
1. Lemon pepper tofu, rice and broccoli
2. Grilled chicken, rice and salad
3. Stuffed zucchini with vegan meatballs and salad
4. Sloppy joe with corn and salad
5. Shrimp street tacos, salad and corn
6. Grilled chicken sandwiches
7. Tonight is sliders and probably a salad with fruit
Saturday and Sunday: homemade pizzas.
Monday: chicken and rice and I forget what side dish. I know there was one, I am just blanking on it.
Tuesday: Burgers and salad bar. I had everything ready ahead of time and thought about toasting the buns before dinner but ran out of steam.
Wednesday: hamburger stew (mac and cheese for the youngest)
Thursday: taco night for the boys, while DH and I went down to the city and I volunteered at the cat shelter; afterwards we tried a little Mediterranean restaurant he found and it was lovely. Not fancy--mostly delivery, with a few seats, but perfect for us. My falafel pita had plenty of sauce and lots of veggies and I was in heaven. $20 for both of us.
Friday: DH is making tuna burgers! Everyone likes his tuna burgers.
WIS: $20 at the Regional Market, $18.70 at Ollie's, and $15.60 at Price Chopper.
WIA: Nothing as adventurous as the meal that started with cabbage and tzatziki (which actually sounds like a base for a pretty good Greek coleslaw). But yet another stir-fry, with chicken and with rice instead of noodles this time; I'm gonna keep making stir-frys till snow pea season is over, at least. And a ribeye steak from our 1/4 steer, with tomato slices and sweet corn on the side.
I agree with you on the cabbage! I have trouble even using up one head and we are a family of 5...
@Sarah K, my grocery stores will cut a cabbage in half if I ask - which I usually do, especially with purple cabbage. I just ask someone in produce department and they take it back and bring the halves back. I have never been refused.
Cabbage expands when you cut it. Because of the layers. Some people buy bags of shredded "coleslaw mix" instead of cabbage, I think, if they can't use a whole head. Not that I have that issue . . .
Saturday: Meatballs made with ground sheep and zaatar, cooked in tomato juice with more zaatar. Also rice and frozen peas.
Sunday: Pizza leftover from Friday. I do not typically have leftovers from pizza, but I made my usual two half-sheet-pan pizzas for only three children (husband and one son in New York), anticipating leftovers for another night. This was it. Also green salad with vinaigrette and strawberry/rhubarb/cream popsicles.
Monday: Bean and cheese quesadillas for the two kids eating with me (two travelers still gone, eldest son at work), scrambled eggs and rice for me, carrot sticks.
Tuesday: Still just the two kids. They had, by request, tuna salad sandwiches. Also carrot sticks and a smoothie. I had thin slices of sirloin steak fried with a bunch of vegetables.
Wednesday: My husband (and son) had just arrived home the night before, bringing various New-York-specific foodstuffs, including Gianelli Italian sausage. I was way more excited about this than you would think sausage would inspire. 🙂 This was our 20th anniversary, so I made a celebratory meal of sausage, fried potatoes, green salad with ranch dressing, and s'mores. The ingredients for the s'mores were purchased by my MiL in New York, but they never got around to making them on the beach there. So all of it came home to us and we built a little fire in our outdoor grill area, had the kids each sharpen their own marshmallow stick, and pretended we were on the beach for a little while.
Thursday: Beef stir-fry, in which I used the rest of the sirloin steak and some random daikon radishes that came in a CSA box that was part of our excess commodities this month. I have never cooked with daikon radishes. I did not like their bitter flavor in the stir-fry. but maybe I just didn't cook them correctly.
Tonight: Husband also brought back several bottles of my favorite New York barbecue sauce (Dinosaur BBQ Sensuous Slathering Sauce, for those who care), and I might use that for sloppy joes or barbecue pork. We'll see what I manage. I also have tomatoes he bought at a roadside stand in Oklahoma (all of this transported food was my anniversary present, because he knows me well) and some cucumbers from my MiL's garden, so I think a tomato and cucumber salad as well.
@kristin @ going country, Gianelli sausage and Dinosaur BBQ sauce? Way to go! (I do recall that you're originally from Central NY; correct?)
@A. Marie, I'm not from there, but my husband is. I did live there for a decade, though, and I miss the dairy and certain other foods more than anything else about upstate.
@kristin @ going country,
Happy Anniversary!
@kristin @ going country,
We find the best way to eat radishes of any kind is to broil them. Turns the bitterness into sweet.
Hmmm
Salad with chicken
Japanese corn potage with garlic bread
Summer minestrone with chicken
Grilled burgers
Last night, I ate out; kids had takeout pizza.
Not sure about tonight. Probably something else salady with corn. Mmmm, corn.
I love cabbage for its frugality, but it's hard to finish one! A cabbage is so much food. I estimate that one green cabbage makes four meals with leftovers, and we don't want to eat cabbage all week, necessarily.
Weekend: A blur! I don't remember.
Monday: I made tomato soup and grilled cheese
Tuesday: I was working and my supervisor bought us all dinner. Mr. B made pasta with tomato sauce.
Wednesday: I made tofu and kale stir fry with rice.
Thursday: Mr. B made pizza
Friday: Mr. B will grill lamb burgers and I'll make frozen fries and a salad.
I either make sauerkraut or pickled cabbage when I have raw cabbage left. I use a standard quick pickle brine for the pickled cabbage and it keeps well in the refrigerator.
I didn't shop this past week, but I picked up a beef ranch order for just under $50.
WIA:
I gave in and let myself have black beans and rice, just seasoned with onions and garlic , as they did in the area of Guatemala that I visited. Served with sliced cucumbers and some goat-milk feta from a farm. Beans and rice are a rare treat for me now and they were soooo good.
When the little girls spent the night I made one of their favorite meals - hot dogs, salt and vinegar potato chips, grapes, strawberries, and for my daughter and her teen daughter and me, sliced cucumbers with ranch. Lemonade using juice from our tree that I froze last year. Buns for them, not for me.
Polish sausage, sweet potato mash, pickled cabbage (a repeat from the previous week.)
Cevapi without the ajvar and lepinja; I served mine with sour cream and no bread. I had more sweet potato plus grilled okra. It's not traditional, but it was good. This was part of my internet hunt for more interesting main dishes.
Egg drop soup and cucumbers slices.
I got home too late to cook one night, so I ate some of the grain-free cereal in my pantry. That stuff is so expensive, I only eat it as a treat or emergency meal.
A nice piece of grass-fed sirloin served with sautéed celery, onions, mushrooms, and garlic, with raw cucumbers as another side. I finished that nice meal with buttermilk/peach sherbet, made in my Kitchen Aid ice cream attachment. So good.
Today I will grocery shop, so it depends on how long that takes and what I might spot in the store. Otherwise, probably a sandwich on GF bread.
A head of cabbage is a long term committment:) But it can be chopped and frozen and then works well in recipes where it is cooked. For example a vegetable soup, or add it to a hamburger meal like sloppy joes or just sauted as a side dish. Of course chopping the extra cabbage and freezing adds to the freezer stash - which is exactly the opposite of what you are trying to do right now.
@Jo, Yes, I frequently make potage bonne femme with leftover cabbage. All it is is good stock (usually beef) with any vegetables needing using up plus sliced cabbage. Yummy.
@Jo, Cabbage is indeed a long term commitment! 😉 We like to make egg roll in a bowl to use some of the seemingly endless head of cabbage.
Saturday - we had a late Taco Bell lunch driving back from our trip so I just made the kids Kraft when we got home and I had cereal
Sunday - my husband and daughter went to a birthday party, I ordered Greek takeout food for my son and I at home (since my husband doesn’t like Greek food) Turns out my son also does not like it much so I got to enjoy the leftovers the next day.
Monday - baked pizza chicken, Burrata and corn ravioli from Trader Joe’s, steamed broccoli
Tuesday - chicken and sausage orzo
Wednesday - bbq chicken made into sandwich’s for husband and kids, I too have an excess cabbage problem right now though so I shredded some and cut my chicken up to put on top and used some cucumber ranch dressing, it was pretty good. We also had roasted mini potatoes and peas.
Thursday - we were at a family event at my husbands work that had food so I didn’t plan a dinner. My kids were too excited by all the activities to eat though so I still had to make them something when we got home. I made Kraft again with lil smokies mixed in.
Friday - going to a happy hour and then the Barbie movie with some friends, really looking forward to it! Husband and kids are on their own.
You might like this chicken shawarma recipe, which is delicious, easy & the veggies are added on raw at the end. We love it. https://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/chicken-shawarma/
It was an "eat from the freezer" type of week, given how busy we've been.
We had:
-Grilled chicken (freezer) + rice x2
-Ground beef tacos (meat from the freezer). This had the bonus of using up a package of shredded cheese I discovered, as well as some tortillas. I also remembered to make my husband some cauliflower rice to go with his. I'm trying to whittle that bag down, and it really clumps together in the freezer. Ideally, I'd freeze it in smaller, meal sized containers. Next time I buy one, that will be the ticket.
-Hot dogs (freezer) leftover from the 4th of July
-Odds & ends from the fridge: salmon, caprese salad (basil + tomatoes from the garden) while the teens were at a barbecue for their summer employer
-And, I got the teens takeout both weekend days, as I had a late meeting on Friday, and was just over everything on Saturday & my husband was out of town. This is super unusual for us, so they loved it. I did eat my leftovers on Saturday, an skipped takeout. 😉
As for tonight, we are heading to Portland to visit my family. I'll stay for the weekend, and the teens are staying there for another 10 days or so. We're planning to eat at the airport lounge (free with my credit card.)
In the theme of menu planning, I wanted to thank you for posting the corn quesadilla recipe this week! I had most of the ingredients and riffed the rest (no cilantro or lime but added frozen spinach I'd squeezed dry and some sprinkles of hot sauce). It was fast and healthy, a fun unexpected treat, and my crew all loved it. The 15-year-old even said, "I'd buy these on a food truck!" I would have never thought of the pairing and it's firmly in the rotation now. I'm thinking it could even be a good Mexi-bowl with rice instead of tortillas. Thank you!
Yay! So glad to hear it.
WIS: $40 @ Food Lion.
WWA: The too hot to cook edition: Garden salads with various toppings like dried fruit or cottage cheese. Homemade bread. Tomato-Swiss cheese sandwiches with homegrown tomatoes from the container garden. Protein shakes with frozen berries and chia seeds. Homemade coconut-raisin granola. Homemade chicken-veggie soup from the freezer that I thickened up to creaminess with a few spoonfuls of instant potato flakes. The instant potato packet was bought to tempt my mashed potato loving dog into eating when she was sick a couple of weeks ago. For dessert, some mini Talenti mango sorbet pops that were on sale -- very yum!
Good grief! It’s only 8 in the morning here in NM and already the entire Frugal Girl Commentariat has posted their grocery spend and weekly menus and grandmothers’ recipes and charming anecdotes about their charming children … I feel like the White Rabbit. “I’m late! I’m late! For a very important date!”
WIS: $36.45 at Sprouts and $52.34 at Albertsons. Soooo…The Frugal Girl beat me by $8.79. Darn it.
Very few “good” buys, and those weren’t good enough to be “frugal”, just good enough to be less outrageous than usual. And bread prices seem to be skyrocketing again – Russia pulling out of wheat deal with Ukraine is probably to blame. Yes, I blame Putin. And who knew organic kimchi goes for $8.49 a jar? Not me. I blame Putin.
My Albertsons’ receipt says I saved “$3.21!” (exclamation point Albertsons, not mine), thanks in part to a $0.05 “reusable bag credit.” Gosh. Thanks so much. Sprouts didn’t even give me a reusable bag credit for using my own bag; it just didn’t charge me for using their reusable bag. [Sigh.]
But I did score some eye of round steaks at 40% off. They looked really good but were on the cusp of their “sell by” date. So as soon as I got home I put them in some marinade (for a long time, because that cut of meat isn’t very tender) and then cooked them up and froze several of them for later use in salads and whatnot. Especially whatnot – SO delicious.
WIA: Um, marinated eye of round steak (surprise!) with roasted smashed potatoes and broccoli. Or corn, just to shake things up. Some leftover tortellini and asparagus en brodo. Fish tacos with cole slaw*, and quesadillas with chicken and broccoli slaw. Because I’m trying to sneak in vegetables and salad wherever I can. As long as they’re liberally coated with cheese or salad dressing. Or both.
*I buy pre-mixed cole slaw because (cough! Kristen! cough!) CABBAGE IS SO BIG! I blame Putin.
@JDinNM, This post was such a funny read this am! Thank you for the smiles!!
@JDinNM, "I blame Putin" —thanks for the chuckle!
@Diane, Then my work is done. I may take the rest of the day off....
Hahah, well, you ARE three hours behind me timewise, I think! So 8 for you is 11 here. 😉
Putin is a safe scapegoat; an overwhelming number of humans on the planet despise him.
Kristen, you really love to cook! I am so impressed with the variety, with the fact that you actually turn on the stove for lunch. When I am home alone, a meal often consists of standing at the counter, slicing cheese and eating it as I go, maybe slicing fruit and then stabbing each piece with the knife to eat it. Very uncivilized (but efficient).
I always say it's not so much that I love to cook...it's that I love to eat! Ha.
Your "girl dinners" (it's a trend on TikTok right now) alwaysvaguel make me feel better about the random things that become meals in my house. I grew up with a mom where everything leftover became soup and I am now the person that throws everything with some scrambled eggs and salsa for breakfast burritos.
This week we had:
Sunday: Date night/Celebration. I got my sutures out (I can take an almost normal shower!!!) and got cleared for irritatingly low weight bearing, so we went out for pizza to celebrate. You gotta celebrate the inches when it comes to this recovery.
Monday- skirt steak salad
Tuesday- I was at appointments all day, so Greek takeout from our favorite place that happens to be nearby
Wednesday- continuation of the Greek food
Thursday- vaguely Asian rice bowls. It is just too freaking hot to cook.
Friday- high protein broccoli mac (most likely)
Saturday- We are going to be out all day, so snacky stuff seems the most likely
WIS: Ooph. $276 @ Walmart but that included some school supplies - only about $195 was actual groceries.
WWA:
Sat: This was a day of all kinds of major projects around the house. I threw a whole chicken in the crockpot and made chicken and rice for dinner, pinto beans and sliced tomatoes from our garden.
Sun: Chipotle Beef in the crockpot, brown rice and sauteed zucchini from our garden
Mon: Leftovers
Tues: Leftovers for some; date night and we had Cava bowls which were awesome!
Wed: Herb Baked Chicken thighs, Roasted Broccoli, Brown Rice
Thur: Takeout
Fri: Clean out the fridge or possibly takeout; again a lot of projects going on so we may hit the easy button tonight
Happy Friday everyone!
Your gyros look delicious…I think I’ll have to get those on the menu soon. I have been having “a bit of this & a bit of that breakfasts and lunches…one day this week I found a partial package of shrimp in the freezer so I sautéed it with garlic and had it with steamed broccoli…it was delicious and quick and felt kind of fancy for lunch.
Meals we ate:
Last weekend I did no cooking because my elderly mom’s best friend from college (they met in 1956!) was visiting her so I took takeout dinners 2 nights and took them out to a brewpub Sunday evening.
Monday- Wedge salad with melon
Tuesday- BLT sandwiches with potato chips & melon
Wednesday- Beef & Broccoli, pork fried rice, & potstickers
Thursday- Grilled ham & cheese sandwiches w/green salad & melon
Tonight we will have takeout pizza because it’s too hot to make pizza. Next week will likely include lots of chicken because I got some great deals on chicken thighs (boneless & bone in) and salads. I also bought several packages of Aidells chicken sausage on sale (we will eat some and freeze some) and 2 kinds of fresh tortellini. I have some artisan romaine from Costco and it seems a shame to treat it like regular romaine so I think I will get my husband to do grilled romaine…we’ve had it as a salad at a local fancy restaurant and I know we can replicate it.
Have a good weekend!
It would be nice if stores sold half or quarter heads of cabbage like they do with watermelons. I haven’t even thought about how to use the 1/2 head in my crisper…WWA:
Saturday - slow cooker beef stew & baguette
Sunday - meatloaf (to use up bread crumbs in freezer), mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, yogurt Bundt cake (to use up leftover yogurt)
Monday - leftovers
Tuesday - banana pancakes & bacon (used 2 of the multitude of frozen bananas I have accumulated-am planning a banana bread and muffin extravaganza in my kitchen for next week)
Wednesday - baked chicken drumsticks, frozen French fries
Thursday - garlic sausage, pirogies, green salad
Friday - undetermined and unmotivated to even think about it (am starting vacation as of 4:00 today and kinda want to just chill)
Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend
@kj, One of my favorite grocery stores lets you buy celery one stalk at a time. I'll have to ask them to start chopping up the cabbage heads...
Cabbages are ridiculously big, but they do last forever while we slowly chip away at them, so at least they don't go bad.
Sunday: Grilled pork with a grilled cherry side salad. I love this recipe while cherries are in season.
Monday: Potluck with my family, we brought the pasta salad we tried last week but with a few tweaks. We liked it better the second time.
Tuesday: Preschooler's choice, which has meant mac and cheese or ramen for months, but this time she surprised us and requested pancakes. So we had pancakes with cut up peaches.
Wednesday: Salami, cucumber, and cream cheese sandwiches, with fresh cherries on the side.
Thursday: Date night! I had sushi, my husband had chicken katsu, and my sister babysat and made mac and cheese at home.
Friday/Saturday: Leftovers or pantry meals, clearing out the fridge.
Have a great weekend everyone!
This week lots of BLTs and gazpacho. And John and Moma showed me how to make tomato gravy. Made lots of coleslaw. Not the sugar kind, I like it with minced onion, salt, pepper, and either Hellmans or olive oil. Some fresh local corn with salt and butter. Found a local bbq place that make the best collard greens, I could eat a trough. I found a vintage Tupperware green lettuce crisper at the Goodwill bins for about a dine so lots of wedge salad. I think I need a squash and onion frittata, I see it in my future.
@Tiana, I inherited my vintage green Tupperware lettuce crisper from my maternal grandmother, so didn't cost me even a dime. It must be at least 60 years old. Hand wash only! I really do love it. It really does work!
@JDinNM, uh oh. I washed it in the top of the dishwasher. It still burps. I found so many vintage kitchen items at the bins, foley citrus juicer, old wood handle wire pastry mixer, flower sifter, and an aluminum with wood handle biscuit cutter that I grabbed for me.
@Tiana, They last forever, and are so much fun to use. You get a little nostalgia in every biscuit.
@Tiana, What's tomato gravy?
@Jody S., I think it’s an old southern recipe? I found it here: https://m.facebook.com/coffeetimewithjohnandmomma/videos/tomato-gravy-tater-cakes-and-cornbread-its-delicious-yall/1155936088624979/
Our summer dinner meals are usually salads during the weeknights but this week I changed it up a bit to use a piece of beef from the freezer.
Monday- salad with chicken on top
Tuesday- crockpot beef/ rice/ broccoli
Wednesday- salad
Thursday- casserole to use up leftover beef, rice and broccoli
Friday- pasta salad with pepperoni
Saturday-I’m hoping for Mezeh but we’ll see …
I am just like you with using what I have in the freezer. Being only me to make meals, a can of vegetables or beans I am eating all week or put in the freezer. As I type a chicken thigh (cooked) is warming up in a pan with carnalized onions. ha I would eat all that you had this week. I would have to pass on anything salty. BP problem. Thanks for making my day.
I resonate with this method of eating. My breakfast this morning is leftover couscous (from a shish kebabs dinner), sauteed onions, peppers, and mushrooms (also left from shish kebab dinner), some super greens salad mix that is getting witty thrown in to the pan, and a little uncurled Canadian bacon form a package lurking i the freeer. Topped with cheese and some spicy sauce. I know you would hav peut an egg on top, but i wasn’t in the mood!
sorry about the bad typing- i can’t get back in to edit!
@Jen, Once you click that "Comment" button, you're done for! No going back ...
Oooh, that sounds so delicious!
I love the way you use up odds & ends. I'm going to try that for lunch today!
Cabbage is always a challenge for me....
I like to use up my extra cabbage in Asian tacos, or even in regular tacos. I find that if I add some in with the ground beef after I brown it, nobody really notices. It also stretches the meat, which has gotten ridiculously expensive, and adds a "hidden" vegetable to the dish.
Our grocery store sells half heads of cabbage, which I really appreciate. You make the most interesting lunches from leftovers!
@Lindsey, P.S. This recipe for gluten free cabbage tortillas is a good way to use up cabbage. https://alexandracooks.com/2023/07/08/cabbage-tortillas-5-ingredients-gluten-free-baked
My meals are even more random than that because I haven't unpacked any of my kitchen yet. It's all random foods (pretzels and peanut butter has featured prominently) and leftovers eaten cold with plasticware.
We've had a little more variety and less leftovers as we have guests right now. But leftovers are being frozen for future no-hassle meals.
- Chicken, pasta, bread, veggies
- Bean potato soup with stove top garlic bread (my new fav way to make garlic bread).
- Riz gras (à local dish with fish and rice).
- Lentil and rice bowls.
- Chicken and sauce over rice.
- Vegetarian spaghetti and veggies
Cabbage is a vegetable we can get cheaply and easily here, so we eat it all the time! Mostly cooked into sauces to serve over rice or Cabbage salads. We also put it in sandwiches, stirfrys, oven roasted and soups.
@Katy in Africa, and we like to finely cut it and mix into tuna or chicken salad. Tuna is expensive here so it really helps stretch it. And we like it chopped finely in burritos
I love cabbage! When I buy one I use 1/2-3/4 of it shredded for a soup with kielbasa or slice my sausage & whatever other veggies I have. The rest I use for whatever I’m making with it.
I always use shredded cabbage for Mexican food, which we eat a lot. I shred it finely with a mandoline or sharp knife. If I want to get fancy, I add any or all of: chopped fresh jalapenos or milder peppers, cilantro, lime. If I do the latter, I make a lot, because it keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days.
Yeah, we never seem to have enough cabbage around here, lol!
P.S. On a camping trip recently, I bought shredded cabbage. Definitely not as good as shredding it yourself.
I miss your other kitty
Cabbage when thinly sliced makes a very good base for stir fry. Yummy! We have early cabbages in the garden right now. Made a 4 head batch of sauerkraut using my Great Grandfather's cabbage slicer, invited all of the cousins over to share in the pounding and salting. So much fun!
Sunday-Breakfast for dinner with fresh peaches
Monday - halibut fish fry, cabbage coleslaw, zucchini and sweet onion au gratin.
Tuesday - fish tacos, shredded cabbage with cilantro lime dressing, pico de gallo from the garden (except lime).
Wednesday - road trip, made garden salads with bbq beef steak sliced thin, grapes
Thursday - Green garden salad, crumbled bacon, fresh peas, boiled eggs & gf croutons
Friday - bbq meatballs, spicy mac & cheese, green salad, fresh corn on the cob, watermelon
Saturday - leftovers, invited neighbors for dessert
I eat about 2 lbs of cabbage every week. Almost always stir fried with garlic and a crushed pepper along with some salt and sugar.
It's a vegetable that requires minimal prep, stores for a long time, and it's quite nutritious! Also fills me up as I'm a volume eater.
A favorite fall side dish is to saute red cabbage, apples, and onions in a frying pan, preferably cast iron, until the onions are carmalized & the apples soft. It takes a while, about 45 minutes. Sometimes I add sweet Italian sausage to the mix and have it as the main dish. So yummy.
I like the term "freezer spelunking"! I'm adding it to my lexicon.
What a blessing that stack of corn tortillas! I was trying t remember and I cannot recall if I ever saw you make enchilada casserole? That's a great use for extra tortillas and then you have ready-made meals for days--I sometimes cheat and just layer the tortillas (like lasagna) with black beans, corn, cheese, onions, peppers (rather than rolling them ) One of my greatest discoveries as an adult was learning to make my own enchilada sauce. SO easy and tons better than canned --cheaper also.
Ha, I like the way you look at them as a blessing; I must confess I've been looking at them more as a chore!
Kristen, when I just can't stomach any more cabbage or whatever it is, I dig it into the garden. I figure it isn't wasting food; instead, I am nourishing the soil to (try to) grow more food.