Another apology

Yes, yes, I know. I'm absolutely terrible. I'm truly sorry, but things have been crazy busy (still are, for that matter), and things are in an upheaval. I hope to be back to give an overview - at least of the budget - by the end of the month. AND that would make it the end of this year! :)

Hello

I'll be back again sometime, but right now just isn't the time. Sorry.

Hello, again!

Your lackadaisical blogger is back after yet another crazy week. I should probably stop making promises that are practically impossible to keep, like, "try to do better" ... :P No promises are contained in this post! It's just a quick update:

Sunday evening we ladies of the house headed to Dickson and were gone until Wednesday afternoon-ish. We had a friend over from Tuesday afternoon until Thursday morning, and Mama and I went grocery shopping yesterday. So, the grocery budget total is now: $381.64.

This, That, and The Other

I'm a terrible blogger, I know. Life happens and I end up wanting to do anything but sit at this computer and type out menus and budgets. So I won't make any excuses - I really have none. I'll leave you with a promise to try (and more than likely fail) to do better next time. The budget? It's at a healthy $800.17!!! And finally, here's today's menu:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: I made Kyle and myself tortilla pizzas. We're really enjoying the fresh tomatoes! I thinly slice tomatoes, add a little fresh chopped basil, throw on some mozzarella, add pepperoni, and throw on a little more mozzarella. It's delicious!

Dinner: We had 3 pork chop left from the pack we bought a few weeks ago (I used the rest of the pack on the "stuffed" pork chops I made on Mama's birthday about a month ago.). What's a family of 6, including 1 teenage boy and another almost there, going to do with only 3 pork chops? Then it struck me! Don't use them as pork chops! So I cubed up the meat, marinated it for a while (sherry, sesame oil, white wine vinegar, honey, soy sauce, garlic, salt, pepper, powdered ginger), tossed it in flour, browned it, and then simmered it in the rest of the marinade (plus chicken broth, red wine vinegar, molasses, more ginger, crushed red pepper, and some cornstarch to thicken it - which I don't know that it really needed). Yeah, it made a huge mess of the kitchen, but the end result was pretty close to what I was going for, and wasn't bad, if I do say so myself! I served that on top of rice, with fried apples and roasted bell pepper and squash on the side.

Peach Pies

Breakfast: Bread pudding using some of the left over rolls

Lunch: Tomatoes and baked sweet potatoes

Dinner: A wild rice and chicken casserole of my own invention with sliced tomatoes and toasted rolls (used the rest of the left over rolls) WITH PEACH PIE FOR DESSERT!!!!!!! Best. Pie. EVER!!!!!!

A Delicious Dinner

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Left-overs and tomatoes

Dinner: Steak, roasted green beans, and rolls! 'Twas REALLY good! :)

A Delightful Experience

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Fresh tomatoes and cottage cheese and roasted green beans

Dinner: We were all gone in separate directions. I went to Nashville with friends (for a Trinity College Choir concert - it was AMAZING!!! If you get a chance to go, do so!), Claire and Kyle had practice, and the others went to Dickson for the evening.

I'm behind again

Yep, I'm behind. And I'm not going to try to remedy it all the way. I'm just going to pop in here and say that thankfully I got paid recently, and at the same time we had various, random party expenses (yes, we hosted a little get together yesterday evening -  it was loads of fun!) which brought the grocery budget down to $394.83.

PEACHES!!!

Breakfast: Blueberry muffins!!!

Lunch: Get whatcha want

Dinner: Barbecued chicken legs, roasted green beans, and Alton Brown's fingerling potatoes! T'was delicious!

WE GOT PEACHES TODAY!!!!!!!! They're SOOOO good!!!! And now all that's left of the grocery money (until tomorrow, supposedly) is $13.06. Was it worth it? Oh, yes.

A day of left-overs

We still have a bunch of left-overs in the fridge, even after yesterday.

Breakfast: Not left-overs! Bagels/get whatcha want

Lunch: Yep, left-overs

Dinner: You guessed it! Left-overs...

Let's pretend...

That Monday and Tuesday didn't happen - food-wise anyway - 'cause I don't remember much of anything. So that brings us to today. Mama and I went grocery shopping today (by the way, Aldi's has great prices on chicken this week! We were totally out of chicken, so I was delighted to find that!). The grocery total is now: $46.62. Yeah, ouch... Thankfully payday is just around the corner!

Breakfast: Get whatcha want (I'm assuming... Daddy was the only other one up when Mama and I left this morning.)

Lunch: Mama and I had Einstein's Tuscan Pesto Chicken (or something like that) and smoothies. It was all quite good, but we thought it was rather pricey.

Dinner: Cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and smoked sausage with corn on the cob on the side.

The Weekend

It's over, unfortunately.

Saturday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want, I think; I don't really remember...

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Claire and Kyle were at a gig, and the rest of us went into Dickson (Lowe's run;). We grabbed Subway while we were there.


Sunday:

Breakfast: Scones

Lunch: Cabbage, carrot, potato, and smoked sausage soup/stew, slaw, and lemon bars

Dinner/fellowship: Coffee punch (that didn't get used at the baby shower) and potato stacks (I did more or less the same thing, but I added sliced onion to the potato layers - it was good!).

Finally Friday

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Left-over chicken salad

Dinner: BLTs!!!

Over the last couple of days we reduced the grocery money to $695.66.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Breakfast: Eggs and English muffins

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Chicken salad

Today's Thursday, which means, of course, it's cookie day! I look forward to this day all week. Today I made Chocolate Crinkles. Today's batch didn't look as nice, for some reason... Oh well, they still tasted good.

Also today, Luke and I picked some blackberries! They're just coming in, and I'm hoping to take full advantage of the many wild ones we have around us.

Wednesday's Meals

Breakfast: Get whatcha want - I think most of us chose cereal.

Lunch: Left-over pasta, pepperoni stuff

Dinner: Grilled veggies and smoked sausage and rice

Done with Tuesday

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Tacos

Dinner: Left-over tomato soup

Mama and I had to go into town early yesterday morning, and we picked up some things we'll need this weekend. We spent $32.26, making the total $730.94.

Monday came way too soon.

Breakfast: Blueberry muffins!

Lunch: Left-over beef hash

Dinner: Pasta, pepperoni, mushrooms, sauce... Claire threw it together.

Daddy picked up some items that were running very dangerously low (as in, we had about 4 eggs left, and maybe one onion...!). He spent $68.97, making the total $763.20.

Father's Day Weekend

Saturday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Again, get whatcha want. I was alone in the kitchen most of the day preparing for the Lord's Day, and I was too busy with that food to think about Saturday's meals...

Dinner: It was AWESOME! All of y'all who didn't get any, be jealous. Daddy grilled steak kabobs - just steak and peppers. MAN, it was GOOD!!!!


Sunday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Tomato parmesan soup, Napa cabbage slaw, scalloped turnips, and pecan pies

Dinner/Fellowship: Buffalo chicken roll... things. Supposed to be bites, but thought they would hold up better as individual rolls.

Friday - Pay Day

Breakfast: Left-over pie, smoothie, get whatcha want

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: I turned the left over faux boeuf bourguignon into beef hash. It's nice and versatile that way.

I also got paid yesterday, meaning the total is now $832.17.

Behind again?!

And I thought I was doing better... :/

Wednesday:

Ah, I know what happened! I was gone all morning on Wednesday; I'm not sure I got on my computer at all that day! While we were out, we spent $37.51 of grocery money, bringing the total to $382.17.

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Mama, Claire, and I were gone, so we picked up chicken strips, honey mustard, and Pringles at Walmart for lunch. I don't know what the menfolk had.

Dinner: Squash casserole, greens, and salad - maybe another dish, but I don't remember...


Thursday:

'Twas Mama's birthday!

Breakfast: Claire fixed an egg and greens casserole thing.

Lunch: Get whatcha want

Dinner: Stuffed/rolled pork chops, grilled garlic scapes and broccoli (bite-sized pieces, foil pouch, olive oil, salt and pepper), fried apples, baked the left-over stuffing, and cranberry sauce/gravy thing. It was a really awesome dinner! I was especially pleased since I didn't have any idea what I was going to do at 3pm. :) For dessert Claire and I fixed a couple fresh blackberry pies. Oh, gosh, that has got to be one of the best pies EVER!!!!! (The recipe is for the strawberry version; for blackberry, peach, or another type of soft fruit just substitute the appropriate jello.)

It's got it going on!

Breakfast: Deviled eggs, etc.

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Faux boeuf bourguignon that was good! Love it when that happens...

Monday, June 11, 2012

Breakfast: Get what you want? Perhaps? I don't really remember...

Lunch: Chicken and turkey salad

Dinner: Turkey and onions and peppers in a cream sauce over fettuccine

Another weekend

I got paid back from some of the non-grocery items we purchased the other day. So now the grocery total is $419.68.

Saturday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want (possibly)

Lunch: Get whatcha want - we were cooking...

Dinner: Turkey


Sunday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Turkey, green beans, and M&Ms

Dinner: Pizza bites!

Hello, it's me again,

your terrible, horrible, no good, very bad blogger. I keep trying, and, these couple weeks/months, I keep failing. For that I apologize, but I can't really do much about it. It's been one crazy week - good, yes, but incredibly, unbelievably crazy (Hello, Summer!). I will now attempt to recall what we've eaten the last couple of days, but, again, I will probably fail.

Thursday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want (probably???)

Lunch: Left-overs, get whatcha want... Maybe?

Dinner: Tomato soup and garlic toast, I think


Friday:

Breakfast: We didn't really have breakfast. We were out awfully late the night before, and slept in WAY too late.

Lunch: A dear friend from church, at whose house we were currently at (is that proper syntax/grammar???), provided us with delicious tuna salad, crackers, chips, salsa, Greek yogurt, and edifying conversation. We had a lovely time, and it was practically dinner time by the time we left. :P

Dinner: Claire and I threw together a fruity, grilled chicken salad with pineapple on the side (it's too good to go in a salad!).

I actually think that's pretty close to the truth!

Yes, yes, I'm terrible...

I know I said I was hoping this week would be better, and here I am again after 2 full days of no posts. Here are my excuses: Tuesday was grocery shopping and a late-night class after which I was exhausted. Yesterday I finally succumbed to the illness that has been lingering in our house for a month or two. The symptoms are an extremely sore throat, off-and-on fever, chesty cough, and major fatigue (some also have congestion - I don't... yet), so I spent most of the day sleeping. Thankfully I'm doing much better this morning; I'm quickly becoming a believer in Thieves Oil! I've had 3 drops down my throat, and it's far and away better than it was yesterday morning! I kind of suspect it's helped with the fever as well!

Anyway, because of the last two crazy days, I'll not try to come up with the past 6 or so meals. However, I will tally up the grocery total since we went grocery shopping the other day: We spent $360.43, bringing the total to $392.68.

See? I'm back!

With today's stories...

Breakfast: Smoothie, get whatcha want

Lunch: Get whatcha want - I had a smoothie

Dinner: Smoked sausage, spaghetti squash, and peas

I got paid! But only $437, bringing the total to $753.11. We're going grocery shopping tomorrow morning though, so that nice, comfortable total won't last long.

Weird week

Or perhaps it was a weird month. I don't know, but whatever it was, I was a terrible blogger. I hope to be better this week/month. Part of being so terrible means that I got behind on the grocery total. We spent (hopefully this was all that was unaccounted for in the previous total) $206.06, bringing the total to $316.11. *Sigh* I was hoping to have more than that; I believe this next shopping trip is going to be... somewhat major. Perhaps I'll get paid soon; that would be good!

I'll try to keep up with the daily menus better this week, but for now, I really don't remember everything we ate in the past four days. So with that, I'll be back, Lord willing, tonight or tomorrow morning to reveal to you all the feasts that were today's meals (and yes, I'm probably exaggerating - it's Monday, peoples!).

Two days after Memorial Day

Breakfast: Smoothie, get whatcha want

Lunch: Get whatcha want

Dinner: Grilled salmon and salad

The day after Memorial Day

Creative title, no?

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Get whatcha want

Dinner: Beef hash with double chocolate loaves for dessert.

Yesterday was very relaxed and lazy. We got a few needed things done, but not much more. We're all battling and recovering colds, so we decided to take it easy.

Memorial Day

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: We were in Dickson with family. We had delicious ribs, hash-brown casserole,rolls, green beans, slaw, and coconut cake for dessert.

Dinner: Left-over ribs and hash-brown casserole followed by ice cream and volley ball with friends. It was a great day!

Done with another day

Breakfast: Omelets

Lunch: Left-overs, smoothies, get whatcha want

Dinner: Meatloaf and salad

Yesterday

Breakfast: Eggs (I think? Maybe? I don't really remember...)

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Bacon and caramelized onion pizza

I have a cold.

Ugh. So, I didn't really eat much today...

Breakfast: Oatmeal

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Spaghetti casserole and gluten-free, hazelnut brownies!

Pretzels!

Breakfast: Egg and kale things

Lunch: Pretzel rolls

Dinner: Spaghetti

Yesterday, but not the weekend

I came here several times to write up a post about this weekend's food, but I found I couldn't really remember much of it. So, I decided to just start "from scratch," and write up Monday's food (which I intended to do last night, but forgot...). So without further ado, here's what we ate yesterday:

Breakfast: Boiled eggs and kale or get whatcha want

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Left-over beans and rice (from Sunday lunch), kale, and slaw

Haying

Yesterday was quite a busy day for us here. My brother and I raked and baled our 22 acre hay pasture (it feels WAY bigger than 22 acres, trust me...), but that's not really applicable here.

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Nachos

Dinner: Beans and cornbread, slaw, kale, with strawberries, shortcakes, and cream for immediate dessert, and ice cream and cookies for later dessert. :)

Reimbursement and Failure

Yesterday various other envelopes in our budget system repaid the grocery envelope $29 for the various non-grocery-related odds and ends we picked up the other day. That brings the total up to $522.17.

Now for the failure. :( I've been doing an absolutely terrible job with the menu planning lately. I've never been good, but at least we generally had meals. Yesterday, we really didn't. We just grabbed things and continued with whatever we were occupied with at that time. So yeah, breakfast, lunch, and dinner were all "Get whatcha want." I will try to improve in this area!

Haystacks

Breakfast: English muffins, eggs, bacon

Lunch: Left-overs/get whatcha want

Dinner: We had friends over for haystacks (essentially glorified, assemble-your-own nachos) with "Caramel Apple Cheesecake Cookie Bars" for dessert

May's First Grocery Trip

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Egg-y, cheesy casserole thing that Claire threw together (and wheat-free brownies for dessert)

Dinner: Hamburger steak, baked okra, corn - with ice cream sandwiches for dessert!

First of all, I got paid yesterday, bringing the total to $904.26. Then Mama and I headed to Walmart and Sam's around 2pm. I do not like getting away so late, but we were home before 6:30pm, so I guess it's not that bad. We spent $411.09 (YES! Under budget! A little...), leaving the grocery money with $493.17.

Here's a little tip that ... I failed on yesterday. Check to make sure your coffee beans are NOT decaf, preferably before you got through the checkout line, but definitely before you get home. :/ An emergency coffee bean run may be in our near future.

Another Monday Done

Breakfast: Rice, bacon, and diy eggs

Lunch: Mama, Claire, and I were over at our friends' house; Daddy was at work, and the boys went to town. So, I guess none of us ate lunch at home!

Dinner: Popcorn

Mother's Day Weekend

Saturday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Also get whatcha want (*sigh* We're going to have to get better at this...)

Dinner: Left-over beef stew


Sunday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Roast with potatoes and carrots, salad, and pound cake

Dinner: Egg rolls and bacon-wrapped chicken breasts

Beef Stew ala Julia Child

Because I'm too lazy to look up the real spelling of ... anything right now. :P

Breakfast: Well, I was out of the house before most of the rest of them were up. I had a couple cookies (and then doughnuts at the neighbors!).

Lunch: I was still gone, so I'm not sure what they had here at home. I had pb&j.

Dinner: Julia Child's French beef stew - Mama made it; 'twas good! I guess I rarely get tired of beef stew prepared like that; it's so rich and tender and flavorful!

Another Day Down

Breakfast: Get whatcha want (I think?)

Lunch: Get whatcha want (Don't you hate days like that...)

Dinner: Chicken noodle soup - the cold is making the rounds through our family, so I figured that'd be a nice dinner even on a warm day.

These are the times...

Breakfast: Smoothie

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Yes, indeed! These are the times that make folks like me foodie people! We had friends over for dinner, and we got to have filet mignon, mashed potatoes, salad, and green beans. I die! The filets were from a Jersey heifer who we regretfully had to haul off after she refused to become bred even at 5 years old. Despite being from a rather old cow, those filets were some of the best I've ever had! Melted in your mouth like butter, and the juices burst with flavor at every bite! ... Yeah, I kinda like steak... ;)

I'm Back!

Let's see, a little bit of catch up is in order, I believe. I got paid before we left last week, but I only got paid $418, bringing the total to $454.26. We had an excellent time at Presbytery! Let me tell you, if you're ever planning on making meals on a vacation, and if the meals you're planning on making can be converted to crock pot meals, do it! BUT do it with crock pot liners. Those things are amazing, and there's NO clean up! Love it! Now, here's yesterday's menu:

Breakfast: Smoothie

Lunch: Get whatcha want

Dinner: Five Guys! (We went with some friends to see The Avengers in the theater in Cool Springs! It's awesome, by the way.)

Silence ensued

Just FYI, fellow foodies, this blog will be silent for the next week or so. I'm headed north to Iowa for a nation-wide, Covenant Presbyterian shindig, the likes of which occurs nowhere else. I expect utter and complete awesomeness. So, laters!

Ting-a-lings

First of all, after receiving the money that the clothing envelope owed groceries, and after repaying myself (after having to supplement the grocery money from my own funds the other day), the grocery money is not in the hole! It has exactly $36.26 until a few days from now when, thankfully, I get paid again!

Breakfast: Baked basil-egg cup things

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Soup and homemade crescent rolls

I made Ting-a-lings yesterday morning. I opted for those because I was hot, and the thought of doing cookies was less than delightful to me. Also, I love Ting-a-lings/haystacks, and they're incredibly easy.

• 1 bag of butterscotch chips
• 1/2 bag of chow mein noodles
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups peanuts

Melt the butterscotch chips. I did it in the microwave, but be careful. They do burn/scorch pretty easily. If you think they've already reached that point, but just barely, then add a little coconut oil, butter, or shortening. That should get it usable again, but that only works if you've not burned them too badly. Stir in the noodles and peanuts. Drop in whatever sized stacks you want on wax paper and let cool. Enjoy!

Grocery Shopping

Right now, I think the grocery budget is in the hole, but I believe the clothing envelope owes grocery enough to let it break even.

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Mama and I ate at Chuy's. We had the Chuychanga this time; it was really quite good. Between the two of us though, we were only able to eat half of it.

Dinner: Claire fixed nachos.

Monday's come and gone

Okay, I figured out the money confusion of this past week/weekend. We spent $118, leaving the grocery fund with $435.98, which will hopefully be enough to cover, with some cushion, the shopping trip we're planning for tomorrow.

Breakfast: Eggs, left-over hamburgers, toast

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Popcorn and bacon and kielbasa

Remember when I posted about that brown sugar and balsamic glazed pork? Well, I finally got around to posting the recipe and my changes over HERE.

Another lovely weekend

Saturday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Left-over chicken alfredo. I personally thought we kids deserve something awesome at this point. Mama and Daddy had left early that morning to go pick up a chest freezer in Nashville (because really, the two we had weren't enough - yes, I'm being serious.). Claire and I had all of the Lord's Day food and dinner fixed by noon. Thank you. Thank you. Anyway...

Dinner: Enchiladas

Had some money exchange then too, but I haven't figured it all out quite yet. Will get back on that.


Sunday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Spaghetti, green beans, deviled eggs, angel food cake with strawberries, and frappes

Dinner/fellowship: Chicken and dressing and frappes

Menu of April 20

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Fettuccine alfredo (NOT left-over... Claire didn't realize some of us had just had it for dinner the night before.)

Dinner: Crock pot chicken and dressing with angel food cake for dessert

On a Thursday

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Fettuccine alfredo with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus on the side

Correction

Ahem, turns out, last time I got paid and totaled up everything, I forgot to mention and include the fact that another $20 was taken out. So, I've spent the past week or so holding onto $103.98. I got paid yesterday though, so now I'm holding onto $553.98.

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Spaghetti

Dinner: Roasted chicken, creamy scalloped potatoes, kiwi, panna cotta for dessert

We've been abandoned

Our guests left us yesterday morning. The house is too quiet. We miss them greatly, even though it's not yet been 24 hours. So, what do we eat when we're depressed? Well, I tend to go on a chocolate/latte binge; yesterday was no exception. But here's the list of actual meals.

Breakfast: Eggs, yogurt, etc. This was shortly before they left.

Lunch: Sandwiches, left-overs, etc. It was essentially a get whatcha want lunch.

Dinner: Some of our amazing friends blessed us beyond belief by inviting us over. We had a delectable meal of steaks, salad, quinoa salad, broccoli, and rolls; oh, my! it was delicious!

Be Back Later

Hello, hello, hello! We've had a truly wonderful time these past few, flew-by-far-too-quickly days! Our dear friends have abandoned us once again. Starting tomorrow, Lord-willing, I will be back to posting here regularly. This is just an FYI, I-haven't-fallen-off-the-face-of-the-world post.

We Bought A Zoo

Breakfast: Egg boats

Lunch: Baked potatoes/sweet potatoes

Dinner: Pizza over at friends' house before we watched "We Bought A Zoo." (Quick review: I went in with pretty low expectations, and came away thinking it was much better than I expected. So, while I thought it was good, if you're going to see it, I'd recommend going in with low expectations. That way there's almost no way you'll come away disappointed. I've decided to make that my movie-watching mindset from here on out.)

GUESTS!

We love guests!

Breakfast: Graham crackers and peanut butter

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Pork roast (really awesome - perhaps I'll post the recipe sometime), brown sugar and balsamic glaze (which we forgot to use as a glaze, and used more like a gravy), creamed potatoes, and steamed asparagus

More Groceries

Yesterday morning was spent menu planning for the coming week. We have guests coming in this afternoon, and we prefer to treat our guests better than we do ourselves. In the midst of the planning however, it became obvious that we would need to go grocery shopping pretty soon. Mama and I decided to do it ASAP, so we headed out the door around 2:00pm. We were done shopping and home in roughly 4 hours, which is amazing since we live at least an hour away from where we chose to shop this time. Anyway, here's the money matters: I got paid yesterday. Finally. Which means that I finally get to take out my "earnings," but I decided to wait until after this trip to see how things were looking. I get paid $450. We spent $326.02, leaving the grocery total (if I start from scratch as of this pay period) $123.98. I'm going to say that's good enough; I think I should get paid again in the next week or so anyway. So, this quarter my earnings are $60.48 - if I add in all the change, otherwise it's $55 and some change.

Breakfast: Egg... stuff.

Lunch: Get whatcha want

Dinner: Stew

Monday - or, I finished Dracula!

Yeah, my day yesterday was primarily directed at finishing listening to Dracula. Thankfully it ended fairly well, but I won't be reading it again. It's creepy. How on earth did vampires become popular and portrayed as benevolent creatures?! How did voluptuousness come to be seen as desirable? *shivers* Well, those are thoughts rather more for my other blog...

Breakfast: Smoothie

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Ham and bean soup

Easter Weekend

Saturday:

Breakfast: Daddy and I went to the Franklin area to help some friends move, so we grabbed rolls and sausage at the Franklin Farmers' Market.

Lunch: Chick-Fil-A

Dinner: Beans and cornbread


Sunday:

Breakfast: Bacon, get whatcha want

Lunch: Macaroni and cheese, deviled eggs, dessert

Dinner/Fellowship: Buffalo chicken dip and corn chips

Friday

Breakfast: Claire and Kyle brought home cheesecake from their band rehearsal, so of course we had that.

Lunch: It being the day after Kyle's birthday, Mama's side of the family came over and celebrated his birthday as well as Easter. We had ham, deviled eggs, fried apples, green beans, and homemade yellow cake with brown butter frosting.

Dinner: We used some or all of the left-over ham for creamed ham over toast.

Cleaning out the fridge

Breakfast: Left-overs

Lunch: Left-overs/get whatcha want

Dinner: Left-overs

Yeah, we're kind of desperate to get rid of some of these left-overs! I think we emptied a couple of containers yesterday...

Another day

Breakfast: More left-overs

Lunch: Left-overs and strawberry shortcake

Dinner: We had a delicious dinner with friends.

And here we go again

Breakfast: Left-overs

Lunch: Smoothies and pineapple

Dinner: Grilled chicken, pineapple, and steamed asparagus

Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner for Monday, April 2, 2012

Breakfast: We call them egg boats. It's egg and pretty much whatever you want with egg (think omelet) in the center of a cut out, boat-shaped roll. Yesterday's combination was eggs, bacon (already cooked), asparagus (pre-cooked as well), and cheeses.

Lunch: I don't know that there was really an organized lunch, but I think some had ham sandwiches, using the ham left-over from Sunday's lunch. I had a piece of ham and a smoothie.

Dinner: We had guests over last night, and they're not from around here. So, we treated them to an all-Southern meal of country ham, grits and greens, biscuits, and stewed/fried apples. I'm afraid we gave them culture shock. They were good sports though, and ate everything!

After dinner we went over to our neighbors' house for ice cream! Oh, and to sign a petition for someone running for county commissioner. :) It was a wonderful ending to a good day.

End of March, Beginning of April

Can y'all believe it's already April?! I can't! My brother's birthday's in 3 days! I need to wrap his gift...

Saturday:

Breakfast: Sausage spoon bread, I think.

Lunch: I don't really remember an organized lunch. It was probably get what you want, more or less.

Dinner: Ham and rolls


Sunday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want.

Lunch: Ham, green beans, chocolate-caramel thumbprint cookies.

Fellowship: Summer sausage, crackers, and caramelized onion dip.

In which we go to town again

Breakfast: Scones

Lunch: Mama, Claire, and I were in Nashville most of the day. We had chicken salad with Grammy Evelyn.

Dinner: Daddy fixed fried rice!

While we were out, we picked up a few things we forgot Thursday. :/ I still owe $100, but I should get paid soon. We spent $9.68.

A Last Minute Decision

Breakfast: Panna Cotta!

Lunch: Claire fixed pasta with some sort of sauce that had smoked sausage and peppers in it.

Dinner: Breaded and baked pork chops with left-over baked potatoes

At lunch it was decided that Mama and I would go grocery shopping. We finally managed to get away around 2:00pm. We hit Sam's first (probably a bad idea...), then Walmart, and, after a brief stop to re-fuel, we made it home by 7:15pm. Pretty good, in my opinion - especially seeing how it takes us ALL. DAY. when we go into Cool Springs. Anyway, all that was to stall the bad news. We spent $627.90, which, according to the total I have here, I should have been able to do, but I wasn't. I guess I've missed some receipts; they're hard to keep track of when I send money with this person, then that person, and only go into town myself once every couple of weeks. In the end, I wound up owing one of Mama's envelopes $100. I will get paid today though, thankfully. Also, I was going to collect this time, but I'm not sure what I'll do now. I'll get paid $450, pay Mama back, $350, and then the question is do I keep that, or do I let the grocery money keep it until the next pay period? I'll probably do the latter.

In which we go to town

Breakfast: Eggs, sausage, and green chiles all mixed together and baked in muffin tins.

Lunch: Left-over rice and pork satay

Dinner: All of us except Kyle ran into Centerville yesterday evening. We got ice-cream and corn dogs from Sonic, and then made a quick stop at Save-A-Lot and Rite Aid across the street. We got butter, onions, and allergy medicine and spent $13.75, bringing the total to $668.95.

So tired

But people have to eat nonetheless... Here's yesterday's menu. Oh, and Kyle got $6 worth of toilet paper (some things are too necessary to wait for... :P); that brings the total to $682.70, I think.

Breakfast: Biscuits, sausage gravy, apples, etc.

Lunch: I was over at some friends' house helping with their planting, so they very kindly invited the rest of my family over for lunch! We had awesome barbecue, salsa and chip, jambalaya, and baked beans. It was delicious!

Dinner: Baked potatoes with the trimmings ('cept we're out of sour cream... Thought we were going to go grocery shopping today, but turns our we're not...).

Another day done

Breakfast: Omelets

Lunch: Left-overs from lunch the day before

Dinner: Rice and pork satay

No Title

Because I can't come up with one that is even remotely good.

Saturday:

Breakfast: Left-overs, get whatcha want

Lunch: Get whatcha want

Dinner: Popcorn, Alton Brown's Cocoa Brownies (look them up, make them, devour them. They're absolutely the best homemade brownies I've come across!)


Sunday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Shepherd's pie, cabbage, pound cake

Dinner/Fellowship: We didn't actually take what we had prepared, but let me highly recommend mixing left-over mashed potatoes with beer, cheese, and onions, rolling it into bite-sized balls, rolling those in flour, and deep-frying them. Trust me, they're beyond excellent! Also, if you feel like it, mix up some ranch dip, thin it a little, and add just enough chipotle tobasco sauce for the tiniest kick and a nice chipotle flavor. Again, it's amazingly good.

Time to Par-tay!

Yesterday was spent in getting ready for a party and actually partying. Think loads of fun, delicious food, cute kids, and lots of smiles and you'll hit close to the mark.

Breakfast: Eggs, etc.

Lunch: Mama and I were over at some friends' house again, so I got to have some more of that delectable chicken salad! I am still craving that stuff!!!

Dinner: PARTY TIME! Spinach-stuffed pork roast, mashed potatoes with caramelized onions mixed in, green beans, and rolls for dinner. Phyllo cups filled with seriously awesome chocolate mousse for dessert. I gorged myself. :p

March showers bring... allergies

Yep, it's raining around here again. Yesterday and today have been rather drizzly, but perhaps the rain is cutting down on our recent through-the-roof pollen count. Anyway, here's what we at yesterday:

Breakfast: Eggs and cheesy-garlic-y drop biscuits

Lunch: Mama and I were over at a friends house helping get ready for a party (which is happening tonight! Yeah, kinda excited!); we had a delicious chicken salad. It was on the sweet side, which I loved! I'm going to have to remember that next time I make chicken salad; I tend to unthinkingly take mine the savory route. I liked theirs way better though!

Dinner: We were still over there helping out, so we got to have dinner with a bunch of our friends! We had spaghetti, salad, and another cheesy-beef-y casserole (I didn't actually try that one last night). It is such a blessing to be in a community where we can pull together resources and have fun and fellowship in the middle of the week!

One day and 500 lbs of potatoes later...

I'm posting about yesterday's meals.

Breakfast: Eggs and kale, etc.

Lunch: Claire and I were over helping our neighbors plant 500 lbs of potatoes, and they invited the rest of the family over for lunch. We had tacos/nachos, and they were delicious!

Dinner: Mama roasted potatoes, onions, peppers, cabbage, and kielbasa for dinner.

Spring: Day 1

Breakfast: Eggs, etc.

Lunch: Left-overs, peanut butter, tortillas, peaches... just random stuff.

Dinner: Potato salad (it turned out surprisingly good! I didn't know we were out of sour cream...). When potato salad has the proper proportion of bacon to everything else, yes, it is a meal unto itself. ;) I used almost a whole pound of bacon, and, with the six of us just eating the salad, we only had 1-2 servings left-over!

Days go by...

I can feel 'em flyin'... Sheesh! Are we already almost through MARCH?!?! Since when did that happen?! Crazy.

Breakfast: Get whatcha want.

Lunch: I wasn't home for lunch, so I don't know what they had for sure. A good guess though is probably left-overs.

Dinner: Claire made a pasta, pork, pepper, mushroom dish - it was cold and tossed in Italian dressing, toasted almonds and raw onions were optional sides. Rather perfect for the warm day we'd just finished up.

St. Patrick's Day Weekend

Saturday:

Breakfast: Strawberry shortcakes.

Lunch: Mama and I were in Cool Springs, headed to Manchester, so we grabbed Hardee's; they have curly fries. :)

Dinner: Mama, Emma, and I were on our way home for dinner, so then we grabbed Steak and Shake; they have mint milkshakes. We stopped by McDonald's first, for their Shamrock shake, but were told that they "no longer have that;" ON ST. PATRICK'S DAY for cryin' out loud! I was somewhat disappointed. :P


Sunday:

Breakfast: Freezer breakfast burritos.

Lunch: Gumbo.

Fellowship: Cheese and crackers.

Today

Breakfast: Beersheba eggs (scrambled eggs with sausage crumbled in with it), toast, grapefruit

Lunch: Get whatcha want

Dinner: Grilled pork chops, cooked apples, wild rice, strawberry shortcake for dessert

Kyle went to Spring Hill today, which was rather lucky since Claire needed some chocolate chips for some major baking she was planning on, and we were essentially out of coffee (NOT a good thing). So I sent the grocery money with him, and he picked up $22.07 worth of stuff for us. That brought the total to $238.70, but I also got paid today (Hallelujah!), which brings it to: $688.70!

Ides of March Menu

Breakfast: Blueberry muffins

Lunch: Left-overs, get whatcha want

Dinner: Left-overs

I'm goin' to Dickson

Well, yesterday we did, and we had a lovely time with family for a few hours. While we were there, Grammy told us about some amazing deals on fresh stuff at Aldis, so Mama and I went there for a quick grocery trip. We got quite a few things and only spent $17.40! That brings the grocery total to $260.33, and I should get paid this week. Phew, we're almost past this pay-period!

Breakfast: Get whatcha want. I had protein-packed pound cake. ;)

Lunch: Grammy fixed a delectable lunch of corned beef, cabbage, rolls, "pink fluff," mashed potatoes, with a gluten-free strawberry cake for dessert. (I was *ahem* too full. No, I really was, but I did enjoy the candy that came out a little while later - gluten-free or not.)

Dinner: We were gone most of the day, so Daddy, who stayed home to work, made spaghetti. Because he was so busy with work stuff, he threw the sauce together early in the day, and left it simmering on the stove for probably 6 hours. We've decided, because of that, that the grass-fed ground beef also benefits, just like roasts, from the low and slow! That was some of the most tender ground beef! And I never even considered twice-ground ground beef tough before! Very interesting.

The Food of Yesterday

Breakfast: Eggs, Kale, and bacon in bread in muffin tins... Don't know what it was called.

Lunch: Left-overs, graham crackers and peanut butter

Dinner: Stew (in which the potatoes barely got done in time, must remember to allow myself plenty of time to let it simmer next time.)

March 12 Meals

Breakfast: Left-overs, eggs

Lunch: Guacamole and chips

Dinner: Enchiladas

Daylight Savings Time Weekend

This weekend also happened to be our church's 5 year anniversary! I am so blessed to have been with these folks this long, and I look forward to our 10 year anniversary!

Friday:

Breakfast: Waffles

Lunch: Tacos

Dinner: Crockpot chicken, cranberry rice, green beans, and onion casserole (we had good friends over for dinner!)


Saturday:

Breakfast: Left-overs

Lunch: Guacamole and chips

Dinner: Popcorn and left-overs (our fridge is rather packed right now, so we're doing everything we can to empty it...)


Sunday:

Breakfast: Left-overs again

Lunch: Chicken and pasta dish, gluten-free dark chocolate crinkle cookies, green beans

Dinner/fellowship: Shredded cheese, sour cream, chips, and vanilla ice cream (we had an organized dinner - tacos/haystacks - as part of our church's 5-year anniversary celebration).

And the rain rain rain came down down down

What a dreary day yesterday was! And on top of that, our power was out for 2+ hours yesterday evening - right at the very time when I needed to be cooking, of course. We had a late dinner, which really worked out fine, especially since Daddy and Kyle got home rather late after picking up some groceries for us. Yeah, Mama and I forgot such necessities as eggs and cheese when we went shopping Wednesday... Daddy spent $38.28, bringing the total to $277.73.

Breakfast: Bacon, egg, cup... things

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Beef stroganoff, no sides since we were so late

Back to the store

Mama and I had to go grocery shopping yesterday... I'm not too happy about that since we did an enormous shopping trip just over a week ago, but things happen, and we still have to eat. We ended up spending $198.65 this trip (hopefully going once a week will end! Our budget can't handle that!). That brings the total to: $316.01. What's more, we're almost out of eggs, chocolate chips, and cheese, so Daddy's going to make another Sam's trip for us today. Anyway, here's yesterday menu:

Breakfast: Yogurt, cream cheese, blueberry bowl things. It was really good. Also, the left-over country ham and grits casserole.

Lunch: Mama and I had Church's fried chicken. Not bad, but not the best either.

Dinner: Claire made rice and grilled smoked sausage.

And yesterday we ate...

Breakfast: Grits casserole variation

Lunch: Left-over pizza

Dinner: White beans and cornbread, a personal favorite. :)

One more Monday has been conquered!

Breakfast: And egg-y, cheese-y, green chile-y casserole and oranges

Lunch: Left-overs/get whatcha want

Dinner: Pizza!

First Weekend of March

Saturday:

Breakfast: Country ham, grits casserole (left-over from the night before), and biscuits.

Lunch: Mama, Claire, and I were the only ones home for lunch. Mama and I were cooking, so we just grabbed ingredients of the things we were cooking. Claire, I think, had yogurt and granola.

Dinner: I think it was just a get whatcha want dinner. Unusual for a Saturday evening, but probably good 'cause we woke up with an incredibly messy kitchen Sunday morning as it was!

We also bought 1/2 gallon of pure, Tennessee maple syrup from a friend! That brings the new grocery total to: $514.66.


Sunday:

Breakfast: It was sort of like a crustless quiche in the crockpot. Not sure what it was called.

Lunch: Roast with potatoes and carrots, salad, and carmelitas.

Dinner/fellowship: Caramelized onion and parmesan cream scones, bananas, and fried rice.

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Yogurt and granola.

Lunch: Sort of an eggs benedict with fruit and other toasted English muffins with butter and jelly/jam.

Dinner: Country ham, grits casserole (enough to feed an army... oops), salad, and red-eye gravy.

I was also paid, bringing the total to $544.66, or thereabouts. :)

Can't believe it's March!

Breakfast: Blueberry muffin/cake/thing

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Left-overs again, but slightly glorified. We're actually doing a pretty good job using up the left-overs this week!

The Food Of Leap Day

Yeah, we didn't do anything special for Leap Day.

Breakfast: Bacon, egg cup things

Lunch: Roasted potatoes

Dinner: Fried rice

Steak, it's what's for dinner

We actually had three pretty organized meals yesterday!

Breakfast: Not sure what they were called... it was like omelets in bread boats. It was really a pretty tolerable way to eat eggs!

Lunch: Guacamole and chips

Dinner: Mama and Daddy had some friends over for dinner, so we kids (and new puppy) were sent to the guest house for the evening. Thankfully we did get to pick up our dinner from them though, so we had grilled fillets, steamed asparagus (butter-y, garlic-y goodness), roasted potatoes, and bread. I think the parents had salad and cheesecake with their dinner as well. We kids had made no bakes, brownies, and a pot of coffee (we had access to caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, and milk as well). Kyle ended up drinking all the coffee by himself. Yes, it was regular.

Here, There, and Everywhere

Mama and I went grocery shopping yesterday. We hadn't been for a real shopping trip in quite a while, so this one was ginormous (and expensive!). Our first stop was to Nashville Cash and Carry, which, by the way, is definitely a good place to go if you're looking for cheap, but reusable, plastic containers! Then we were on to a slightly frustrating experience at Hobby Lobby (not for groceries though). Insert lunch intermission here. From there we went to Walmart where we spent forever, then we hit Sam's and managed to do that in about a half hour (even though we forgot to use the order-everything-online-first thing!), and then back to Hobby Lobby for a rather less frustrating experience (but again, not grocery-related). After all that, we were finally homeward bound! And exhausted. We ended up spending, between this trip and the quick trip Daddy made Friday, $638.84. Ouch. That brings the total to a rather uncomfortable $94.66. Hopefully we won't need anything for quite a while now though.

Here's what I know that we ate yesterday:

Breakfast: Blueberry muffins

Lunch: Thanks to an endorsement by a friend, Mama and I went to McDougal's Chicken Fingers & Wings for lunch. We got the cheapest batch of wings, and they were really quite good. We got them tossed in the original buffalo sauce and the gold sauce. I liked them both, and the buffalo ones reminded me a lot of Daddy's hot wing sauce - only a bit milder. The gold isn't what to get if you're wanting normal hot wings, but it was surprisingly good, and a nice change of pace. We want to go back and try out some of the other sauces. Mama's intrigued by the lime chipotle sauce's description, whereas I'm curious to see why the honey bee sauce is their best seller. So, yeah, we'll be going back!

Dinner: Beef hash

Weekend food

Saturday:

Breakfast: Dutch baby

Lunch: Didn't really have an official, organized lunch. Guess that means it was get whatcha want.

Dinner: Beef hash


Sunday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Daddy made a ground beef and tomato dish (I think), apples, and saltine candy.

Dinner/fellowship: Daddy used the rest of the ground beef to make sweet and sour meat balls with rice.

Headed out in just a minute to go grocery shopping. It's already promising to be huge.

It's finally Friday! Or... It's already Friday?

I can't decide if this week's gone by fast or slow; I guess that means it's been more or less normal.

Breakfast: Mama made baked eggs with cheese and basil sauce. I actually really like eggs prepared that way!

Lunch: Left-over chicken noodle soup and fresh bread

Dinner: Chuck roast with potatoes, onions, carrots, and peppers. Apples as the main side.

Pizza, aka Soup

Breakfast: Quinoa pudding and sticky buns

Lunch: Get whatcha want

Dinner: Chicken noodle soup (after running out of time to make bacon chicken pizza).

Mid-week menu

Breakfast: Get whatcha want, I think.

Lunch: Left-overs (We're doing really good cleaning out the left-overs this week!)

Dinner: Sticky rice and orange beef

Another day in the life of us

Not much went on...

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Left-overs from last night

Dinner: Crock pot whole chicken, roasted potatoes, green peas

And, I made Crusty Pound Cake for dessert. The recipe is from Southern Living's Cooking Across the South (p. 214 in our version), and it's SO good! It has this tendency to fall, which, actually, just enhances the goodness!

Once more, I can't come up with a decent title

And I don't want to spend much time trying, so moving on...

Yesterday a friend of ours was heading to our favorite place to get bacon, so we sent some money with him. He picked up 10lbs for us, for a total of $38.86. Daddy also picked up a few things for us from Sam's: $19.88. That all brings the grocery total to: $733.50. And now for the menu:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Mama made a bacon, mushroom, cream sauce for spaghetti.

Weekend time

Time for the weekend recap of every meal we had since Thursday's dinner. I'll see if I can remember...

Friday:

Breakfast: ... Nope, don't remember. Probably get whatcha want.

Lunch: Not sure about this one either. Very probably left-overs.

Dinner: Tomato soup and over-cooked bacon. Oops.


Saturday:

Breakfast: Waffles, I think.

Lunch: Salad, left-over tomato soup, and the rest of the Mexican cornbread toasted with cheese.

Dinner: We didn't really have an organized dinner. I had pita, not sure what the others had.


Sunday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want.

Lunch: Roast, green bean casserole, and the mini-cheesecake bites left-over from Tuesday.

Fellowship: Pita chips and hummus.

Guacamole!

We're huge fans of gaucamole around here, but we each like it somewhat differently - though we eat whatever type we have made up! For example, Daddy like his guacamole chunky, with plenty of salsa. I like mine more akin to the guacamole they serve a Chuy's, more smooth than chunky, more creamy than salsa-y, and all about the avocado. Daddy made his guacamole Tuesday evening to go with the gyros, but, lucky for me, there were still 2 avocadoes left yesterday morning. They definitely needed to be used, so I made my kind of guacamole and had that for breakfast! :)

MY Guacamole:

• Avocadoes, peeled, pitted, and mashed fairly well
• Lemon or lime juice, but not too much
• Salt
• Salsa, but not too much
• Sour cream, enough to make the gauc. light green, but not to distract from the flavor of the avocado.

Mash it all together, taste, and adjust as necessary. Daddy calls my style "guacamole dip," but I love it anyway!

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Daddy and I made pitas/tortillas, so those of us who were home had those hot out of the oven and topped with butter. SO good!

Oh, and I got paid yesterday, bringing the grocery total up to $792.24.

Can't. Think. Of. A. Good. Title...

But here is yesterday's menu anyway:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Bean, smoked sausage, and rice

Dinner: A variation of what we had for lunch

***Edit: Forgot to mention that Daddy made a quick Sam's run for us the other day. He picked up $29 worth of stuff, bringing the grocery total to $342.24.***

A Valentine's Menu

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Gyros (with homemade tortillas/pitas!)

Desserts: Mini raspberry cheesecake cupcakes, flourless chocolate cake, snickerdoodles, brownies, hot chocolate (with many mix-ins), various candies, chocolate-dipped candied orange slices, chocolate-dipped marshmallows, and biscotti. I think that might have accounted for everything... It was fun. :)

Busy Monday

We spend most of yesterday preparing delectables for a sort of party we're hosting this evening, so we didn't spend a whole lot of time on meals yesterday.

Breakfast: Most of us slept in really late (that happens when you don't get to bed until nearly 1:30am), so I don't really think we had breakfast. If some did, it was definitely get whatcha want.

Lunch: Claire made a macaron and chicken dish.

Dinner: Gyros!

Weekend

We had a lovely weekend, and I hope y'all did as well. We spent $197.37 on recent groceries (BTW, don't go to Harris Teeter when looking for decent prices. We knew that already, but, unfortunately, it was the most convenient the other day...). Now the grocery total is $371.24.

Saturday's menu:

Breakfast: Waffles

Lunch: Tacos

Dinner: Ham and bean soup

Sunday's menu:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Ham and bean soup, sliced oranges, pound cake

Fellowship: More sliced oranges

What we eat when we go to the dentist

Yep, we went to the dentist yesterday. We live 1.5hrs away from our dentist, so we generally have at least one meal in town. Which we did. We also got quite a few groceries (for some hospitality things we're hoping to do in the next few days), but I haven't figured all the receipts out yet, so that part will have to wait.

Breakfast: Get whatcha want, and get it fast. We left at 8:30am (not a good day to have gotten to bed late the night before... oops. Oh, and the cows had to be milked...).

Lunch: Harris Teeter sushi with Sam's pretzels/pizza/ice cream to supplement. We can recommend the Spicy Mango sushi from Harris Teeter; it we really quite good. The avocado one wasn't bad, but it had carrots in it. I find that I prefer my sushi to be carrot-less; the carrots sort of throw off the texture of things, in my opinion.

Dinner: Daddy made dinner! Cubed steaks in a tomato-y sauce, fried okra (from okra we'd frozen a couple years ago!), and rice.

Another Thursday Menu

Breakfast: Left-over French toast casserole and/or get whatcha want

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Pinto beans and cornbread

Middle of the week menu

Daddy went grocery shopping for us yesterday. BTW, Sam's has this great thing where you can order all your stuff online, submit it, and they'll gather everything. Then somebody just has to go to the service desk, pick up the stuff, pay, and leave! HUGE time saver! I'm looking forward to using it some more in the future. Anyway, Daddy picked up $60.40 worth of groceries for us, which brings the total to $568.61.

Breakfast: French toast casserole

Lunch: Claire made some sort of creamy sauce with chicken and mushrooms for over pasta.

Dinner: Artichoke, chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, creamy cheesy sauce, lasagna. Thing. Don't know the name.

What then?

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Kinda get whatcha want... I really don't know what everybody had. Left-overs maybe.

Dinner: Potato soup and bacon.

Monday

Breakfast: Daddy was home, and he made omelets!

Lunch: Bread and butter, plus whatever else you wanted.

Dinner: Claire made that Greek avgolemono soup.

Home again, home again

After a whirlwind, but delightful, trip up to Illinois. I was away from Thursday morning to Saturday evening.

Yesterday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: (Kyle was good enough to make all our Lord's Day food!) Roast with potatoes and carrots, green beans, and blonde brownies

Dinner/Fellowship: Pizza

And they're off!

We're about to head out the door to visit some good friends up in IL, but I thought I'd pop on here real quick and give yesterday's menu as well as a heads up that this'll be silent for a few days. Be back to regular posting Monday morning, Lord willing! Anyway, here's what we had yesterday, as far as I can remember:

Breakfast: I think most of us had chocolate cherry cake, left-over from the night before. That cake is SO good!

Lunch: Left-overs/get whatcha want.

Dinner: Sausage balls, biscuits and apples, and baked sweet potatoes.

Last day of January

This year seems to be going by really fast!

Breakfast: Get whatcha want, I think.

Lunch: I made those delicious chewy pretzel bites again. SO good!!!

Dinner: Ham and bean soup with cornbread.

Daddy picked up some groceries this afternoon, bringing the grocery budget total to $179.01. However, I also got paid today! Which brings it up to $629.01.

What we ate yesterday

Because it's so fascinating... or not.

Breakfast: Get whatcha want - more or less.

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Rosemary beef dish over rice, green beans on the side.

Last weekend of January 2012

Saturday:

Breakfast: Left-over chocolate cake!

Lunch: Macaroni and cheese

Dinner: Mama, Luke, and I were home alone, so we just grabbed whatever left-overs we wanted.


Sunday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Curry chicken and rice, green beans, fudge revel bars

Fellowship: Minty moussie chocolate brownies ... things.

Gyros!

Breakfast: ... Kind of an unusual situation there... I had cereal, and followed that up by making a batch of oatmeal for some of us. The others got whatever they wanted, I guess.

Lunch: Claire made macaroni and cheese.

Dinner: Gyros! Daddy was inspired by the latest Beaverdam Creek Farm newsletter.

AND...


Today was National Chocolate Cake Day! Daddy was planning on satisfying a chocolate cake craving of his anyway, so this was a wonderful coincidence.

Did y'all celebrate National Chocolate Cake Day?

The twenty-sixth of January

Breakfast: Get whatcha want. I had yogurt.

Lunch: Guacamole!!! I threw it together, tasted it, tweaked it, tasted it, etc... all in an attempt to recreate Chuy's guacamole. I think I came pretty close! All I did was mash together avocados, salt, sour cream (just a little), salt, salsa (not very much), salt, lemon juice (a nice splash), salt, and more salt. In the end I thought it could have used perhaps a little more salsa, maybe some cilantro, and possibly more salt, but I didn't add any of that. I decided to let the others tweak their own servings to their own tastes.

Dinner: Roast, potatoes, fried apples, and green peas. I put the roast (covered) in the oven after lunch, and baked it at 300* all afternoon. With the roast, I had the potatoes, a thinly-sliced onion, the remains of a bell pepper that had been in the fridge for a while, and various seasonings. Oh, and a hearty slab of butter. Hey, I knew it couldn't hurt!

The Menu of Yesterday

Breakfast: Get whatcha want (I think?)

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Jambalaya

Girls' shopping day

Breakfast: Biscuits and apples

Lunch: Soon after breakfast, Mama, Claire, and I, along with a couple of other ladies from church, went to Fayetteville to go to Sir's Fabrics! I so did not need more fabric, but I came back with 3 more pieces nonetheless. Anyway, it takes a while to get to Fayetteville from here, so we had lunch at a local soup and sandwich place there before digging through fabrics.

Dinner: Daddy made pizzas!

Monday, the Twenty-third

Breakfast: Get whatcha want. Or, improvise when you realize that what you want requires milk that we do not have available for our own consumption...

Lunch: Kyle and I had sandwiches; not sure what the others had.

Dinner: Pancakes, sausage, fried eggs. Andes mints cookies for dessert.

Jambalaya, Crawfish Pie, and File Gumbo

Well, just jambalaya... Yesterday's menu:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Jambalaya, apples, gooey brownies

Dinner/Fellowship: Olive-artichoke dip and crackers

End o' the week

So, didn't get around to posting yesterday. We went grocery shopping, as planned, and I was exhausted when we got home. We went to Walmart and Sam's; had to renew our membership at Sam's as well. In all we spent $516.39. The new total is $210.09. Ouch. Hopefully we won't have another trip like that for a long time.

Friday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want, if I remember correctly.

Lunch: Mama and I were in between Sam's and Walmart, so we grabbed 9 Fruits and added a couple of Twix when we were done at Walmart.

Dinner: Claire, Kyle, and Luke were busy here at home while the rest of us were out, so we had popcorn, bacon, pepper jelly, cream cheese, and crackers. I think we're going to have to start doing two pounds of bacon when we do that sort of meal...

Saturday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want again.

Lunch: Left-overs.

Dinner: French onion soup!!! I've had such a craving for that lately! I always get cravings for expensive meals...

Hope y'all have a great weekend! Be back Monday, Lord willing!

Pay day!

I like pay days! Especially when I haven't used too much from the last pay day! The new total is $726.48. Yeah, we're going grocery shopping tomorrow...

Breakfast: Yogurt and granola + whatever else you wanted

Lunch: Cream soup... it had chicken, mushrooms, and onions in it, but it was mostly creamy... No real name, obviously. Oh, and biscuits.

Dinner: Beef stroganoff, green beans (left over from the other night), and apple sauce.

And today was Thursday, which means I made cookies! ... Well, it doesn't always mean I make cookies, but I try to. I did today. I made THESE, and they were good (and gone way too fast!)! Yes, I have an obsession with salted caramel chocolate/mocha things. One really awesome thing about these cookies is that they didn't have any eggs in them! That was awesome because we're running dangerously low on eggs. As I said, we're going grocery shopping tomorrow.

Family Night!

We've made a new family resolution! We're going to make Wednesday nights, whenever possible, family nights - where we'll play games!

Breakfast: Get whatcha want (ideas were put out, but it was just suggestion.)

Lunch: Rice, bean, sausage stuff that Claire made

Dinner: Steak, rolls, butter beans, with panna cotta for dessert! Oh, man! It was good!

Plan ahead

That is such a wonderful concept, and oh, so convenient... when I can remember to do it. Yesterday, I did it. Somewhat. Sort of.

Breakfast: Bacon, cream of wheat, cereal, etc.

Lunch: Tomato soup with macaroni noodles. That's my go-to meal when we're out of time, and are nearly out of everything -  including left-overs. Unfortunately, we're now pretty much out of tomato products (well, we still have a ton of paste, but that doesn't quite work...). Thankfully we're going to go grocery shopping Friday.

Dinner: I knew I was going to do something with chicken, so I'd gotten a whole chicken out and thawed in the morning. After sticking it in a sink of hot water (BEST way to thaw something quickly, by the way), I searched Pinterest for "whole chicken." THIS recipe came up, and was well reviewed in the comments. I love crockpot meals, so I thought I'd give it a try. I will admit that I was a bit skeptical. I usually cook whole chickens roasted in the oven so that the skin gets nicely browned. To my delight, this chicken turned out not too noticeably different from the oven roasted version, and, of course, the crock pot was a great deal easier to clean than the roaster! Along with that chicken, we had THESE rolls, and green beans. One tip: start the rolls before 4:45pm if you want to eat dinner before 7:00pm... Circumstances beyond my control prevented me from doing so. We ate late, but the rolls were good!

Monday's menu

Breakfast: Waffles

Lunch: Chili, left-over from yesterday

Dinner: Tacos

This past weekend

Saturday:

Breakfast: Sausage balls

Lunch: Left-overs

Dinner: Left-overs, after which we gave anything remaining to the dogs. It was "Clean out the fridge day."


Sunday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Chili, crackers, "glorified milk duds"

Fellowship: Cucumber sandwiches.

The Importance of Being Earnest

Today we're finishing up Claire's birthday celebration, and she had requested cucumber sandwiches for her dinner.

Breakfast: Oatmeal

Lunch: Tomato soup

Dinner: Cucumber sandwiches and macaroni and cheese

We're now eating brownies and getting ready to watch "The Importance of Being Earnest," the movie that inspired cucumber sandwiches.

Thursday

Daddy and I went into Nashville yesterday, and while we were out we picked up a few necessary groceries. That trip cost the grocery money $125.55, bringing the total to $276.48.

Breakfast: Get whatcha want.

Lunch: Daddy and I had sushi from Publix. Mama and Luke didn't have lunch. Don't know about Claire and Kyle.

Dinner: Hamburgers!

Wednesday's menu

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Mama, Claire, and I went thrifting, so we were in town for lunch. We three split a cinnamon-battered Monte Cristo at The Bunganut Pig in Franklin. It was too intriguing to pass up, and it was really quite good.

Dinner: Chili with peppermint snickerdoodles for dessert.

What happened today

Daddy went into Centerville today and picked up some groceries; that makes the total: $402.03.

Breakfast: Left-over scones

Lunch: Get whatcha want

Dinner: Pasta with a cream sauce and grilled kielbasa.

Yesterday's meals

Breakfast: Get whatcha want

Lunch: Nachos

Dinner: Cranberry scones and country ham

Birthday weekend recap

Saturday afternoon we celebrated Grammy and Claire's birthdays.

Breakfast: English muffins, bacon, eggs

Lunch: Corned beef, cabbage, potato salad, and apples. Dessert was a variation on Baked Alaska.

Dinner: Left-overs, get whatcha want.

Yesterday:

Breakfast: We pulled a loaf of pumpkin bread out of the freezer.

Lunch: Roast with potatoes and carrots, green beans, CCBB's

Dinner/Fellowship: Egg rolls and mini quiches.

What was on the menu yesterday

Breakfast: Cream of wheat, yogurt, get whatcha want

Lunch: Popcorn + whatever you wanted while watching one of Luke's Christmas presents: Spy Kids.

Dinner: I think I mentioned that we froze the left-over spaghetti casserole earlier this week... Well, we had that, those of us that were home.

Today we're celebrating Claire's and Grammy's birthdays!

Just another Thursday

I got paid yesterday. I should first add that my budget has been adjusted to $450/pay period, and that when Mama made the withdrawal, she picked up some things. That makes my total for the next couple of weeks $431.05.

When it came to meals yesterday, I kind of failed, but here's my full confession:

Breakfast: Mama and Daddy started juicing yesterday, so they had that. The rest of us had yogurt, eggs, get whatcha want.

Lunch: Left-overs, yogurt, get whatcha want when you want it. My only excuse is that were struggling with colds around here, and we're very lethargic...

Dinner: Red beans and rice. My first time doing beans like that. I did them as if they were in a crock pot, but they were in a pot on the stove instead. Our good bean-cooking crock pot has been missing for months. Still, it worked fine on the stove.

50lbs of carrots

Crazy? I think so, but let's not go there. Whatever happens with them in the end, we now have 50lbs of carrots to use; I am given to understand that they will be used for juicing. Why? Again, not too sure about that one. As I type, Claire is making carrot muffins with the left-over pulp from the first juiced batch. The next few weeks - if it lasts that long - could be very interesting; perhaps we can use it for something more appealing sometime. Like carrot cake. Or starting a compost pile. Anyway, the carrots cost $37.65, and it's been what? something like 3 months since I started this project. So, I figured I should take what's left over quarterly. This time I'm left with $600.57, which, frankly, I'm having a hard time believing... Faulty math in there somewhere, perhaps, but I hope not! I could use $600 right now. I'm supposed to get paid soon. We'll start from square 1 then, so this total really has very little to do with anything except my own personal finances right now. :)

Okay, now that we've got the money issues dealt with, here's yesterday's menu:

Breakfast: Eggs, yogurt, smoothie, get whatcha want....

Lunch: Left-overs, spanikopita

Dinner: Chicken, rice, green peas, apple sauce

What's the menu today?

Breakfast: Eggs, yogurt, get whatcha want.

Lunch: Chewy pretzel bites. If you haven't tried them, do. They're amazing. Particularly if, like me, you "accidentally" use almost twice as much butter as it calls for! :)

Dinner: Beef stew and cornbread. Remember my attempt at cheater beef bourguignon? I posted about it HERE. Well, I tried it again today. Again it got rave reviews. I like rave reviews. The difference this time was that I used 2 chuck roasts, more carrots, and added some green bell peppers and a little bit of celery to the onions as they were browning. Oh, and I only used one can of mushrooms - I think that was all we had... And I don't think we had quite as much old wine for me to throw in this time. If I had to notice a significant change it the dish, I would say that it didn't turn out quite a rich as the last one, but I am almost of the opinion that that's because the old wine I had available this time was VERY old, and a much lighter-colored red wine. Of course, my knowledge of wines is limited at best, so this is really all conjecture. Whatever the differences may be, it was still good! Unlike the cornbread, which I choose to blame on the fact that we're out of buttermilk...

Now I'm going to go and see if I can get someone else on my line of thinking that we really need to have peppermint hot chocolate this evening. REALLY.

AND She's Back!

Taking a break from blogging over the holidays was awfully nice. I apologize right now for those of y'all who were curious about what we at throughout the past 2 weeks. To be completely honest, I would be embarrassed by publicly announcing how little cooking, and, therefore, how few actual meals, we really did eat. We coasted on left-overs quite a bit - to the point where now, just a little over a week since the Christmas festivities, we're pretty much out of those left-overs. Weird. Anyway, here's yesterday's menu:

Breakfast: Eggs, yogurt, get whatcha want

Lunch: Egg rolls

Dinner: Left-over spaghetti, re-fixed into a 9X13 casserole. We had enough left to somewhat fill a 9X9 that got put into the freezer for future use sometime when we're not all home - or maybe for lunch someday.

This year I'm hoping to do more freezer cooking, but in a way that works for me. My plan at the moment is to prepare about twice as much for each meal (or at least some meals) than I normally would, and stick what's left into the freezer. This plan seems good since it won't take that much more effort on my part, and, if we decide to have folks over at the last minute, we'll have enough food to support that decision. We'll see how it goes.