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! :)

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.

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!).

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.

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.

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.)

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!

Pretzels!

Breakfast: Egg and kale things

Lunch: Pretzel rolls

Dinner: Spaghetti

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

Back again

But I'm not going to even try to remember everything we've eaten since I last logged on here. Suffice it to say, we've had plenty, remained in a perpetually stuffed state, and nearly eaten our way into sugar comas. It's been a great Christmas! Over the past week or so, Daddy picked up some groceries for us, totaling $48.50, bringing the grocery money to $638.22.

Here's some food-related fun we've had in the last week or two:

Chocolate mints using THIS recipe.

Obviously, I decided to dip the mints instead of top them. One tip if you decide to do this recipe: Keep them in the freezer. I did most of the time, and they were delicious that way. But I also wanted to see how they held up out of the freezer. Well, they held up okay, but the chocolate got grainy...

The final result of our plum pudding adventures! Much to our surprise, it was actually pretty good! We just need to add more nuts and cook it somewhat less. Still, we were fairly pleased with the end result, especially since we've never done it before!