Week 41 - What Happens When Life Gets in the Way of Grocery Shopping

Printable Version of Meal Plan

We were away last weekend for Thanksgiving and arrived home Monday with no grocery stores open.  I was prepared for this and was able to put to the test one of the make ahead slow cooker recipes I had in the freezer.  I am now a believer!  But then it turned out I couldn't get out Tuesday night either so I took another look at our supplies and got us through another day.  Wednesday night Marin went to my parents house for a sleepover and Dave and I found ourselves with an unplanned date night... so again, no groceries.  By this point I felt it was a personal challenge to NOT get groceries for a full week.

This was manageable given that last week I had over planned a bit and had some leftovers.  So I actually started the week with enough milk and some fruit and vegetables.  I did make a trip to a pharmacy on Monday evening and picked up a loaf of bread ($2.50) and mid-week at Costco we picked up a couple of other items for about $18.00.  So $22.50 was my total spent on grocery items for the week!!  Hurrah!  This was also possible in large part to my freezer re-org.  This may sound a little dramatic (or maybe a lot) but having clean, organized freezers has changed my life....ok, maybe not my life but at least the way I meal plan. 

Here's what we managed to find to eat....

Breakfast - We mainly alternated between toast and cereal but I did squeeze in an overnight oatmeal - I can't help myself.

Corn Chowder (Mama Loves Food) with Tea Biscuits (100 Days of Real Food) - I prepared these last week to take with us for the weekend so we were cleaning up on this.

Lentils & Rice (Chef Michael Smith) - This recipe takes only a few ingredients that I almost always have on hand.  It also takes only about 5 minutes of prep time to make two days worth of lunches.  A great recipe to have in your back pocket.

Slow Cooker Coconut Chicken (Kojo Design) - This was prepped and frozen a few weeks ago with this very day in mind.  I knew I would need to have something that didn't require a trip to grocery store for the Tuesday after the long weekend.  Oddly none of us were over the moon about this one the night of but I finished up the leftovers a couple of days later and loved it!  I'd almost recommend making it a day in advance because it seems to take that long for the flavors to really blend.  I served it with couscous though which Marin did love.

Greek Nachos from Palladium Family Restaurant - I'm throwing this out there for anyone from the HRM area.  If you love Greek food they serve some of the best in the city in my opinion.  Maybe not the most romantic setting for a date night but we loooove the food.

Stir-Fried Beef w/ Roasted Vegetables - this was totally one of those meals that was thrown together with whatever odds and ends I could find.  We had cauliflower, carrots, parsnips, beets and onion - which are all vegetables I love roasted.  Then I stir fried some strips of beef I had frozen with a bit of an Asian twist - sesame oil, ginger, soya sauce and honey.  It was actually pretty good.

Squash Soup with Grilled Cheese - I thawed some squash soup and served it with grill cheese.  A fun idea would be to cut the grilled cheese into bite size squares for homemade "Croutons". 

Personal Pizzas - I had whole wheat pizza crusts in the freezer, just enough cheese and toppings to manage a pizza!  Another pizza Friday.

Homemade Chicken Fingers (Rachel Ray) w/ Roasted Potato Coins - I stock up on boneless skinless chicken breasts whenever they go on sale so I had some on hand.  On Friday's I like to do "convenience" food and while these chicken fingers aren't out of a box they don't take much effort either.  I like to mix the breadcrumbs with grated Parmesan cheese.  For the potato coins I simply microwave the potatoes and then slice them into rounds about a 1/4" thick.  Brush both sides with oil and bake at 450 until nice and crispy.  We still had carrots and celery to have on the side too!

Smoothie - Marin's smoothie love continues - this week was Strawberry & Banana (both from the freezer), Kiwi & Kale (both leftover from last week and in need of being used up), coconut water and honey.  One of our best yet!

Your kids don't like eating greens?  Maybe they'll drink them!

Parmesan Popcorn -- Remember last week I said I wanted to try a new popcorn recipe?  Well I found a winner.  Baking the popcorn gave it a nice crunch.  I packed the leftovers as a lunch snack and it was still crunchy the next day.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins - I had four of these gems from last week stashed away in the freezer.

So not too bad for only $20 in groceries!  I didn't even have to break out the KD.  But now I really, truly am out of food!


What are your go-to meals when life gets in the way of grocery shopping?

Sandra

Week 38 - From Freezer to Table

Printable Version of Meal Plan

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me!  Some people like to avoid their birthday, I on the other hand like to advertise it.  It's the one day of the year that's all about me... what's to avoid?  In fact I love my birthday so much I typically try to stretch it into a week.  So I've pretty much taken this week off.  We were out of town until Monday, Tuesday was my birthday and Wednesday I had a work function that provided breakfast and lunch.  So I thought what a great week to use some of the awesome food I've been stowing away in my newly cleaned and organized freezers.  As a result this was the ultimate easy week and my grocery bill was a grand total of $60!

Recipe Quick Links

Nut Free Nutella, Weelicious
Slow Cooker Honey Rosemary Chicken, Kojo Designs
Lacinato Kale Salad, Marin Mama Cooks
Coconut Curry Squash Soup, 52 Weeks of Meal Planning (Week 37)
Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats, My Whole Food Life
Pumkin Spiced Latte, Farm Girl Gourmet
Whole Wheat Tea Biscuits, 100 Days of Real Food
Baked Apple Chips, Taste, Love & Nourish

Snack Highlights

Cinnamon Rolls - I made a batch of Whole Wheat Tea Biscuits and split the dough.  I used half to make cinnamon rolls.  I rolled out the dough into a rectangle (fairly thin) and spread melted butter, a sprinkle of cinnamon and a generous sprinkle of brown sugar.  I rolled that up lengthwise and cut into 1" rolls and bakes along side the tea biscuits.  yum.

Baked Apple Chips - I've been seeing this recipe everywhere lately.  I gave it a try this week and LOVED them!  Will attempt the bananas next time too.

Apple Chips

Week in Review

Monday was my Birthday eve and we were just back from a weekend away.  I was not even capable of defrosting anything... we had a Take and Bake pizza from Costco.

Tuesday was my special day!!!  I booked the day off of both work (I vowed last year I would never work on my birthday again) and cooking.

Happy Birthday!

Nut Free Nutella & Banana on Tortilla - I made this simple "faux"-tella with Almond Butter (so my version was not nut free) and spread it on a tortilla that I had frozen from last week with sliced banana.  Absolutely as delicious as it sounds.

Slow Cooker Honey Rosemary Chicken with Rice and Kale Salad - A couple of weeks ago my sister-in-law sent me a link to freezer slow cooker recipes.  I've seen this idea before but never really "got it".  When I include a slow cooker recipe in my weekly plan I simply prep it the night before... so I never saw the benefit of prepping farther ahead.  But the timing of seeing this link made the light bulb go off.  I knew I was going to be away this past weekend and it occurred to me that if I had some complete meals ready to go in the freezer I wouldn't have to get groceries the instant I got home.  A few other things I liked about these particular recipes... they use "real" ingredients, are mostly all recipes that have little or no additional steps the day of cooking, and can be left for 8 or more hours.  This recipe was good but because it met all the above criteria I'd rate it great.  I have one other recipe from this site waiting to be cooked and I plan to try more.  The rice was also from the freezer and I made the Kale Salad the night before to make this a completely effortless meal.  Marin loves this salad by the way (I skip the red pepper flakes for her), so don't be afraid to put it on the "kid-friendly" list.

Wednesday only Dave required lunch because I had a work event. We had just enough leftovers of the chicken - sweet!

Pork Chops, Brussel Sprouts & Coconut Curry Squash Soup -  I had bigger plans for this meal but got stuck in traffic so in the interest of time I modified the plan - same ingredients, different method of cooking.  I basically just cooked the pork chops & brussel spouts (trimmed & halved) and in a skillet with olive oil, a diced onion and seasoned with salt & pepper.  I also thawed a serving of Coconut Curry Squash Soup from last week.  I was pleasantly surprised with the results of this speedy meal.

Thursday was back to the old grind.  To get myself into the groove I treated myself with a Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats for breakfast.  Another fall hit!

Turkey, Cheese and Avocado Wraps - I used up the last of my tortillas for these wraps... will have to restock this weekend! I try to stay away from deli meats but once in a while I'll splurge on a package of the Naturals, just can't beat the convenience.  I rolled up the turkey with cheddar, slices of avocado, lettuce and a little mayo.  Really good... and quick.

Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas

Shepherd's Pie - Yet another toss together meal that turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself.  I browned the beef and added soya sauce, organic pasta sauce (awesome Costco buy by the way) and a little brown sugar.  The topping was sweet potato and parsnip mashed with milk and butter.  I assembled and baked it for a few minutes to get it heated through and a little crunchy on top.  So good!

Happy Friday!!  I started my day with a Pumkin Spiced Latte.  I do a modified version of this recipe from Farm Girl Gourmet.  Mine makes a single serving and takes a couple of shortcuts to make it easy to pull off in the morning.  And a tip for the pumpkin - I use canned pumpkin puree.  Last week after making the Pumpkin Buns I spooned the leftovers onto a cookie sheet into about 2T servings and put it in the freezer.  Once they were frozen I moved them to a freezer bag.  One "blob" is just right for both oats and lattes.

2 cups milk (any % you choose)

4 tablespoons canned pumpkin puree

2 tablespoons white sugar

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup strong coffee or espresso

Read more at http://www.farmgirlgourmet.com/2012/11/pumpkin-spiced-latte.html#WC3b4uzEHjWBil1m.99

Pumpkin Spiced Latte (Modified from Farm Girl Gourmet)

2 cups milk (any % you choose)

4 tablespoons canned pumpkin puree

2 tablespoons white sugar

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup strong coffee or espresso

Read more at http://www.farmgirlgourmet.com/2012/11/pumpkin-spiced-latte.html#WC3b4uzEHjWBil1m.99

1 Cup milk
2 T pumpkin puree
1 T maple syrup
1/4 t vanilla (I recently switched to Kirkland brand and find it strong so I tend to go light)
1/4 t pumpkin spice

Combine all ingredients in a blender (I like to use the Magic Bullet for this recipe).  Pour into microwave safe mug and microwave on High for 1 1/2 mins (careful it doesn't foam up and overflow).  Slowly add espresso - I prepare a Tassimo espresso directly in the mug. Top with whipped cream (optional but recommended!)

** This is a recipe that you might have to play around with to adjust to taste.

Supper, Use up Loose Ends - I have a few things that need to be consumed so we're having a supper surprise!  Grilled cheese?  Goat cheese omelettes?  Loaded Baked Potatoes?   We'll see what inspiration hits.

Happy Weekend!

Sandra

Week 13 – Plan to Not Plan

Printable Version of Meal Plan and Grocery List

I know it sounds funny... or maybe lazy, but I did actually plan to not plan this week.  Or at least to not over plan.  As I was doing up the menu I went to the fridge and it appeared full, the freezer was overflowing with frozen fruit and vegetables and my sister, who recently had to switch her family to a gluten free diet, dropped off grocery bags full of pantry staples. So I headed out with a loose plan figuring it was one of those weeks I could likely pull something together with what I had.  Not the most exotic week of meals but it kept some things out of the green bin and wasn’t too bad on the pocket book either.

Recipe Quick Links:

• Broccoli & Cheese Patties, Weelicious
• Southwestern Stuffed Spaghetti Squash, Bev Cooks
• Pan Fried Haddock, Chef Michael Smith
• Coleslaw, Chef Michael Smith
• Very Berry Muffins, Weelicious

Before I jump into the week in review I want to share a funny picture… Marin’s been in ‘chef’ mode lately, always wanting to make her own breakfast, snacks, etc… This is what she came up with for dessert one night last week.  We had it with a scoop of ice cream and minus the carrot, it was actually really good!

Week in Review

Sunday – Sunday’s supper was the ultimate convenience meal… Costco pizza and a Caesar salad.  The Caesar deserves a little attention here – Costco had a bag of mixed greens I hadn’t seen before but it included kale so I had to buy it.   As luck would have it croutons were on sale as well and I had a lemon in the fridge.  Years ago a friend gave me a recipe for a homemade Caesar dressing and I haven’t bought a bottle since.  Mixed greens, awesome croutons and a homemade creamy salad dressing – yum!

Caesar Dressing – mix well 1cup of mayonnaise,  2 Tbsp Parmesan Cheese, 1 Tbsp Lemon juice, 1 clove garlic (minced) and just a little milk.  The milk is to thin it out and give it the consistency you want, so base amount on preference.  I scale this recipe back depending on the size of salad we’re having.

Monday – Lunch was Sunday’s leftovers – so for under $20 we got supper and lunch.  Not bad for a takeout-ish meal.  Supper was my knock off “Shake n Bake” chicken. And I lucked out on sales again – broccoli and cheese were both on sale and I’ve been wanting to make these broccoli and cheese patties again.  As a bonus these can be prepped ahead so they make an easy weeknight meal.

Breaded Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 egg, beaten
• ½ c Italian style bread crumbs (or regular with seasoning of choice)
• ¼ c Parmesan cheese
• 4 chicken cutlets (2 boneless skinless breasts cut lengthwise)
• Coconut oil (If baking, spray with olive oil)

Directions:

1) Place egg in one bowl. Mix bread crumbs and parmesan in second bowl. 2) Dip chicken in egg and then in bread crumb mixture, coat well. 3) If frying, heat oil in skillet and fry chicken until coating is golden and crispy and chicken is cooked through.  If baking, bake at 425 for about 20min.

Tuesday – My sister has been making this Pad Thai regularly since I included it in Week 1.  I threw it in this week because I had a block of tofu that needing eating.  I typically use vermicelli in this recipe but that same sister is the one who dropped off bags of pasta so I used linguini instead and it worked fine. 

Tofu Pad Thai (slightly modified from Crazy Plates cookbook)

Cook vermicelli noodles according to package. Drain and rinse in cold water.

Sauce – combine the following ingredients and set aside.

• ¼ c Ketchup
• 2 Tbsp each soy sauce, lime juice, brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame oil

Heat 1 tsp sesame oil in skillet and add the following, cooking until tofu is browned

• 1 package cubed firm tofu
• 1 package coleslaw mix (I like the broccoli mix too)
• ½ small red onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Add sauce and bring to boil. Stir in noodles. Serve and top with fresh cilantro, green onion, chopped peanuts and a wedge of lime.

The plan for supper was a meatloaf but I felt like something quicker when I got home.  So I ended up just browning the beef with carrots, celery and onion and little soy sauce and served it with a side of basmati.  This meal was fine but this was a package of ground beef I bought at the local farmers market a couple of weeks ago and I was a little regretful I didn’t do something more special with it. 

Wednesday – Lunch was Pad Thai, take 2.  Supper was interesting and I can’t decide if I liked it.  I’ve had spaghetti squash on my mind lately and this recipe (Southwestern Stuffed Spaghetti Squash) appealed to me because it called for cilantro, which I needed for the Pad Thai as well.  We typically love anything remotely Mexican but this wasn’t something we were raving about as we ate it.  But… it was light and left us pleasantly full and sitting here typing about it is making me want a serving!  A few things I would suggest – careful with the jalapenos, I used jarred and it was HOT!!  It was the cheesy bites I really liked so I’d suggest mixing half the cheese in with the filling before stuffing the shells.  And we had it with some diced avocado which was good.

Thursday – one big plus for the stuffed spaghetti squash – leftovers for lunch, and actually better the next day I think.  Supper was going to be a beet and goat cheese salad but as I stood in the produce section, beets in hand, I was thinking ‘do we really need these or can I come up with something else?’  In the end I left the beets and we had goat cheese omelettes with a salad made with that kale lettuce mix from Costco.  Good and used up lots of our fresh ingredients.



Friday – Marin made my breakfast – a bowl of cereal.  It was perfect!  She also coordinated snack – she picked an apple, almonds, coconut and soda crackers.  I went a step further and mixed almond butter with maple syrup and the coconut to have as a spread for the apple.  This was so good!  I’m going to do this up as apple sandwiches for work snacks next week – delicious!   Lunch was Annie’s Organic Mac & Cheese with nutritional yeast flakes and raw veggies.  My plan for supper was fish and coleslaw… nothing more specific than that.  I did a Google search this afternoon for pan-fried haddock and coleslaw and both times came up with Chef Michael Smith recipes.  I’m a huge fan, I watched countless episodes of Chef at Home while on maternity leave and own one of his cookbooks.  His recipes never disappoint!  This Pan Fried Whitefish and Coleslaw with boiled potatoes made an excellent meal!
 

 

Then we had strawberry shortcake with whole wheat tea biscuits… mmm… it was a Good Friday!Well... minus the 4 year olds bath time meltdown, but that’s for another blog.  

Happy Easter everyone!

Week 5 - Mid-Week Big Batch

Printable Version of Meal Plan, Recipes and Grocery List

I'm changing things up a bit this week in hopes of making things a bit easier.  You probably noticed last week that the Meal Plan, Recipes and Grocery List were posted together in one PDF file, which I think (and I hope you'll agree) is a big improvement over posting them seperately as images.  In addition to posting the link on the Meal Plan page I'll include the link at the top of the Week in Review post.  I'll also include in the weekly post a list of links to any recipes that are availabe on-line.

Weekly Quick Links:

• Fish Tacos, Food Network
• Breakfast Wrap
• Corn Tortillas, 100 Days of Real Food 
• Roast Chicken Drumsticks, Stock Piling Mom
• Brocolli & Cheddar Patties, Weelicious
• Whole Wheat Tea Biscuits, 100 Days of Real Food
• Almond Milk, Oh She Glows
• Ranch Dressing, 100 Days of Real Food

Week in Review

Given that I was not feeling the greatest when I planned this week I feel it came together pretty well and was an easy one to follow.  This week was mostly inspired by a trip to Costco where I picked up some Spinach, Strawberries and Portobello Mushrooms.  I had a variety of Goat Cheese and Pre-Cooked Chicken from a previous visit as well.  To kick things off this was supper on Sunday night...

Spinach Salad with Fig Goat Cheese

Some other ways we used up these ingredients - Southwest Chicken Salads, Portobello Mushroom Burgers with Goat Cheese and Strawberry Shortcake.

I also threw in a Lasagna mid-week which worked out really well!!  I typically think of big-batch meals as a Sunday thing to do to stretch into the early part of the week but really its mid-week when I'm running out of steam!  Dave assembled the lasagna Tuesday night which made for an easy supper  on Wednesday with enough leftovers for lunch Thursday and Friday.   As a result the only meal we made after Tuesday was Thursday's supper - now that's an easy week!  Friday's plan is not a typo - Dave had a work event and Marin had a Birthday Party so we didn't need a meal tonight.

I typically focus on Lunches and Suppers in my review but I'd like to talk a bit about Breakfast this week.  If you're like me you sometimes fall into a breakfast rut.  I tend to throw a variety of breakfast ideas on my plan using things that I know we have on hand - but in reality many mornings I skip the plan and go for a quick piece of toast with peanut butter.  This week I added a bit of variety to my breakfast and it was a nice change!  We had flatbread and strawberries so one day I made a breakfast wrap with PB, Banana, Strawberry and large flake oats.  Delicious breakfast on the go!  I also made Almond Milk this week!!  I can't believe it either.  As a result I had an abundance of almond pulp to use up - yesterday I mixed it with oatmeal and this morning I had it on an English Muffin with a drizzle of maple syrup and topped with, you guessed it... strawberries!


The only meal I want to comment on this week is the fish tacos.  I very loosely followed the recipe that I've included in the plan.  I marinated the fish as per the recipe but pan-fried it instead of grilled.  We had it on corn tortillas... have you made them yet???  If my last picture didn't tempt you maybe this one will?  My main topping was a mango salsa, which was just a bottled variety with added diced mango.  This was my first attempt at fish tacos and I'd definately make them again but I wasn't overly crazy about the salsa - I found it overpowering.  I think a fresh mango salsa would be much better!


Now... my pick for the one meal you should definately try this week.... Strawberry Shortcake!  Ok, ok, I know you can't really make a meal out of it but it was such a treat!  I would also pick this one so that you have an excuse to try these Whole Wheat Tea Biscuits.  I splurged on REAL whipped cream.... yummmmm.  BTW - the whipped cream was a breeze to make in my new Kitchen Aid Mixer.  Have I mentioned before how much I love it??

One quick story before I sign off.  I'm now a month into my meal planning journey and am really happy with the results.  I feel more organized and I definately feel like we've saved money.  One thing for sure is that we've eaten out much less!  This is a true story - on a number of occasions last fall we told Marin we were going out to eat and she would say "um...I'd rather just go home for chicken and a salad".  Last week she asked me three days in a row - 'Mom, can we pleeeease go out to eat tonight??"  :-)