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 32 - Easy Eats and Local Treats

Printable Version of Meal Plan

Last Saturday we took the ferry to Halifax for brunch at Stayner's Wharf (nice patio, great food!) and as we were passing through the Alderney Farmers Market we picked up much of the produce we used this week (including kale, zucchini, tomatoes and carrots).  On Sunday we fit in our annual trip to Between the Bushes, a blueberry u-pick in Canning, NS and on the way home popped into Tangled Garden for a jar of Ginger Lime Thyme Jelly.  It all resulted in some pretty good eats this week.  Have I mentioned how much I love summer in Nova Scotia?!

I'm sticking to the same format I used last week... thought is was more to the point and I feel I have a lot to say about the food this week so "to the point" is probably a good thing!



Let's talk about the food...

First - Snacks!  Tuesday evening was cool here so I took advantage and got baking.  I put my fresh blueberries to good use in these Blueberry Spelt Muffins (recipe from The Athlete's Plate).  This was my first time using spelt flour and I was really impressed with the outcome.  They came out perfectly moist and not too sweet. 

Blueberry Spelt Muffins

I also made a batch of Whole Wheat Cheddar Crackers (recipe from Weelicious).  Haven't made these in awhile and we were all a tad excited when they came out of the oven!

Whole Wheat Cheddar Crackers

Toast w/ Butter, Maple Syrup and Blueberries - I don't usually talk about breakfast (well except for hounding you to try Overnight Oats!) but this is one of my summer favorites so I had to mention it.  I'm a toast girl... prior to this year I probably had toast, with either peanut butter or jam and cheese, nine mornings out of ten.  But come summer when I have fresh blueberries and in-season juicy peaches I like to switch it up.  Toast, butter, blueberries or sliced peaches and optionally a drizzle of maple syrup.  mmm. mmm. mmm.

Cheese and TVP Quesadillas - Quesadillas are a go-to packable lunch that I've mentioned before but this time I opted to add a little TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) which is a bit different for me.  I rehydrated the TVP and then browned it with Mexican Spice Blend, using it as you would ground beef.  This is really the only way I've ever used TVP - as a ground beef substitute in quesadillas or nachos.  Just can't seem to get on board with it.  What am I missing?

Grilled Pesto Salmon Packets w/ Roasted Potatoes and Kale Chips - So I totally enjoyed this meal.  I had made the pesto the night before - first time ever, but now I know how ridiculously easy it is so it probably won't be the last!  In fact this whole meal was ridiculously easy and required almost no cleanup.  Bonus!  I coated the inside of each piece of foil with olive oil and then layered carrots, peppers, cherry tomatoes and sugar snap peas.  On top of the veggies I placed a piece of salmon (boneless skinless) and topped that with a spoonful of pesto and a squeeze of lemon juice.  In a separate foil pack I had mini potatoes halved and coated with olive oil, salt and pepper.  While all that was grilling I made a batch of Kale Chips (recipe from 100 Days of Real Food).  It had been a long time since we had a batch of 'green chippies' and Marin devoured them.  Dave liked supper but wasn't as enthusiastic as I was... I don't know, maybe it was just that cleanup only required putting our plates in the dishwasher and throwing away the foil, but I thought this meal was pretty awesome.

Quinoa Feta Patties and Kale Salad - I was loving this lunch too!  I like to turn pretty much anything into a patty these days.  Remember I did whole week themed Patty Cake??!!  I'm at the point that I rarely follow a recipe - just use whatever grain, legume, ground meat or fish I have on hand... throw in a couple of eggs, spices, cheese, breadcrumbs and then shape them into patties and fry them up.  This week was Quinoa with Oregano and Feta and they were delicious.  If you want to follow a recipe I've linked one from Marin Mama Cooks and while you're there you can also grab the recipe for Kale Salad... which I'm pretty sure I'm now addicted to.

Pork Chops with Roasted Vegetables - Another easy one.  Preheat the oven to 425.  Put the pork chops in one baking dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Chop a variety of veggies (I used sweet potato, carrots, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes) and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper in a second baking dish.  Bake until done... I find the veggies will take longer so get them started first.  But what took this meal from 'ok' to 'wow!' was my Tangled Garden Ginger Lime Thyme Jelly.  I spread a little on the chops for the last few minutes of cooking and then had another little spoonful for dipping.  I could actually skip the chops and the veggies and just have the jelly.

Ravioli with Cherry Tomatoes -  Again, easy peasy!  I picked up some fresh Spinach and Cheese Ravioli at Costco which takes no time to cook.  While the water was boiling I heated some olive oil in frying pan, added some minced garlic and cherry tomatoes and tossed them around until the tomatoes started to burst.  I added the cooked, drained pasta to the pan to coat it with the tomatoes and oil and that's it!  I wasn't sure if it would dry out or reheat well for lunch but it was fine!

Summer Squash Strata -- This was another meal that I was enthusiastic about but Dave and Marin not so much.  Dave liked it but felt it was more of a breakfast dish... fair enough.   I made some substitutions... 

• Grape Tomatoes instead of Beefsteak Tomatoes
• English Muffins instead of French Bread
• Dried Thyme instead of Fresh
• Old Cheddar instead of White Cheddar

Summer Squash Strata

Plum and Oregano Chicken Kababs, with Roasted Potatoes and Carrots - Dave was happy to fire up the grill again.  I actually used boneless skinless chicken breasts and had read a review that said the plums got overcooked and mushy on the skewers so I just placed the chicken and plums on the grill separately.  I did the potatoes and carrots in separate foil packs.  This chicken was super easy and nothing fancy but turned out really good.  We could have skipped the plums but overall this meal was a hit.

Gourmet Grilled Cheese - My niece Bailey is the "Gourmet Grilled Cheese Queen".... no Kraft Singles for that girl!  I think she'd approve of the Ginger Lime Thyme Jelly with Old Cheddar combination.  However, Dave had a hankering for nachos so we had nachos tonight and I'm saving the grilled cheese for Sunday night.  We're off for a weekend getaway with friends so an easy supper on Sunday will be perfect!

Happy Weekend Everyone!  Hope you're all getting out to enjoy some of your own local flavors!

Sandra

Week 9– Pinterest “Recipes to Try”

Printable Version of Meal Plan and Grocery List

My magazine inspired week inspired me to tackle my Pinterest “Recipes to Try” board – it was getting a bit out of control with almost 80 pins!  I’d like to say it’s smaller now but I think I went a little pin crazy this week and pinned more recipes than I tried.  I did find some new favorites though!

Recipe Quick Links:
Sweet Potato and Peanut Soup, Healthy Seasonal Recipes
Salmon Cakes, Healthful Pursuit
Brussels sprouts, beet and pomegranate salad, Chatelaine
Honey Lime Chicken Skewers, Kitchen Meets Girl
Chickpea Burgers, Marin Mama Cooks
Kale Salad, Marin Mama Cooks
Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken, 5 Dinners 1 Hour
Loaded Baked Potatoes, Easy Cookbook Recipes
Chocolate Cookies, The Spunky Coconut
Pop Tarts, 100 Days of Real Food
Whole Wheat Cheddar Crackers, Weelicious


Monday – Lunch was leftover Sweet Potato and Peanut Soup from Sunday night.  I picked this recipe on Sunday because I happened to have all the ingredients on hand.  I’ve mentioned before that we’re not big soup people but this one is a winner – so tasty!  Officially moved to my ‘Favorites’ board.  Supper was Salmon Cakes with Brussel Sprout, Beet and Pomegranate salad, both of which were… ok.  I didn’t have a pomegranate so I added a little Pom Wonderful juice to the salad dressing instead.  I wasn’t a huge fan of the dressing and think the salad would have been better if the beets & brussel sprouts had been roasted perhaps – just a little something to bring out a bit more flavor. For something so packed with ingredients I found it somewhat bland. Dave did like it though and he’s not typically a fan of brussel sprouts. I on the other hand LOVE brussel sprouts! I could steam a bowl and make a meal out of them.


Tuesday – If you’ve been following me you’re no stranger to the quinoa salad we had for lunch – have made something similar a few times already this year. I made this version on the weekend and liked it so much I made it again. Really like the addition of the kale and I used the greek dressing from Week 4.  Supper was Honey Lime Chicken, rice and some raw veggies to give our plates some color. The chicken was good, the marinade is full of flavor… I will say however that this is a grill recipe and would likely be much better cooked on the BBQ as opposed to using the Foreman as I did.  But I will definitely pull this one out come BBQ season! This would be a great marinade to add to chicken to toss in the freezer for an easy summer supper.  After supper for a treat I used up the almond pulp from the latest batch of almond milk to make these chocolate cookies. I made these a couple of weeks ago adding a little whole wheat flour – they were good but not great. This week I added a little coconut flour and coconut (as suggested by my sister who I now have hooked on homemade almond milk!) and they were really good!! I set aside half the batch to eat and half to make ice cream sandwiches… we ate those Wednesday night. OMG – so good! So now that I have a healthier cookie for my ice-cream sandwiches I have to find a healthier filling (currently using Dream Whip). Guess I’ll have to make more almond milk so I can continue experimenting!   

Wednesday – Lunch was tuna salad, veggies with dip and crackers. This is what I call “munchy lunch”. It’s nothing special but easy to throw together and always good.  But let’s not talk about lunch – supper was most definitely the highlight! A couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon this blog called Marin Mama Cooks. Of course, being “Marin’s Mama” I had to check it out and before I knew it I had spent an entire lunch break browsing this gorgeous site.  Her recipes all look delicious and are also super easy to follow because she documents each step with beautiful photography.  I tried the Chickpea Burgers and Kale Salad – both really good!  I knew I couldn’t even come close to doing this meal justice so I asked her permission to use this photo...  
Photo by Jacquelyn Grandy @ MarinMamaCooks   

Ingredients for this meal included chickpeas, cilantro, avocado, tzatziki…. seriously if I personalized the song ‘These are a Few of my Favorite Things’ these would all be in my list so it was no surprise I enjoyed it so much.  The kale salad is something I can see making quite often. Here’s a funny kale story – I’ve been trying to find kale for weeks, Marin has even been making special requests for green chippies.  Last week while at the grocery store I could see the kale from a distance and I said ‘Marin, guess what??? I see KALE!’ and we both literally cheered! We made green chippies as a snack last weekend.  As she was eating this salad she was saying ‘mmm….I love kale!’  I just love that I have a 4 year old who knows what kale is! So definitely try this meal and definitely check out Marin Mama Cooks… just make sure you have a good chunk of time before you do!  

Thursday – Dave didn’t need lunch so I got to enjoy the leftover chickpea burgers and kale salad!! The only thing better than leftovers for lunch is leftovers that I know are so darn yummy!  I think I actually ate early because the lemony goodness of the salad was calling my name and it was in fact better on day two.  But unfortunately supper, Honey Sesame Chicken, was a big disappointment.  And I was really looking forward to trying this one.  In fact I had it pinned twice I wanted to try it so bad!  I have to say though I don’t think it was through any fault of the recipe, it was just that 9 hours was far too long and the sauce burned. I’m keeping this one on my Recipes to Try board so that I can give it another shot and it might be time to invest in a slow-cooker with a timer so that I’m not limited to 8-10 hour recipes.   

Friday -- The plan shows leftover honey chicken but since ours was pretty much burned to a crisp that didn’t happen. We just ended up having hard-boiled eggs, veggies and dip and some whole wheat cheese crackers. The recipe refers to these as a homemade version of Goldfish crackers. I find them nothing like Goldfish but in fact much prefer them. Just 4 ingredients and if you have the right tools they are a cinch to make! 




Supper was inspired by this recipe for Loaded Baked Potatoes.  In reality I went a bit more ‘potato skins’ with this meal… I microwaved a couple of potatoes and cut them into rounds, brushed them with bacon fat and baked them until crispy.  Then I topped them with cheese and bacon, served with sour cream.  Not the healthiest meal we ate this week but pretty darn good just the same!

 



Sneak peek for next week - Winter Favorites!

Happy meal planning everyone!