Stay Connected

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

A September lunch round-up: staycation time!

My daughters have a couple of weeks off before uni classes begin. We had hoped to go someplace, but as it turns out, we do have a lot of commitments in the next 2 weeks, so it just didn't work out.

We are, however, making the most of lazy mornings and sunny afternoons, with local excursions to get that "vacation feel".

So, lunches are perhaps a bit more interesting and fun, this week. Here's what we're doing for lunch:

  • homemade "pepperoni" pizza (thin-sliced beef hot links in place of pepperoni)
  • vegetarian garden lasagna (I use seasoned tofu in place of ricotta, and lots of chopped kale)
  • applesauce (using apples that I pick up under the trees every morning -- thanks to the pesky squirrels)
  • apple Brown Betty (I just like the name. Sounds fun, doesn't it?)
  • fresh plums, apples and tomatoes 
We are stuffing ourselves with garden produce. Sometimes I look at our plates and think, "that came from the garden, that came from the garden, that came from the garden. . .". Just fun to see how much we've grown that fills our plates.

What's on your lunch menu this week? What do you make for "fun" lunches, special occasions, birthdays, etc?

_________________________________________________________________

15 comments:

  1. We do staycations sometimes and find them a lot of fun. We see a lot of new places.We find when something is always there, we never make time to see it. It's always tomorrow. But when we formally plan a staycation, we do make time. Have fun.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HI live and learn,
      You DO visit a lot of places near to your home! I always find your sight-seeing posts interesting.

      Right now, I'm trying to get the whole family to agree to times for a trip to the mountains, a trip to the pumpkin farms, and a trip to Pike Place Market. Those are our top 3 favorite fall local destinations. But getting everyone on board with the "when" is always problematic.

      Delete
  2. Enjoy your time with your girls! Sometimes lazy days are the best. You have time to go to those "I've always wanted to check that place out ... " spots.

    I'm not a fun-lunch person. Lots of sandwiches. :) For dinner, I made oven fries last night to go with our sloppy joes--that's considered "fun" with my kids. BTW, I just learned that dusting the potato wedges with cornstarch prior to baking makes them crisper--it seemed to work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HI Kris,
      Oh--great tip on dusting the potato wedges with cornstarch. I'm definitely going to try that!

      Sloppy Joe's do sound fun to me. After all, my idea of "fun" is lasagna or pizza.

      Delete
    2. I'm going to try the corn starch trick too. I love crispy anything.

      Delete
  3. Some of my best vacations have been "staycations." :-)

    Our week day lunches are kind of simple as always -- normally whatever is leftover and in the fridge for Monday through Friday. On weekends when hubby is home I cook heavier meals. (This week we've started with being gone Monday and beans/rice from the fridge Tuesday.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Shara,
      I think staycations are more restful, for me. When we go out of town, I feel pressure to "do it all", and wind up more tired when we get home than before we left. So, for this staycation, one of my hopes is to get rest.

      Delete
  4. Sounds like a fun time for all! And your special foods sound delicious. I guess I'm not really a fun lunch kind of mom...feels kind of stressful just getting them all fed anything (or packed). Once in a great while when homeschooling, I'd make them an indoor "picnic" with lots of finger foods (cut up fruits, veggies, small sandwiches, etc...).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HI Cat,
      Oh, those indoor picnic foods sound fun. One of these weeks, I'll make up a few kinds of tea-sized sandwiches for them to choose from. Great idea!

      Delete
  5. The usual suspects, pb & J, pimento cheese, I'm almost done with this pimento cheese and I'll be glad as I am getting tired of it. Your lunches sound good, especially the hot dog pepperonis. lol And I like vegetarian lasagna. I have a recipe for WEIGHT WATCHERS for one. I need to get it out and make it sometime soon. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Belinda,
      I bet the Weight Watchers recipe for lasagna is quite good. I've been using those no-cook lasagna noodles for a couple of years now, and love how easy they make putting a lasagna together (Dollar Tree carries the no-cook lasagna noodles in our area.)

      Delete
  6. I love lazy days :) I've been eating big breakfasts lately, so have also been having late lunches as well, and eating a lot of salads, baked potatoes and nachos.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HI Liz,
      that sounds yummy! I haven't made nachos in a while -- maybe it's time to put them on the menu again!

      As your weather warms up, I imagine salads are tasting so good right now!

      Delete
  7. We have kids living in the Northwest and also NYC, so we don't really take vacations. We take visiting trips. A staycation would be fantastic.

    Lunch this week is pretty much the same as lunch every week. Whatever is left over will be what I have for lunch. ( Tomorrow I am having leftover Chicken Caccitore though. TheHub and I decided to spit one breast for dinner so there is an entire chicken breast remaining. Lunch for 2 days! I love weeks when something tasty is left since it doesn't happen often)

    Apple Brown Betty sounds wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Anne,
      oh yum -- chicken cacciatore! Now that would be a tasty lunch! Chicken breasts have gotten so big that we mostly split them, too. It does make me wonder what those chickens look like, feathers and all.

      Your family spans the entire continent! Visiting trips are good too!

      Delete

Thank you for joining the discussion today. Here at creative savv, we strive to maintain a respectful community centered around frugal living. Creative savv would like to continue to be a welcoming and safe place for discussion, and as such reserves the right to remove comments that are inappropriate for the conversation.

FOLLOW CREATIVE SAVV ON BLOGLOVIN'

Follow
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Be a voice that helps someone else on their frugal living journey

Are you interested in writing for creative savv?
What's your frugal story?

Do you have a favorite frugal recipe, special insight, DIY project, or tips that could make frugal living more do-able for someone else?

Creative savv is seeking new voices.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

share this post