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Friday, May 13, 2016

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for mid-spring

Friday

Swiss chard and radish green quiche
Brown rice
French bread
Oven-roasted carrots
Brownies

Saturday

Hummus on fry bread
Carrots and celery sticks
Dried cranberries
Brownies

Sunday

Roasted hotdogs and homemade buns
Green salad
Rhubarb-blackberry gelatin
Leftover pasta salad from lunch
S'mores

Monday

Grilled ham and cheddar on rye sandwiches
Cole slaw
Leftover rhubarb-blackberry gelatin
Cheesecake "bites" (one of two slices of cheesecake given to me, divided 5 ways)

Tuesday

Ham and egg fried rice, with cabbage and radishes
Rhubarb-blackberry sauce

Wednesday

Radish green and ham quiche
Pumpkin bread
Garden salad
Leftover brown rice

Thursday

Spaghetti and meatballs
Garden salad
Toasted garlic rye bread
more Cheesecake "bites"

Such a busy week. Making meals was not high on my priority list. But I got it done, nonetheless.

The garden is beginning to look really amazing. The lettuce is larger than I've ever grown. So we've been eating a lot of garden salads. The nights that we don't have a green salad are not because there isn't lettuce to pick, but because I just don't have time to pick, wash and dry the lettuce. On Thursday, I picked lettuce, twice. Once for lunch for two of us, and a second time for dinner. I'm on the second round of radishes now. When these are all pulled out, I'll need that space for another vegetable, so these are our last radishes. Any that didn't form roots were still used for their greens. Next week, we should begin to use the fresh spinach.

I didn't have a favorite meal this week, for what was eaten. But I did have one favorite dinner for where it was eaten. One of my daughters had a performance on Wednesday evening. So I met up with the other daughter, on campus beforehand, and we had a picnic on the grass for our dinner. It was a sunny late afternoon, and such a pleasant spot for a picnic. The company, the location and the entertainment to follow were what made that meal special.

How about you? Were there any special suppers this past week at your place?

15 comments:

  1. It has been a crazy busy week for us and I can't even remember what we ate all week. Monday--I can't remember; Tuesday--crock pot vegetable beef barley soup with bread and crackers; Wednesday--baked chicken and a baked potato with green beans; Thursday--roasted turkey and gravy with stuffing and crabapplesauce; Friday--no clue yet.

    We're getting ready for the two college kids to move home for the summer and we're adding one other young lady who needs a place to live for the summer while she takes a very difficult summer course. My son took the same course last year but during the year and it was difficult. We're putting another bed in daughter's already cramped room but it will work and she'll have a safe place with shower, laundry and food to get her through the difficult summer.

    I'm going to put my foot down on food for the summer. I'll provide one warm (or bigger) meal per day but I am not tolerating a full blown 2nd meal made by anyone. I would prefer they eat breakfast then a sandwich or salad for lunch and then a dinner that I will make but if their schedules don't work for that then they can have breakfast, a bigger lunch and then a sandwich or salad for supper. Not big meals for both lunch and supper. I also don't want snacking all day long. I think they will all be either taking summer classes (my two are also taking summer classes) and then working either before or after the classes so I'm guessing everyone will be gone most of the day. My oldest (who is a teacher) has the summer off and I'm not sure what her plans are. I know she's traveling at the end of June.

    Alice

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Alice,
      Your meals sound delicious. I really love vegetable-beef-barley soup. It's been one of my favorites since I was a child.

      So, you'll have 6 adults living under one roof. If nothing else, your house will be lively this summer! And that is a very kind thing you're doing for the young woman taking a course at the nearby university. Good luck with managing meals for the summer.

      Have a great weekend, Alice!

      Delete
  2. Kudos to Alice for taking in a young lady while she completes a class. It can be hard to add another person to your household.

    I think I'll go backwards and see if I can remember our meals. Tonight we will have chicken and cheese quesadillas, probably with some sort of beans, carrot sticks, and peaches. Last night we helped with the end-of-year party for my son's youth group. We had a hot dog cookout--we supplied the chips--gotta love Aldi's--5 bags for $7.50 and we have some left over (there were 32 youth group kids, plus 9 adults/younger kids). I'd say that was a cheap meal out. :) I made pizza Wednesday (carrot sticks and peaches as sides). Tuesday was crockpot-roasted chicken--Aldi had their organic chickens 1/2 off as they were expiring May 11, so I bought two and cooked them both. Chicken leftovers will be on our quesadillas tonight. We had mashed potatoes and beets as sides. Monday I made tuna noodle casserole and green beans. I don't remember what hubby cooked Sunday but I'm sure I enjoyed it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Kris,
      In case you don't go back to previous posts I wondered (from yesterday's post) what Aldi you were at that had .69 per dozen eggs. I'm here in W.Mich. also but could get them at .79.

      Delete
    2. Hi Kris,
      That is a cheap meal out -- $7.50 for 4 people, with no dishes to wash up afterwards. If you all went to a fast food place, you'd spend more than that, even if only buying off the value or dollar menu.

      I'm just curious, (I've got lots of beets planted), how were your beets prepared?

      Delete
    3. Um, microwaved???? ;) My husband harvests them in the garden and he does all the hard work (he's gone on a soggy camping trip in the rain for Scouts right now or I'd ask him). I think he boils a bunch up and then puts them in containers to freeze. I don't think he roasts them, although I've heard that's good, too. We love them any way we can get them. I just heat them in the microwave once they've been prepared.

      Alice, I'm assuming that's you asking about Aldi's egg prices--I live in Muskegon and I go to the Aldi's on Henry Street. If I recall, you are in the Grand Rapids area. I know prices vary regionally--maybe it depends on the sellers? My M-I-L in Illinois can get fresh pineapple for $1 on sale at her Aldi and the cheapest I've ever seen them here is $1.25. Hope that helps. :) Oh, sometimes my husband can get them at our local Spartan store for .69/dozen--they tend to do a one-day sale and you have to watch the ads carefully to catch it (he works near the Spartan store so it's easy for him to grab some after work).

      Delete
    4. Oops, for some reason I wasn't able to edit this--I meant that we get eggs from the Spartan store for .69/dozen.

      Delete
    5. Well I bought the eggs at what I THOUGHT was a good deal at .79 per dozen only to drive near another Aldi where the sign outside boasted .59 per dozen. So I really lost out on this deal...boohoo!
      Alice

      Delete
    6. That was still a good deal, Alice. Did you buy any of the 59 cents/dozen eggs? Both prices are excellent for protein foods.

      Delete
  3. Hi Ladies,
    My daughter took me out to eat for lunch on Sunday. We split a salad at our favorite Greek place. We watched the sail boats and all the people. It has a great view of the Ocean and the harbor. Our lunch was just over $10.00 dollars a fun treat. My daughter made dinner. We split
    a bacon wrapped fillet. She got at grocery outlet 2 fillets for under $6 dollars. The other one went in the freezer. She made asparagus (from 99 cents only) with lemon sauce and baked potatoes. What a wonderful day. Monday we had pasta and meat balls with red sauce. Tuesday we had chicken tacos with rice and beans.Wed was turkey burgers green beans and baked potatoes. Thursday was Taco salad with a little hamburger,beans,rice and corn chips from grocery outlet. Friday was chicken bell peppers and green beans over potatoes. Made enough of everything to have for lunch the following day. We had smoothies for dessert. We love grocery outlet they have great prices. It is like a yard sale for food. You better
    stock up when you see a good deal because it might not be there again. We now have enough salsa for a year and the jars are a great size for leftovers. 16 oz organic salsa for under a dollar. Have a great week end.
    Patti

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Patti,
      Mother's Day with your daughter sounds like it was a lovely day.

      I haven't shopped at Grocery Outlet in a while. I'll stop by there again, soon. Thanks for the reminder to check them out!

      I hope you had a nice weekend, Patti!

      Delete
  4. We try to have a garden salad meal once every day (to lose weight and control our carb intake). So if we have a regular (caloric) lunch we will have salad for dinner and vice versa. And we seem to be eating leftovers a lot. We made two dishes for the week. Chicken soup with homemade noodles using the carcass from Safeway's rotisserie chicken ($5 Friday special), and a long eggplant stew (sugar/soyu/sesame oil/red hot peppers) with kang kong. Everyday, I add more frozen blanched kang kong to the pot. We've been eating this since Tuesday. Side dishes were cucumber namasu (sugar/vinegar) with imitation crab/wakame, garden beets (just boiled and served with mayo), sauteed garden swiss chard, seasoned boiled watercress that was getting old, blanched green onion tied in knots and eaten with a miso/sugar/lemon juice sauce. Bean patties were a daily staple, eaten soft taco style, or topped over salads like crouton. We had gelatins for dessert: coffee/milk over bits of too sweet Christmas cherry chocolate candy (Walgreen clearance), passion herbal tea w/lemonade/food processed pomelo and orange zest over a spoonful of strawberry rhubarb crumble cake (found one leftover piece in the freezer) to offset the tartness. This is kitchen sink cooking and a chance to use odds and ends in the pantry and freezer. I noticed that my husband likes the idea of finding a sweet treat at the bottom of his gelatin cup, and think serving with gelatin is a good way to eat just a fraction of a piece of candy or other rich dessert.

    YHF

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi YHF,
      I do really like your coffee/chocolate gelatin dessert idea. And I agree with your husband on having one bite of something rich, along with a lighter fruit or gelatin, makes a nice dessert.

      Sounds like a very use-it-up week around your house! The soup I've got in the crockpot today will be much like that -- leftover odds and ends all in one pot.

      Delete
  5. It's interesting to hear what everyone eats during the week. I haven't seen organic chicken at our Aldi's like Kris mentioned, I'll have to ask about it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi live and learn,
      I agree, it IS interesting to hear what is on others's menus.

      Delete

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