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Friday, November 11, 2016

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for early November

risgrynsgrot -- Swedish rice porridge

Friday
My daughters and I are planning to go to the Christmas store late in the afternoon. I won't have very much time to put together a dinner -- so glad I have soup plus a bunch of carrot sticks, ready to go, in the fridge.
  • leftover black bean and veggie soup
  • fried corn tortilla chips
  • carrot sticks and dip
Saturday
  • hot dogs on biscuit dough, with cheese (was supposed to be wrapped in biscuit dough, but I added too much milk, so they were on drop biscuits. Still very good!)
  • canned peas with mint
  • acorn squash
  • pickled beets
  • tomato slices
  • brownies
Sunday
Lazy Sunday afternoon, one daughter has offered to help with most of dinner prep. She'll make the hamburger squares and cook the pasta, and I'll make the gravy, toss the pasta with EVOO and herbs, and serve it all up.
  • hamburger squares, with gravy
  • tomato wedges
  • leftover acorn squash
  • pasta with herbs and olive oil
Monday
A humble and perhaps a bit humdrum meal tonight. I'll add a bit of pizzazz with some of my homemade watermelon rind pickles, made in summer.
  • hamburger squares, with onion and herb gravy, over
  • brown rice
  • leftover acorn squash
  • watermelon pickles
Tuesday
  • chili from the freezer, topped with cheddar
  • carrot sticks
  • bruschetta on homemade French bread from the freezer, using one of last garden tomatoes and garden herbs 
Wednesday
  • soup made from garbanzo beans, leftover squash, onions, liquid from assorted canned vegetables this week, garlic, and beet greens (pureed just before adding the greens)
  • drop cheddar biscuits
  • fruit salad, made from not quite ripe figs from our tree, an apple, banana, in a dressing of orange juice and vanilla-plum jam
  • Risgrynsgrot 
Thursday
I have a meeting tonight, so leftover soup will come in handy. I also baked some chocolate chip cookies this morning. I'm sure they will be appreciated by my family.
  • leftover soup
  • garlic-cheese oven-fries
  • cookies
What was on your menu this past week? Any plans for a day off, today? I've got an appointment, then some grocery shopping, and maybe some work outside.

Have an awesome weekend!

16 comments:

  1. A week with biscuits more that once. It doesn't get any better than that. Unless, of course, it's a week with biscuits and chocolate chip cookies. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi live and learn,
      I do love biscuits!
      After all the discussion on chocolate chips and snacking, I opened a bag to munch on, and began to feel guilty. So, to slow down my chocolate consumption, I baked the rest into cookies. Now, I need to find a way to slow down my cookie consumption.

      Have a great weekend, live and learn!

      Delete
  2. We had a roasted chicken on Sunday with au gratin potatoes. Sent a lot of the leftovers with the college kids. Monday-I forgot, Tuesday was meatloaf with mashed potatoes and carrots and homemade blueberry pie, Wed. was meatloaf tacos, Thurs. was breakfast burritos, and tonight--who knows but it looks like instant pot steak and maybe roasted potatoes and veggies.

    I volunteer in a food pantry once a month on Thurs. and last night was my night. There was so much fresh veggies that they told us to take home whatever we wanted at the end of the night. So I took some very large cauliflower, lots of lettuce, stir fry peas, some trays of mixed stew veggies so we are going to work through that blessing this week.

    My grocery list now has only three items on it and I really could even live without picking those things up.

    It's not a day for me but that's ok. Have a wonderful weekend!

    Alice

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, your meals sound wonderful, Alice! I'll be right over for my slice of blueberry pie.

      My son has volunteered at our local food bank, and they frequently have items that are going out of date, and can't give these out to clients. So, the volunteers can take those items home if they want. Your blessing of all of that produce will be very appreciated, I'm sure!

      I hope you have a lovely weekend, Alice, even if it's not a 3-day one for you!

      Delete
  3. Risgryngrot? I've never heard of it but it looks yummy. Is the recipe coming?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ruthie,
      risgrynsgrot is a traditional Swedish Christmas Eve dish. It's easy and extremely frugal, so I should post how I do mine. Other Scandinavian countries do a similar rice porridge. And yes, it's very yummy! I'll post, soon!

      have a great weekend, Ruthie!

      Delete
  4. That rice pudding stuff looks delicious! Rice pudding is one of the thing I miss most on my carb controlled diet. We had some kinda week here. Discovered our boys' room has bed bugs. We think we picked them up when we stayed at a hotel for my grandma's funeral on the coast this summer. Anyhow, my week got wonky with taking care of that problem, plus the myriad of other things that are always going on. I really wanted to throw in the towel for dinner one night. I had planned on meatloaf, but the thought of making it & all the sides seemed too overwhelming. So I made sloppy joes instead (already had the hamburger thawed). That was a frugal save. Just eating out burgers & a couple of large fries costs us upwards of $50. Have a restful weekend, Lili! Melissa

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Melissa,
      oh my goodness! Bedbugs. Yikes! That's always a fear when I stay in a hotel. How are you getting rid of them? I've heard that heat kills them. But it's not like you can torch the boys' room. You have my sympathies. That must have thrown a huge wrench in your week!

      The fact that you could then throw together any sort of meal is heroic, I think!

      May you have a peaceful, non-eventful, easy weekend, Melissa!

      Delete
    2. Yes. It is always my fear, too. I'm pretty strict about the family keeping their bags off the beds & floor. In this case, we had 2 hotel rooms at a nice hotel (my grandma's estate paid for it). Anyhow, the exterminator guy said it's the nicer hotels that are having the problems.

      He'll treat all the beds in the house and bedroom baseboards (they hide behind those) every week for 3 weeks. Since we live in an arid climate, I was surprised that bed bugs could survive. He said that 3 years ago he had never treated a bed bug here (been in the pest control business for 38 yrs), now he treats 3-5 houses per day. Ugh! He said he's only had one call back for bed bugs after he treated for them--and that was a year later. So here's to hoping (and praying) that we will get the problem taken care of.

      He's the cheapest in town, but he was recommended by a relative. He says he makes $150 on these treatments. The rest of the companies in town are charging $700 to $1000, which would have been terrible for us. I'm glad I knew about this guy. Melissa

      Delete
    3. I have heard the same thing, Melissa, about bed bugs and the nicer hotels. When I've read trip advisor hotel reports, it's been surprising how many upscale places have had bad reviews due to bed bugs. I'm glad that you found a good exterminator at such a savings. Not a fun thing to have to spend money on.

      Delete
  5. Hi Lili,
    Less cooking this week. Weather in the 90's makes me want
    to just eat PB and J all week.
    Monday-Baked wheat bread,Pizza with sausage, veggie pizza.
    Tue-Bean burritos with cheese,lettuce,sour cream
    Wed- PB and J sammys
    Thur-Baked Chicken with red potatoes,carrots and celery.
    Fri-Leftover chicken
    Not much cooking this week.
    Blessings,
    Patti

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Patti,
      Even with a low-cooking week, your meals sound delicious! The baked chicken, especially, with red potatoes, yum! And if you just had PBJ's for the next week, it wouldn't be a travesty. Sometimes food just has to be "just food". The 90s sounds very warm to me, and would zap me of energy, plus I wouldn't want to heat the kitchen.

      have a wonderful weekend, Patti!

      Delete
  6. I'm surprised we're able to eat the same foods practically every day. The vegetable side dishes are a constant: steamed homegrown mung sprouts with sauce, blanched garden swiss chard with sauce, steamed garden collard greens with sauce, quinoa, natto, tofu with sauce, and bean patty. The sauces are oriental soy sauce based and slightly different for each vegetable, so it gives enough variety of flavors. Then for extra protein we add an entree every now and then, whatever we feel like cooking. And we are still having our coconut gelatin cups with whipped cream after every lunch and dinner. This way we are sure to consume a cup of milk every day, and a half tablespoon of vodka that went into making coconut extract from dehydrated coconut flakes.

    I am so glad for you, that you have found a way to simplify your meal preparations. I think it is great that you have freed up time to do crafts and other projects that are meaningful to you. I love all the crafty things you've done. Very classic romanticism, that aura matches bath products so well!!

    Have a cheerful Sunday!!

    YHF

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL about the vodka:)

      YHF

      Delete
    2. Hi YHF,
      the foods you eat all sound so healthy. Good for you! When you make your gelatin cups, do you also make large batches at a time, as you do other foods?

      Yes, this has been a real help for me to have the energy to do all of the other things that I enjoy more. I'm slowly gaining energy, but if I was still making all diners from scratch each night, I'd not have time/energy to do the crafting, this year. I owe a big debt of gratitude to all of you who have encouraged me to change things up.

      have a great day, YHF!

      Delete
    3. I make the gelatin cups in 2 1/2 c. batches, so approx. 4 to 5 servings. I use about 1 1/2 c frozen milk, less than 1 T. gelatin, 1 T. coconut extract, 1 1/2 T. sweetened shredded coconut, 2 T. sugar. This seems to be the easiest quantity to make since we freeze the milk in 1 1/2 c. blocks. My husband never gets tired of the coconut flavor, says it tastes like haupia which is made from coconut milk and cornstarch, but that requires cooking on the stove, and dirtying a pot in the process. Much easier doing it the gelatin way.

      I am so glad you are getting your energy back. Me too :) Glad we could encourage you to go easier on yourself :) Likewise, you and your readers have helped me so much, I have so much gratitude and know it is because of your blog.

      YHF

      Delete

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