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Friday, May 26, 2017

Cheap & Cheerful Supper Menus for Late May

Friday
  • leftover pizza
  • cole slaw

Saturday (husband cooks)
  • tomato and vegetable sauce over linguini

Sunday (husband cooks)
  • scrambled eggs
  • carrot sticks
  • hashbrowns

Monday
  • turkey, cream cheese, cranberry sauce sandwiches (the turkey sandwiches were leftovers from a luncheon for which I volunteered on Saturday. I added the cream cheese and cranberry sauce.)
  • tortilla chips and salsa
  • carrot sticks and celery sticks
  • canned pineapple
Tuesday
  • baked chicken
  • brown rice with chicken gravy
  • dinner rolls topped with chicken gravy
  • sauteed kale and onions in ham fat
  • rhubarb pie
Wednesday
  • vegetable-beef soup using pot roast from the freezer, carrots, celery tops, kale, onion, barley
  • drop biscuits
  • salad of cucumber and cabbage in blue cheese dressing
  • rhubarb pie
Thursday
  • homemade pizza, using scratch dough, spaghetti sauce from the freezer, cheese and olives
  • green salad from the garden
  • rhubarb sauce from the garden
Sorry I wasn't here yesterday. I had something major that I was working on all Wednesday and into Thursday. It took over my life! It's a long weekend this weekend, here. Anyone have plans? I think we'll do a cook-out on Saturday night, with hot dogs and s'mores. If no one has discovered them, I have graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate pieces in the pantry. I have homemade hotdog buns in the freezer, and a package of hotdogs in the fridge. Tonight, it might be just me and one daughter for dinner, or it might just be me. Whatever, it will be low-key. 

How was your week? Anything special going on this week for you? Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

18 comments:

  1. "... of no one discovered them." More than once, I thought we had a certain ingredient that was gone when I went to look for it. I find it frustrating, but if I don't formally tell people not to eat something, I guess it's all fair game.

    I'm hoping for a low key weekend. We had a big cookout last weekend, so no I have not motivation to do much more than hamburgers on the grill for our Memorial Day cookout.

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    1. Hi live and learn,
      I actually have two pantries. In one, almost everything is fair game. But the other is an "ask mom" pantry. I store extra baking supplies in there, as well as things like the s'mores ingredients. Whatever works. My family also knows not to open 2-liter bottles of soda pop without asking, as I set aside a couple for specific occasions (like a lemon-lime one for stomach illnesses, and a cola for holidays). There is an up side to letting everything be fair game, though. It does mean that your family is more likely to rummage for themselves when they are hungry, instead of waiting for you to come along.

      Hamburgers on the grill sounds very nice. I can imagine that your open house was a lot of work to put together. Have a great, relaxing, long weekend, live and learn.

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    2. Hah! I do the same thing! Except now my kids tell me they know everything I have, even in the fruit room downstairs (I hide clearance Easter candy, etc, in roasting pans down there). Melissa

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    3. Melissa, they may "know" everything that you have "hidden" but they realize that it is in their best interest to leave that stuff alone! At least that's how it works in our house. Ha ha

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  2. Family fun day today before the oldest heads to camp job on Sunday. Husband took off work and we will have ice cream for breakfast, go strawberry picking, have lunch out in OKC, then spend the afternoon at the OKC Science Museum (we have the reciprocal museum add-on so five of us can go for free, only paying for two). Kids are excited! The rest of the weekend will be spent at a Humane Society adoption event, home, and church. Enjoy your burgers!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Cat,
      oh goodness, is it that time of year already?! Have a wonderful time this weekend, packing in all of the family fun. The strawberry picking sounds like such a fun thing to do. I may look into that when strawberry season hits, here. Even with a patch of our own, we rarely have enough to make jam or freeze. We eat them all fresh. Enjoy your last couple of days with your oldest before camp!

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  3. Good Morning,

    It's busy at our house again! Two young adult kids are home and one became sick due to the constant weather changes. It just won't warm up and it's wet and just plain cool.

    We have meals each day which keeps me busy. For now, I need to make sure people don't use the wrong foods to make meals so for now I make all the meals. We have hamburgs, hotdogs and buns in the freezer but that is for Grandpa's birthday party next week so it's off limits.

    What we have had was leftovers on Sunday after a busy week last week and enough to feed us leftovers. Monday was grilled pork steak and fries, Tuesday was a chicken/leek/beet oven casserole, Wednesday was free pizza my son got and I made a small batch of spaghetti in my Instant Pot, Thursday was pan grilled beef steak with brown rice. Much of this was food from the freezer or pantry. Thursday also was a crockpot of chicken noodle soup for lunch for my sick daughter. I also made a batch of baked beans in my Instant Pot and froze those for dad's birthday party next Saturday.

    I have found myself in the grocery store to get essentials. Daughter asked if we had saltine crackers for her soup and sadly I did not. My hubby and I just don't eat snacky foods when it's just the two of us so having a box of crackers around getting stale didn't happen. But I know my kids like crackers with their soup so I went and got some of those and she wanted mangos for her smoothies which we also don't eat regularly when we're home together. She could buy her own stuff but my thing is that while they are home, I will provide as long as they don't want super expensive things. Fridays are always up in the air and since there are no leftovers we'll just see what pans out.

    As far as we know the only thing we're doing is helping a neighbor plant his garden. He's had so many medical issues this year that he can't plant but hopefully will get better to enjoy the harvest! I don't think I have much meat in the freezer other than chicken so I'm not sure what we're having for our Memorial day meal. I'm thinking we'll do yard work if the weather permits.

    Alice

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    Replies
    1. Hi Alice,
      I'm sorry your daughter is sick. That's a miserable way to begin break. I understand needing to make all of the meals to make sure that items last. I have to do that from time to time, too. Right now we have some foods that are in abundance, so I tell my family to have as much of those items as they wish, for the time being. They understand that when those items are gone, that it will be back to making sure we use all items in measured amounts.

      I only buy crackers for special occasions. When I do, I usually get them at Dollar Tree. They carry a couple of brands that have larger packages, so for $1 it's a pretty good deal. I have found that for myself, when I have snacky foods in the house, I tend to eat them before choosing healthier snacks, like fruit, raw veggies, peanut butter or boiled eggs. It's the same thing for keeping cookies in the house. Just not a good idea for my eating. Other people might be able to be more prudent with things like crackers, though.

      That's so nice that you'll be helping a neighbor plant their garden! If I'm lucky, I'll get to replanting some stuff that got eaten by slugs in my garden. Hoping that can happen this weekend.

      Have a great weekend, Alice! Enjoy being outdoors!

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  4. The standout dish in our meals this week was a Korean Spinach Side Dish called "sigeumchi-namul" (recipe that was on my father's union newsletter). It seems a variation of a sauce my husband makes for swiss chard that everyone likes. Our neighbor even uses that sauce on collard greens which we have not tried yet. For the Korean recipe, instead of spinach, we used kale, both dwarf and dinosaur variety, and oh my so addicting. The kale adds a bitter punch like adding horseradish. We are still over run with garden veggies that keep giving and never going to seed. Our freezers are so full with steamed collards that we can't make a batch of homemade pizzas to IQF for quick prepared meals. I also want to freeze a batch of tamales using collard green leaves as a wrap instead of banana leaves and also with a Kalua pork filling instead of the usual. Our grandchildren are coming over next weekend during a break before summer fun and I want to serve the tamales. I love to find different foods for them to try, since I think of it as a learning experience. But I'm careful to make that experience as positive as I can so they don't close their minds to new and different. That tamale is a winner if I may say so. I want our son and his family to try collard this way since they are not fond eating it stewed.

    Otherwise, these days I am throwing myself into crafting. I've got several projects going, which I normally don't do. I've recently discovered the joy of twining odd combination of fibers. And do that in between projects. I get so wrapped up in my pursuit, I have a hard time sleeping or doing other maintenance tasks. The ideas keep circling in my head and I take my needlework to bed which is a bad idea. I have to make adjustments soon or I will not be in good health.

    Have a nice weekend!!

    YHF

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    Replies
    1. Hi YHF,
      you tamale experiment sounds yummy. You could also try using the collard leaves to make mock stuffed grape leaves, with a Mediterranean-inspired rice and meat filling. I think the texture of cooked greens is off-putting to a lot of people. But when made up like you have as wraps for tamales, the texture issues are overlooked. Do you ever make cream of green soup with the collards, using an immersion blender or jar blender? That would use a lot of greens, too. Of course, soup might not be what you're interested in, in your climate.

      Your needlework does sound like it keeps you busy. I'm sure you will find a way to balance it all out so that you can sleep peacefully at the end of the day. Finding balance takes work, oddly. The very thing that is supposed to bring peace, actually is something at which to be worked.
      Have a great weekend, YHF!

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    2. Not so sure about the green soup....I have never tried split pea, even green cream sounds a bit out there. But I'm sure it tastes good, and not as bad as it sounds. I haven't tried stuffed grape leaves either, but my husband ordered it in Vegas at a casino diner and said it was very good. Yesterday, my husband suggested turning the tamale into a patele, with all sorts of substitution. This is what makes cooking fun, bending the tried and true, same old boring. Try it once at least, for the small things in life. For the bigger, life altering decisions, tried and true may be the safer route to take.

      YHF

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    3. Your last comment is so true, YHF! :) Take care-- Sara

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  5. My husband & I have a first aid/CPR class we have to take tomorrow. The traveling Vietnam Memorial is in our town, so I think we'll go see that. I'll need to put some flowers on a friend's daughter's grave & be at church Sunday a.m. In between all of that, the kids & I will need to get the house ready for guests on Sunday evening.

    Our oldest daughter recently traveled to Israel. She went on a tour with mostly older folks, but had a friend her age who also went with her. This young woman is the oldest of 10! Their family had us to their house for dinner before the girls went to Israel. We are going to have their family over now that the girls are back.

    It's supposed to be warm here on Sunday (94--a bit too hot for my tastes). Even so, I plan to set up picnic tables outside. I bought those 87 cent per pound chicken breasts at Fred's this week. I plan to take the skin off, season them with BBQ seasoning & sauce, & then put them in the Nesco for shredded BBQ chicken sandwiches. I'll make a few salads with what I have on hand, some baked beans in the crockpots with ham bones from the freezer & my daugther will bake a couple of cakes. The other family will bring a fruit salad. My little people can't wait to have so many kids over to play with! Enjoy your weekend, Lili! Melissa

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    1. Hi Melissa,
      You have a busy weekend! I hope you have a moment or two to rest during all that you have going on. Your BBQ plans sound delicious, and I'm sure will be greatly enjoyed. With so many kids in the other family, I can imagine how fun this will be for your own younger children.

      I saw the ad for Fred Meyer with the chicken breasts. If I get a chance to get over there today or tomorrow, I'll pick some up, as well. Thanks for the reminder.
      Have a wonderful weekend, Melissa!

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  6. Hope you enjoy your holiday weekend! We went to a local carnival last night to hear my son play in the jazz band concert. My neighbor gave us 2 free tickets for wristbands for the rides, so my daughter and her best friend made good use of them (my son doesn't like rides). Got to hear some good jazz music from the local middle and high school bands. Saw lots of people, including my niece and her family (she lives about 45 minutes away so I wasn't expecting to see her!) which was fun.

    Tomorrow I have a wedding to attend, Sunday I'm working (I traded days so I could attend the wedding, as it's hard to get someone to trade a regular weekend day for a holiday weekend), Monday I *should* go to the parade and watch my son march in it but I may opt to stay home and get stuff done. Hubby is doing the main meals on the weekend so I can relax my cooking efforts.

    I can't remember all my meals this week, but some were my honey/soy sauce chicken thighs (and corn on the cob and asparagus!), Mexican skillet supper, sloppy joes (with the rest of the corn on the cob--at 20 cents/ear, I had to buy it!), and homemade mac and cheese. Wait, I did remember my meals!

    Hoping everyone enjoys some R&R and good food this weekend.

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    1. Hi Kris,
      What a fun carnival, with your son playing in the concert and rides for your daughter and friend. I hope the wedding went off without a hitch. I hope you get some downtime over the long weekend to just enjoy being.
      Have a great ret=st of your weekend, Kris!

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  7. Our weekend has changed dramatically since Friday morning's post. I went to visit mom and dad after work and dad suggested we come look at the garden and see what's coming up. Sounded good so we all three made our way out of the house, into the garage to to outside except mom missed a step and fell. She fell against the car and then onto the cement floor crying out in pain. I got dad and we waited just a moment to see if anything was out of place and she got into a sitting position. She said her left side hurt but we got her up carefully and into the car and drove the one mile to the hospital. All this happened in about 12 minutes. She had broken her pelvis in two places and her sacrum had another light fracture. No surgery but very, very painful. She was allowed to go home but my hubby and I decided one night in the hospital was necessary. She had time with physical therapy to teach her how to walk and turn and sit and get up. She's home now but dad has to help her with going anywhere in the house. They said they could handle this now. We respect that and we're home too. I wish I could do things differently like maybe wait for mom, walk with her down the steps, go more slowly. We were just so carefree and excited to see the garden but we have agreed we need to be more careful. Mom's spirits are so good and she's determined to move past this. I love seeing that in her! But this weekend we'll stop in a bit more just for the company.

    Alice

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    1. Oh my goodness, Alice! I'll pray for your mom (and dad and rest of you and family). It was an accident ,and although you wish you could have done things differently, accidents happen to all of us. That is a good sign that her spirits are good. I'll keep you all in prayers.

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