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Friday, July 7, 2017

It's Been Another Busy Week

I did not record any meals this week, again. With the 4th of July, Senior Shopping Day (which is an exhausting shopping excursion for me), a 3-hour meeting yesterday, and trying to get some other work taken care of meant that I got meals on the table, but not much time to record. I do have a pretty good memory, though.

What we ate (but not in this order) --


  • baked chicken breasts, with rice pilaf, and leftover jello salad
  • hot dogs cooked over a fire, s'mores, red, white & blue jello salad, potato chips, steamed broccoli, sparkling pear cider and 7-up
  • chicken, black bean, Swiss chard and onion wrap sandwiches (using the leftover chicken from the baked chicken), fruit salad of blueberries, strawberries and baby bananas (these were marked down to 39 cents/lb, along with other aging bananas)
  • ham and lentil soup, cheddar bay biscuits, lettuce and cabbage salad
  • ham and scrambled eggs, green beans, brown rice
  • peanuts and garlic noodles, deep-fried rhubarb, carrots and onions
  • lentil burritos, cole slaw
On Senior Discount Day I picked up about 22 lbs of bone-in chicken breasts, at 87 cents/lb. The breasts are large, in total 16 of them, so over a pound each. I found that 2 baked breasts were enough meat for all of us, with some meaty bones remaining. Right after serving dinner, I popped the meaty bones into the crockpot, covered with 2 cups of water, and set to simmer overnight. By the next morning, the meat was falling off the bones, leaving me with about 1 1/2 cups of meat, and 2 cups of stock. This leftover meat was plenty for making 7 wrap sandwiches. I may be able to get 22 meals out of the chicken that I bought.

The other things that I bought on Senior Day included 7 loaves of bread (to freeze for later this month), more hot dogs, more flour tortillas, peanut butter, and several packages of fun-size candy bars (some for the family as a treat, and some for Hallowe'en). These candy bars were being discontinued by the store, so marked down to 49 cents/ package of 6. Believe it or not, October is only 3 months away!

I hope you had a wonderful week! What was on your menu this past week? Have a great weekend!

18 comments:

  1. We had a flurry of a week also!

    Since I never write our meals down I never can remember what we ate either! I know my daughter helped a lot this week too so then for sure I won't remember cooking anything because I didn't!

    Sunday we had tater tot casserole, garlic bread and applesauce. Monday was __________, Tuesday was picnic at friends house including meatballs, salad, watermelon, potato salad, chips. Wednesday was stir fry using all kinds of veggies from the fridge and some Asian noodles that we had used last week for spring rolls. Thurs. was baked chicken, salad, applesauce.

    MIL brought over 4 family sized pkgs. of chicken legs Wed. night and put them in my freezer for our family. She got them at Aldi for .69/lb. which is a "good" price for these days. I used one of them last night and they were big chicken legs.

    Alice

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    Replies
    1. Hi Alice,
      That was so nice of your MIL to bring the chicken legs. They will be very welcome with all of your kids around this summer, I'm sure.
      Tater tot casserole sure sounds delicious. What dod you put in it besides tater tots?

      Have a great weekend, Alice!

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    2. I press 1 to 1 1/2 lb. ground beef into the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. I like 85/15 if I can get it but otherwise 80/20. Season with S & P. Next layer is a big amount of cooked green beans (from dad's garden). Then comes a can of cream of mushroom soup mixed with 1/2 can of milk or water (that's the bad part!). Finally, I top with tater tots and bake at 350 for one hour to one and a half hours until the tater tots are crunchy. We have used other veggies but beans are the best for hubby's digestion so we use beans.

      Alice

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    3. Alice--I grew up eating tater tot casserole! Yum! Maybe I need to dust off the recipe and try it at my house.

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  2. Hi Lil,
    That is a great price on meat. I have not seen that price in a while. Your meals sound really yummy. We have been pulling a lot of bits and dabs from the freezer as it has been quiet warm. I can't believe we still have a lot of frozen meals in the freezer. We found turkey from the holidays this week and made turkey,cherry and mayo sammys. Inspired by your tuna. We also had grilled chicken and zucks, Twice. Lots of refrig oatmeal and lots of yogurt with fruit.Kriti found 12 packs of single serve yogurt at the discount grocery store for 75 cents for the entire case. She bought 3 cases.They are close to the sell by date. I was thinking of freezing part of it. Do you think it would be ok? I have only frozen the starter before.Do you think it will stay good in the frig for awhile? Have a good week.
    Patti
    Patti

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    Replies
    1. Hi Patti,
      With the yogurt -- first of all, awesome price!! It should keep in the fridge for 3 weeks past sell-by date, with little noticeable change, if completely sealed. Maybe save some for eating, as is, but freeze the rest. Yogurt that has been frozen separates, but can be used in smoothies, with no issues. If you want to eat the yogurt after freezing, you could prepare it into things like frozen yogurt pie, and just keep that in the freezer, until you're ready to use it (frozen yogurt pie is basically thawed cool-whip folded with yogurt and jam, poured into a graham cracker crust, then frozen until ready to eat. If you don' thaw it, you can eat it frozen, but it tends to be on the icy side, I think. Also, yogurt can substitute for buttermilk in recipes, too, like with pancakes or quick bread/cake. Good luck with it.

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  3. I bought some of the 87 cent/lb chicken breasts, too (3 packs). I should go get more to cook up, shred & freeze, but I'm not sure I have it in me.

    My SIL passed away from cancer on July 4. We didn't expect her to go so soon. While we're all happy that she's with Jesus, we're so sad for her husband & kids (ages 12 & 9).
    I've been trying to do fun little excursions to give the kids something to do, but nothing that takes too much time, as I know they need to be at my house or with their daddy. They just need time & space to grieve & process.

    With that said, I've been serving dinner this week to all family who wishes to stop by. I've been pulling things from my freezer (spiral ham, pork roast, salsa verde beef that I made a couple of months ago, etc.) My friend stopped by with 2 beautiful boxes of organic produce today, so much of that will be incorporated in to the next few days' meals. God is good, all of the time. Melissa

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    Replies
    1. Melissa, I am so sorry for your loss. Words fail me. Just know that you and your family are in my prayers. And I pray the Lord will hold her children and husband in His hands through their grieving. I wish I could do something for you. Reach out, if there is anything that I can do. Sending hugs and prayers.

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    2. Thanks, Lili & Lynn. Prayers for me as I minister to these kids would also be appreciated. I'll continue to have them at my house during the day until they return to school at the end of summer. Melissa

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    3. So sorry for your loss. I know you are a blessing to your brother and his children.

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  4. Oh Melissa, so sorry to hear the news of your SIL. I'm sure that the meals and your other support is so helpful to her family at this sad, difficult time. Sending thoughts and prayers.

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  5. SUch a great deal on the chicken, LIli. Yu stretched it so well. Wtg. :)O

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  6. Even without the pictures these posts still make me hungry! I would love to know how you cook those chicken breasts to make them palatable. As I'm still a bit new to the world of preparing meat, I'm not sure if I'm just one of those people who doesn't like white meat, or if I'm preparing it wrong. It always just tastes mealy, dry and flavorless - sorta like expensive Styrofoam. I'd love to know your secret!

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    Replies
    1. White meat is notorious for being dry. My favorite chicken breast recipe involves a marinade of plain yogurt, buttermilk, honey, basil, and pepper. I find that either/both yogurt or buttermilk seems to help with the dryness problem (then I bake it). Also, maybe check out America's Test Kitchen's recommendations--I think they brine their chicken and that's a huge help, although I try to avoid too much added salt so I don't typically use that technique. That being said ... I much prefer thighs and legs--more moist, and more room for error. :)

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    2. Oooo... I never thought about a marinade. Might involve more thinking ahead than I'm usually up for, but certainly worth a try. So when you say "bake" does that mean covered or uncovered?

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    3. Here's the recipe I use (but I think you can fudge on the yogurt/buttermilk amounts, or use all one or the other--this is NOT the time to make "fake" buttermilk by adding vinegar to milk).

      Tangy Mustard Basil Chicken:
      3/4 cup buttermilk
      1/3 cup plain yogurt (full-fat or lowfat--I prefer Greek)
      1/4 cup honey
      3 TBSP dijon mustard
      1/2 tsp dry basil
      1/8 tsp pepper
      3 whole skinless chicken breasts, split

      Combine the first 6 ingredients in a 2-quart rectangular baking dish. Mix well. Place chicken in marinade, coating both sides. Cover dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate several hours or overnight, turning chicken occasionally (I've done it in 1 hour or less and it turns out ok). Preheat oven to 375*. Bake 45-60 minutes or until thermometer reads 165*.

      Hope this is helpful. I'm not sure, but I think that the acidity of the buttermilk/yogurt helps tenderize the meat. I love the honey in it. I seem to have pretty good luck with this with white meat. If you really want something easy, I bet you could just marinade your meat in the buttermilk or yogurt.

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    4. Oh, and to answer your question (duh, Kris), I bake this uncovered to help brown it up a little.

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    5. Wow! Thanks, Kris! It sounds delicious. I'll definitely give it a try!

      Delete

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