Friday
leftover chicken curry (Thursday's dinner) in homemade pita bread (see this post for pita how-to's)
watermelon (free)
Saturday
bean, lentil, barley, and vegetable soup
leftover pita bread, toasted
fresh blackberries (free)
Sunday cookout
hot dogs in easy, homemade buns
garden kale and onions, sauteed
garden tomato wedges
Monday
garden kale and onion frittata topped with quick marinara sauce
brown rice topped with marinara sauce
fresh blackberries with honey
Tuesday
bean, potato, carrot, and garden kale soup
bread and butter
fresh blackberries with honey
Wednesday
homemade cheese pizza using this recipe, taking half of dough for pizza and half for a loaf of French bread)
tossed garden salad with lettuce, beet greens, cucumbers, and marinated cooked beets in a creamy vinaigrette (all veggies form garden)
garden summer squash, sauteed
blackberry cobbler
Thursday
egg, rice, yogurt, and garden greens casserole
blackberries with honey
bread and butter
We had a good week of frugal meals, despite being busier than usual. I went blackberry picking on 3 days this past week, so preparing dinners each day tok a bit of advanced planning.
Grocery-wise, we've had a couple of bonuses this week. So, you remember that a the woman my daughter cat-sits for gave us a whole watermelon, right? That lasted us about a week. Then this week, the same daughter came home from her regular summer job with 2 bags of garden produce from a co-worker -- kale, collard greens, and summer squash. In addition, I was checking out a new dollar store in our town, just to see what they carried. While there, I found 64-oz jars of peanut butter for $2. A bit skeptical, I bought 3 jars. We tried it right away and discovered that it was pretty good. So, I stopped in another day and picked up 2 more jars. That's 20 pounds of peanut butter! Now these jars have a sell-by date of Jan. 2020, so I didn't want to go overboard. I'm pretty confident that we'll use up what I did buy by the end of December. If not, I know someone who will be baking a lot of peanut butter cookies for the freezer. Do you suppose peanut butter freezes very well? I may be finding out. Right after stopping at that dollar store, I went across the street to Walmart, where I found 2-lb boxes of angel hair pasta for 75 cents. That's 37 cents/lb for pasta! I had been considering a sale of 62 cents/lb for pasta at another store. Glad I didn't buy that pasta! What amazing deals and blessings this week!
With all of this peanut butter, I decided to try making a peanut butter salad dressing for my lunch salad yesterday. This dressing was amazingly good. I used peanut butter (softened in the microwave), vinegar, oil, soy sauce, ginger powder, red pepper flakes, sugar, and garlic to make this dressing. I'll be making this again for my family this week. For tomorrow's dinner, I'm planning on angel hair pasta in peanut sauce. Yummy, easy, and cheap.
Another busy weekend coming up for me. What's on your weekend must-do list?
Next chat session opportunity
And speaking of weekends -- how about a chat session on Saturday morning, 9 AM to 11 AM (PDT), August 24, topic: Christmas/holiday foods and gifts? Gifts can be homemade, semi-homemade, or just bargains and where you found them or how you managed the deal. An example -- maybe you bought something in-store, using a coupon off of that store's website, or shopped at a particular discount online specialty retailer, or have found a great flash-sale store. For the homemade and semi-homemade gifts, please include brief instructions and/or a link to your inspiration. If you have photos that you'd like to share, you can email them to me (lili.mounce *at* gmail.com) and I'll upload them into the post.
I am still in the collecting-ideas phase, as I know many of you are, too. September is just around the corner. Be thinking about ideas that you've used in the past or have found for this coming holiday season. Also, be thinking about questions you have for the rest of the group, such as needing gift ideas for a particular age/gender or recipe for a holiday dish. Since Thanksgiving in Canada is not too far off, and then it comes so quickly in the US, too, let's include Thanksgiving food ideas, as well. Sound good?
Have a great weekend, everybody!
I'm looking forward to the next "chat" session!
ReplyDeleteYour menu sounds delicious and refreshing. I am amazed that you can pull together dishes without recipes - like your dressings. Just a little bit of this and a little bit of that? Or do you measure it out? I'm too literal, I guess but I have tried many of your recipes that you've posted and they are great.
I've been pretty diligent about using food items from deep in my freezer and it's an adventure as to how to use it up. - Zucchini from a couple of years ago into cookies,rhubarb and strawberries into pie, chickpeas into hummus, combined sliced hot dogs with sliced, fried potatoes - I enjoy reading how creative you are using up your leftovers. Thanks and have a good weekend!
I was brainstorming a bit today with my sons about Christmas gifts. One of them definitely thinks outside the box and wants to make a bowl from a watermelon rind and epoxy. I think some experimenting might have to be done on that one. I hope I'm not busy next Saturday morning because I'd like to hear others ideas in this area.
ReplyDeleteI bet your peanut butter will still be good beyond the best before date. I've had all-natural peanut butter last more than a year beyond the date, opened, but stored in the fridge. As long as it doesn't get rancid, it should still be just fine for eating or baking.
ReplyDeleteLisa
Ruthie said...
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to the next "chat" session!
Just a little bit of this and a little bit of that? Or do you measure it out?
. . .Zucchini from a couple of years ago into cookies,rhubarb and strawberries into pie, chickpeas into hummus, combined sliced hot dogs with sliced, fried potatoes - I enjoy reading how creative you are using up your leftovers. Thanks and have a good weekend!
Hi Ruthie,
I'm looking forward to the next chat, too!
So, in a lot of my cooking, I think I measure with my eyes (I'm very visual). I have a good idea of how much the different ingredients look in quantity compared to how much I need to use. I also keep half-teaspoon measuring spoon in the salt jar, and know how much salt to use for various items. But when it comes to baking, most baked goods recipes absolutely have to be measured precisely. Baking is much more of a science than general cooking. The other thing that helps is that I make the same types of foods over and over, like vinaigrettes. I alter the final product with different seasonings. And I have to confess, not everything I make tastes great. I have my share of bombs, too. We eat them anyway. I hope that answers your question.
Good job using foods from your freezer! Your foods all sound delicious!
Lisa said...
ReplyDeleteI bet your peanut butter will still be good beyond the best before date. I've had all-natural peanut butter last more than a year beyond the date, opened, but stored in the fridge. As long as it doesn't get rancid, it should still be just fine for eating or baking.
Thanks, Lisa. I'm hoping so. That's good to know of your experience!
live and learn said...
ReplyDeleteI was brainstorming a bit today with my sons about Christmas gifts. One of them definitely thinks outside the box and wants to make a bowl from a watermelon rind and epoxy. I think some experimenting might have to be done on that one. I hope I'm not busy next Saturday morning because I'd like to hear others ideas in this area.
Hi live and learn,
Now that is thinking outside of the box! I'd be very interested to hear of his results with this.
I hope you can join us on Saturday! If not, feel free to contribute later in the weekend. I'll still be reading and I know others will be, too.