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| garden veggie medley from Wednesday -- my favorite way to prepare veggies |
Friday
scrambled eggs topped with cheddar and salsa
oven-fried corn tortilla chips with salsa
garden salad w/ homemade dressing
blackberry pie
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| Friday's humble meal of scrambled eggs and chips |
Saturday
rice & lentils
sauteed garden greens
fresh blackberries
Sunday
vegetable, bean, and noodle soup, w/ homemade chicken stock
biscuits
fresh blackberries
Monday
brown rice
lentil and veggie curry
chocolate chip cookies
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| Tuesday -- the wedge in the left corner is a spaghetti pancake |
Tuesday
baked spaghetti pancake w/ beet greens, garlic, cooked noodles, egg, milk, and salt
(garden) acorn squash
(garden) chilled beets and tomatoes w/ ranch-style dressing
blackberry cobbler
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| Wednesday -- I pull chicken meat off bones before serving so that I can use the bones for soup stock |
Wednesday
baked chicken legs/thighs
brown rice
(mostly from garden) green bean, yellow crookneck squash, onion, garlic, basil, and canned tomato medley
stewed plums (last year's harvest)
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| remnants from Thursday's Mexican feast -- so good! |
Thursday -- a Mexican feast (complete with appropriate musical accompaniment courtesy of youtube)
chicken (leftover from previous night), homemade refried beans, homemade salsa, garden lettuce and tomatoes, and homemade salted, plain yogurt -- all piled high in a layered dip
corn tortilla chips for dipping
My favorite meal this week was Thursday's. This was my daughter's night to cook and she saw a photo online of something that looked good to her. She did her best to replicate it with what we had on hand. It was so tasty! When I look at what went into it, I can see that this was a very frugal meal, as well. Refried beans made from dried beans and bulk-purchased spices, chicken that was picked off of the bones after making stock from the previous night's chicken dinner, yogurt and salsa made at home, and vegetables from our garden.
The music was a last-minute grab off of the internet and created a festive atmosphere for the meal.
Some of our meals are extremely simple, like Saturday's rice and lentils or Friday's scrambled eggs. I don't think that family meals need to be "gourmet" or extravaganzas in order to be delicious. If I could afford to have a private chef who would cook gourmet meals for me, I might enjoy that part of the time. However, simple meals are also more than just satisfactory. They taste great, easy to make, and save us a bundle.
Low-budget meals could be quite dull. Keeping a vegetable garden is key for adding life to meals of rice and beans, simply cooked eggs, or chicken and rice. Almost all of the color in these photos comes from our garden produce. That color equates to variety in flavor, texture, and nutrients.
How was your week of meals? What were your favorites this week? I hope everyone has a lovely holiday weekend!
