See Thursday’s meal for my fail.
Also, thank you all so much for your helpful comments on yesterday’s post. Maria has so many good ideas to help her navigate family life without dental insurance now. You guys are the best!
What I Spent
Let’s see. I had a $25 Hungry Harvest, and then I spent $156 at the grocery store.
My fridge is so stuffed full of food right now! Which hopefully means I will manage to spend less next week.
May Spending
Week 1: $119
Week 2: $191
Week 3: $181
What We Ate
Saturday
Zoe had her last dance recital so we all kinda fended for ourselves (sandwiches, etc.) before we headed out to see her dance.
Sunday
Mother’s Day! So Mr. FG and the girls made waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, plus bacon.
Monday
I tried a new recipe from the latest Cook’s Country magazine. It was chicken breasts topped with a creamy sauce with poblano peppers and onions.
I thought it was good, except the poblano peppers ended up being way hotter than I imagined! And this was after removing the seeds and veins.
Oh well.
We ate this over rice, with fresh fruit on the side.
Tuesday
I made penne with bacon and asparagus; a recipe from Cook’s Country.
Wednesday
I tried the recipe for pork gyros from the latest Cook’s Country issue. The verdict is that we all liked these.
Although, honestly…I think the main reason I like gyros has more to do with the pita bread + tzatziki sauce than it does with the meat. 😉
Thursday
I’d planned to make a grilled mojo chicken recipe but…I forgot to thaw and marinate the chicken.
And I remembered this around 2:30 pm. Ugh.
And it’s the second time this has happened in two weeks!
So.
We had grilled cheese sandwiches and watermelon.
Friday
I haven’t decided for sure, but Sonia and Zoe are having some friends over for a sleepover, so it will be something fun. 😉
What did you eat for dinner this week?
Kristen
Monday 20th of May 2019
You are right...and I do try to be mindful of that with my kids. I was mostly being silly when I wrote my post title, but I suppose even silly self-deprecation has a cumulative effect over time.
Carla
Monday 20th of May 2019
Yeah! I know it's a way to try silliness but I really do feel, and have seen in myself and family, the cumulative effect on our own view of ourselves when we say these things about ourselves regularly. I guess I'm very sensitive to it since it's something I work very hard on to slowly destroy the effects of earlier overuse of this. I just hate to see others talk about themselves like that too when there is so much loveliness there. :)
Carla
Monday 20th of May 2019
I think part of giving ourselves grace is to separate the person from the action. The marinating failed, bu you are not a fail. Language matters :)
This is important not just with our kids, for example, telling them that they DID something rude or disrespectful, rather than telling them that They Are rude and disrespectful. As we parent, it makes a difference for a kid to hear that, but I think we also have to parent ourselves and separate those two things when we talk about ourselves.
I always tell my kids for example, don't say "oh, i'm bad at math", because your brain hears that, and your brain will believe it and won't try. Say instead "oh, I have to work harder at math" and that is what the brain will hear and go with.
I say that to myself too, it's not always easy, but I try to say wow, "well, that a dumb thing to do at work" and not "I was dumb at work", I don't want my brain to hear that I think I'm dumb, because then I might believe it and act accordingly.
So, yeah your marinating intentions failed. Bummer. But you are rolling with the punches and still moving on.
Betta from daVille
Friday 17th of May 2019
Saturday: we hosted a cookout and went through 61 bratwurst, 25 hotdogs, 4 lbs of dried beans made into Boston baked beans, and 2 heads of cabbage for slaw. Sunday: we have no oven and it was another cold & rainy day in New England, so I made sauerbrauten in the crock pot. Monday: eggplant and zucchini caponata; served with polenta Tuesday: 75% discounted Easter candy. For dinner. Sometimes I'm really pathetic. Wednesday: out for Thai food Thursday: a total failure stopped for fast food. It was really gross, but had limited options on the Mass Pike at 9:00 p.m. Friday: homemade tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches
Does anyone have any suggestions: I teach from 2:00-7:00 p.m. and then jump in my car for a 3.5 hour commute home, once a week. I don't want to take the time to cook or heat up a meal, and I want to be able to eat it while I'm driving. Any other creative ideas other than a sandwich? I need a better solution than stopping at overpriced convenience stores or fast food.
WilliamB
Monday 20th of May 2019
Carla has the snacky food covered, here are a few other ideas.
Hand pies, such as Cornish Pasties.
Burritos.
Chinese dumplings, such as roast pork buns.
If you can, consider making a homemade equivalent of whatever overpriced convenience food you would buy.
Carla
Saturday 18th of May 2019
What about snacky type foods, like crackers with cheese and sausage? You can add veggies like carrots, celery, and sliced peppers and fruits like grapes and apples. Maybe think in terms of appetizers that can be made ahead as an actual meal.
nicoleandmaggie
Friday 17th of May 2019
The children picked all of the recipes you tried from this month's CC but we haven't had a chance to make them yet, so it is good to hear positive reviews. I've been trying to do a bit of freezer/pantry cleaning so using up stuff has had priority (last night we had spring rolls!)
I think it's a spicy part of the year for poblanos... peppers seem to vary in spice depending on when we buy them. Sometimes I can eat them raw no problem, and others they're like a milder jalepeno.
kristin @ going country
Friday 17th of May 2019
Last week of school craziness ahoy . . .
Monday: T-bone steaks, rice, roasted bell pepper/onion/sweet potato, green salad (still with MY LETTUCE HOORAY!)
Tuesday: Skillet meal of leftover taco meat, leftover rice, and shredded cheese. Plus steamed broccoli. I am obviously raising foodies over here. :-)
Wednesday: Bunless hamburgers, boiled potato chunks, green salad. And it sure was handy that I had done almost all the prep ahead of time so that when I walked in the door at 5:15 p.m. with four exhausted children (field day, kite-flying contest, last day of preschool, AND a 4-H meeting all on the same day) I didn't really have an excuse for not cooking. Or rather, for cooking scrambled eggs, which is my version of "not cooking." Although I did rather grumpily mentally refuse to add cheese to the hamburgers, because that was apparently just a step too much? I dunno. It was a long day.
Thursday: Last-day-of-school pizza (from frozen homemade dough, which turned out really tough and greasy--will not do again), a steak that I didn't have room for on the pan on Monday, and some random leftovers for me.
Tonight: I took out some cube steaks, so I guess I'll make grillades and rice. Probably frozen green beans.
Kristen
Friday 17th of May 2019
Ooh, schools are already out there? They'll still be in session for about a month here.