What I Spent
We started out with an exam (first one for pediatrics) on Monday. Then we had clinical on Tuesday until 8:30 pm, followed by two days of lectures, and to round things out, I’m working 12-hour shifts at the hospital today and tomorrow.
I think I am going to take it easy on Sunday. 🙂
Saw these at Trader Joe’s, might go back and buy some. Flowers that don’t wilt? TEMPTING.
On the upside, I knew the week was going to be crazy, so in between exam prep sessions last weekend, I prepped blog posts and also made a careful menu plan.
I spent:
- $15 at Safeway
- $33 at Trader Joe’s
- $13 at Giant
- $61 at Aldi
So, $122.
Oh, and before we get to what I cooked this week, I wanted to tell you that on yesterday’s post, I added in the process photos of the painting that Jana did for JD, of the last big tomato her husband grew.
Thank you to Jana and JD for sharing. I love that this project came together because of you guys connecting here!
What We Ate
Saturday
I made some waffles, which we topped with fruit and whipped cream. 🙂
photo from a previous waffle-eating session
Sunday
Zoe was out with a friend, so I made some mashed potatoes, topped with shrimp, sauteed tomatoes, and a little pan sauce.
Monday
I made this glazed tilapia recipe, which I haven’t done in years! We had some French bread and a green salad on the side.
Tuesday
I had clinical until 8:30 pm so I ate my packed dinner there and Zoe fended for herself.
Wednesday
I made some orange chipotle chicken tacos.
Thursday
We had leftover chicken from Wednesday, so I used it to make taco salads for us, topped with crispy tortilla strips and some cilantro/lime dressing (I eyeballed sour cream, mayo, jalapeno pepper, garlic, salt, pepper, and cilantro and blended it all up).
There IS some chicken underneath!
And I packed a lunch for my Friday shift with the leftovers, except I added some roasted sweet potatoes from the fridge.
Friday
I work 7 am to 7:30 pm today (and tomorrow) so tonight I will probably just throw back a peanut butter sandwich, shower, and go to sleep.
Joy
Saturday 9th of November 2024
I made Jay some fresh tomato soup from tomatoes he ripened in the garage. I was jealous of his soup (I can’t eat tomatoes). So, I made some broccoli soup. We had hamburgers on Monday and Thursday and soup the other days. Tonight he smoked a ribeye!
Madeline
Saturday 9th of November 2024
You are the “sauce” queen! That cilantro lime! Love. your posts.You keep me smiling even during the weeks that are a bit more challenging! I love that your commenters are also so uplifting and kind.
Jen
Saturday 9th of November 2024
Sunday- chili and baked potatoes Tuesday- chicken tostadas, homemade crockpot refried beans, bell peppers, garden tomatoes, and lettuce Wednesday- oatmeal blender pancakes topped with plain yogurt and blueberries Thursday- butternut tortellini (butternut squash and sage was from my little garden!) and broccoli Friday- frozen chicken nuggets and a pear Tonight will probably be leftovers!
Selena
Friday 8th of November 2024
Saturday - not sure Sunday - take out Mexican Monday - beef stew - the butcher shop sells really good beef stew that is cut in consistent size pieces Tuesday - leftover pasta after we got home from working the polls and taking ballots et al to the county office Wednesday - pulled out a leftover grilled burger for me and better half made a pizza to eat Thursday - leftover beef stew (working at my desk), not sure what better half ate. Friday - grilled chix and "cut" cheesy potatoes. Straight up, the potatoes are rich. Better half grated a couple of potatoes and mixed in with part of the cheesy potatoes.
Becca
Friday 8th of November 2024
Whelp, it's been a week that culminated in me waking up with a terrific migraine. Luckily the meds I took kicked in so that I could make it into work, but I was not up in time to post this morning. For anyone still reading though, here's my weekly summation:
WIS: a little under 200 on a shipment of 200 lbs of flour, about 32 on take out and 33 @Aldi. Both the takeout and Aldi were my husband because I rarely spend on takeout, but I also rarely spend less than a hundred at Aldi, so I guess it all evens out.
WWA:
Fri: focaccia using cherry tomatoes and some mozzarella and Gouda cheese sticks to look like "mummy" pizza. It was good because Gouda is always good. I was too tired to make a salad, so I cut a cucumber into four long spears and added it to a small amount of leftover romaine salad and called it good enough.
Sat: leftover focaccia and leftover Halloween shaped pasta with pumpkin chipotle sauce. I made a proper salad using sliced red Chinese cabbage and apple cider vinegar plus some spices.
Sun: I made grilled cheese sandwiches with green apple slices, sauteed onions and cheddar cheese on sourdough bread. They were amazing. I also roasted some pumpkin seeds, and we had leftover red cabbage salad which started to taste sort of pickley from sitting overnight in the fridge in the apple cider vinegar. Mmm, tasty.
Mon: I was working from home, so I turned three farm share cabbages into cabbage steaks which I normally love, but I had accidentally over salted them, so we all ended up eating only one. We also had sort of a snacky dinner with crackers, spreadable cheese and an olive cut to look like a spider on top, plus some of the lightly pickled red cabbage and some sliced tomatoes and fresh basil.
Tue: I was home still, so I turned the too salty cabbage steaks into a cabbage soup that also used up about 3 lbs of potatoes, a couple questionable onions, some very small garlic bulbs and a lb of ground turkey. I browned the ground turkey in a pan with the onions and garlic, but then I put everything into the crock pot with four cups of chicken bouillon broth. Yeah...it was super full...like I may have needed to ladle some broth out of this later on...twice...I saved the broth though, and then moved it all into a giant bowl to serve it. It made a LOT of soup with some pretty inexpensive ingredients. We garnished it with fresh parsley, the last of the pickled red cabbage and some oyster crackers and it was quite tasty. We also had some roasted pumpkin seeds.
Weds: leftover cabbage soup with spicy crackers crushed on top.
Thu: the last of the cabbage soup with Halloween shaped pretzels on top, roasted pumpkin seeds and sliced heirloom tomatoes.
Tonight: I finally made another salad: tatsoi with Asian trail mix sprinkled on top, and my husband made focaccia with mozzarella and Parmesan from Aldi and a jar of chipotle pumpkin pasta sauce from the pantry.
Tomorrow: not sure since we are rather unusually out of lefties. Maybe something with tofu?
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
Becca
Friday 8th of November 2024
@Becca,
A frugal story I'm sure that will be appreciated here: These pumpkin ice cream bars were free because I had bought a box at Aldi before Halloween and when I opened them up that night, we discovered that they must have been taken out of the freezer at the store because they were essentially refrozen soup. There was a twice as nice guarantee on the box, but I was at a loss about how to return them before or after work without creating more soup until it dawned on me to just take pictures. I then was able to turn the soupy bars into overnight oats so there was less landfill waste and the Aldi cashier cheerfully honored the twice as nice guarantee with just my receipt and photos. It ended up being a thrice is nice, I guess! Also, I love Aldi. Fin.
Becca
Friday 8th of November 2024
@Becca,
Oh, and on Wednesday we had pumpkin-shaped ice cream bars for dessert.