We’ve got a birthday to celebrate this week! My Mister is turning a year older so we will celebrate well!
This week:
Ricotta Gnocchi with Basil Cream Sauce
Forest Feast’s Butternut Squash Caprese
Spaghetti
Pumpkin Pancakes
Green smoothies and hard boiled eggs
I’ve mentioned already this month that we are on a very tight grocery budget so I’m making the most of it by using what I already have. So, I was rummaging through my freezer – and for this meal I only needed to be 1 can of cream of chicken soup. How effecient is that?
I love comfort food. My mister finds that strange. Do you love comfort food? I’m talking about mostly foods that you can eat with a spoon: my Granny’s chicken and rice, pie, ice cream, macaroni and cheese, cereal, mashed potatoes, guacamole. The list could go on. My mister knows that I have a relationship with food because I’ll sit down on the couch with a big bowl in my hand and sometimes sigh as I dig into my favorite dessert or pasta goodness (I don’t do that as often but the relationship still exists.
The biscuits I used were leftover from a 4th of July cookout I went to. I just saved some of the biscuits in the freezer and used them here.
So, if you need a quick comfort food meal to put on the table in less than 30 minutes, here is one for you.
Let’s talk about the price of inflation. Not really – but I know if I even mentioned that to my Papa, who turned 92 last month, that I would get to sit near him and listen to his rant on the government and it would take the same amount of time as it would for me to let bread rise! But seriously, when did food get so expensive?
This whole living on a grocery budget is really hard when you like to cook. We are tighter but when you have two growing toddler boys and a mister who needs three meals a day and you are trying to eat healthy – it is hard. Fresh produce is expensive and we don’t want to live entirely off of chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, and peanut butter sandwiches. Couponing is something I don’t have a lot of time for, don’t want to do, and most of the items we buy don’t come with coupons.
So, we will get through this month because God is good and my boys won’t starve and I’m not going to gain 5 lbs.
Spaghetti (because I already have some sauce in the freezer from when I doubled a recipe before)
The Forest Feast’s butternut squash caprese salad
Leftover fig and balsamic pork tenderloin
Chickpea and spinach curry (also leftover from last week)
I’m making PW’s French silk pie for a Sunday meal we are having with friends – but I love the way my friend Jenny talks about it over on her blog.
You know those little samples of chicken with a toothpick stuck in them that you get from the fast food place in every mall across America…I gobble those up. Well, I decided I wanted to make my own.
For Fathers Day, instead of going out and overpaying at every quality restaurant you go to – we usually decide to dine in and pick up good seafood from the counter at our local Whole Foods. I decided I wanted to make my own bourbon glaze and boy did it ever satisfy. I think I could drink the glaze – but instead chose to put it on fish – then put the leftovers on chicken for the next couple of weeks.
And, soon after that, I got the chance through Blogging for Books to review the book The Art of American Whiskey. I found it interested because I know nothing about whiskey or bourbon except that the good stuff is made in KY or TN (usually). This book told me the history of it through the art of it. I loved learning how people made their craft and how they learned to live when prohibition hit our country and what brands are surviving and thriving today.
This week I’m still cooking normal for my misters, but I’m still trying to go without breads or pastas or sweets, so we eat a little differently then we normally do. My mister’s metabolism is such that he still needs carbs, so I make some things just for him!
Zucchini Muffins
Pioneer Woman’s Chicken Spaghetti. This was probably the first PW recipe I remember making back in 2008 when I made it for a friend’s meal after she had her baby. She loved it. My boys thought it was ok. My husband thinks he will love it.
Roasted zucchini and beets
Green Berry Smoothies and Strawberry Beet Smoothie
For Cinco de Mayo we are doing buffalo chicken tacos (but I’m making my own buffalo sauce) and guacamole. Later in the week I’m doing some salsa verda chicken.
Individual egg quiches are always a winner with my family.
Granola bars and almond coconut butter.
How are you eating this week in your home?
I always feel better when I eat low-carb, but it is such a difficult lifestyle to maintain. When I eat too many carbs I always feel bloated and gain weight (mainly because I eat too much of the yummy bread of baked cheesy noodles – or cookies, cakes, brownies, etc).
These low-carb quiche are perfect for this lifestyle, but also are really quick to cook up one day and have for the rest of the week. My kids were downing the ham as I was assembling them so they would most likely be kid friendly too. And you can just pop them in the microwave as you head to school, work, or to the gym.
