It's a feast!

October 11 & 12, 2013

We have been trying to eat up our leftovers of pizza and lasagna yesterday and this afternoon. Even though there was still some of them left, I needed to step away from them at dinner tonight.

This afternoon I spent 2 1/2 hours raking leaves (7 1/2 hours in the past three days). I was beat. I wanted something delicious but I didn't want to have to put much effort in.

I settled on trying a new item that I bought this week. Morning star veggie meatballs are pretty easy. All you do is bake them. I prefer to make my own meatballs but for those days when I just don't want to cook, store bought will do.

My daughter loves mashed potatoes so that is what I worked on next. I still had some chopped cauliflower leftover from veggies and dip last week. Man was that a huge thing of cauliflower. I had veggies and dip, cauliflower soup, and steamed cauliflower. I decided to make mashed potatoes using about 1/3 cauliflower and 2/3 potatoes. I make my mashed potatoes by adding butter, milk, sour cream, salt, pepper, and garlic & wine seasoning.

I am not the gravy maker of the family. My hubby wasn't able to make it to dinner tonight so I had to give it a whirl. I sauteed onion and fresh garlic in a little butter. I stirred in two tablespoons of flour and let it cook for a few more minutes. I thawed out just over 1 1/2 cups of my homemade vegetable broth. I put about a quarter cup of it into a bowl and stirred in 2 tablespoons of corn starch. I added the rest of the broth and the broth/corn starch mixture to the pan. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, garlic & wine seasoning, and thyme.

Our other simple sides were steamed green beans and Hawaiian dinner rolls. As my daughter was getting the milk out of the fridge, she spotted a container of cottage cheese. Good call daughter. It needs to be eaten up during the next few days so we had some of that too. It's a feast!

How were the veggie meatballs? More importantly, how was my gravy?! I started out our plates with three meatballs. My son kept going back to get more. He ate I think 7! We all said that we should buy them again. My daughter is excited to try making a meatball sub with them. The gravy was delicious. I wouldn't change a thing about it. Score! We worked up an appetite with all that raking today but it sure made up for it by being able to fill our faces tonight!

New veggie pizza

October 10, 2013

I have one week left until I hit the year mark with this challenge. I am hoping to finish strong so I am trying to use up leftovers and be pretty thrifty this week.

I looked in the fridge to see my options for lunch. I settled on using some of the leftover pesto sauce. I had two boxes of pasta that had a small amount left. Too small to cook on their own. The had different cooking times so I just added them separately so they would finish cooking together. I stirred in some pesto. I also heated up some leftover spinach, onion, and mushrooms (from the lasagna filling).

We finally had a night where we didn't have any activities. Yay! I wanted to make a homemade pizza for us. I decided to try out some new veggies. We have had broccoli on a pizza from a local pizzeria. Why have we never tried it at home? I had some broccoli already chopped in the fridge. I had a bunch of kale too. Hmmmm. I threw some kale and broccoli in some olive oil and seasoned it with salt. I roasted them at 425 for a few minutes (maybe 10 for broccoli). I burned the first batch of kale. Oops. Ha. The second batch probably only cooked for 5 minutes. I topped my side of the pizza with homemade sauce, kale, broccoli, caramelized onions, mushrooms, green & red peppers (already chopped from my get together last week), and black olives (leftover from taco spaghetti). The kids had green peppers, black olives, kale, and broccoli. I used some of the provolone cheese (also leftover from my get together last week) along with some mozzarella.

As we waited for the pizza to cook, I had little snitchers. My daughter came into the kitchen and snitched the rest of the leftover kale. She loves kale. My son snitched the rest of the roasted broccoli. How did the pizza turn out? None of us were thrilled with the kale on the pizza. Strange seeing as my daughter loves it on it's own. However, we all did like the broccoli.

Butternut squash agnolotti & grocery savings

October 9, 2013

Grocery day. Today was so much fun shopping. Last week, with the shutdown looming and the commissary going to close, I stocked up on some items (toiletries/cleaners/cheese/etc). I also still have quite a bit of veggies left from last week. I didn't need very much today. It felt like most of what I bought was fun impulse items. I gave in more than usual today because I knew I didn't need to buy much of the usual items.

My pre-challenge weekly commissary average was $175. Today I spent $4.74 on toiletries/cleaners. I bought two cans of shaving cream because I had a coupon for buy one get one free that would expire in two days. I spent $15.06 on impulse items. I got flavored potato chips, butternut squash ravioli, a small pack of Hawaiian rolls, pesto sauce, vegetarian meatballs, and pumpkin swirl bread. I spent $32.63 on food. It sure is nice having full cupboards and freezers already at home! I spent $0 on gossip magazines. I'm guessing that because of being closed for several days that they didn't get their new shipment. After adding in their surcharge and taking out my coupons, I spent $49.53 out of pocket. WHAT?! This is a savings of $125.47. The kids packed their lunches every day (plus one additional day than usual because I shopped on Tuesday last week versus my usual Wednesday) and saved $25.20. Our pre-challenge restaurant average was $80. This week we went out for Italian and used a buy one get one free meal coupon. We spent only $14. That is a savings of $66. This brings our weekly total of savings to $216.67!! Our grand total savings is $4,875.37 in 357 days! Next week I will hit one year on this challenge. I can't wait to see how much I was able to save in a year.

I went with easy for dinner tonight. I found a new pasta today. Buitoni brand. Just listen to the description: agnolotti generously filled with oven roasted butternut squash, impastata ricotta, aged parmesan & grana padano cheeses accented with amaretti cookie crumbs. Wow. I also bought a pesto sauce to go with it. I had cauliflower cut up from veggies and dip so I just added some of the cauliflower to my steamer pot. I was able to cut lettuce from my garden again today (probably the last time this season) so I opted for a side salad. I added red onion, mushrooms, carrots, and sesame seeds.

I was a little nervous about the kids and the ravioli (agnolotti). My son took a bite and said "wow, this is really good". My daughter loved them. I thought they were delicious. So delicious, that I may need to buy them weekly. Ha! I liked the pesto with it but the kids had theirs plain.

Fool them with choices

October 8, 2013

Tomorrow is grocery shopping day. I stocked up quite a bit last week when the commissary was going to be shut down. I don't really need a whole lot this week. Today was the day to use up some items before I go to the store tomorrow.

My son had a sandwich for lunch. Yay for using up some of the bread. My daughter packed the rest of the leftover chicken barley soup. I had some of the leftover cauliflower soup.

Dinner. Hmmm. I had no idea what I was going to make. I looked in the fridge to get inspired. I had about a cup of black beans. I found half a block of cream cheese. I also had a small amount of shredded swiss, mozzarella, and leftover provolone slices from my get together last week. Aha. Lasagna.

I sauteed up some onion, garlic, mushrooms, and spinach in a little olive oil. I added a little local white wine, salt, pepper, and garlic & wine seasoning. The kids aren't too big on cooked spinach so I decided to give something a try tonight. I let them decline the spinach mix inside of their lasagna roll ups. I told them that we had to pick another veggie for dinner then. We went with carrots that I had frozen from my garden. I had two club rolls left. Time to turn them into garlic bread. I just used a little butter and garlic & wine seasoning. I browned them up on the stove. My son isn't too big on whole beans either. He will eat them but when asked how to make a meal better he will reply "less beans". For the lasagna roll ups, I put the cream cheese and black beans into the food processor. I spread it onto the cooked lasagna noodles. I figured that seeing as he got to decline the spinach mix that he would think he was free and clear of any of mom's crazy additives. Ha. For my rolls, I added some of the spinach mix and swiss cheese. For the kids' rolls, I just added mozzarella cheese on top of the cream cheese/bean mix. I put a little of my homemade spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a pan. I added the lasagna rolls. I topped each roll with a slice of provolone cheese and then topped it with spaghetti sauce. The next round was american cheese and mozzarella cheese. I started them out in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes. My daughter started complaining that she was starving so I bumped it up to 400 for about another 15 minutes. I put it under the broiler for a few minutes to brown the cheese.

How did dinner go? My son loved the garlic bread. He said it was like fireworks in the sky and flowers blooming in spring. Ha. Ok. The kids gave the lasagna two thumbs up and said "mom is awesome". Ha. So maybe that is leftover awesome from yesterday. However, he never even noticed the beans. Yep, maybe mom is awesome.

Mom is awesome

October 7, 2013

I woke up this morning with a plan. I wanted to ensure that my kiddos said the words "mom, you are awesome" tonight. How do you go about that? You do awesome things of course.

I looked through my old blog posts to find something to make for dinner. I found a day when I had made cauliflower soup out of overcooked cauliflower leftovers. I had said that I "raved" about it. Hmmm. Guess it's time to make it again.

I sauteed onion, garlic, carrots, and celery in a little olive oil and butter. Meanwhile, I steamed cauliflower. I had tons of cauliflower (leftover from veggies and dip) to use up. I stirred a three tablespoons of flour into the veggies and let it cook a few more minutes. I added in 3/4 cup of homemade veggie broth, 2 cups of milk, about half a cup of freshly grated romano cheese, and maybe about a cup (I grabbed three small handfuls) of cheddar cheese. I found some leftover corn in the fridge so that went in as well. I added just a little bit of salt and pepper at the end. I topped it with just a little green onion.

Ok, soup is good but it definitely isn't "awesome" enough. I decided to make something that my son has been asking for. There was a box mix for cinnamon toast crunch flavored muffins that has been sitting in our cupboard calling his name. Today was the day. I also found some cookies in the freezer and popped some of those in the oven.

Getting closer, but still not quite there. I figured the kids would appreciate not having to do some chores. I put away all of their laundry and did the dishes for them. Aha. I think I've done it.

Time to see their response. Unbelieveable. The first words out of my son's mouth: mom, you're awesome. Hehe. My daughter gave me a thumbs up. One awesome works for me.

Taco spaghetti

October 6, 2013

We have had a busy few days. I made a small pot of chicken barley soup for the kids (while I ate the leftover cream of potato leek soup). We had leftovers for a couple of days. We also had a party to go to so one night I got out of making dinner.

One of my friends said that she made spaghetti for lunch today. That conversation led to three of her friends to say that they were making spaghetti for dinner tonight. Four people can't be wrong. Spaghetti is the way to go for today. However, I wanted to do something a little different. Taco spaghetti.

I have made different taco variations of pasta before (baked casserole, pasta salad) but tonight was spaghetti's night to shine. I started out by cooking up a little onion. I grabbed the bag of leftover chopped veggies (I had veggies and dip two days ago). I found some yellow and green pepper. I chopped them along with some garlic and added it to the onion. I cooked the veggies in a little bit of olive oil and then added in local white wine. I put a pint jar of my homemade salsa into the food processor to make it more of a sauce consistency. I thawed out some black beans and a bag of corn (from farmer's market). I cooked up angel hair pasta and stirred in the cooked veggies, corn, black beans, and salsa. I put a bed of lettuce on our plates. I piled on some taco spaghetti. Our toppings included black olives, green onion, cilantro, sour cream, and mexican cheese. I found half of an avocado. Oh yes. Come on out little avocado. My daughter was thrilled with the fact that she could have a spaghetti taco and grabbed a hard taco shell to fill. My son quickly followed her lead.

Dinner was delicious. You could totally add in any taco ingredients that you love. Taco seasoned ground beef, diced tomatoes, jalapenos, etc. I was fully prepared to add in extra seasonings like cumin, salt, pepper, and paprika. It didn't need any. I think the key is that you need to start with a salsa you really like. Of course my homemade salsa is awesome so we had a win!

Spinach artichoke wrap; grocery savings

October 1, 2013

I started my day by finding out that the government had shut down. Thankfully they had decided that the military would continue to get paid. However, our commissary would be closing after today. I decided that I would whip up my grocery list and head to the store today. I rather stock up on a few things today and pay cheaper prices at the commissary than wait until I run out of the items next week and have to pay higher prices at a different store.

Evidently, the entire base had the same idea. There was literally NO parking spots left. I had to wait a few minutes until someone left. Yikes. No carts inside. I had to go back to the parking lot and get one from a corral. Wow. This is going to be crazy.

And crazy it was! My pre-challenge weekly commissary totals were $175. Today I bought items that I would normally have waited to get: giant pack of paper towels, toilet paper, and paper plates; some other toiletries/cleaners that I could have waited a week but figured I may run out before the government settles the shutdown. Today I spent $52.48 on toiletries/cleaners. I spent .99 on impulse items: kale. I spent $147.51 on food. Once again, items I bought extra of due to the shutdown: soda, cereal, quinoa, cheese, cheese, and more cheese! I spent $10.89 on gossip magazines. After adding in their surcharge and taking out my coupons, I spent $211.60 out of pocket. Ouch! However, I will be set up for a lot of these items for 2-3 weeks. This was an overage of $36.60. The kids saved $12.50 on lunches. My daughter bought school lunch twice and with me shopping today instead of tomorrow it short changed us a day worth of lunches on this week's totals. Our pre-challenge restaurant average was $80. This week we spent $20 on pizza delivery. This is a savings of $60. Our savings (after taking out our overage) was $35.90 for this week. This brings our grand total to $4,658.70 in 349 days! I'm really looking forward to the next couple weeks totals. I'm hoping that all that I bought today will keep those spendings down. I added up the items that I bought extra today due to the shutdown: $72.63. Also, I am having a get together in a few days and I spent $44.06 on items that I needed for it. That makes me feel a lot better about what I spent today!

I got the groceries put away and needed a quick lunch. The only leftovers I had were green beans. Ok, what else should I have? Oh! I found a container of 4 artichoke hearts pushed to the back of the fridge. Hmmmm. I grabbed a tortilla. I chopped two artichoke hearts and added a pile of spinach/arugula mix. I topped it with green onions and mozzarella cheese and popped it into the microwave. Yay! It totally worked. I know exactly what I'll be doing with the other two artichoke hearts! I think it would be even better with swiss cheese.

One of the menu items my kiddos requested for this week was my cream of potato leek soup. Last time we all loved it. My hubby and I both had thought that we should double the leeks though. Tonight I also added in a few tablespoons of diced onion. I sauteed the onion, 4 chopped leeks, one large garlic clove, and about 3 cups of diced potatoes in a couple tablespoons of butter. I let them cook for about a half hour on low. I seasoned the veggies with salt, pepper, garlic & wine seasoning, and thyme. I added a splash of local white wine and after a few minutes added about half a cup of homemade vegetable broth. Once the veggies were cooked, I put them through the food processor. I added it back to my pan and stirred in 2 cups of heavy cream. I topped our soup with green onion.

The soup had mixed reviews. I thought it would be better with even more leeks in it. The soup I am trying to recreate from our favorite cafe had a really strong leek flavor to it. My soup isn't quite there yet. However, my daughter said she preferred the batch of soup with only 2 leeks in it. To leek or not to leek. Ha.