Four cheese lasagna & grocery savings

July 17, 2013

Here we are. Grocery shopping day. Again. My pre-challenge weekly average at the commissary was $175. Today I spent $12.79 on toiletries and cleaners. I spent $7.55 on impulse items. I got a limited edition of nuts/fruit mix, macaroni and cheese, and mini angel food cakes. I spent $92.63 on food. I spent $2.18 on gossip magazines. After adding in their surcharge and taking out my coupons, I spent $116.88 out of pocket. This is a savings of $58.12. My pre-challenge weekly average at restaurants was  $80. This week we ate out once (three of us at Subway and one at McDonald's) and spent $18.04 which is a savings of $61.96. This brings our weekly savings to $120.08! Our grand total savings is now $4,106.98 in 273 days! Yes! I broke the $4,000 mark!

I decided to make a twist on our new lasagna recipe. I had been making a stuffing of onion, mushroom, and spinach to put on a lasagna noodle and roll it up. Today I sauteed up onion, mushrooms, garlic, and baby kale in a little olive oil. I seasoned it with garlic and wine seasoning. I added in some local white wine. I wanted to change up the recipe so I added in a step. I put a block of cream cheese in the food processor along with a handful of black beans (the leftovers I had in the fridge) and a spoonful of my home canned spaghetti sauce. I stirred the cream cheese mix into the veggies. After cooking the noodles, I laid them out and topped them with the veggie mix and then some mozzarella cheese. I rolled up the noodles and put them in a pan that had a light covering of sauce on the bottom. The rolls were then topped with american cheese, mozzarella cheese, and freshly grated parmesan. I baked them at 400 for about 20 minutes then stuck them under the broiler to brown up a bit. I served it up with a simple side of our home canned green beans.

Oh wow. It was delicious. Cream cheese in lasagna is the way to go. Who am I kidding?! Cream cheese in anything is the way to go! My hubby loved the lasagna rolls. Oh and by the way, I was right. No one even noticed the handful of black beans that was in it!