Today was grocery shopping day. My hubby had daytime hours off today so all four of us headed out. We ate at the food court before going into the commissary.
My pre-challenge weekly grocery average was $175. Today I spent $22.86 on toiletries/cleaners. I spent $91.94 on food. I spent $14.28 on impulse items. My hubby asked for refried beans, vegetarian sausage, and some vegetarian frozen lunches. I also grabbed a container of crescent rolls. I spent $7.26 on gossip magazines. After adding in their surcharge and taking out my coupons, I spent $137.98. That is a savings of $37.02. My pre-challenge restaurant weekly average was $80. We went on a lunch date and also had lunch out today. We spent $52.10 this week. This is a savings of $27.90. This brings our weekly savings to $64.92. Our grand total savings is $4,394.12 in 315 days! I asked my son if he would try the organic version of cinnamon toast crunch cereal. He didn't want to. I told him that I would buy the organic one, but that it would not count as his one item (each kid gets to pick one special item from the store which eliminates them asking for something in each aisle). He agreed. I held a taste test once we got home. First a bite of the organic followed up by one of his regular cinnamon toast crunch. Fooled! He totally guessed wrong. Guess which cereal he'll be getting again next week!
I wanted to try something new for dinner tonight. I found a recipe "Ellie Krieger's Fried Rice with scallions, edamame, and tofu". I scanned it and then figured that I could just wing it. Fried rice isn't that difficult. I started out with garlic, ginger, red onion, green pepper, and julienned carrot. Next I added in cubed tofu (firm, that had been pressed). After a few minutes, I stirred in some leftover corn, edamame, and leftover quinoa. I figured that quinoa was close enough to rice. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, and garlic & wine seasoning. I pushed everything to the outside of the pan and added two eggs to the center. I cooked and stirred it all together. I added soy sauce. I served it with green onion, sushi ginger, and teriyaki sauce.
I needed a side dish. I looked in the cupboard and couldn't believe what I saw. Dried seaweed. I totally forgot that my daughter had asked for that a few weeks ago. I thought I would try to make miso soup. Both of the kids love that. I didn't have miso paste. Hmmmm. I thawed out some homemade veggie broth and also stirred in some water. I sliced a few mushrooms very thin. I tore up a sheet of dried seaweed and added it to the broth. After letting it simmer for awhile (very low heat), I stirred in the mushrooms and small pieces of tofu. I served it with green onion.
Fingers crossed. How did dinner turn out? Did I score major brownie points for making some of my daughter's favorites (tofu)? Everyone really liked the fried quinoa with tofu. My son said it was amazing. Nobody could come up with any changes needed for next time. Wohoo! My hubby and I aren't really big on miso soup in general and my attempt tonight was no different. However, I was really hoping the kids would like it. Not so much. The broth wasn't quite right. I'm not sure if the seaweed's strong flavor didn't blend well with the veggie broth. Maybe I should have just used water. Maybe it really does need the miso paste. Oh well. The kids kept coming into the kitchen to steal chunks of tofu as I was cooking. Then they kept coming in to grab seaweed sheets. My son ate three and my daughter ate six. Holy smokes. I guess we're doing something right. Our kids definitely love a wide range of foods. Even though my soup kinda flopped, I'm still calling tonight a success. I cooked tofu and we all liked it. Score!
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