Meal and cooking plan for the week of 5/22-5/30

This week, I was tasked with the job of feeding our family, with minimal sales and ingredients, so we can make budget. We've got $40 left (after this week's shopping). That should be plenty, even with a mid-week run for milk.

Sale items: shredded cheese (we go through TONS of this stuff), mushrooms, corn, blueberries, and not much else. Pretty disappointing sale day. So much for the "BOGO" sale my store was advertising. The best BOGO product was probably the Goldfish. And, if you have toddlers, you understand that Goldfish are probably the perfect food.

Already have: All the "standards" (flour, sugar..), lots of cheese, and salad fixin's (good for lunches on the long weekend).

Thursday (5/22): We ended up having the tomato soup that I (oops) left out the last serving of. Darn. It would have made a nice lunch. We had some store-bought bakery bread too.

Friday: Out to dinner.

Saturday: philly cheese 'shrooms. Caramelize onion (a little bit of vegan organic smart butter melted, cook onions until soft and turning a beautiful caramel color. Medium heat works best). Remove from heat and replace with large portobello mushrooms with stems removed, tops facing up. Toss in a couple of tablespoons of water to steam, and cover. Allow a few minutes, then flip mushrooms, replace the onion inside the caps, and top with cheese of choice/available. Season with salt and pepper. Replace lid and let cheese melt. Dab sandwich rolls with mayo, and place mushrooms on mayo. Squish around a bit to even out the mayo.

Sunday: Shrooms in "gravy" with cous cous.


Monday: Grilled Pizza, with plain 'ole shredded mozzarella.


Tuesday: Rice and chickpeas. I will cook the chickpeas up tomorrow following the instructions, and adding some EVOO, thyme, salt, and garlic.


Wednesday: BBQ beans and rice, inspired from this. I say "inspired" because once you make this recipe, you find that you don't need it any more and can just "kitchen sink" it. In other words, as long as I have the beans and BBQ sauce...I can make do with whatever I find in the fridge and pantry.


Thursday: Spaghetti, with the sauce probably thinned out with carrot puree. Added vitamin boost.


Friday: A big fat "?". I've got plenty of stuff in the freezer and pantry, so we won't starve. Friday is my "cleaning" night - I won't want to get too fancy anyway. My accountant (you know, the guy I am married to) said that shopping on Saturday would effectively push us into next month's budget, so that means I need to come up with something on Friday. Whatever, this will be the first month in ages we won't have gone over budget (a collective HOORAY!) I'm doing what I need to make it!

Also this weekend:

Pumpkin pancakes - tried and tossed. My griddle is dead. I thought I could make them in a pan, and the sides wouldn't cook up right. A new one should be here from Amazon within 7-10 days.

blueberry muffins - made and freezing. Adapted from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook.

Sweet potato puree - unmade, for DD recipes. Need to steam, blend, and freeze the potatoes.

chickpeas - tomorrow.

banana bread - I just discovered that I have failing bananas, need to look up a low fat recipe.

breakfast cookie of some sort - I have nothing to feed the kids for breakfast, with the failed pancakes.

I know I've been MIA lately - but given it's the end of the school year...it happens! I promise during the summer I will be posting (nearly) daily, save a vacation planned in July! Just two more weeks of school!