Zucchini boats were excellent, and a nice change from the typical Italian ingredients. She has similar ingredients in a crock pot soup and for a salad, and I would definitely make those now too. Turns out I liked the black beans...who knew? I also made a salad that used the last of my avocado and used some apple cider vinegar in the dressing. That's one of my forgotten pantry items that only seems to get used to catch fruit flies.
No firm budget for me. I'm doing this more to use what we have in storage. Also, in the summer I try to get my fruits and veggies from local farmstands. It's sometimes cheaper, but they do taste better. Today I picked up some yellow tomatoes, 2 heirloom tomatoes, a cuke, a summer squash, a canteloupe, 6 ears of corn. Already used a bunch in tonight's dinner.
I'm gonna have to check out the crock pot soup version of the zucchini boats, those sound right up my alley
I agree that farmstand/CSA fruits and veggies taste better, and, for us, usually last longer as well!
Yesterday was another great day of no splurging. We had to run to the post office right around lunch time. I was sure DS was going to ask for McD's when we passed it...but he didn't! I hope he's getting used to not stopping every time.
Dinner was a hit. I made refried bean tostadas. All I did was lay corn tortillas on a baking sheet, spray with olive oil cooking spray and sprinkle with salt. Baked on 425. I don't know how long because I just kept an eye on them. I had 2 trays and switched racks when the top rack started looking brown and then baked until the second pan started browning. DS ate 4 of them, again with lettuce! This kid has never eaten lettuce in his life and now he's had it two nights in a row and asked for more. We had some leftover cooked chicken breast that I cut up and gave to DH for his tostadas. He prefers meat to beans for his protein. They both requested I add this to the weekly rotation. Once we clear all this other stuff out, I'll definitely do that!
Thursday Menu:
Breakfast: Cream of Wheat made with milk and a banana for me, DS wasn't really hungry and snacked on crackers
Lunch: 1 leftover tostada and grapes for me, corn dog and grapes for DS
Dinner: Finally making the honey spice chicken thighs from Budget Bytes, serving with white rice and sauteed zucchini
Snacks: Usual apple slices with cinnamon
Tomorrow we're going to do a date night instead of the planned menu. There's a kid's night out at the local gymnastics place, and DH and I could use some free time together. Only $18 for 3 hrs of babysitting? Yes please. I think we'll do seafood.
Hooray for another day of no splurging!! And yay on your son not trying for McD's
Tostadas are one of our regulars, so good, and easy!
Did well today...
B: hubby and I had hot cereal with peaches. The cereal has been in there awhile, but I always forget it's there. DS1 had a waffle.
L: nuggets for DS1. Hubby and I had roast beef sandwiches on the last two Telera rolls. Had some apples and grapes on the side. (No chips, for once)
D: burgers. DH made a little sauce with mayo and the pickled jalapeños that i opened yesterday. It was good; a nice change. On the side, we finished up the frozen french fries, had some ears of corn, and had some couscous blend(also been in there a while).
Hot cereal is one of my favorite cool morning breakfast meals
That sauce your husband made sounds great! Keep up the good work!
I always forget about the hot cereal too. I had some this morning ♪♫♪ for the first time in forever ♪♫♪. I was actually about to make some oatmeal (which I don't really like, but I wanted something warm - it was storming!) and then I saw it and was like Ohhh yeah!
I'm proud of us tonight...I was just about to take dinner out of the oven when DH called. He left his office keys in my truck and had no way to lock up before leaving work. So I had to put dinner away and then drive a half hour to give him the keys. Usually we'd just go ahead and stop somewhere to eat...but not tonight! I turned right around, drove home another 30 minutes and we sat down and ate the dinner I had cooked. I gotta say, I don't know if I would have done that if it weren't for this thread. So thanks!
ETA: Dinner wasn't that great though. I made the Budget Bytes Honey Spiced Chicken Thighs. We weren't impressed and it made a huge mess (think burned on honey all over the pan and now it needs to soak). I won't make it again.
It's been storming here too, I love it!! Looks like the 100+ heat days are heading back our way after the weekend though
WAY TO GO on heading back home for dinner, amazing accomplishment!!!! I'm so glad this thread helps to keep you motivated
Bummer on the chicken thighs, it's always upsetting when an anticipated meal doesn't turn out as good as we hoped
Congrats!! We are finding that the more and more we resist temptation, the easier it becomes.
What are Budget Bytes? Sounds intriguing.
We are almost done with week 4, and have done great (minus my slip-up at Subway this week)
Yesterday the kids and DW had pancakes - I took a yogurt to go
For lunch they ate Mac and Cheese with grapes - I took another salad with a boiled egg (we ate all the spring mix!)
For dinner we had teriyaki honey pork chops with mashed potatoes and corn bread (a little heavy diet wise, but we each ate way less than we normally would have)
Today's menu:
Breakfast - Cereal - yogurt for me
Lunch - DW and the kids are going to the zoo, but last night we packed sandwiches and snacks for them to take (but an ice cream or two maybe purchased - its summer after all!) - ham and cheese for me
Dinner - Grilled chicken with vegetable medley
Looking to do as well as you all have done this week and finish strong.
I'd say one slip up in 4 weeks is something to be SUPER proud of!
Hooray on finishing the spring mix - another accomplishment for sure
I think ice cream at the zoo in the summer is beyond worth "breaking the rules" for
Thanks! Hurray for almost being done with week 4 AND for finishing the spring mix!
Hope the fam has fun at the zoo!
Budget Bytes is a cooking blog. She posts recipes that are pretty inexpensive but impressive and delicious. She says how much the whole recipe costs to make and how much each serving is, and breaks down how much each ingredient is (even the salt & pepper!). She's got her recipes organized along the top bar of the site too, so if you have pork chops in the freezer, you can look at what she's done with it. I like a lot of her one-pot meals. I think this honey spice thing I did last night was the first dud I've had from her site.
Dragon noodles are one of our go to meals from Budget Bytes
I definitely need to try out more of her recipes, I have tons of them pinned, but haven't gotten around to making them yet.
I'm not sure what kind of subs they are, but hey, whatever works! I love Publix subs!
We also have cans of soup if need be.
