Sunday, January 23, 2022

Menus and Movie Musings

   


       I was in a spy game kind of mood the last few nights. Friday was Munich, Edge of War, a fictional account of two Oxford College classmates, one German, one English, trying to foil the Chamberlain agreement who historian's argue set Hitler up to move his agression to take over Europe forward. The other weekend watch was Official Secrets, about British Intelligence whistle blower Katherine Gun. In 2003, she was tried to stop the Iraq war when classified information comes her way putting her in a position to leek to the press US pressure on the UK to sanction the war, despite UN opposition. The second was based on real events. Both worth a watch. Official Secrets gave DS and I a topic of chat conversation. He's on a set in Arizona again for a few weeks, so has downtime in his hotel at end of his long work days.

     We ate again this week. Funny how that keeps happening. Nothing exciting, and a lot of leftovers which we both ate for lunches and Friday supper. It did clean them all up though so I go into the new week with a fresh start.

  •  Sunday: Applebee's car side to go. I got the Fiesta Lime chicken and DH got the Cheeseburger and Fries. We got boneless wings with the Chile sauce- yum. I had 1/2 mine for Monday lunch
  • Monday: Crockpot pasta primavera- used rigatoni
  • Tuesday: Taco Tuesday
  • Wednesday: Chicken, broccoli, rice pasta and cheese hotdish 
  • Thursday: Hamburgers and tator tots
  • Friday: Leftovers 
  • Saturday: Decided not to eat out as DH wanted to watch the Packer- 49ers game so I ended up making a couple chicken fillets on the two remaining ciabatta buns we used for burgers and garlic toast the previous nights. I topped with bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mozzarella and they were delicious. We had more tots from the air fryer.
     I'm not sure what supper will be tonight. We'll be at a fundraiser at the brewery for my daughters non profit most of the afternoon and I'm looking forward to seeing friends and family. Maybe people will want to pop into one of the bar and grills downtown for happy hour appetizers and call it dinner. I'd vote for that. We've spent nothing on entertainment yet this month so going off on a Sunday bender won't break the bank. If not, there's a frozen pizza and stuff for a salad. Otherwise, here's sort of the plan 
  •  Sunday:?????
  • Monday: Pork loin, homemade applesauce, roasted potatoes
  • Tuesday: Turkey meatloaf and rice pilaf
  • Wednesday:  Grilled chicken wraps and salad
  • Thursday: Tomato pepper soup and grilled cheese (This might be homemade or could be just Trader Joe's)
  • Friday: Pulled BBQ pork sandwiches, coleslaw, baked beans
  • Saturday: Patty Melts and pasta salad
     This only requires coleslaw, buns, maybe more bread and salad items but I have everything else. As January winds down, I can't really classify it as a low spend grocery month, but we did fairly well. I really maximized leftovers, to DH's chagrin, but he didn't suffer too bad. My daughter and I are considering a trip to a grocery discounter next weekend and I'll apply what is found to kick off February. It's a fair ways away so we'll make a day adventure out of it. The last trip was October 2020 and the best find I recall was Lara bars that came to 40 cents a piece. 
     
     I'm trying to decide if I want to do a budget challenge this month, like another 3 meals at $3 a piece. That was enlightening, but a bit scary. People take themselves way too seriously sometimes as a few comments showed. It would be for fun, maybe an idea or two, and sort of a brain puzzle for me. Thoughts?  Anything new coming out of your kitchen?

26 comments:

  1. No new ideas from this kitchen...my imagination is limited to Allrecipes.com when I get stuck. I did make a new to us dish this week, a hamburger stew which got a big thumbs up from my son. Most of our meals are pretty hearty these days due to the cold weather.

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    1. Allrecies is a really useful web site. I find when I jut google combinations, some sort of recipe from them comes up.

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  2. I always enjoy reading about people doing food challenges. It's fun to see just how far you can stretch meals, ingredients. Have a wonderful Sunday!!

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    1. I think I may want to do another $9-but really stretch my creativity, even if I do incorporate rice and beans.

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  3. I made coleslaw yesterday, as well as the frugal girl's granola bar recipe. Tonight will be chicken fajitas. Pretty easy all around. It was close to 70 yesterday, so we also had a margarita. It was a stunning winter day.

    I'm thrilled that we spent just at $100 for our weekly shop. That's great for us. I also was able to cash out on iBotta (they have a free pizza offer, if you're interested.) Another pizza to keep in the freezer is never a bad idea.

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    1. I'll share on Wednesday my oatmeal bar recipe that turned out so nice! Ahh, I am dreaming of summer with your mention of a Margarita. Well done on your grocery run.

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  4. Your menu sounds good. I liked your budget challenge and actually decided to do one of my own after seeing yours. Folks can be kinda…. odd and say the strangest things when doing a budget challenge. I remember when someone got all over me when I did a post on The Tightwad Gazette fb group about a year’s supply of beans. I was basing it on the LDS food storage calculator. She got really nasty with me about it not being enough. Here I am, two yrs later , and I still haven’t eaten all those beans that were for a year’s supply…. Lol. I am making hamburger today, and probably eating, slowly, through my supply of dried beans and greens the rest of the week… lol Cindy in the South

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    1. Some people are just experts in their own minds on other peoples lives! I shouldn't let the picky comments bother me and just go ahead.

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  5. I'm thinking about pulling a random ingredient out of my kitchen and then building a meal around it. I have some items that could probably stand to get used up, so this could be a fun challenge that would cut down on waste and clear my shelves a bit. I don't know that I've made anything new otherwise; it's been so cold that I've been resorting to old comfort favorites- pasta, breakfast casseroles, lots of rice-based dishes. I'm thinking maybe a pot of lentil soup tonight...

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    1. Now that would be a fun challenge, Stephanie. I have a lingering can of baked beans-part of why I thought to do the pork loin, and then pulled pork later in the week.

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  6. Nothing new. With dh's pancreas/gallbladder issues we seem to be on a more limited diet. I did make my homemade pizza last night, which was a nice change.

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    1. It would be tough having to cook two meals too. At least with pizza, you can each choose your preferred toppings and go halves.

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  7. I made a gallon of soup yesterday with Tommy's help. We decided late to make it and actually hurried along the preparations. We now have a gallon of soup minus what we ate for dinner. I will freeze two portions for a meal later.

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    1. That is what I did with y soup last week, so have two containers frozen. Likely for my lunches as not myhusbands preferred soup.

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  8. Thanks for those movie recommendations. I keep writing all the names down but at this rate I'll be 95 by the time I get through my list!

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    1. I forget what people even recommend! This was through surfing Amazon Prime.

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  9. Munich, Edge of War will be on my tablet tomorrow traveling from room to room as I do housework. I generally do not really watch as I clean, but listen and glance at the screen occasionally. I just watched the trailer and it looks good.
    I hope you will do a challenge. I love seeing them!

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    1. There is not a lot of action, but there are some visual references that not seeing might make a few places confusing, but otherwise, it is dialogue heavy.

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  10. I was going to mention the free pizza from Ibotta but Hawaii Planner beat me to it :) Also got some $5 sushi from Giant Eagle. It’s made fresh right there, you can even watch them make it. Not sure about tomorrow, I’ll throw something together. Grocery pickup Tuesday after work and I have steakums with peppers and onions planned. Chicken Alfredo and ham, green beans and potatoes in the crockpot also planned this week. I haven’t been cooking on fridays because that seems to be the day no one is home to eat but I’ll make a nice dinner on Saturday since I’m off, just not sure what. Might make a batch of homemade cream of mushroom soup. Scrambled about a dozen eggs that my son and husband will warm up for a few breakfasts. Got all my errands done before 2:00, now everyone is snuggled in for the day as a quick system is dumping about 4 inches of snow on us. JoAnn

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    1. I've got so few things so far through Ibotta-not really any wins yet, but I'll check the pizza deal out. We did eat out last night so I have the other pizza still in the freezer.

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  11. I made a crockpot of chili although it wasn't very interesting.
    I also pickled some jalapeños. that is all the food news from here.

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    1. I haven't made chili in a while. I keep seeing the white bean chicken chili and may go that route soon.

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  12. I don't understand your comment about people taking themselves ways too seriously. I must have missed something.
    I have NO ideas for menus. I am still in a no-spend January, which, sadly, turned in to a low-spend. I will continue into February. In any case, I am trying to cook only from the pantry and freezer. Dinner tonight was a slow cooked beef roast, with mashed potatoes and gravy. Appetites were low, so I have enough leftovers of everything, incuding mashed potatoes, that I can easily turn it into a cottage pie tomorrow with the only thing I will have to add is some sauteed onions and shallots. I also baked an apple pie with apples which had seen better days. I am going to make lo mein at some sort at some point this week, to use up a bag of frozen cauliflower and a can of water chestnuts I discovered in the pantry. DD has gone off meat, so I'll take her portions out, then add chicken to the rest.
    For challenges, one I like to accomplish is to see how long I can go without stepping foot in a store. I also challenge myself to get a certain amount of items, say 12, out of the pantry or freezer by the end of the week. This has resulted in me finding some great recipes, including one for a pear tart in order to clear out a can of pear halves, the aforementioned lo mein, and some really decadent double chocolate muffins, to use a cake mix. One trick I use is to type in "what to make with canned pears," (or whatever it is I am trying to use up) and then click on the recipes that appeal to me.

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    1. To summarize, I had a couple comments about how poor quality my $9/ 3 meal challenge was and how they'd never cook that way-fair enough, but it was a low budget challenge and reality for many, though I did say my challenge was for entertainment purposes only. But there was a really scathing attack troll that said I was promoting unhealthy cooking, and no wonder my husband has health issues and I have a weight problem. I like both your and Stephanie's idea for a challenge-what can I make with what I already have, and how do I use up lurkers.

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  13. I can't wait to see Munich - I've mentioned on my blog before about how Robert Harris is one of my favourite authors. I've enjoyed all of the film adaptations of his books. xxx

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    1. This was well done-well acted. I need to read more!

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