Meal Plan: First Full Week of September

 

     It is my first effort to get on top of the September challenges by doing a bit of meal planning and doing so in a way that uses up any leftovers or odd ingredients. I have today off technically, though I'm going to tuck in this morning and get about 3-4 hours of my paid job in. DH needs to mow the lawn, weed whack, and a few other outside bits. When he's done, I intend to give the porch railing, floor and siding a good sweep, then tackle the dirt with soap and water. The porch is small and I still do not have my desired seating, but it's an awfully nice place to relax with a book or with, a beer, glass of wine or a morning coffee on a fall  day. Work and the porch are the two main things I want to get done, but there are a lot of other things that need attention. It is a day for labor, right? 

     A bit about my September challenge, well challenges. I'm aiming to  keep the grocery spending at $300, using a variety of strategies like humble meals, using all leftovers and avoiding waste, and using up lingerers in cupboards and freezer drawers. I'm also trying to whittle the eating out/entertainment budget by $50-and am off to a rocky start on that one after this weekend. Money aside, I don't want the month to be all rice and beans (though they are tasty), and I want balanced, healthy meals, aiming for enough calories from nutrition dense foods, not fillers, and getting our five fruits and vegetables a day in. Last week, I covered Friday-Friday. Here's how I did: Black is plan, red with changes. 

• Friday: Mushroom stroganoff penne pasta, apple cinnamon quick bread from a packet. 
• Saturday-Frozen Lottsa Mozza Supreme pizza movie night.
• Sunday- Cinnamon rolls and fruit before heading to the lake Italian pasta salad, ham and cheese roll ups, sweet corn plus, we stopped for Cheddar brats on buns (forgot leftover brats and they were cooked dup by family members with other food on Friday of the week so did not go to waste)
• Monday- Chicken Kiev, rice, mixed vegetables.
• Tuesday- Birthday dinner at family members.
• Wednesday- Red bag chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, green bean casserole, Take and bake bread from freezer
• Thursday- Macaroni and cheese, muffins, green beans.casserole leftovers
• Friday-None of the plan happened, as we ate leftovers, plus a spinach artichoke dip from the freezer. Pasta bake with mozzarella, garlic drop biscuits or bread if I'm ambitious.
• Saturday, We ate out with several of my siblings as it was such a gorgeous evening my sister really wanted to be outside. We decided to just go up to the the lake on Sunday instead of for the night. Both DH and I had huge taco salads.

Now for the week ahead:

Sunday- I made another pasta salad-this one loaded with farmers market vegetables, meatballs in BBQ sauce, tortilla chips and corn and black bean salsa. There were other salads and pulled chicken for sandwiches as well as my meatballs and we ate a large family meal around 2:00 as we all were getting end of summer stuff done. DH picked up Jimmy Johns (that darn budget category is inflating fast) as we weren't hungry when we left, but got hungry about 8:00. I brought home leftover salad for lunch today, salsa, and about 1/4 of the meatballs, which I tossed in the freezer. If not called out, assume each meal has a vegetable or two. We'll both have at least two servings of fruit in the day. 

• Monday: Marinated grilled chicken, roasted red potatoes(need using up), stuffed red pepper with cous cous (partial box in pantry irritating me) and cheese, garlic bread (This is a lot of food but I'm trying to use up a few things that need using today and we will get a couple lunches with leftovers)
• Tuesday: Taco Tuesday, with refried beans and Spanish rice
• Wednesday: Vegetarian chili, using the remaining black bean and corn salsa, crackers or a grilled cheese on the side
• Thursday: Chicken and pasta bake, with tomato and cucumber salad
• Friday: Sloppy Joes, sweet potato wedges
• Saturday: Homemade pepperoni pizza

     When I start to think of next week, Ill keep in mind the $57 or less average to spend if I want to meet the $300 grocery challenge. Mainly, that will go towards fresh food. I'm looking forward to these meals and the leftovers I will likely be eating for my lunches. 

My Wednesday Pantry-Use It Up

     

This is what is left from Sunday.

     After  a footloose and free spending month on food in August, I'm really going to try and pinch pennies and rely on humble recipes, basics, and use it up ingredients. It's no secret if you read my blog, I'm a bit of YouTube geek-love all the things you can learn from other people. I wish some of these folks and this platforms were around when I was a younger mom raising kids and trying to keep my family fed and healthy. One of my favorites is Mindy from  See Mindy Mom. She does grocery and meal challenges, use it up videos, new recipes, and seems like just a nice person. She did a use it up snack video that inspired me to make the recipe I'll share below, though I looked in both my church cookbooks, and there is was! 

     While Mindy used up all the loose ends of cereal she had, saved in a sealed container for these bars (pan cookies, treats, whatever your part of the world calls them), I had a box of rice crispy cereal sitting around and used that. I also halved my recipe and used a smaller pan, as we don't need more treats sitting around to just tempt me. I also melted the last of a bag of Trader Joe's chocolate chips, the ones that are vegan, so these were more like a traditional Special K bar. I never make these and do not understand why I haven't over the years. So easy, and a bar has enough sweet punch to curb that craving for a candy bar. My version are accidentally vegan and gluten free, but don't mistake for healthy.  My version:

Cereal PB Bars

•  1/2 cup Karo (corn) syrup
• 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup peanut butter (iused crunchy)
• 3 cups cereal
• 1 cup of chocolate chips with a touch of Crisco to melt

On low heat, dissolve the sugar in the corn syrup. Add the peanut butter once sugar is melted and keep stirring until all is silky. add the rice crispy cereal. Spread in a lightly sprayed or parchment lined 8 by 8, or in my case I used a 6 by 10 (the smaller) rectangular pan. Melt chocolate chips with a tsp or so Crisco to help with smoothness, and frost the bars with the chocolate. It will set frim once all cool down .I cut mine in to 18 good size bars. I've since cut the bars in half (see above) to resist eating too much, but I've been nibbling this week. 

Here's Mindy's full Use it Up Treat Video. 

My Wednesday Pantry-When Your Husband Cooks Two Pounds of Spaghetti Edition

 

     Guess what I hunted for since last Thursday? If you guess recipes that use cooked spaghetti, you are winner. If you did not previously read my Fridays post in which I shared that DH cooked a two pound box of spaghetti for the two of us, I'll fill you in that I had to large, each holding slightly more than cups of pasta, containers leftover. Now I like pasta as much, maybe even more, than the next  Giada, but I didn't want to eat it daily for a week. Belinda at Frugal Workshop mentioned in a comment that it could be frozen so, I decided I would make two meals, one to freeze for later, and one we would eat on the weekend. Well, there was even more than that so it actually became three, plus DH ate leftovers on Saturday.

     The first is just my Tuna Hotdsh, of which I've made and shared the recipe for countless times, but I had two cooked chicken tenderloins that needed to be eaten so I used chicken instead of tuna and cream of chicken instead of  mushroom. I just used spaghetti noodles and called it Tetrazzini. I pepped it up with a bit more mayo and milk, much more onion, and some olives. Sauce is just 1 can cream of something soup, 2/3 can of milk, lots of pepper and garlic powder, 1/2 Cup mayonnaise, and 1 cup cheddar cheese. Mix with 8-10 ounces cooked pasta and 1-2 cans tuna (or equivalent chicken like I did this time) depending on your preference. Add a vegetable if you want-sometimes we include peas or mixed vegetables, like the remaining bits I had for this  tetrazzini. Top with bread crumbs and bake for 35-45 minutes at 350. Another twist this time, was I put it in the crock pot on warm before I went to the office Monday, then on high for an hour when I got home. I also skipped bread crumbs. Well, I guess this was a whole different recipe with all the changes, but essentially the same pattern of pasta, protein, cheese, veg, sauce...

It was a nice hearty plate of pasta hotdish.

     Jen G commented that baked spaghetti would  take care of the leftovers, and I agreed, but wanted a twist.   The one for the freezer was found on the trusty Betty Crocker site. Here's the link to Pizza Baked Spaghetti. I was disappointed that I didn't have as much mozzarella as I would have liked, but I added a bit of cheddar and colby and didn't put any cheese on the top for the freezer. I figured we won't eat until next month and I'll buy more mozzarella cheese by the time we bake it. I think this is going to come with us next week to the lake for an easy throw in the oven meal. I'll give you the verdict once it's devoured. 

I forgot to take a picture before I wrapped and froze,
 but here is the BC Spaghetti Pizza Hotdish.

     On Sunday, I had planned on making brunch, but then DH was hungry for cinnamon rolls right away before church. I knew  even with the  dish in the freezer, and the plans for the tetrazzini, I still had more noodles to use. Lunch then was the odd bits from the fridge stirred together and baked including the last chunk of a zucchini, the remainder of a can of tomatoes, 1/2 and onion, the dozen or so pepperoni slices, three small chunks of assorted cheeses, and topped with a few slices of colby cheese. 

     If you are ever in a position of having too much pasta, I guess there should never be fear. Spread out over a few recipes and freezing portions for later, or even the whole dish for later, will help the boredom factor. It felt good not to waste, but it will be a while before I cook any more spaghetti noodles!