Cereal night

One of my work colleagues had the newly re-released Monster cereals-- Frute Brute and Yummy Mummy-- that she said she got at the Giant near my husband's office.

They didn't have any. :( 

But I grabbed a container of low-fat blueberry muffins, unsweetened soy milk and two $1 boxes of guaranteed value generic cereal. 

I needed paper bags for school book covers and when the young man at the counter heard by request for paper and why I wanted one, he offered me five more.

I'm sure his supervisor loved that.

So the generic box of raisin bran, according to the serving size on the box, had four bowls. That's what it had when we poured it out. The honey golden crisp had seven. We didn't finish that one, so I can't verify that.

Of course, cereal and muffins for dinner is like serving cake fortified with vitamins but this is a one time deal. I'm always shocked at how much more sugar raisin bran has compared to golden crisp. I shouldn't be because I know better.

We add extra raisins to our raisin bran.

Daddy made breakfast

Scrambled eggs with ranch dressing, cheese, vegetarian sausage and steamed broccoli

Vegetarian Mexican night

I made burrito-y things with a vegetarian filling. Homemade guacamole, a mix of farm fresh corn, garden grown green pepper, black beans, sour cream and salsa. 

My guac today was a small batch as I only bought one avocado (what was I thinking???). 

- one avocado

- one small tomato from my garden chopped

- splash lemon juice

- sprinkle of garlic powder

- hearty shake of chili powder

- slight shake of cumin

Stir, chill.

The filling:

- one green pepper diced

- three cobs corn, corn removed

- 1/2 teaspoon four color peppercorn medley

Cook in saucepan for about 10 minutes on low, with just a pinch of cooking fat.

Add one can black beans. (Mine are reduced sodium and well-rinsed. Normally I make my own from scratch and freeze them but haven't got around to it lately.)

 Shake of chili powder. Increase heat to medium, stir and heat until good and warm.

School breakfast

Yesterday was my nine-year-old's first day of school. Her breakfast was Chobani blood orange yogurt, graham crackers, and banana with a glass of cold water.

Today it's a gala apple with homemade cashew-almond butter made with local raw honey and topped with golden raisins. Glass of Very Vanilla soy milk and a side of one peanut butter pop tart. 

(She was in a mood. I was trying to cheer her up.)

Quick hamburger stew

- about 2 cups browned grown beef

- about 32 ounces low sodium beef stock

- 3 carrots, peeled and chopped

- 1 large potato, cleaned and chopped

- Italian seasoning

- garlic powder

In crock pot on high two hours, then reduce to low until time to serve

Harissa peorogies

So, last night a former work colleague posted a photo from a wine bar in California of "harissa fries." It got me thinking...

I made Wegmans spinach peorogies. I have a whole process for making them. I boil them in water for a couple minutes, drain, cool with cold water, dry with kitchen towels and only THEN do I put them in my cast iron skillet with heated oil.

Today I added garlic pepper to the oil.

After I cooked my family's meal, I addeda bunch of harissa to the oil before I cooked mine. That was yummy. Of course, because they were the last ones prepared, the harissa sputtered and spit like mad.

Loving Cartwheel

I was in the garden today fighting with a stubborn zucchini vine when my back went out. 

We needed light bulbs for the ceiling fan and I figured-- since I knew I would be seriously hurting after work-- that we'd watch a movie and take advantage of Target's back-to-school pizza sale for dinner.

Adding some Cartwheel deals, we got FOUR frozen pizzas, FOUR light bulbs and a back of popcorn for $16.42.

How?

Well, we found a Cartwheel for the light bulbs for 25 percent off. That brought the price down to $2.91 from $3.89.

I bought popcorn in the café, regular price $1.29, but got a Cartwheel for an additional ten percent off. That made the popcorn $1.16.

Now the frozen pizza is buy three get one free. I found Cartwheel deals for all the brands-- but we ended up using 5% off on DiGiorno and Archer Farms. The regular price for Archer Farms pies is $4.99. DiGiorno and California Pizza Kitchen were on sale for $5.49.

The free pizza was $4.99 and Cartwheel saved us an additional $1.08.

The subtotal was $18.96

Minus the team member discount - $1.90

Minus RedCard - $0.85

Plus tax + $0.21

TOTAL: $16.42

Eggplant/Sausage Parm

I think I am possibly the least talented person alive when it comes to cooking eggplant. 

I started with an eggplant from my sister-in-law's garden. I peeled, sliced, layered in between dish towels and pressed under a big Le Creuset pot.

About four hours later, I breaded the cutlets sans egg with my own mix of homemade breadcrumbs. Fried in a mix of canola and coconut oil because I'm almost out of coconut oil.

We layered the eggplant with tomato sauce, chunks of tomato from my own garden, cheddar, Parmesan and chunks of bratwurst. (It was on clearance at Target). Seasonings included garlic powder and Italian seasoning.

Covered with foil and baking at 350 for 40 minutes. While I'm in the shower, husband will prep some sort of pasta with the leftover sausage.

The end product was fabulous on a bed of spaghetti, sprinkled with some more Parmesan. 

I haven't cooked a real meal in ages and this might make up for it.

Awesome peanut butter toast and parfaits

It's been a rough couple weeks. First I drowned my iPhone in a lovely solution of bleach and water. Then we ran into a rough patch financially. Then we received some medical bills and some bad news from the bank about our refinancing. 

In the middle of this, I picked up extra shifts at Target. Child went to resident camp for a week. 

Now the appraiser is coming to the house. I have a second interview with a local entity I really really like. I had a good report from the dentist (and when your teeth are broken like mine, that is always a relief). Husband is scheduled to work overtime next week.

But the stress has left me with bad eating habits and riddled with perpetual exhaustion.

I started the bad habits again this morning. Woke up and had a cup and a half of coffee and a glass of water.

Began cleaning like a fiend. At 9:30, I was exhausted because I hadn't eaten anything. 

We haven't gone grocery shopping in weeks so the "pickins" are slim. I found some store bought wheat sandwich bread, which I toasted, and mixed up commercial peanut butter 50/50 with local raw honey. I let the bread cool (I hate warm peanut butter) and sprinkled liberally with my homemade peanut butter.

To go with it, I made parfaits of frozen berries, thawed, YoPlait "protein" yogurt, a touch of homemade granola and honey roasted almonds from Trader Joe's. 

Washed it down with decaf chai.

Getting on track

Trying... Trying... To get back on track with better food. Money is very tight so I bought things like salad, apples and carrots. 

Only one cup of coffee this morning because I had a job interview at someplace very special to me. Breakfast was half a tortilla shell filled with shredded Parmesan and iceberg lettuce with cabbage and carrots and lite goddess dressing.

Morning snack was a glass of sun-brewed unsweetened iced tea, half black and half apple cinnamon and a Kashi mocha almond granola bar.

Lunch is iced coffee, iced, unsweetened with half and half. Water. Morningstar vegetarian breakfast patty. Leftover sweet potatoes and green apples with caramel.

Camp naughtiness

If you've noticed that I've fallen off the planet, it's because:

1. About nine days ago I dropped my iPhone in some bleach/water and spent 5 days disconnected.

Then I finally get that mess sorted out and...

2. Daughter leaves for resident camp

Now we ate 90% of the groceries in the house before she left so I'm not shopping now, if there's no mouth to feed (other than grown-up ones).

First night we had Oreos for dinner.

Second night we had salads, but this was after a hearty lunch of Pop Tarts.

Yesterday, we had one meal all day: the Pizza Hut lunch buffet.