Coffee, canned soup, blood sugar and budgets

I did buy a few odds and ends at Target last week so we could make it to pay day, and I didn't record it here because life got hectic. On Wednesday last week, I had a 'blood sugar episode' that ended in an indulgent dinner out. That was the day my daughter went to the ENT and received the news that she is getting tubes in her ears Nov. 2.

My husband made scrambled eggs that morning, while I packed my daughter lunch. When the adults sat down to lunch, we had pop tarts and coffee and my husband made himself peanut butter crackers. I promised to eat something later.

I forgot.

So my blood sugar dropped to 90 and with no appropriate fuel in my body I started to shake-- from my hands to my knees. And I ate a bowl of soup, but my daughter took half. (chunky chicken-broccoli soup transformed into a corn chowder with a can of creamed corn, soy milk and curry.)

My husband took me out to dinner. We went to Delahanty's where daughter ate half my jalapeño poppers... She had a jr burger with cheese, bacon and fries. Husband had fettucine Alfredo with bacon and peas. I had a beef and sour sandwich. We all had dessert, and I added a Weyerbacher imperial pumpkin ale for the season and we spent, with tip $62.

Moral of the story: Eating is necessary. And I still don't understand how people can send kids to school with a breakfast of cereal, pop tarts or, as I witnessed last week, Twinkies...

Good news is: Even with this dinner, and my scattered shopping trips, our budget remains in tact. Thus far in October, we have spent: almost 20% of our income thus far this month on food. Gulp. $125 on dining out and $115 on groceries. Hmmm... That leaves $10 for the next two weeks. I'll aim for $50, which will keep the total food expense for the month under $300.

One of the terms of our current budget is NO FANCY COFFEE. But I cashiered last night and discovered many varieties of Archer Farms coffee on sale for $3.50 for the 12 oz bag which is normally $6.99. My favorite tea (Tazo rest) was on sale for $2.79. (I have one 32-ounce mug most mornings and use one tea bag.) And I grabbed a cheap 28-ounce jar of peanut butter.

I bought in total:

- Market Pantry peanut butter, $3.49
- Archer Farms coffee, 4 bags at $3.50 each
- 3 boxes Tazo Rest tea, $2.79 each

Subtotal: $25.86
Team Member Discount: - $2.59
Red Card discount: -$1.16
No tax
Total: $22.11

Hurricane Preparations

Today, once again, I headed to Target on my day off. I have already spent my grocery budget for this month, but with Hurricane Irene headed into the Lehigh Valley this weekend, I feel better getting a few victuals. Of the processed kind that I normally would rebuke.

Now I suppose I should 'fess up and admit that we went out to dinner last night. We were celebrating child's maturity in giving up some old toys, the start of school AND her scholarship that will allow her to continue dance. I had gone to the dance studio and paid for her shoes, having taken the money out of savings to do so, and, not knowing the value of the scholarship, had about $60 leftover.

Being prudent, I said we were going to go someplace cheap and reliable, and that there would be no dessert or appetizers. We went to Delahantys in Phillipsburg, NJ, one of those few towns where you can still get an hour with a quarter in the parking meter. And we've always loved the food.

Bill, with a nice tip, came to $32.05. And we all had a good meal and a relaxing time.

But back to the hurricane. I'm not a worrier when it comes to weather events. But having a small child in the house, I figure I better be prepared for her if nothing else. It has me more worried that my husband and I both have to work Saturday and Sunday, husband during the day and me at night. And my sister-in-law has a surprise party planned for prime hurricane time on Sunday, and being in her own world she refuses to reschedule because she ordered a cake.

So, headed to Target, much later than I had planned because my little diva had to finish her ensemble and her hair combing. Bought her two pairs of school shoes, one of which became two small on the ride home. Have to exchange that tomorrow. I spent $81.27 for everything, but minus the shoes it's about $50. I also used my resusable bags and saved another 15 cents that way.

What did I get?

HURRICANE PROVISIONS

• one of those fancy lighters, the plastic kind for lighting grills, because I couldn't find the matches and am really bad with a cigarette lighter. On clearance for $3.48
• Pirate Booty, veggie flavor, two bags at $2.79 each. Because if we lose power for an extended period of time, I'd rather eat Pirate Booty than cold canned vegetables.
• Market Pantry Ritz style crackers, $2.74 (we have a full BIG jar of peanut butter)
• Market Pantry strawberry fruit bars, $2.99 (50% of the days Vitamin C)
• Market Pantry blueberry peelable fruit bars, $2.99 (ranks much lower on nutritional content but still offers some vitamin C and looks fun, a lot like the Pull N Peel licorice I'm addicted to)
• Ocean Spray 100% Juice, two bottles at $2.29 each (because ironically all my juice concentrate right now is FROZEN so if the power goes out, I'm going to hesitate to open that freezer door because it's still full of ALL sorts of stuff. And I figure if we are all drinking it, a bottle will only last a day so it won't have a chance to go bad unrefrigerated)
• Ocean Spray Sparkling Juice, 4 cans, $2.29 (all of these ocean spray products are regularly $2.99 and I thought the juice might be nice to have on hand as something different should the power be off for a long time)
• Market Pantry 100% juice punch juice boxes, $2.37 (school's coming even if we don't need them for the storm)
• Bread: one loaf of Market Pantry Multigrain ($2.54) and one loaf of blueberry streusel bread ($3.69). More use for than peanut butter. Or a can of chicken or tuna.
• one jar blackstrap molasses, $3.29 (because eventually today if my daughter will ever cooperate, I hope to make a HUGE batch of granola with various nuts, oats, and dried fruit.
• two six-packs of Clif Bars blueberry crisp (it's my favorite flavor). They were on sale for $5 a box plus I had a coupon for $1 off. We still have at least six chocolate chip Clif Bars and a box of Market Pantry nutrition bars. 
• a four pack of everyday tissues, $4.99
• bleach, $1.92
• and other household stuff not due to the storm: dishwasher liquid ($3.44 minus a 50 cent coupon), rinse aid ($3.24) and dishwasher disenfectant ($3.99)

The Pledge: No More Eating Out

Sigh.

The whole wide world seems to hurt right now. Economically everything sucks, pardon my language. I'm pretty fortunate because I have lots of practice being on the poorer side and even more practice making do and living within my means.

But last night, my daughter's dancing studio called and my dental bills tumbled in with the daily mail. And it just didn't seem possible that we could pay everything and still maintain our debt free lives. The only debt we have is our house. Which we would make a nice little profit on if we sold, even now. In this horrible market.

My daughter has advanced from the one hour to the ninety minute dance classes. And I can't afford the tuition. It's a significant jump. Plus registration fees and shoes, I have one week to gather $200. Could I-- yes. But that would mean more dipping into savings when what's left in the savings account won't even cover repairs to my teeth. If I don't have the money to get my mouth fixed, I certainly won't spend money on tap and ballet.

We talked to the child about it and she shrugged and didn't seem that disappointed. She's a good kid. Yet something still bothers me about asking her to make a sacrifice when as parents we haven't.

I look at our monthly budget and I cringe. When we applied for our mortgage, I remember hearing that 29% of your income should go toward housing. Now this was also at a time when 3 months salary was considered an adequate safety net in savings. (We have almost 2 months today. Several years ago we had six months.) Anyway, today we spend about 27% of our income on our mortgage, which includes our property and school taxes.

I mention all this to offer hope to everyone else who's struggling... There is always room to tighten the belt. I turn to my budget. Where do we already save money?

1. We have one car, that's 12 years old and has no car payments
2. We have no debt (except the house), even student loans are paid off
3. no cable
4. no internet
5. no land line phone in house
6. We spend about $250-300 month on groceries
7. We don't go to the movies, rent them, or use Netflix
8. We borrow materials from the library
9. We don't eat much meat
10. We garden and cook from scratch, now I can add canning to the list if I ever get that right
11. We use vinegar, baking soda, isopropyl alcohol, etc., instead of cleaning chemicals
12. We walk whenever we can
13. We have only used the air conditioner four days this summer

So, how do you cut more?

The key is to balance your desire to save money with the potential to deprive yourself. Deprivation will make you unhappy.

I came up with two suggestions:
1. Replace our New England Coffee with generic Aldi store-brand coffee (That could easily save $20 a month)
2. And this is the HARD one: NO eating out. At all.

In the past I've tried lowering the eating out budget, but I never stick to that. So I'm going drastic. Instead of eating out, we are going to stop at the grocery store and find what we want there. Even if it's frozen pizza or TV dinners.

It is a drastic move, but it's our main expenditure, pleasure and splurge as a family. We spend, on average, 10% of our income on eating out. Lately, it's been closer to 20%. That's why we're going to try this. For reference, we spent the same percentage on groceries that we do on eating out.

Target shopping again

We spent about $575 on food in May. $344 on groceries and $229 on dining out. This sickens me. We're bleeding money in every area of our lives: my tuition, the car, my dental bills, a fuel oil drop, our quarterly bills. I wish I could eliminate that dining expenditure, but it's my stress relief. I expected our grocery bill to be higher than usual because we bought $30 worth of Carnation Instant Breakfast and probably $50 in yogurt and probably $25 on those Bolthouse Farms immunity boost smoothies in an attempt to feed me when I could not chew.

But now it's June. Clean slate. (We won't think about the $84 I've spent on dining already...)

I spent about $44 on groceries at Target yesterday. Was there to buy my daughter make-up for her dance recital. I'll recount my entire list:

From groceries:

• 100% apple juice, $1.84
• New England Blueberry Cobbler coffee, 2 packages, $11.98 (I must abandon this habit. I estimate we spend $200 a year on this coffee)
• Del Monte pear halves (poire tarte tartin anyone?), 2 big cans, $4.58
• Dole mandarin oranges in juice, two regular sized cans, $2.78
• two cans of Market Pantry peaches, $2.18
• Market Pantry tropical fruit salad, $1.09
• Valley Fresh chicken meat in a can (the big can), $2.29 
• Market Pantry tuna, two big cans, $4.18
• A big old seedless watermelon, $4.99 (my daughter asked very sweetly for this)
• boneless pork chops, two packages on sale for $3.49 each (regular price $4.99) minus $1 off coupon, $5.98
• Silk soy milk, unsweetened, $2.79
• Market Pantry half and half, two pints, $2.58
• greens: Fresh Express, one spring mix and one romaine, $2.99 each, buy one get one free

From cosmetics:

• foundation, $3.59
• lipstick, $1
• mascara, $3.99

From pets:

• 27 pounds of cat litter, $8.89

Other:

• kid flip flops, $1
• 32 count thin maxi pads, $3.79 minus 75 cent coupon
• alcohol (the first aid kind, I use a lot of the high percentage stuff for cleaning) $1.87 minus 50 cent coupon

TOTAL: $73.13
Team Member discount: $7.33
Red Card discount: $3.28
Reusable shopping bag discount: 20 cents
tax: +94 cents
NEW TOTAL: $63.26

Vegan Treats/Extravagance

Truffleberry "cheese" tart

It has been a difficult week to say the least. The car has broken, the other cat (we put one to sleep last month) needs to go to the vet, I got my summer tuition bill...

My reaction to financial stress is to go out to dinner, which doesn't help the problem but it sure makes my belly feel better. I've eaten out three times this week and now today I took my daughter to Vegan Treats, since she can actually eat the goodies there.

I'm lecturing myself right now about the waste of money. I normally spend between $250 and $300 on groceries and that's what I've spent in April on dining. March was worse, and I blamed it on the conference I attended.

Regardless of the excuses, it has to stop. Because it looks like I'll be taking $1,000 out of savings to make ends meet this month. But, whenever I get a chance to upload the photos of the desserts we ate, I think you'll understand why I did it.

Ravioli in Leftovers

On Wednesday, while my daughter was in dance class, I recycled the leftover chicken stuffed with broccoli from Williams' on Monday night into a fabulous ravioli with cream sauce dish.

I started by heating two tablespoons butter over low in my Le Creuset skillet. When it melted, I whipped in two tablespoons of flour my stirring it around with the bottom of a plastic measuring spoon. Then I added one cup half and half and one cup 2% milk, a pinch of nutmeg and a pinch of four color peppercorn. I used a wooden spatula to stir until it boiled.

Separately, I prepared one bag of Wegmans Ravioli Florentine. I always get raviolis with green vegetable matter inside. It's an easy way to increase our vegetable content.

I chopped the remaining chicken breast until the chicken, broccoli and ham were all diced into small pieces. Then, I added this to the cream sauce and let it simmer. I added the cooked ravioli and let it soak over very low heat, stirring frequently, until everyone came home from dance class.

Lessons at a diner

Wednesday night is dance class for the little one. She does her homework, gets her dance gear on, we pick up Daddy at 4:30 and head to the dance studio for 5 p.m. class.

The original process was one parent got dropped off at home while the other went to dance. That way, dinner could be on the table when dance class dismissed.

But Wednesday is a CrAzY day in this house. I have two classes, E has school, Dad works and when we finally get homework done and dinner eaten, it's time to collect the garbage and sometimes I have meetings.

So, I decided to try eating out on Wednesdays. Especially now that I have a job. It takes some stress and craziness from our lives and creates a new family night.

Tonight, we went to Williams Family Restaurant on William Penn Highway, a place we typically go to for late night snacks or breakfast. Husband and I both got burgers (which were disappointing) and E read her menu carefully. It had lots of pictures, and one photograph caught her attention. We couldn't ascertain what it could be.

Our six-year-old asked the waitress. She answered that it was chicken stuffed with broccoli, topped with raspberry sauce. Daughter announced she'd like that. It came with bread, soup and salad bar. Daughter had a feast.

The chicken breast was stuffed with large pieces of broccoli, swiss cheese and proscuitto. It looked incredible, smelled even better and when she let me have a bite, I was totally impressed.

Goes to show that asking questions can yield nice surprises.

Wegmans!

Because of my anemia this summer, I have not done a major shopping order since... I don't even know when. I've done the medium kinds of orders that were meant to be small orders but ended up bigger than anticipated... but...

My family volunteers with the Mary Meuser Memorial Library. This weekend was the library's annual book fair, so we spent a total of something like $30 on food and we bought some cookies, soda, hot dogs and tomato pie for lunch, plus a molasses pineapple upside down cake for my husband's birthday. AND a GIGANTIC bowl of fruit salad that the Friends of the Library made at my suggestion and no one but me bought, so I bought it all.

Then we got home last night and since it was my husband's birthday, my husband bought Papa John's pizza for the family. Two extra large pizzas and a calzone, some of which we plan on freezing.

Now, before I get into this grocery order, after all the cake and junk we ate this weekend we had big salads with garden tomatoes, monterey jack cheese, HUGE amounts of broccoli and pepperoni for dinner.

And for my daughter's school lunch, my school lunch and my husband's work lunch we have eel sushi from wegmans and fruit salad. Plus, for my daughter, a thermos with soy milk and a bag of Boo Berry so she can make a bowl of cereal to go with her fruit and sushi.

To the groceries:

- Wegmans White Made with Whole Grains sliced bread, $1.69 - Wegmans coupon so it was free
- soy milk, $2.69
- individual 6 ounce container of Wegmans organic super yogurt, 75 cents - Wegmans coupon so it was free
- large curd cottage cheese, $1.99
- 2 boxes of wegmans feta and spinach peorogies, 2 boxes at $1.69 each
- bag of frozen peas, 99 cents
- bag of frozen french cut green beans, 99 cents
- bag of florentine ravioli, $2.99
- two boxes of frozen spinach, 89 cents each
- whole wheat flour, five pounds, $2.39
- unbleached white flour, five pounds, $1.69
- box of raisins, $1.99
- four cans of chunky soup, 4/$5 minus manufacturers coupon
- blueberry cobbler whole bean coffee by Fasig's, $4.99
- various cambell's soups, purchased because I had a coupon and my daughter is on a soup kick. I bought them for when I don't have homemade ready or in the freezer and she says she wants soup. I think I bought nine cans and have three coupons. One coupon was for kid soup, why were all the kid's soups chicken? Kids don't like tomato or beef or vegetable? Weird.
- 2 jars of organic mango salsa, $2.99 each minus $1 wegman's coupon
- several cans of cat food, many salmon flavored, which came up on the receipt as "Weg Salmon" and I'm thinking, "I didn't buy any salmon..." and "Why was the salmon $1.28?"
- NUTELLA! 16 ounce jar, $3.98 minus $1 manufacturer's coupon. I smell crêpes and nutella and bananas in my future. Except I forgot eggs...
- 2 cans of garbanzo beans, 65 cents each, for hummus!
- 3 cans of spaghettos and meatballs at $1.09 each, minus a manufacturers coupon, except, funny thing is, the kid hates them. They are for her dad and I.
- large can of crushed pineapple, 99 cents
- OKAY - IMPULSE BUY - one box each of Frankenberry, Booberry and Count Chocula, because once a year I can't resist, $1.89 each
- clover honey, $2.69
- chex mix, four bags at $1.99 each minus two manufacturers coupons
- Juicy Juice 100% juice orange tangerine juice boxes, because sometimes her thermos doesn't fit in her lunch box, $2.49
- 3 cans of dark red kidney beans no sodium added, 59 cents each
- one large can pineapple chunks, 99 cents
- Pepperidge Farm goldfish, $1.50
- Ziti, 3 boxes at 69 cents each
- one can peach slices in light raspberry syrup, 99 cents
- nugget-shaped pasta, 89 cents
- light red kidney beans, 59 cents
- Pear halves in pear juice, large cans, 3 @ $1.59 each
- six boxes Wegmans spirals and cheese dinner, at 3/$1
- Quaker yellow corn meal, $1.39
- Libby sliced mango, $1.29/can
- 2 cans wegmans tomato sauce, 55 cents each
- rigatoni and rotini, 89 cents each
- V8 cream of broccoli soup, $2.49 minus manufacturers coupon
- fruit cocktail, small can in juice, 99 cents
- 2/ 32-ounce containers of Wegmans vegetable broth, plus one of the thai culinary broth, at $2.99 each
- 2 cans of large pitted black olives, $1.29
- Libby's mandarin oranges, one can, 79 cents
- sliced peaches packed in juice, 99 cents
- 2 small cans of wegmans chicken broth, low sodium, 69 cents each
- 2 small cans of wegmans beef broth, 64 cents each
- Dawn dish detergent, $1.79 minus coupon
- Terra vegetable chips, $3.99
- 2 bags of Goya dry black beans, $1.29 each, to which my six-year-old said, "YUM!"
- 20 ounces of ketchup, 99 cents
- 2 liter of wegman's mountain, 79 cents (for him)
- 6-pack of 20-ounce bottles of Wegmans Zero, $1.50 (for her)
- 2 boxes of Quaker Goya Farina, $2.29 each
- 12 pack of liter bottles of plain seltzer, $5.99
- stew beef, $5.03 minus $1 wegmans coupon
- Extra sharp provolone, $5.03 minus $1 wegmans coupon
- 8 eel rolls from the sushi bar, $5.49 minus $1 wegmans coupon
- 2 bags of wegmans bagged salad blends, 2/$5
- broccoli crowns, $2.12
- red seedless grapes, $4.12
- broccoli slaw, $2
- apples, $2.37
- organic carrots, 1 pound, 99 cents
- 10 bounds of potatoes, $6.89
- Israeli couscous, $1.61

Recycling

Today, I had a gigantic chicken breast leftover from dinner with my dad and stepmom at the dinner. It was their version of chicken français ( they call it Frances which makes me laugh). But no matter what you call it, chicken in lemon-butter sauce is one of the delights of the Earth.

I whipped out my Le Creuset pan and dumped some drained canned potato slices, which never works for anything remotely hashbrown-like because they are too wet. But I kept the heat low, used a hearty amount extra virgin olive oil, and kept an eye on them best I could.

Now before I continue, this is NOT a meal of anything remotely gourmet. I don't think I've been to the grocery store for six weeks, so I've been relying on our freezer and pantry reserves. And now those are also depleted.

So recycling this chicken breast into a meal for three is an exercise in cheap utility. And filling bellies.

Okay, starting over:

Ingredients:
- One large chicken breast (cooked)
- 1 cup peas (cooked)
- one can sliced potatoes
- extra virgin olive oil
- one-half teaspoon fresh ground garlic salt

Coat skillet with extra virgin olive oil. Heat on low. Add potatoes. Cook for a short while. Add peas. Cook for a short while, stirring occasionally. Gradual increase heat almost to medium. Add chicken. Add more oil if needed.

End of June update

It's amazing to think that I used to write in this blog 2-3 times a day. Since I've been doing this for almost two years, I guess it only makes sense that my entries would peter out.

But the anemia/anxiety issues I've been dealing with lately have also affected this, as they have affected my attempts at limiting the budget. It's hard to convince oneself not to use the charge cards to eat out when one can no longer remember how to prepare something as simple as chicken. And when the iron deficient anemia-related fatigue kicks in, it's probably dangerous to be in the kitchen.

For safety and flavor.

So, let's summarize June.

I spent about $200 on groceries. It's $190-something right now but hubby needs deodorant, we're out of sugar and nearly out of cooking spray. Husband will probably head to the store tonight.

I'm proud of that figure, especially since I don't have my full wits about me to shop aggressively and in an organized fashion.

BUT...

We spent 13% of this month's income (nearly $260) on dining out which is unacceptable when I had to withdraw $400 from the savings account to survive this month. Again, I "blame" my poor planning and inability to function, but my goal this month is to curb that. No more credit cards! Not when we're so close to making ends meet.

That also said, $23 of that dining out bill was to treat a friend who spent several hours working on a substantial project for me. And $32 was my daughter's birthday dinner. And $35 was lunch out with the family at TGI Fridays for the last day of school when the bill came out unexpectedly high.

So, if we can act fiscally responsible for a week or two, I may allow a dinner out for Bastille Day, but a cheap one. Though we do have a 30% off coupon for Mex Tex Trio...

My goals for July:
- Desired goal for grocery budget: between $150-$200
- Desired goal for dining out budget: $75-100 ($0 would be nice but it ain't happening)
- Desired goal for food preparation: bake a large batch of bread and biscuits for the freezer. The only bread products I have left are tortilla shells from Aldi, one multigrain biscuit, and crackers.
- Brainstorm meals for these 100 degree days we've been having

Successes for June:
- While we have not eaten many formal meals, in it summer, so we've indulged in some cheese, cracker and fruit platters. This is a simple and quick dinner for the heat.
- We have eaten salad with/for at least one meal every day, keeping our veggie count up even when we got low on fresh veggies.
- My husband has brought home strawberries, blueberries, blueberries and raspberries from the store. I have served one of these at least once a day and had them available for snacking. My in-laws have brought watermelon several times as it is dear daughter's favorite, and I refuse to pay $5 for a watermelon. I also picked up dates at Forks Mediterranean Deli because they are one of my favorites and I love them.
- I have had cream of wheat with berries made with almond milk for most breakfasts.
- I have increased my red meat intake from once to twice a month to once a week.

For my final commentary for this entry (as I wait for the ginger pork I recreated from the recipe at the end of May-- I had more pork in the freezer thanks to a concerned friend, I had frozen the leftover sauce from last time, and I still had steamed baby carrots in the freezer from work) I wanted to bring up soy.

Three people have mentioned soy to me this week.

One believes it's evil and unable to be digested (um... the Japanese?). One read an article on processed soy and the chemicals used to extract "stuff" out of soybeans (which I believe is the same way they get oil from olives if you buy commercial olive oil. I'm told cold pressed is the way to go if you want to avoid olive oil processed with lye). The final person is working toward a cruelty-free diet and is now "down" to free range organic poultry and sustainable seafood.

So, my thoughts...

Any food product, whether carbs, soy, analog meat products, dairy or meat, needs to be part of a healthy balanced diet. Everything in moderation. To me, this includes homemade baked goods, ice cream and the occasional bag of commercial chips.

I have never used analog meat products in place of meat. When I use them, I use them as an ingredient in its out recipe, not as a simple replacement for meat. I may crumble Morningstar vegetarian sausage products into a scramble of potatoes and corn as a protein source as for the flavor, but I don't usually try to make a vegetarian meat loaf with some sort of soy product instead of ground beef. My mentality has never been to replace meat, but to use less of it and find other foods to become the center of meals.

My goals in meal planning are simple, at least to me. I try to include fruit, green veggies and orange veggies at least once a day. I usually use one protein source-- for instance if I have eggs, I won't have meat and cheese, too. If I have beans, I'll save the cheese for another meal. I don't serve meat more than every other day (thereabouts), more like once a week.

My daughter drinks one glass of chocolate soy milk or vanilla almond milk a day, one glass of 100% juice, and sometimes a glass of juice diluted with seltzer, and water the rest of the day. I use soy milk/almond milk for my daughter because there are no artificial ingredients (like but not limited to high fructose corn syrup).

I also use minimal processed foods. My big weekness is boxed mac and cheese, which we have about every other week when Daddy cooks. Usually with broccoli, cauliflower or peas.

And we have pasta about once a week and rice about once a week.

And we never have American cheese, though when given a chuck of velveeta we eat it. But my daughter prefers extra sharp white cheddar.

Funky Food Day

I didn't cook for the holiday. We marched in a parade and stopped at the diner for burgers.

This morning, we had the last sausage cheese waffle.
Then for snack we had the chocolate coated matzo.

For lunch, the child had:
- greens (with added baby spinach from the garden) and peppercorn ranch
- mixed nuts low sodium
- the last of the canned pears, sprinkled with blueberry juice and thawed blueberries
- that seasoned pita from the Mediterranean Deli (kataar bread?)
- apple juice
- water

I had:

- unsweetened black iced tea with peppermint
- the seasoned pita
- salad of spring mix, extra baby spinach from the garden, Wegmans sesame ginger vinaigrette, and hot wasabi bar mix

and maybe a handful of mixed nuts...

Monday at Aldi

So, my daughter has to donate a disney item for the PTA tricky tray. Those of you who know me know I deplore modern Disney. But after the reminder came in my daughter's folder I thought I had to swallow my principles and buy the dreaded Disney item.

We went to Dollar Tree first where we bought a Mickey Mouse coloring book and some Cars multiplication flash cards. We also need shampoo, so I bought 18 ounces of White Rain shampoo in the lavender vanilla. (Total: $3.18)

Then we went to Aldi. We're eating leftovers today. Dinner is leftover Mexican from the restaurant Saturday (a friend asked us to meet at MexTex Trio and I'm such a sucker). My husband and daughter split the nachos, which the proprietor tells us serves 4-6. I suppose it does because they had it for lunch and we'll put some fresh tortilla chips in it and eat the rest for dinner.

That's why we had to go to Aldi. We need tortilla chips.

We spent $10.02 at Aldi:

• 3 containers of frozen apple juice concentrate
• one half-gallon soy milk
• one half-gallon chocolate soy milk
• one container shredded Asiago cheese (impulse buy)
• one bag white corn tortilla chips
  

Shopping and excuses...

So, I haven't prepared a decent meal since Tuesday because I started fighting a sinus infection on Wednesday. And then last night we spent $24 on dinner for the three of us dining out at Shruty's. A taco pizza, because it has lots of lettuce and tomato to count as vegetable.

My daughter has requested mac and cheese and in the interest of time, Dad is making his variety with frozen peas. He makes a cheese sauce with some cheese, butter, and some milk that's about to go sour and mixes it up in the pot. It comes out nice, but not quite as thick and comforting as baked mac and cheese, but it's technically healthier because he uses about 1/3 of the cheese I would use.

He also ran to the warehouse club because the little one's ear doctor said they had a generic of her medication (they didn't) and after everyone in the house having some sort of ailment this week, we had no tissues. So he bought ten boxes of Kleenex and six boxes of Puffs Plus. (And we bought 10 boxes last month, gone already.)

He also bought a HUGE carton of microwave popcorn for our "movie nights." And more of those Special K breakfast bars that I keep in my purse for food emergencies. And half and half, and cheddar cheese.

Note: Gruyere is $12 a pound there. I have to investigate what the per pound price is at Wegmans and Giant.

Update

It may look like we've been slacking off in the food department, and I guess in many ways that's true.

Sunday, before we went to Build-A-Bear, I made the family open-faced little cracker sandwiches as an early lunch. Each vegetable cracker from Wegmans had a slice of deli ham and a hunk of extra-sharp cheddar. Very popular around here.

For dinner, we ended up going for an early dinner at Mex Tex Trio. For some reason, every time I eat there I crave Mexican for days until we go back and eat again. So much for scheduling family eating out nights. My husband and I both had burritos con mole and our daughter ate her weight in their salsa and had a chicken burrito.

For breakfast yesterday, my daughter and I had leftover Fred the Bread and Morningstar Vegetarian sausage patties. For lunch, my husband and I had leftover Mexican and I made our daughter nachos-- half a can of black beans, some shredded cheddar and some mango salsa also from Wegmans.

For dinner my husband made cheese ravioli with red sauce.

And for breakfast, my daughter requested something hot and I'm not feeling like a short order cook so I thought I could compensate for lack of vegetables and serve Veggie Patch Broccoli Cheese Bites for breakfast. Why not? They're hot.

Reflections on dining out

For New Years Eve, I enjoyed a tequila flight at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Mex Tex Trio in downtown Easton. It was my first experience sipping tequila and of the four I tasted, I must say I enjoyed them all. I also tried the burritoes con mole and adored that as well.

I was told that mole sauce is an acquired taste, but my husband and I liked it right away.

Which got me thinking, in a round-about kind of way:

Is it more economically responsible/frugal to schedule family nights out in our favorite restaurants say twice a month, with plans of what restaurants we'll visit in what month, or to continue to indulge as the need/whim arises?

I can't help but think I would save money if I scheduled these events as then I could tell myself, "You don't have to have pizza today. Friday is Mexican night. Just wait until then."

Of course, knowing me, I'll move Friday night Mexican to whatever night I don't feel like cooking... but it could work.

No cooking...

I haven't been cooking this week. We ate stuffed shells from my husband's mom, leftover pot pies from the freezer, Fred the Friendship bread for breakfast, and boxed macaroni and cheese with vegetables for lunch. Thursday night's dinner was Papa John's pizza and last night's was the diner with my dad.

This morning my daughter has breakfast with Santa.

Got to love the end of the semester/ holiday season/ busy time of year at my office.

Tight finances have also contributed, but an unexpected windfall means grocery shopping is in our future.

Diner 248

Well, I don't think I'll be cooking today as our friends came down to take our daughter to see "Where the Wild Things Are."

I bought everyone breakfast at Diner 248, a 'new' diner where Jack Creek Steakhouse used to be on Rte. 248. 

It was fabulous. My husband had chipped beef that was yummy as part of his 'belly buster' breakfast. I ordered an egg and cheese on a bagel sandwich (with bacon) and was thrilled when it included homefries. PLUS the waitress brought water with our coffee without us requesting it.

Our daughter has French toasted "stuffed" with blueberries and vanilla cream cheese. This is something I will have to replicate at home. Imagine 4 slices of French toast creating sandwiches with cream cheese and blueberries as the filling in the sandwich, and piles of whipped cream on top. 

AND they had a choice of sausage links or patties.

The place has been mobbed everytime we've driven by... now I see why.

We didn't eat this week.

Would you believe me if I said we didn't eat this week? I didn't think you would. It's been hectic. Work. School. Volunteer commitments. Everyone wanted a piece of me this week.

Early in the week, I made that homemade crust that my husband and daughter made into a pizza and my daughter and I made those apple/pancakes. Mixing those up as leftovers got us a few more meals and Wednesday night my husband went to a local pizzeria at 9 p.m. and bought a pizza with pesto sauce and fresh sliced tomatoes that tided us over another day. For dinner that night we had had my husband's superloaded baked potatoes.

Today is our ten-year anniversary and yesterday my daughter started to cry uncontrollably in the car because she was worried about one of her little friends in kindergarten, so I took her to Friendly's (we had a coupon anyway). And then today we were SUPER BAD.

We went to the movies (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) and to Sonic for dinner. But wait, that's not all. I received a $5o gift card from a friend so I applied it toward a large Le Creuset skillet from Williams Sonoma. Azure Blue. Oh, but that's not all, I also bought a new teapot to match. $217.

That's almost a month's groceries. Gone in an instant. But we've all had some overtime and it's our big ten-year-anniversary and I had wanted to go to Paris but admitted that would be too much. So this skillet is my indulgence. Look for new fun with cooking, renewed interest in sauces. Vive la France!

Update

Please don't expect much from my blog for a couple days. While I was in Pittsburgh, my husband's grandmother passed away. Today was the funeral. We had spaghetti for dinner. Hopefully I'll find my groove and start cooking again, but preparing meals is a sign of happiness for me and I'm having trouble "facing" the kitchen right now. Especially since Memmy made pies... the best pies... and I never asked her to teach me to make her famous pumpkin custard.

For the record, we have spent $150 on dining out so far this month and $115 dollars on groceries... Now I know for a fact we will have to go to the grocery store before the end of the month. So, I blew the budget again.

The $3 dinner/ Mme. Pomfrey's potion

We attended the Riverside Festival of the Arts today and had a late lunch of beef brisket sandwiches. For dinner, we had a picnic while my daughter and I rode our bikes. No one was very hungry because of such a meaty lunch, so we had the Dole Southwest Salad with bananas for dessert and water from our bike bottles. The dinner cost me about $3 total, or $1 per person, because the salad (which came with salsa ranch dressing, tortilla chips, sour cream, cheese, radishes, shredded carrots and lettuce) was buy one get one free at $3.99, and the bananas were 59 cents a pound.

My daughter made the mistake of getting her bike going really fast and then deciding to see if she could ride one-handed. The answer was no. She has a nasty though superficial crash and scraped her elbow in an ugly way. So after we washed her up, I made her Easy Now traditional medicinal tea with honey and soy milk and my husband told her it was Mme. Pomfrey's special potion.