Garden nachos

These would have been incredible if only our tortilla chips weren't stale because somehow the bag was open...

- cheddar cheese
- chives from the garden
- greens from our garden and what's left from Klein Farm
- Archer Farms raspberry salsa
- Archer Farm buffalo blue cheese dip
- ground beef from Klein Farm

Grocery trip on foot

I had a coupon for $10 off a $20 purchase at bottom dollar.

Before we left the house, I started some dry pintos and some dry small red beans to boil and then sit.

I went outside in the rain to plant what my mother-in-law said were two tomato and two pepper plants, but they looked like three tomato and one pepper. Daughter helped me plant them.

We (husband took the day off) walked the neighborhood kids to school and headed to Bottom Dollar. On foot.

We bought:
- pineapple chunks, 98 cents
- pineapple slices, 98 cents
- mango nectar, 1 quart, $1.38
- 6 inch flour tortillas, 2 packs, $1.18 each
- water chestnuts, 99 cents
- 2 ounces pure vanilla extract, $4.78
- 2 small cans tuna in water, 69 cents each
- 9 ounces chili powder, $2.66
- almost one pound of fresh broccoli crowns, $1.42
- bunch of fresh kale, 98 cents
- strawberries, quart, $1.98
- cucumber, 64 cents
- half gallon of half-and-half, $3.56
- three pounds of butter, $6.87
- English muffins, $1.28

Total: $22.33

When we got home my husband made me a vegetarian sausage sandwich with harvarti and buffalo blue cheese dip on an English muffin.

Make your own quesadilla night

The make-your-own quesadilla bar had the following items:

- chicken
- black beans
- cheese
- black olives
- fresh spinach
- buffalo blue cheese dip

For the top, a variety of salsas to choose from:
- Archer Farm raspberry
- tequila lime from Aldi
- mango salsa from Aldi

Using up leftovers Mac-and-cheese

This is my way of using up the random smatters of cheese in the fridge.

Heat in saucepan:
- 1 can broccoli cheese soup
- 1 can soy milk
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- 2/3 cup shredded Italian six cheese blend
- 1/3 cup Archer Farm buffalo blue cheese dip

Prepare 13.25 ounces whole wheat rotini

Combine, bake at 350 for 30 minutes, uncovering the last 10 if you'd like some crispiness

Cheeseball broccoli buffalo mac and cheese

To celebrate the end of the school year (and use up some very stale utz cheeseballs), I wanted to make cheeseball/buffalo blue cheese dip broccoli. I thought I could mix it into a Mac and Cheese for a one dish meal, but I had some ingredient malfunctions.

My daughter helped me, and by the end I was sure we had invented something inedible.

It was surprisingly incredibly delicious.

Ingredients:
- 7 ounces whole wheat rotini
- 2 tablespoons Earth Balance margarine
- 5 fresh stalks of chives from the garden
- 1 1/4 cup unsweetened Silk soy milk
- 1/2 cup vanilla silk
- salt
- pepper
- garlic powder
- 6 ounces extra sharp cheddar
- 2 ounces mozzarella
- 1/4 cup Archer Farms buffalo blue cheese dip
- 1 cup chopped spinach
- 6 broccoli spears
- 2 cups crushed Utz cheeseballs

Preheat oven to 375. grease skillet withthin layer of canola oil. Cook pasta. Drain. Set aside.

Melt margarine and cook chives in a 3 quart saucepan. Add salt and pepper. Reduce heat. Add milks, cheese, and dip. Stir constantly until well melted. Add spinach.

Pour 80% of the sauce over the pasta. Pour pasta into skillet. Sprinkle a light layer of garlic powder over the pasta.

Add broccoli artfully on top. Cover with remaining cheese sauce. Sprinkle cheese ball crumbs over everything. Cover skillet with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake 10 minutes more.

Husband Hamburgers

Because husband got unexpectedly called into work, I didn't have a chance to eat properly. This led to a mild mommy meltdown. Husband saved the day with burgers from the ground beef I bought earlier. While he cooked them, child and i went to Aldi and, among other things, got English muffins for buns. I thought the texture would be delightful and it was.... Airy and crispy.

We dressed them with spring mix and ketchup for the little one and Archer Farm's buffalo blue cheese dip for the grown-ups.

Husband sprinkled some of my country herb blend on each one.

Spinach Boca burgers

In our trip to Target today (I went hoping to pick up some extra hours), we found some Boca Burgers on clearance for $2.78 a box. So, for lunch, we had boca burgers. My husband used one slice of Archer Farm honey oat bread, toasted in and sliced it in half. Then he also cut the burger in half and piled it on the bread. He topped all our burgers with fresh spinach and mine with buffalo blue cheese dip. Child loved hers so much she asked for a second one!

Salad experiment

Looking for a quick soothing lunch, I grabbed some bagged salad from the fridge, the last four Morningstar Chikn nuggets and some dried pineapple.

For the dressing, I opted for experimentation: equal parts of Archer Farm Buffalo Blue Cheese Dip, light mayonnaise and creamy Ceasar dressing.

We liked it.

Buffalo broccoli quesadilla

The other night when I got home from work, my husband made me a quesadilla of white sharp cheddar, Archer Farms buffalo blue cheese dip and Morningstar vegetarian buffalo wings. Today we repeated it for lunch with fresh broccoli and a touch of Velveeta.