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frugal update

So here is a review of how the food plan has been going so far...

30th Quick chicken noodle soup in the crock pot.  This was a welcome relief when we got Nolan home from the hospital.  He was able to have a bit of the broth and I knew I had something easy for everyone.  I also tried my hand at a homemade beer bread recipe, but it was a bust and got thrown out.  It called for too much baking powder so the whole deal was too salty tasting. 

1 Zucchini Squash Casserole (make 2): Yep. And again with the beer bread.  This time it was quite good.  3 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 1T baking powder, 1 12 oz can beer and 1/4 cup melted butter.  Mix dry with beer and put in loaf pan, you can add cheese if desired and then pour the melted butter over the top of the batter.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour.  Yum yum.

2 Pasta Meal: Nope, I made enchilada casserole and it was yummy.  For lunch everyone had their choice of chicken noodle soup - not the kids fav - or zucchini squash casserole. 

3 Leftovers from week: yep.

4 BBQ grill Frank's choice from our new 1/8 of a grass fed cow.. with fresh corn and spinach salad homemade vanilla ice cream and cobbler: Frank found a wonderful sale on pork chops and we grilled them instead of our cow.  Fresh corn, potato salad, home made ice cream and my first real from scratch pie.  It was plum.  Yum Yum.

5. Mushroom Barley crock pot with leftovers from grill: Ribs with leftover potato salad.

6. Chopped Salad with orzo: Nolan had a friend over and I had three tomatoes that were in danger of going bad, so I made my own sort of sauce for pasta... mushrooms, tomatoes and onions simmered in butter and then I added about 1/2 cup of flour and cooked for a bit before adding milk.  As this cooked down into a nice "cream" sauce, I added about a cup of of canned spaghetti sauce and seasonings.  We had this with spinach salad and buttermilk brownies - Nolan's special favorite.  For lunch we had rib sandwiches.  Also today we went and saw a free movie - all of us went and saw Wallace and Grommit. 

7. Chinese Spaghetti: instead we had leftovers of the great pasta I made on the sixth, we finished up the last of the box of spinach from Costco with pre-chopped mushrooms and walnuts Nolan had just found in the garage and cracked for us. For Lunch we had pastrami sandwiches on old rolls dug out of the freezer. Free movie again today, cloudy with a chance of meatballs. 

8. Enchilada Casserole (make 2) : tonight shall be a lovely tri tip that Frank got on sale over the fourth weekend. It has been marinating nicely for a day and we will finish up a pile of broccoli I bought before it goes bad.  And we have still the final of the pasta to finish for lunch.

Other frugal concessions:  The cable is off and the house is quiet!  hurray.  Last night we watched Kiss me Kate and discovered that we have dozens of unwatched dvds at our disposal - that we own!   Frank and I have been putting together a box of fun things we have purchased to do with the kids and have never gotten around to... so last night we all discovered the joys of Blendy Pens, purchased at Costco last Christmas.  We all sat around and colored before the movie and it was great fun. The gym will be cancelled today.  Frank and I are limited to one can of diet pop a day and we got a super deal over the fourth on them... about 18 cents per can.  I have dozens of books now listed on amazon and we are working like crazy people for a big yard sale on saturday. 

Comments

Cathi said…
I am so proud of you!
1:41 PM
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