So Far So Good

So far so good with the food budget. I made a big pot of turkey soup, didn't use a recipe just used up leftovers that needed to be used along with what started as 1 cup of soup mix (various dried beans, split peas, lentils, rice, quinoa etc) and turned into 4-5 cups after absorbing lots of water while being soaked. I threw in some oldish carrots and some limp celery, half of a leftover sweet onion, about half a can of tomatoes that had lingered in the fridge long enough and a bunch of soft and squishy grape tomatoes, cut in half. I added some chopped up turkey, of course and some basil, thyme, and a healthy serving of crushed chilli peppers to spice it up a bit (a whole lot!)

                                                          I have to say it is delicious!
*I didn't take any photos so am using google photos that look similar to what I made.

While rummaging around in the fridge I realized I had four green peppers and Kazi's favourite meal is stuffed peppers. It is one of my favourites too because once again it allows me to hide things in the mixture :) Kazi saw the peas ( about half a cup leftover from Thanksgiving dinner) but she didn't identify the leftover stuffing!! Kind of apropos don't you think? Stuffing in stuffed peppers? I mixed it up with some of the soup mix, the leftover peas, some marinara sauce and lots of grated cheddar. You can hide a lot of stuff under cheddar! Oh, I almost forgot...I had half of a medium-sized zucchini which I chopped up and sauteed in a little olive oil and added to the peppers. Yum!

Today I did take myself off to the grocery store as planned as I needed to reload up on fruits and veg, along with a few staples like bread, soy milk and a large package of chicken breasts 30% off. I spent about $60 and hope to NOT shop again for at least a week, preferably 10 days but we'll see. After today there is only about $60 left in the food budget. I'll be making mostly meals that stretch to two nights instead of the usual one.

Future meals will include:
Chicken fajitas (always lasts two nights :)
Cheese and spinach ravioli
Spinach and mozzarella omlettes with mashed potato & onion patties
Shrimp & veggie linguine
Greek lentil soup (get 2-3 meals out of this)
Veggie chilli ( several meals)
Salmon steaks and sweet potato fries
Cheese and potato pierogies
Tuna Melts

We have tons of fresh veg and fruit on hand to augment meals, plus a lot of frozen fruit for smoothies. There is always a pot of soup for lunches and we both eat oatmeal in the morning. This should work. I don't usually make a meal plan beyond...well...today...but I can definitely see the purpose.

Do you plan your meals by the day, week, or month?

October Budget a Bit of a Challenge

Are you squeezing your budget extra tight this month in order to stay in the black? Me too! Just about everyone whose blog I read is trying to make the most of their food budget in order to stay on track.  I just went through Thanksgiving Day long weekend and spent twice as much on food/drinks as I usually spend in an ordinary month.  I have a fridge full of leftovers but we're a little tired of eating turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing. It looks like I need to freeze the remaining food and haul it out again in a couple of weeks when I won't be faced with moans and groans...and that's just ME!

But here's the problem: there are three weeks left in October but there is not three weeks of grocery money left! So how to get to the end of October, providing a variety of healthy meals, while staying within the remaining budget. The age old problem. Doesn't seem possible does it?

And this is where you think I'm going to present an imaginative and tasty solution but I'm afraid I'm going to let you down. Because I don't know. If there were only two weeks left in this month I think it would be a snap...but three? Without hauling out the frozen leftovers? This is when having another freezer would come in handy. But I don't have one and never have so I have to work with what I've got.

Yes...I should have increased the food budget for October but the money still has to come from somewhere! So...I've decided to transfer the $80 I set aside for gas for the as yet unnamed car into the food budget line. Fortunately when I purchased the car they filled it up with gas. It still has over 3/4 of a tank so I won't need to put anymore in til next month, and maybe not then either. There, with a little bit of budget magic, I have my three weeks of groceries covered. That being said, I'm still going to try to get to Friday, my usual grocery day, without going to the grocery store.

Fingers crossed.

Lazy Day

I keep thinking I should be doing something...

I get upset with myself because I don't feel like doing anything...

But my puritan upbringing doesn't let me rest easily...

Ok, got THAT off my chest. Onwards and upwards. My alarm went off at 7am. Do you think it's strange that I set my alarm on the weekend? Well it's a little game I play with myself. If I get up early then the days of the weekend seem looooonger;  I guess they are longer or at least the amount of time I'm awake is longer. It's all psychological.

I treated myself to a Timmy's and a newspaper today and enjoyed both while keeping one eye on our women's curling team. THEY ARE UNDEFEATED!! Did you know that curling is the second most popular "arm chair" sport? After hockey? I LOVE watching curling - I love how we get to hear them work out their strategy and the loud cries of HARD....HARRRRRRRRRD!!! from the skip. I love the overhead shots showing where the rocks lie and how they can each make their throw curl this way and the other way making seemingly "magical" take outs - I think it's amazing.

YES, I am CANADIAN! And I really wish I had one of those Molson Canadian beer machines in my kitchen! Errrr.....maybe beside my recliner would be better!

Isn't that cool?? I have a passport - do you think I could get a beer?

Perhaps after I'm finished my glass of wine!

Last night I had THE most amazing dinner with my friends Troy, Julie and Susan. We went to a Thai restaurant and had quite the decadent meal - I had a strawberry smoothie with a double shot of rum, DEEP FRIED spring rolls and seafood pad thai. Oh my goodness! I'm sure I exceeded my daily caloric intake with just the smoothie! And I've never had deep fried spring rolls before - they were to die for. Needless to say most of the pad thai is in my fridge (just a regular fridge though I think there are a couple of Bud Lights in there :) 

Then off to see "Monuments Men".  Being an Art History major I really enjoyed the story and I wondered frequently how much work it must have been to duplicate all of those paintings and statues or is that all done with computers?? I thought the dialogue was not the greatest in parts and it jumped around a bit but overall it was enjoyable though the real loss of some major works of art made me sad. There were some funny spots like when Matt Damon's character was standing on an unexploded land mine - yes, that might not seem funny but it all worked out...in a funny way...

Happily this is our Family Day long weekend :) :) so I still have 2 days left to enjoy. I think I'll load up my plate with leftovers, feed the cat, and treat myself to an episode or two from the new season of HOUSE OF CARDS!!! And tomorrow I must cheer on our Canadian men's hockey team as they play against Finland. YES, I lead the most exciting life!  

Home Alone

 How do I miss thee, let me count the ways...well, holy moly there are just too many ways to count!  Michael has been in the Bahamas since last Wednesday due to the premature death of a younger sister.  He rarely gets to see this side of his family so he's gone for a week to mourn a sister and reconnect with missed family members.

When his mom and dad split Michael was sent to live with an aunt and his younger brother was sent to live with grandparents. Then both his mom and dad married other people and went on to have about six kids each. So he has one full blood brother and 12 half brothers and sisters. His mom's 2nd family live in Canada but his dad's 2nd family stayed in Miami and the Bahamas. Unfortunately neither Michael or his brother Andy were recalled from the aunt's house or the grandparent's house so they didn't get to know their siblings very well.

So they take the opportunity when they can to get together which as we all know often happens because of the death of a family member.

At first I enjoyed having the bed all to myself - I like to really stretch out...for about 5 minutes then it's all about cuddling!! It's been nice to pick my own movies on Netflix but why oh why am I still watching ACTION movies...huh??  It's been great to eat exactly what I want when I want, but HEY, I do that most of the time anyway! And I'm running out of leftovers.....

So Michael, you can head on home anytime now, the sooner the better. I'll even make the bed for you (yes, he's the bed maker around here as well as chief cook and bottle washer!!)  And besides...I can't watch "Breaking Bad" without YOU!

Stuffed Peppers or How to Cook a Delicious Meal with Bits and Pieces of Leftovers and Free Food

Last Sunday I decided to see what I could make with some of the odds and sods that were hanging out in the fridge and the pantry.  As it turned out, with a little imagination, I had the makings of a delicious meal! This doesn't happen very often when all of the little containers of leftovers can work together and make something that is greater than the sum of its parts. But...it worked...and I was delighted as this is SO NOT MY FORTE!
Well, let's see what we have...in the fridge...a hunk of cheddar that is starting to dry out at the edges. Not too appealing on its own.

 In the pantry - a box of black beans and rice. Now, I don't buy these sorts of packaged foods but for 7 years I had a parent pack me a big bag of mixes and spices and packaged sauces at Christmas and at the end of the school year as a gift. He was retired from McCormicks where they make all of these things and they cost him next to nothing. My daughter LOVED all the free packs of Swiss Chalet sauce and I appreciated the abundance of spices!

In the fridge - TOO MANY PEPPERS! (Why does this make me think of that childhood book ' "The Five Little Peppers"? By mistake both Michael and I had bought a package of peppers the previous week- what was I going to do with them all??

A jar of leftover tomato sauce....ok, an idea is starting to come to me...

A handful of wilted green onions - cleaned up and chopped up they don't look so bad...

I got a good amount of grated cheddar from that partially dried out block.

I won, yes won, a bottle of Frank's RedHot sauce (yum yum) at school when we had our chili lunch - those who brought in chili to share, like me, got a nice little gift box and this was in it! LOVE this stuff!

 I had an over abundance of zucchini thanks to buying an extra large package at Costco - need to get rid of some of them as they don't last long....

 The result?  Stuffed peppers, vegetarian style! I don't usually cook by the seat of my pants like this, this is more Michael's area of expertise whereas I usually use a recipe. But as he was in Miami at a conference for the weekend and because I was feeling inspired by this mix of available ingredients I went for it!

First I put cleaned out the peppers and added a big spoonful of tomato sauce.

I cooked up the black beans and rice and added a healthy portion to the peppers... along with a shake or two of Frank's hot sauce :) Did I say I LOVE that sauce??

 These two pictures are reversed...I added chopped up zucchini then another dollop of tomato sauce.

 and another shake or two of Frank's hot sauce, truth be told...

Then I topped the whole thing with grated cheddar.....

 covered with tinfoil and baked for 25 minutes in a 375 oven.  I tested the peppers with a fork as I didn't want them to get mushy but I felt they needed more time so I popped them back in for another 15 minutes for a total of 40 minutes in all.

Perfect! I added a few chopped green onions and dug right in! Sooooooooooo tasty! Even my daughter had one....or two...
Close...

Closer.... 

Closest!

 A nicely balanced vegetarian dish with a little red wine on the side...nom nom nom!

Leftovers for lunch! I felt pretty proud of myself for using up some things that had sat in my pantry and fridge for awhile and might have ended up getting tossed out as food waste. Cost of this meal??

Hmmmmmmmmmm, I wonder what I can create out of free/old stuff today???

C'mon Baby One More Day!

The school year continues to whiz by at a frantic rate of speed. My friend Christy is already on March break as they start theirs today instead of Friday, lucky duck! She's already cracked open a bottle of wine to celebrate :) It's funny in that so many teachers have mentioned looking forward to putting their collective feet up and sipping a glass of vino - in fact one friend said to me on Tuesday that she had already opened one up the previous night! She was sort of embarrassed because she said that she and her husband usually make it til Friday before uncorking one and there they were on a Monday night - stressed out and impatient - getting into it!  I can now LAUGH in her face because Michael and I made it all the way til TUESDAY BWAHAHAHA!!

Yes, I  can admit to being tired out but I'm hopeful that this year I won't be sick over March break like I usually am. That's the incredible thing about stress and colds - they seem to go hand-in-hand HOWEVER I can almost always WILL the germs to wait until I'm on holidays before they strike me down. I don't like missing days of school because my class isn't the easiest one to leave to a supply teacher. So I am somehow able to wait until the time is "right" before I surrender to some dastardly disease.  Since I just had a cold though I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to get to my chore list everyday instead of  lounging on the couch with a box of kleenex.....though the lounging part does sound tempting!

Unfortunately the stress of labour unrest is also affecting most teachers in Canada this year as our contracts expire and our unions begin to battle with the government and school boards over new contracts. It ain't gonna be pretty! I'm very OK with a zero percent raise and even with a two year contract instead of four but there are other issues that will need much negotiation. But I try not to think about that stuff as I'm not much into unions and politics (though I admit to closely following the race for top Republican!!) - it's just so crazy interesting!

Well, I'm going to toddle off to the kitchen now and see what I can whip up for supper....oh yeah....there's LEFTOVERS, my FAVOURITE!! Have a great night y'all!