Happy week everyone!Finally, we're settling in to fall. School, football, soccer, Phillies playoff games, all in a bit of a rhythm here. I made a bit of a breakthrough last week and skipped the pork roast because we still had lots of grilled meats. I made a steak salad, and we all had a very iron-rich week.
This week:
Monday: pork roast, finally, mashed potatoes, something from the CSA box
Tuesday: baseball playoff night so football is switched. I'm working this night so boys' night in, which will mean spaghetti, whether I plan anything or not. I found some Italian sausage in the freezer so I might make my husband happy and throw that in the crockpot with some tomato sauce all day.
Wednesday: Tonight is football night so something fast. Probably leftover pork for all with roasted potatoes (less hands-on time than mashed).
Thursday: Freezer meal for football again. Nuggets for boys, not sure for grownups. We'll see how the week goes.
Friday: Fall Fest at the elementary school! Woohoo! Learning from last time: bring change. It's a fundraiser. We ordered pizza and will buy from the bake sale for dessert.
And just for fun...one of the last football games for my son is this weekend in the district where his cousins all live (that is, the ones who don't live in ours). So I'm hosting a football tailgate brunch in our car. I'm making granola, Ina Garten's peach-raspberry yogurt, crockpot breakfast casserole (vegetarian), and, if I'm feeling ambitious, sausage sandwiches (easy-peasy--get the little teeny soft Pepperidge Farm rolls, and tuck a sausage in each--and I'll make the sausage the night before and store in the thermos). That plus coffee and cocoa and we'll be ready to roll!
In my epiphany about too much food in the fridge and freezer, I really focused on not following whims (yep, pork roast, I'm looking at you), and just making what's there. We revisited lots of old favorites from the CSA I made a carrot and turnip mash, which I liked and no one else touched (OK, not fair, my husband is on board and had some). I forgot to copy the recipe except it was close to this one, though I just boiled them all together. I also roasted a bunch of CSA potatoes and did the lemony smash for some of them and left the rest as ersatz French fries. My son who eats potatoes had both. Finally, the apples were overwhelming so I found a recipe for an easy apple pie, using pie crusts from the freezer. I skipped (ok, forgot) the butter and lemon juice and it was still awesome. My kids were happy just dipping the raw apples in cinnamon and sugar, which I have filed away for less enthusiastic apple days. But I was really excited; frozen crusts or no, it was my first apple pie, and it felt like getting a mom badge.
Given all this, I'd love to say I didn't buy anything, but that's not true; I didn't need much, though, and stumbled in to some awesome sales ($1 for my favorite elbow noodles, half price cheddar = cooking for holidays time! Woohoo!) and was giving myself a pat on the back for walking out of the store with $65 of groceries for $40. I know people can do much better but I'm usually in the 10% range, so that felt great. I'm feeling like we've emptied the freezer a decent amount so I can start filling it with things for the holidays, and make the call then about whether to keep it going through the winter.
Check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menus on Monday, and have a great week!
1 comment:
Sounds smart about the freezer. I hope it doesn't let you down.
Your weeks sound so much like ours. It makes it hard to do a nice family dinner, doesn't it? I LOVE your idea of the brunch tail-gate! How fun! Delicious too.
I am terribly guilty of buying food on whims because it sounds good instead of using up what I have. I'm working on it, but let's just say it's a work in progress.
Hope you have a great week.
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