I am just having a devil of a time coming up with dinners this week. I'm on Day Three of mulling it over and I just give up.
I think I'll just call it "Surprise Meal Plan", come down and throw the freezer door open each morning and see what strikes my fancy or just close my eyes and grab something out of the ol' Chill Chest.
I made a big pot of homemade Boston Baked Beans and Cornbread on Sunday. Either my eyes are going and I can't read the recipe clearly anymore or I grabbed the wrong measuring spoon because well, those beans were like eating a salt lick to me!
Ugh....
I guess I'll have to dilute them with some canned beans before we eat them again later this week.
Monday night I just invented something from what I had on hand. I had a big container of leftover enchilada sauce from the other week that needed using up. So I grabbed a roll of ground turkey(that was pre-seasoned for taco filling), a can of refried beans and a small can of no beans chili. I dumped that all together(after cooking the turkey of course!lol), thawed some cheese and made chili enchiladas. Served it with salad and sour cream.
I've been considering all my usual meals and nothing is striking me as appetizing. Maybe something with fish tonight?
Perhaps if I go stand out in the stockpile inspiration will hit me....if the bags of flour falling off the shelf don't first. lol
Since I am trying to keep up with ANNIE JONES this month with her No Spending/Eating from The Pantry Challenge, I'll report in here that last week I spent $35.08 on groceries. Well, some of that was a receipt I lost & didn't find until it was too late to add to November's spending and $12.78 of it was a trip to the local market that I really didn't need, but I spent because I had to take BIL to the grocery store because he totaled his car....I was there so I spent. ugh
Some of it was for fruit and lettuce but I also bought panko on sale and deli meat.
So far this week I've spent $4.09. I ran out of eggs so Hubs picked up a dozen and then he picked up some tortillas for last night's dinner.
So I'm off to contemplate the stockpile/freezer.....I'm thinking fish but I might do a veggie quiche of some kind....or hamburgers since I have the rolls and the ground beef.
At any rate with these 3 ideas plus a leftover night I am set until Saturday for meals now!
Sluggy
Have you gone to http://www.recipekey.com yet? You enter your ingredients from your pantry and it generates plans, recipes, etc. It may be a good way to pick up some recipes you will like since you already have the ingredients in your own house!
ReplyDeleteI throw open the freezer every day to see what's for supper. I probably have about 5 days a month that I figure it out early in the morning--otherwise it's 2 or 3 before I decide what I should have thawed. I tried the menu thing but it was always being ignored or someone used a product I needed for a meal--it ended up being a big hassle. I made a pot of chicken enchilada soup last night--tonight, I think we are having tater tot casserole. I get so hungry for fish--wish someone else around here would eat it. Sorry for the rambling!
ReplyDeleteThe thing I always hated when I was married was figuring out WHAT to fix! It just horrified me that I saw my life before me as nothing but planning what to eat. My husband was shocked,"I thought you liked to cook!" He never got it, I loved to cook, just hated the one more day times thousands of days that I had to THINK about it. My life was not measured out in coffee spoons, but in meal plans.
ReplyDeleteNow, I don't have to plan so often, so planning is not the horror it once was because it does not roll around three times a day...had three children who insisted on eating regularly and irregularly. Now, a turkey breast and dressing and all trimmings lasts a week; then, a whole turkey and fixings lasted two days. Okay, maybe longer for the meat.
Slugmama,
ReplyDeleteCook those beans a little longer with a couple of raw potatoes. Then throw the potatoes out. This should take a lot of the salt out.
YUMMMM salt lick....
ReplyDeleteI finally used up the rest of the Thanksgiving turkey in a needs salt casserole last night. Turned out pretty good!
Precious--Will that work if the beans have a heavy sauce on them already?
ReplyDeletePractical--This meal planning wasn't so much a chore for me a few years ago, when everyone could be counted on to be here for dinner and actually eat it.lol
ReplyDeleteNow with 1 kid at college and another teen working and not eating with us some nights(but I never know which ones beforehand) and a moody, picky 14 yr old, it hardly seems worth planning any of it.lol
LisaPie--Not sure if I could enter ALL the ingredients I have on hand....have you seen my stockpile?lol I'd get writer's cramp with all the recipes that website would pull up.lol
ReplyDeleteI'll check it out tho...thank you!
Sheila--I hear ya!;-)
ReplyDeleteI've actually stooped to putting notes on food packages here that say "DO NOT EAT!" to keep the kids from taking them. There is always a chance when I open that pantry door if my ingredients will be there or not.lol
McVal--You should have let me know...I could have shipped you some beans, er....I mean salt lick.lol
A little pat of butter, some sugar, potatoes and frozen veggies will turn the salt lick into something healthy.
ReplyDeleteBut sometimes, stretching out stuff that you did not like in the first place will actually waste more ingredients - so sometimes I throw it away. Thankfully it's maybe once in 3 or 4 years :)
I don't know. I would give it a try. Potatoes have saved me from salty things so
ReplyDeletemany times.