Real Life with Jenny

It has been a crazy (and I cannot emphasize that word enough) whirlwind of the past 5 months! I don’t think I’ve ever been busier in my life, but now it’s slowed down to a regular level of life and busy-ness. Hoorah! I should be back to posting pretty regularly, but forgive the few weeks of absence when we’re on vacation throughout the summer. You’ll see (if you were ever here before) that I’ve changed up the look. I’m hoping to kind of refocus this blog. There will be plenty of food posts and “green” posts like before, since I cannot help my crunchy tendencies, as my husband reminds me often. There should also be plenty of photos, if I can become more acquainted with our camera. I hope to be posting often about the events of our lives and thoughts and such.

Since it’s Monday, I figured I would begin with a meal plan Monday! I am so excited to say that I’ve finally adjusted to the rise in prices. We came in under budget for the first time in awhile. I have to credit a lot of that to properly using the CSA veggies as well as my refocusing our meals to a more flexitarian or plant-based diet. We still eat meat, but it’s not the main ticket as often. Anyhow, enjoy. I included a recipe for one of the salads and a link to the recipe for the other one. Enjoy!

Monday–BLA sandwiches (We’re not big tomato fans, but we’re having bacon, lettuce and avocado)
Tuesday–Dinner at Sato Japanese Cuisine with some friends
Wednesday–Asian Noodle Salad
Thursday–Farmstand Salad with Grilled Red Pepper Chicken Sausage from this book

Farmstand Salad with Grilled Sausage

6 cups mixed baby greens (I’m using a mix of romaine and spinach instead)
6 radishes, thinly sliced
1 small zucchini, very thinly sliced
2 cups green beans, trimmed (I don’t have these, but I have extra sugar snap peas)
2 carrots, thinly sliced
4 links of turkey or other low fat sausage (Like I said, red pepper chicken sausage)

Grill the sausage, and mix all of this together and top with the dressing below.

3 TBS extra-virgin olive oil
2 TBS lemon juice
5 TBS buttermilk
2 TBS coarsely chopped parsley

Enjoy!

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I have left a huge absence in my blog lately, but I am back, at least for today. So I have made a commitment to myself to be especially frugal with my household shopping the next month. I’ll probably do the same after the month, but it’s always best for me to set short, attainable goals.

Some of my “rules”:

1. I can never go over the food/household/cat budget.

2. My goal is to come under budget. By how much is dependent on sales and weekly needs.

3. Find inexpensive, easy-to-make snacks and drinks at home to cut down on costs.

4. Every week, buy another new household cleaning product that is all-natural and non-toxic in order to replace the current toxic kind I have on hand.

Alright, so the last one isn’t really to help me be more frugal, but I have been planning on doing this for a long time. I started last week with laundry detergent, and, this week, it was dishwasher detergent. It’s been totally attainable, even with my frugal budget.

So, here’s my menu this week. Enjoy!

Dinners:
*Seared chicken and veggies, tossed with fresh chopped parsley and a Thai black pepper sauce
*Teriyaki Chicken bowls
*Eric’s manly meal– Sweet bell pepper and onion sausage, in small blackened pieces, pan fried potato pieces and a dark irish stout
*Gnocchi in a gorgonzola sauce, leftover blackened sausage pieces, and caramelized leeks (all together in a bowl)
*Asian salad w/ mandarin oranges and wontons
*Shredded chicken tossed with spinach and an olive tapenade - all wrapped in an olive oil wrap
*Leftover (or find whatever’s in the pantry) night

Snacks:
*Cake mix cookies (made with 1 box yellow cake mix, 1 egg, 1/2 c. soy butter)
*Horchata (see this recipe)–It tastes amazing, and it’s so easy!
*Celery and peanut butter, topped with just a dash of sugar

~Also, I have recently discovered my own lactose intolerance, so I’m kinda new to this. If any of you have any good tips on dairy free menus, that would be so helpful. Thanks!~

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