The Story of Three

Well, I haven’t written in awhile, but such is life in a busy few months. Last week, I started planning weeks in themes of sorts. Last week was Irish week for St. Patty’s day. We had an amazing twist on the traditional corned beef and cabbage. I slow cooked the corned beef (without the already given spices) in a mix of brown sugar and guiness. It was so moist and flavorful! I’ll have to do it again. Instead of making colcannon (mashed potatoes and cabbage), I made champ–mashed potatoes and scallions. I caramelized the green onions and added in some garlic. It was pretty yummy! This week is (northeastern) mediterranean cuisine. So, that means anything from southern france, italy, greece and turkey. I might do another week like this later because there’s so many options to choose from. We’ve been enjoying the meals so far. Hope you like my menu!

Dinners:
-Lemon garlic roasted turkey legs (we cheated a little and made cornbread stuffing for easter)
-Lemon juice and soy butter poached chicken topped with a tarragon bechamel with smoked gouda and wild mushroons, roasted asparagus, garlic bread
-Cannelloni of beef and three cheeses
-Falafel/Shawarma with diced cucumbers, roasted garlic hummus and the choice of white or wheat pita
-Spaghetti with bolognese sauce, garlic bread

So, that’s it for today. Happy monday!

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!~