Cheeky snails

My son told me he was one as I was thinking of a title. It's one of his favorite things to say. He loves Peppa pig. So my husband decided to take it upon himself to cook me a birthday dinner. The problem with my husband is he's kind of like. He thinks that because it's something he would want, other people want it too. So we had porkchops, italian sausage, and french fries. I wasn't entirely thrilled. I'm not a huge fan of pork and I would have rather had what I had planned on cooking. I ate it. It was nice that he made the effort. He's just excited about his new grill. I've taken that into account this week and offered him a healthier alternative.

Now I had actually planned on some pork this week, but I just can't get thrilled about them now. So I revamped the grocery list.

Sesame noodles are so easy and we all love them so made the cut this week.

I'm picking up dried apricot and white chocolate chips to put in my scones. They say that sweets in the morning helps curb cravings later in the day. My son is also boycotting eggs again so I have to get stuff he will eat. I had trouble getting him to eat eggs for the longest time and he apparently doesn't like them again.

Also doing beans rice and veggies again. I enjoyed it and it's really cheap. Using different veggies this time tho.

Next up is chicken kebabs. I'm using red peppers, green, peppers, onion, and mushroom. Use whatever veggies make your family happy. I believe I'm using a balsamic honey marinade which is just that plus garlic. To your own taste.

Last is some teriyaki chicken casserole. This is a new recipe, but it sounds so good. I'm doubling it. We like Chinese food in my house and my husband likes to stack his noodles with his rice so it's perfect. I figure grabbing a big pack of chicken breasts will work for both meat meals.

http://www.ohsweetbasil.com/teriyaki-chicken-casserole.html

I think im getting apples and grapes for fruit, but those mangos were delicious and there's a grapefruit recipe I want to try so we will see. Well I actually need to get our lunch for today so I'm off.

I was bad this week...

My husband brought home cookie dough ice cream and fried chicken, which I had been craving, this week. My resistance level is not high. I'm not in any hurry to lose the weight. Not preparing for a wedding or anything. So I'm putting us on a stricter set of meals this week. Only one of which has a recipe at the moment. But I have a plan.

I'm going to make a meatloaf and mix in shredded zucchini and serve that with mashed sweet potatos. I do put a little butter on mine, but I don't add extra salt. My attempts at meatloaf have failed miserably, but I'm going to try again.

I'm going to make some brown rice with a mixed veg, beans, and cheese. Just use whatever is your preference.

Doing something similar except I'm using ground meat and barley. I figure I'll do one at the beginning of the week and one at the end I'm being a little frugal this week because my birthday is coming up and I'm making country style pork ribs that day.

Last of all I'm going to make some white bean soup. I actually think using dry beans is easier and it's definitely cheaper. I believe the recipe calls for dry, but there's really no reason you couldn't use canned. Just remember that a pound of dry beans is not the same amount as a pound of wet beans.

And I think I'm getting apples and mangoes today. Might get bananas instead of apples. Actually I probably will, but we'll see. Usually when I write this I've already been to the store, but I woke up early today and found myself with some peace and the time to write.

Breakfasts this week are going to be overnight oats and egg sandwiches. Picking up some English muffins for those.

So that's it for today. I want to get done early and take E down to the splash park again. We made friends on Wednesday when we went and it's supposed to rain the rest of the weekend.

So I lost my grocery list...

After I got back from the store I couldn't find it. Did some crazy amounts of cleaning today and it turned up, so we're back in business.

So this week's menu:

Vegan vegetable soup. I bought 2 bags of frozen vegetable soup mix. Mine has carrots, lima beans, green beans,corn, okra, carrots, potatoes, and tomatoes. I added celery, garlic, and mushrooms. I only added half the mushrooms because I'm using it for my next meal....

Pizza! The pizzas were such a big hit last time I made them I'm making them again. I've got some Vidalia onions and mushrooms for mine. D likes his half pepperoni and half cheese.

Remember those pork kebabs I made for cinco de mayo? Well D was in love with them. So I picked up some ground pork and I'm marinating it tomorrow and making pork burgers with carrot fries. We've been eating a lot of sweet potatoes so I thought I'd go with carrots instead. I've still got some corn from last week so I might cook that up too.
http://voraciousvander.com/2011/12/05/the-best-way-to-cook-zucchini-and-carrots/

I actually planned a lunch! Go me! OK super simple and it was pretty yummy...cucumber sandwiches. I nixed the butter because we were eating it right away, but I was very pleased with it. Paired it with grapes, but use whatever you like.
http://www.chewoutloud.com/2014/05/19/lemon-cucumber-cream-cheese-sandwiches/

Last but not least. Sweet potato shepards pie. I really wanted to make this, but I realized I had regular potatoes that needed to be used so I'm using regular potatoes. I'm giving you the recipe anyway and you can make it and tell me how amazing it was.
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/11/sweet-potato-turkey-shepards-pie.html?m=1

Picked up apricots and bananas as fruit. I checked out prices on pork ribs. Be prepared in 2 weeks. Making bbq pork ribs. I'm excited.

So that's it for this week. I let my soup simmer and the time just went off. So I'm gonna eat me some deliciousness.

Sick baby

Yesterday was bad. My baby was sick. He had a fever and ended up vomiting. So I didn't get a whole lot done. You probably don't want to hear about that though. He's feeling much better today just so you know. He rarely gets sick.

So to combat my little ones yucky tummy we had fried rice for dinner. Everyone has their own recipe for fried rice. Sometimes I use quinoa and this time I didn't use meat. I kept it pretty bland, but still yummy. I was also able to cook rice successfully for the first time ever. So that was pretty exciting.

This morning I tried making overnight oats. There are a ton of recipes. My sister sent me the one I used. She's really into the make ahead meals right now. This one calls for chia seeds, but I used ground flax seed because I already had some. Plus I'm not sure how the boys would feel about the whole seeds. We topped it with banana, strawberry preserves, and granola. E was a little hesitant about it, but after I let him stir he was all for it. I bought some pint jars for $5 to make ours in.
http://www.katheats.com/recipage?recipe_id=6000086

For dinner tonight I'm making turkey burgers with baked sweet potatoes. My husband hates that I don't use beef, but I'm just not a fan of ground beef. I think it tastes awful. Plus ground turkey is cheaper. This is another one of those things where everyone just makes them the way they like. I do recommend adding extra seasoning to ground turkey. It seems to need that little extra or it's too bland.

Next I'm making cauliflower mac and cheese in the crockpot. I love anything I can make in the crockpot. Plus getting my husband to eat more vegetables. Always a plus. I'm sure the boys will eat hot dogs with it. I always keep a pack of turkey hot dogs in the freezer. I got enough to make it twice. I always underestimate how much I'll have leftover.
http://spicysouthernkitchen.com/crock-pot-cauliflower-cheese/

Last of all I'm making Ritz ranch chicken tenders with corn. Corn was 12 cents a piece and asparagus went up to $4 a bunch. So I got corn instead. I'm making it in the crockpot again. It was really good last time. Ritz chicken is a husband favorite. I figure I owe him a little for putting up with my vegetarian food.
http://www.mylifeasamrs.com/2013/01/easy-3-ingredient-ritz-cracker-chicken.html

So that's what we're eating this week. Oh I grabbed grapes and bananas for our fruit. I also grabbed some more raisins to make scones and some string cheese for snacks.

Takeout is garbage

Due to my dietary change my husband has been wanting take out more. I love Chinese food so we got some last week. It was terrible. I felt like garbage. I literally felt like a lumpy bag full of rotting food and rubbish. I felt unmotivated and tired. When you are eating well fast food can make you feel awful. I did get promised some red lobster tho. Snow crab legs are my favorite and haven't had any since I was pregnant. I think it's better to make copycats of your favorite take out food.

So instead of my grocery list, I think that may have been rather dull, I'm just going to be talking about my menu.
I will tell you we got apples and halo oranges for our fruit this week. Apples are one of those fruits that you really should buy organic. My son loves the pink lady apples. There are 6 in each bag. The non organic apples have 9, but they are half the size. Since they mostly get used for apple pancakes I don't mind getting size over quantity.

I've become a big fan of making scones for breakfast. I think they are better than my prepackaged bag muffins, but with the cost of fruit I tend to lean towards the chocolate chip and peanut butter variety. I'm not a huge fpan of eggs. My husband only likes scrambled and my son is still wary of runny eggs. Breakfast has always been my least favorite meal. I'd eat smoothies for breakfast if I could. I'm working on finding better breakfast ideas.

Scones are actually pretty simple and my kid loves them. I do most of my mixing by hand. I lack a stand mixer sadly, but it's convenient because anything I recommend requires no special equipment.
http://www.mlovesmblog.com/search/label/recipe?updated-max=2013-07-05T09:04:00-07:00&max-results=20&start=8&by-date=false&m=1

I think I say it a billion times...I love leftovers. So I try to make it so I have enough leftovers that I only have to cook 4 days a week. Thanks to the takeout I never ended up cooking spaghetti so I now have that in reserve if I need it.
Last night I made alfredo with spinach. If you like to make your own alfredo, go for it. Here it's hot and we don't have central air. So my kitchen is like hades and the less time I spend over a stove the better. Just cook your pasta and let it sit in the strainer while you wilt the spinach. Then toss together with you're alfredo and you're done.
It also requires very few dishes which is a plus. One pot meals are a mom's best friend.

Tonight I'm making foccacia bread pizzas. I'm making two. One is for D and one is for me. E just shares everything we eat so he'll get what he likes. Mine will be broccoli and onion with cheddar and D's will be half pepperoni half cheese. That way everyone can have what they like and I don't get any complaints about lack of meat. I'm making the foccacia myself, also by hand, hoping it works out. All my baking has to be done Amish style so it's work, but I'm just going for it and hoping for the best. My family are good cooks, but very few bake.
http://www.handletheheat.com/focaccia-bread/
I'm not using the rosemary in this recipe, but I'm adding some garlic. It's been ages since I made a pizza at home so I'm par cooking the dough by reccomendation of my father.

I feel like I'm eating a lot of carbs this week, but it all sounded so delicious. This week's theme is simple and delicious. Next is a vegetarian pot pie. The nice thing is the meat is easily added to this and who doesn't love pot pie?
http://momstestkitchen.com/2014/03/easy-vegetable-pot-pie.html

Last, but not least one pot chicken, carrots, and potatoes. Chicken thighs, carrots, and potatoes seasoned and roasted in the oven. I'm using bone in, but you could easily substitute boneless thighs. I like chicken thighs because they are cheap and have a lot of flavor.
http://letthebakingbeginblog.com/2014/05/one-pot-chicken-potatoes/#_a5y_p=2054833

If you're ever wondering what we eat for lunch it's usually more leftovers. I need to get better at lunches. I actually want to do some cucumber sandwiches sometime.

Well I'm off to get working on my foccacia dough and get my 30 days done. Wish me luck with my dough.

Shopping

Today was shopping day so you get a breakdown of my list.

I always grab some fruit so today we got bananas and kiwi.
My toddler loves fruit so we always keep some handy. I'm a fan and it makes for a healthy snack.

Meat-I got some pork stew meat. I'm going to grill it with some hot sauce and lime juice. I picked up some skewers for those. Also some chicken thighs, but those were on sale and I need them next week.
Like I said, we're still eating meat a few days a week so I plan a few meals with them. I always keep an assortment of ground meat on hand, mostly chicken or turkey. I happen to have a lot so I didn't need to pick any up.

Veggies-Green onions, tomatos, lettuce, cucumber, and an avocado
Most of this is for burrito bowls.

Other- chow mein noodles, ranch dressing, quinoa, cinnamon life cereal, vegetable pasta, spaghetti sauce, sesame oil, and whole corn
Contrary to the belief of my husband, corn is a grain and not a vegetable. So it falls under the "other category". Quinoa and ranch are for burrito bowls. My son likes cinnamon life and pretty much no other cereal (we've tried generic. Not even close to the same taste.) I like to grab the vegetable pasta because who doesn't need extra vegetables? And it isn't so much more expensive. I try to buy organic when it's not crazy expensive. Sesame oil and chow mein noodles are for sesame noodles. I like the texture of the chow mein, but I'm pretty sure whoever wrote the recipe just uses spaghetti.

Staples- flour, milk, eggs, muffin mix, bread, and coffee creamer.
This is stuff that is always in our house. Sometimes I get a bug and get a baking fix and I make scones or something. Most of the time we eat eggs or muffins for breakfast. We buy whole milk because my husband drinks it so that's where most of it goes and I just don't argue (Anyone notice how particular he is yet? Too soon probably). He drinks coffee, but I switched to green tea with 1 tblsp. of honey. We get one in a bear because...toddler.

So as you can see I'm not a total health nut. I believe in eating what is good. I ate canollis on Wednesday with a white pizza and wine. Which was a treat. We rarely eat out.
I'm also not rich. Tack on another $35 worth of non-food items and all this comes out to a little over $100 for the week. I usually sit around $100-$125 for 3 people. I believe in leftovers. My husband hates eating the same thing. I'm not always sure what or if he eats, but I stick strictly to my budget. He usually gets himself stuff for lunch because he usually just tells me to get "whatever" and then hates what I get him. He's one of those people who is too busy to eat or falls asleep before getting to eat.

So this week's menu is:
Sesame noodles
burrito bowls
grilled honey lime pork with seasoned corn cooked in the crockpot
Spaghetti
and I keep Tuna patties as a stand by in case I misjudge how long food will last.

Usually during the winter I make a soup every week and we never run short. I've yet to find something that works for summer. I think it might be burrito bowls, but I might have to switch back to rice. I believe in leftovers. If you can make a lot of something that everyone likes and it isn't too expensive then go for it.

Fun fact: I can not cook rice to save my life. It never turns out right. Even when I use my rice cooker. That's why I use quinoa. Feel free to substitute.

OK so here's the part where I share the recipes. Very few of them are my own so I'll hand out the links, but this is literally what I'm eating.

Spaghetti- I dunno how you make it. Make it how you make it. I cook noodles, usually twisty because toddlers love them (I think they're called rotini), cook ground meat, and then dump everything in one pot with the sauce.

Burrito bowls-cook grain of choice, add veggies, add meat of choice (optional), add tasty dressing. Voila! Healthy delicious meal. It's like a salad with rice or something for those few unaware of what a burrito bowl is.

Sesame noodles- I do not use the chili oil in this recipe because a) I can't find it and b) husband (who I will now refer to as D. and toddler is now E.) can't do spicy or he gets heartburn, but it's still yummy and everyone loves it. Also, if you don't have canola oil any kind works. I've used grapeseed and it's still delicious.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/08/simple-sesame-noodles/?crlt.pid=camp.L1rrvZsNX9cW

Honey Lime pork kebabs and seasoned corn- These are both something new so I hope they're good. If a recipe has cilantro or red pepper flakes in it I usually omit. The red pepper flakes due to D. and I really don't like them. I find that cilantro doesn't seem to make a difference if it is there or not so I just don't use it. Even tho it is a chicken recipe, I am using pork.
http://kitchenmeetsgirl.com/honey-lime-chicken-skewers/
I haven't decided if I'm doing one or more of the flavors here, but I'll let you know when it happens.
http://www.theyummylife.com/slow_cooker_corn_on_the_cob

And last but not least Tuna Patties- There are plenty of variations of this so feel free to explore. I am a huge fan of Pinterest. I really like this recipe though. I buy the 4 pack of cans and just add enough of the ingredients until it seems right and eat it with a nice veggie or applesauce.
 http://www.kaylasjoy.com/tuna-patties/

So that's what we're eating this week. It may seem overly healthy, but have no fear I'm making pizza next week.
I don't like counting calories or avoiding carbs. You can still eat healthy without doing all that. It's just about being concious of what and how much you're eating.