flexibility in menu planning.

I'm learning that in menu planning, having a little bit of flexibility goes a long way in helping me stick to my menus.

Friday night I found out we had a party to go to last minute so I didn't end up making the dinner that I had planned on the menu. So I froze the mushroom stock, because it was a beautiful stock and I still plan to use it.

Tonight I have had a pretty bad migraine, and so we decided to reheat the left over chili from last nights dinner instead of eating the polenta. I've discovered having at least one day in the week that centers around easy to freeze items, or a pantry item like polenta, adds a lot of flexibility for me to not only do something different when I don't feel well, but also allows me to take stock of what I have in my fridge and use it before it goes bad.

Tomorrow night we are going to have Thai curry with red peppers, because I need to either use or throw away the tofu and the red peppers. If I don't use the tofu up it goes from .38 cents a serving to $1.19 a serving because I'm throwing it away, and I'm not getting any real savings out of the deal.

So Tuesday's menu will becomes Thursday's, and Friday's menu from last week will become Friday of this week. The polenta will stay a stock item for an easy start to a week night meal any time down the road.

In other news, I am trying my hand at making fresh sauerkraut. I have to admit the idea of fermenting food myself, or even realizing it's fermented really grosses me out a little bit- but it's cheap, and very nutritious, and very good for digestion. Plus understanding and being able to ferment foods might open up a whole new way to save money by allowing food to ferment instead of throwing it out- or at least to make some hard cider!

I'm learning a lot about budgeting, menu planning. and challeneging myself as a cook. Honestly we have never had this much structure to our meals, and I'm really enjoying it. Plus some of the money we've saved on not always running to the store has aided in buying a few bottles of decent wine that I'm enjoying with my husband tonight! I would call that a win!

Pear, Gorgonzola and Walunt Salad with warm chicken and dijion honey wine vinaigrette.

I've been on a hot and cold salad kick for the past two days- and a wine kick, today was a special day.

Yesterday we made Asian cabbage salad with hot tofu and rice and a sesame Asian dressing. So good! It's warm and comforting, and cool and crisp at the same time. I was pleased. I really feel like cabbage is highly under rated in our culture. It stays forever, tastes good, and is really inexpensive.

I was so inspired by my salad yesterday, and these beautiful walnuts that a patient brought in for us. I decided that I would make another hot and cold salad today instead of the sandwiches and soup I was planning on making.

Today's menu: Pear, walnut and Gorgonzola with warm chicken and a honey Dijon white wine vinaigrette.

Vinaigrette:
1 tbs honey
1 tbs Dijon mustard
1 tbs normal mustard
2 tbs olive oil
wine to thin
pepper to taste
mix honey, mustards and oil in a container until oil is fully mixed in and it creates and emulsion. Then add wine to thin it out.

Salad:
1 bag spinach, or mixed greens
1 ripe pear, julienned
1/4 cup walnuts chopped
sprinkle of Gorgonzola
dressing above
Mix in bowl

Chicken:
1 chicken breast (or quorn "chicken" is you eat like me)
t tsp dressing above
Brown chicken in pan, or on grill- glaze with dressing in last five minutes of cooking.

plate salad (there will be left over dressing, don't over dress your salad!) and then top with warm chicken sliced.

The best part of this recipe is it's crazy easy- impressive with home made dressing, and there is plenty of white wine left over for drinkin. Honestly it's really not that expensive to prepare either.
1.99 bagged salad
.80 Gorgonzola
.00 for walnuts (but these are not that costly in a bulk section)
.58 Bartlet pear
1.19 white wine
.12 Dijon mustard
.02 yellow mustard
.78 local honey
.32 olive oil
1.00 chicken breast (guessing on this, but you could also do eggs for protein as it's really inexpensive)
Grand total:
3:40 for Josh's dinner with chicken
4.59 for mine because I had a glass of wine with dinner.

Trying buying that in the restaurant for this price.

Mushroom Stoganoff and menu planning-

First of all I have to confess- trying not to eat out has been a total failure! I was under the weather some last week, and that really effected things, because Josh really can't cook! He can make eggs and rice, but that is the extent of his talents in the kitchen. So we are starting over with the eating out freeze.

I have also planned 2 weeks worth of menus, and bought the ingredients for them. I also came to a new realization. Josh doesn't mind eating the same thing over and over again and neither do I! So why am I racking my brain trying to come up with new and interesting things to cook, when my husband and I are both happy with a menu with a little more simplicity? For example Josh really likes eating chili and watching football on Sunday. If every Sunday were to turn into 'Chili Football Sunday.' then I could plan my chili every Sunday and cook it in the crockpot. EASY!

I'm not saying Chili Football Sunday might not get a little old after a few month, but at least for now I think it's an easy way to do things.

So here is my menu for the next two weeks:
Monday: Mushroom Stroganoff with peas over wheat noodles (v) (c)
Tuesday: Asian cabbage salad with grilled fish or tofu
Wednesday: Soup and sandwiches
Thursday: Pizza with pre-made dough from trader joes and side salad. (v)
Friday: Mushroom and wild rice soup (v) (c) (Stock made with Stroganoff-this is more a left over night, it just looks brand ne.)
Saturday: Curry quinoa with apples and honey mint glaze and warm chicken
Sunday: Chili Football Sunday! (c)

Monday: Grilled polenta with mushroom demi-glaze and side salad (v)
Tuesday: fish or fake chicken soft tacos with black beans and sweet chipotle broccoli
Wednesday: Soup and sandwiches
Thursday: Left over chili made into tamale pie (v)
Friday: Curry and coconut milk soup (v) (c) with thai potstickers
Saturday: unsure- Often times we go see my parents on Friday night- so Friday night might be moved to Saturday
Sunday: Chili Football Sunday! (v) (c)

(v)=vegetarian
(c)=Crock pot meal

A lot of these meals are really simple and easy- but I do also have some simple meals as back up plans- suck as pasta, and cold sandwiches with salad in case I have a day I just don't feel like cooking!

Finally here is how I made the Mushroom stroganoff.
Ingredients:
3 cups chopped button mushrooms
1 onion diced
2 gloves garlic
2 cups mushroom stock
2 pads of butter
1 cup white wine divided
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup flour
2 Tbls Sour cream
1/4 cup chopped parsley
8oz egg noodles

In a crock pot add
button mushrooms
onion diced
gloves garlic
cups mushroom stock
pads of butter
1/2 cup whit wine (1/2 cup to drink ha ha ha)
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Set to low heat all day.

Day of:
Cook 8oz of egg noodles or wide whole wheat noodles until done- drain and set aside.

Mix handful of flour with 1/2 cup of water until there are no lumps and mix into crock pot.
Also mix 1 cup of frozen peas
Cook on high
Mix in 2 Tbsp of sour cream and 1/4 cup of chopped parsley

Top egg noodles with stroganoff

It was delightful!

My pumpkin day!

You might not have known this- unless you've heard my complain about it (and there is a good chance you have) but there was a pumpkin shortage! I couldn't find the canned pumpkin anywhere. Lucky for me a friend who often hears me complain about things like this read an article saying the shortage was over and that week I went to the store to get some! I've been dying to make pumpkin chili as I first thought about this back in late August, and haven't been able to make it. FINALLY!

I made it with pinto beans I cooked in my crock pot yesterday. Using home cooked beans allows me to not only save about 1.50 per pot of chili, but also allows me to control the salt and preservatives in my food. I used the crock pot again today, because I'm in love with cooking dinner while not actually being in my kitchen.

Here is the recipe:

2 cups uncooked pinto beans, soaked, cooked and drained.

2 cloves of garlic minced

1/2 white onion chopped

1/8 cup of vegetable oil

1 green pepper, diced

1 can of diced jalapenos. ( I had a bad experience with fresh ones sans gloves, so I go canned on this even though it costs more.)

1 large can crushed tomatoes

large tomato can filled halfway up with water

1 can pumpkin puree

1 handful or 1/8 cup of diced cilantro

2 tsp cumin

A large splash or about 1/8 cup of apple cider vinegar

about 5 shakes of pumpkin pie spice

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook in crock pot all day long (about .87 cents per serving w/o cheese)

It was pretty good, spicy and mildly sweet. Next time I'll use apple cider instead of water to add a little more sweetness to the chili and more of a fall flavor. And maybe another 1/2 green pepper.

Of course pumpkin chili is best sprinkled with sharp cheddar cheese, and paired with pumpkin beer.

As far as pumpkin beer, there are a few to choose from. Stay away from blue moon. It's as though someone sprinkled some pumpkin pie spice into some coors. GROSS! I had my pumpkin chili with Buffalo bill's brewery Original pumpkin ale. (about 1.50 a beer)

I am excited to say the total cost of this meal w/sprinkle of cheese and a beer was: 2.62! I would say this is a budget friendly meal. :)

Stop and think savings

When trying to avoid temptations of spending, you realize that they are all around you. We are a consumer driven nation with messages on what we need, what we should want, and what we should have bombarding us at all times.

Stopping and thinking, and going by a list have been my best tools of defence right now. I went to Costco Friday night, and managed to stick pretty close to my list. I can't actually think of anything I got that I didn't need for our weekly meals, including things that make easy meals and will hopefully cut out a restaurant meal or two. This is where the big savings come in.

Stop and think was also a great defense. I nearly bought something Friday that I really didn't need, and would have been a total waste of money! I'm talking something I would wear once maybe twice a year. I had the purchase form totally filled out, and just sat there. After about half an hour of leaving it up on my computer I decided that it really wasn't something I needed and closed the window. Glad I did!

So there I am, not frozen, but still trying to make smart choices.