This cold salad lends itself perfectly to meal prepping, or a quick weeknight dinner. Pulled together in under 20 minutes, you can have this light, fresh, tasty salad anytime.
With the hearty ingredients and a little babying of the fresh greens, these salads can also hold for 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
Step 1: Dice your potatoes into 1/2 – 1 inch chunks. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Step 2: Cut the ends off your green beans (you can also use canned, drained green beans).
Step 3: Boil potatoes for ~5 minutes. Then add the fresh green beans and boil another 3 minutes.
Step 4: Add the quail eggs, and boil a final 3 minutes. IF using chicken eggs, add at the same time as the green beans. Drain all.
Step 5: Fill 2 large salad containers with 2 cups of whatever greens you like. Cut the tomato into eights, put half into each salad container. Add half the potato and green beans and olives and eggs.
Step 6: Keep the tuna and the dressing separate until the day you serve the salads.
To keep the greens from getting slimy, add a paper towel or cotton towel to the bottom of the container to absorb excess moisture.
Enjoy within 4-5 days!
Vegetarian: Omit the tuna; add chickpeas or white beans if desired
Vegan: Omit tuna and eggs. Add chickpeas, and/or tofu
No red potatoes: Use whatever kind you have; or use roasted or boiled pumpkin, squash, or sweet potato
No olives: For salty flavor add capers, anchovies, or feta. For fat add avocado, olive oil heavy dressing, or cheese
Price Breakdown: $4.73 – $2.95
For the cost per salad, there is of course a range based on the ingredients you choose. For the “Highest Quality” I checked out the prices of individual ingredients from the Produce Box, which is all local NC produce, and similar to what you would find at a farmer’s market. For the “Lowest Price” I checked current ads for Harris Teeter and ALDI to see what the lowest price on items is. You choose the range that makes sense for you.
Highest Quality
Lowest Price
1 lb green beans: need 1/5
$0.50
$0.20
1 lb red potatoes: need 1/2
$0.98
$0.67
tomato 3: need 1
$0.75
$0.50
lettuce: about 2/3
$3.00
$1.99
tuna pouches: need 2
$3.00
$2.00
olives: 1/6 the jar
$0.39
$0.39
eggs: (free) 2 from store
$0.83
$0.15
Cost for 2 salads
$9.45
$5.89
This is a powerful example of how cooking for yourself at home saves you money over time. A similar salad out at a cafe or restaurant would cost you $12 – $20. By making it at home, even with the highest quality ingredients, you save $7 each time.
Here is where I’ll talk about the week’s meal plan versus reality, what we ate for the week, and how we did budget-wise. I hope it gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into our life through the lens of food, and it’s also a way to keep us on track with meal planning and grocery budgeting.
Feel free to share your wins and lessons in the comments below!
So, how did everyone enjoy the #SuperBoringBowl? Seriously, I don’t enjoy watching football at the best of times, and this game was a snooze fest. The commercials weren’t even good, and the halftime show was awful. At least the people we were hanging out with were fun, it was nice getting to know our neighbors better.
The deviled quail eggs that I made were an adorable, tiny, hit. The one good thing, besides hanging out and making new friends, was that the game was over earlyish and since we were just across the street, we were home and in bed by 10!
I also batch cooked a bunch of potatoes and sweet potatoes, and some rice and beans and a whole chicken. We also had leftover pulled pork, and 2 racks of ribs from our Costco run. Plus 2 giant bags of spinach and mixed greens, so you’ll see a lot of salad and leftovers this week.
Monday:
Breakfast – chocolate peanut butter black bean smoothie!
Yup, it has: 1/2 can black beans, 1 banana, 4 tbsp PB2 powder, 1/2 cup almond milk, handful frozen pineapple, handful of dates, handful of spinach, cocoa powder, flaxseed, and amla. Add water to desired consistency, serves 2.
Lunch – gigantic rainbow salad
Dinner – leftovers from the super bowl party
Tuesday:
Breakfast –green smoothie: spinach, kale, kiwi, mango, pineapple, flax, and coconut water
Lunch – leftover goat cheese sliders with tomato soup and a salad. Oh, and I finally got this set of bamboo utensils that I’ve been eyeing for a long time! There is a fork, spook, knife, and straw with straw cleaning brush included in a canvas wrap. All biodegradable when eventually they are unusable. I love it!
(This blog participates in the Amazon Affiliate program. If you click that link above, and buy something, this blog gets a small commission which doesn’t change the price you pay. The commissions go towards paying for hosting and whatnot here, so if you choose to do that, thanks!)
Snack – strawberries and mandarin oranges
Dinner – chicken and rice with a salad
Wednesday:
Breakfast – quail egg and bacon breakfast burrito
Snack – salted peanuts
Lunch – baked potato with black beans, spinach, pulled pork, and salsa
Dinner – leftovers
Thursday:
Breakfast – green smoothie: spinach, blueberries, mango, kiwi, pineapple, flaxseed, and coconut water
Lunch – white bean and barley with rainbow carrot soup
Dinner – more leftovers!
Friday:
Breakfast – smoothie of whatever was in the fridge
Lunch – baked sweet potato with spinach and black beans and salsa
Dinner – we had a bonfire, so I made a bunch of pizzas and a pasta salad. Everyone also brought apps and snacks to share and we had a super fun night.
The Weekend
Well Friday we had a bonfire (honestly because we had a huge pile of boxes to burn, but it had been too long since we had a thing too) and stayed up way too late. So Saturday was a lazy day of nothing doing. Sunday is part relaxing still but also part getting adult things done.
Food Total: $61.71
This was a Produce box and a HT run for some yogurts, almond milk, and DiGiorno’s were on sale. Frozen pizza is the boy’s favorite thing to have on hand for emergencies. Meaning I’m out doing something and there is no dinner planned. 🙂
How about you guys? Did you have a learning week or an awesome week of wins?
Here is where I’ll talk about the week’s meal plan versus reality, what we ate for the week, and how we did budget-wise. I hope it gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into our life through the lens of food, and it’s also a way to keep us on track with meal planning and grocery budgeting.
Feel free to share your wins and lessons in the comments below!
The weekend was very relaxing. Saturday we took a reeeally long, like almost 3 hour walk to a park, then found a new way home. Turns out there’s actually a paved walking trail through some woods for part of the way.
On Sunday we went out to lunch with some friends to one of my favorite spots. We thought it was still Restaurant Week… but sadly that ended Saturday. We made the best of it and had a delicious brunch though.
Oh, and also I cut off a donated 12 inches of hair! ? Yes, you read that right, a full foot. I’ve been wanting to for years, and finally just said enough is enough. I sent it to Hair We Share, to give a free wig to a child who lost their hair due to chemo or other medical issues. Its been quite and adjustment so far, but I’m getting used to it.
Monday:
Breakfast – scrambled quail egg breakfast burritos with mixed potatoes, vegan cheese, and hummus
Lunch – Carrot dogs! A fun thing I’ve noticed on vegan blogs, where you marinate cooked carrots to taste like hot dogs. So I gave it a try, and they are actually quite delicious
Dinner – Rice bowl loaded with Brussels sprouts, broccoli, sweet potato, carrot, some shredded chicken breast & hummus
Tuesday:
Breakfast –smoothie
Lunch – leftover white bean soup & a big salad
Snack – nuts & berries
Dinner – Butternut squash stuffed with black rice, lentils, carrot & onion. This is something I just kinda threw together with what I had and felt like eating, and bless the boy, he tried it. And actually liked it! Success.
Wednesday:
Breakfast – smoothie
Snack – green tea & a KIND bar
Lunch – out to lunch with a friend! We go out 2-3 times per month and I really love it because we don’t see each other much outside of work. So it is worth the $6-$9 per lunch.
Dinner –family was visiting overnight, so we took them out to Neomonde Durham! I got the half falafel pita platter with grape leaves and quinoa tabbouleh and it was amazing. Their garlic paste is to diiiiiiiiie for! And we ended up with oodles of leftovers.
Thursday:
Breakfast – smoothie
Snack – peanut butter
Lunch – leftover Neomonde & a salad
Dinner – roasted veggies with rice & black beans
Snack – zombie corn! This is popcorn with nutritional yeast and chlorella to make it green. Looks crazy, tastes awesome, tons of health benefits.
Friday:
Breakfast – raisin bagel with almond butter and coffee
Lunch – the rest of the leftover roasted veggies with black beans and rice
Snack –2 Thin Mint cookies! Just kidding, I ate the whole sleeve
Dinner – Since Veganuary was over, when the boy said he wanted pepperoni pizza, I said sure why not! So we had frozen pepperoni pizzas haha
The Weekend
Well the food tour on Saturday got cancelled, so the day is mine. And thank goodness because we planned a big, ridiculous, outrageous stockup trip to Costco. Let’s just say some travel hacking is in the works, and to hit the minimum spends, we are front loading our food expenses, along with many other things.
And of course Sunday is the Super Bowl. Not that I care all the much about the game (still don’t know who is playing…) but we got invited over by our neighbors and I’m pretty stoked. It’s taken over 2 years, but we are finally making friends that live by us!
Food Total: Not even telling
The Costco trip… was crazy. Let’s just say we gave our über frugal friend serious heart palpitations!
Speaking of heart palpitations, February is Heart Health month! I’ll just say it again, straight from my Instagram:
How about you guys? Did you have a learning week or an awesome week of wins?
Here is where I’ll talk about the week’s meal plan versus reality, what we ate for the week, and how we did budget-wise. I hope it gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into our life through the lens of food, and it’s also a way to keep us on track with meal planning and grocery budgeting.
Feel free to share your wins and lessons in the comments below!
Last weekend’s Halloween party was a blast! I bet you can’t guess correctly what both of our costumes were.
It was nice enough that we could all hang out outside and play cornhole and beer pong and enjoy the bonfire. And the trick or treat shots were a hit! We did three rounds, and used almost all of them. Yes, I came up with 50 different liquids. They included everything from juiced celery to tequila to bean cooking water. And people were really good at guessing correctly!
I also had time on Sunday to whip up a batch of homemade mayo, and some hemp milk since we ran out of almond. Uhhh sidenote, how did she get all the milks to stay clear?? Am I the only one, every time I make any plant milk (almond, coconut, hemp, cashew, rice, oat…) it separates in like 0.4 seconds. I swear I do filter it… maybe I need cheesecloth. But then the yield is lower. 🙁
Monday:
Breakfast – sad bowl of cocoa puffs… I’ve been less inspired about breakfasts lately. Normally I turn to warm oatmeal when fall rolls around but that isn’t sounding so great. I may need to try intermittent fasting as a double win…
Lunch – big warm bowl of leftover white bean & barley soup
Dinner – Some ravioli I defrosted with corn on the cob, microwaved broccoli and cauliflower, and a big salad with toasted pumpkin seeds, cranberries, and homemade apple cider dressing
Tuesday:
Breakfast – it is not possible to take a good picture of oatmeal. It had peaches in it though.
This weekend we are going up to a friend’s family cabin in the mountains!! I can’t tell you how excited we are. We got to go last year, and it is such a blast. There will be almost a dozen people, which may be cramped, but it will be such a great opportunity for community. It is miles away from civilization, so it is perfectly silent and pitch black at night.
Watching the sun rise over the lake, with steam coming off the water, kayaking into the middle and laying back to look up at the stars… I can’t wait to totally relax and refresh. We all take turns cooking, plus people bring crafting projects like knitting, and there are games galore from ping pong and frisbee to board and cards.
I’ll be bringing the crock pot full of pumpkin chili, along with the fixings for tacos and lentil sloppy joes. A build your own taco bar is always filling and fun. And for the lentil sloppy joes, I stuffed all the ingredients into a near empty pasta sauce jar. Just dump into a pan and simmer for 40 minutes!
Food Total: $52.50 + 49.58
Weekly Produce Box = Grape Tomatoes, Broccoli Bunch, Potatoes- Yukon Butter Gold , Red Onion (1), Lettuce – Field Grown Romaine (1), Navel Orange (1), Green Beans
Then I also added on quite a few things: kale, pears, persimmons (because there’s a persimmon tree I’ve spotted near me; I want to know if I like them before risking my neck climbing it to pick some), and I also went for it and ordered a pound of ground chicken and some tenders from Joyce Farms in Winston-Salem, NC.
I’m hankering for some white chicken chili, and when we eat meat now, I want it to be sourced very carefully. The chickens on this farm were not crammed into cages with their beaks cut off, fed a diet of antibiotics and ‘vegetarian’ corn (chickens are not vegetarians, by the way). I know these chickens lived as chickens were meant to live, out in the grass, happily foraging for seeds and bugs.
And I stopped by HT for some sale items, organic potatoes, tons of yogurt since we were out, and more cabin things.
Lessons Learned
Leftovers are the best, worst thing. They are awesome to have, for when you just don’t feel like cooking, or don’t have the time. And I’ve been not feeling like it often lately. Which is great, because we also really needed to finish up all the things from the party and clear out the fridge since we will be gone all weekend.
But sometimes leftovers keep getting left, because you don’t really want to eat them again. Then there’s the “should I throw it out” struggle, because we both hate food waste. So sometimes, leftovers can be quite unfortunate. We both just powered through a few times just so we didn’t toss it. It’s always a lesson, sometimes that lesson is ‘don’t make that again’.
How about you guys? Did you have a learning week or an awesome week of wins?
Here is where I’ll talk about the week’s meal plan versus reality, what we ate for the week, and how we did budget-wise. I hope it gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into our life through the lens of food, and it’s also a way to keep us on track with meal planning and grocery budgeting.
Feel free to share your wins and lessons in the comments below!
This summer has been a lil crazy, and we haven’t been great about meal planning with being gone or hosting family pretty much every weekend. But that’s ok, sometimes life is like that.
Over the weekend I made a huge ol pork roast and a big batch of ground turkey, because the boy was sad about how long it had been since we had burritos. So… lots of meat in the fridge. He was pleased. I also made a giant crock pot full of black beans which became my best black bean soup and black bean burgers.
While my sister was in town last weekend, we also went shopping and picked up a ginormous box of honey cheerios on sale, because she has discovered that she has a gluten, soy, and corn intolerances. As you can imagine, that significantly limits ones food choices. Turns out cheerios is one cereal that has no HFCS or soy or wheat in it.
And, we also made a batch of macarons! Because almond flour is just fine. And I’ve always wanted to make them! They turned out pretty darn good looking too. I added a few fresh strawberries to the filling and we put cocoa in the batter for some chocolate strawberry flavors going on. Delish.
Oh I also got a big-a$$ watermelon, and turned it into all kinds of goodies! I pickled a big batch of rinds for a Food Swap next week, we ate tons of it fresh, it became a watermelon-feta-mint salad, and several smoothies.
Monday:
Breakfast – Honey cheerios + a banana + soymilk
Lunch – Black bean soup!
Dinner – Enchilada casserole. This used up some small corn tortillas, black and pinto beans, pulled pork, corn, and tomatoes. Topped with pickled jalapenos, cheddar, guac, and salsa. SO DANG GOOD.
Breakfast – smoothie with watermelon, pineapple, frozen blueberries, blueberry kefir, and greens
Lunch – leftover stir fry, and a Greek salad
Dinner – Leftovers! We are going out of town again for the weekend, so I’m busy using up or freezing all the perishables
Thursday:
Breakfast – smoothie with watermelon, pineapple, frozen blueberries, blueberry kefir, and amla powder
Lunch – uhhh it was a bit of a crazy day, so I didn’t get a lunch per se. I did sneak a maple bacon donut that was brought in to work. #noregrets
Snack – a cranberry yogurt
Dinner –we were tired of all the leftovers, so we decided on a spontaneous date night to AYCE sushi at RocknRolls!!
In case it was unclear, I REALLY love salmon sushi. Also I ate three teenage boys next to us under the table!
Friday:
Breakfast – I finally successfully used up all the watermelon, so today’s smoothie was frozen blueberries and cherries, pineapple and flaxseed powder
Lunch – Black beans & rice
Dinner – whatever we can scrounge up before heading to the airport. Everything else will get frozen while we’re gone.
The Weekend
We had a death in the family, so we are out of town for the weekend. It will definitely be interesting seeing how expensive and wasteful traveling is. I am going to try to plan ahead and pack at least some nuts or trail mix to take so I don’t give into temptation to buy things at the airport.
Y’all are in for something BIG on Monday, so stay tuned!
Food Total: $5.92
All the major expenses happened last week or earlier, so I’m not counting them for this week. When we return though I’ll have to do a stock up trip. If you really want me to fess up, that pic at the top was an ALDI stock up last week that cost us $68.79.
The only things purchased were on a whim, a stop-in at Walmart on my way to work. I desperately needed Ibuprofen (one to keep in my car) and some cold sore medication (BOO cold sores, the worst) and while there I grabbed some bananas and avocados.
Luckily, I remembered to grab one of my reusable canvas bags from the car! So no plastic bag, yay!
Lessons Learned
So, the boy actually eat way less meat than I think he does. Especially now as I am borderline vegetarian and am not very helpful in eating it. And I think… that… I may have actually burnt him out on burritoes! I did not know that was possible. But he said he actually got tired of the ground turkey and pork (I guess that’s what happens when that is all there is to eat for lunch and dinner for a week straight…)
How about you guys? Did you have a learning week or an awesome week of wins?
I cannot believe I went 3 decades without knowing what chickpea salad is, or ever eating it! This stuff is so delicious! It is:
salty
crunchy
creamy but with a bit of texture
filling – no more 3pm tummy grumbles
super simple to make
cheap af
ridiculously healthy for you
everything I’m looking for in a brown bag lunch
The cheapest option is to buy dried chickpeas and cook them yourself. Just put 1/2 pound in a bowl and cover with water. (LOTS of water, these babies plump up like nobody’s business).
After 6-8-12 hours, drain and either simmer on the stove for 4 hours or so, or put in a crock pot on low for 6-8 hours.
That’s it! Then you can store them in the fridge or freezer for whatever and whenever.
You can also totally use cans, no judgment here. Not everyone has time for that, or remembers to soak the night before, or has space on the counter or a crock pot in your house. Just drain and rinse.
However you do it, just get yourself about a cup of chickpeas, and get ready to make some magic happen.
This simple base recipe makes enough for 2 good sized sandwiches or wraps, but I recommend double or tripling! And below I’ll add some ideas on how to further customize it to whatever flavor combo you’re feeling.
Ingredients:
1 heaping cup cooked chickpeas, or 1/2 can drained
1 small-medium pickle, chopped (or 1 tbsp relish)
1/4 red onion, diced small
1 tbsp mustard of your choice
Optional: 1 tbsp Greek yogurt
Optional: Green onion or celery, diced
Step 1: Soak your beans ~8 hours and cook until soft, or open and drain the can. Put about 1 heaping cup in a bowl and mash with a fork or potato masher. You want it mostly crushed but with some small pieces left for texture.
Step 2: Add your other fillings, and mix well.
Layer on bread, in a wrap, or on top of a mixed greens salad. Put inside or on top of biscuit mix and make puffs. I haven’t tried it yet with pasta to see if it can sub as tuna noodle salad, but if you have please report back!
If you want it extra salty:
Add 1 tbsp capers
Layer on seaweed (nori) sheets between the salad and the bread
Sprinkle with sea salt or garlic salt
Add a tbsp powdered kelp
If you want it extra crunchy:
Add a few tbsp chopped cucumber
Add a few tbsp sliced radish
Add a few tbsp diced celery ribs
Sprinkle in some slivered almonds or walnuts
If you want it to be creamier:
Add 1-2 tbsp plain Greek yogurt
Add 1-2 tbsp thick coconut milk cream (the top part when you open a can of cold coconut milk)
Here is where I’ll talk about the week’s meal plan versus reality, what we ate for the week, and how we did budget-wise. I hope it gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into our life through the lens of food, and it’s also a way to keep us on track with meal planning and grocery budgeting.
Feel free to share your wins and lessons in the comments below!
Oh man, this week was ups and downs all over. First off, Sunday was my tea party! I had such a blast getting all dolled up, when I have a theme I go ALL IN. The group of women was a great mix of personalities and it led to some really great conversation. Maybe after a while I can convince them to talk finances? 😉
The downside of having the party hosting bug is that I go ALL IN. This means occasionally I over-do it, and I definitely over-did-it. I spent way too much on groceries, and it turned out we didn’t even use a good chunk of the food! I even tried to keep telling myself that it’s tea, not a full meal, but… I just can’t help myself!
I’m gonna blame this one on my mom, who is the world’s most awesome party planner, ask anyone who knows her (she planned my amazing destinationwedding for <$10,000!). I grew up with lavish parties on a shoestring budget, and a big weakness for making sure when there are 10 guests, I have enough food to feed at least 25.
Monday:
Breakfast – Waffles with fresh berries. I made a batch of waffles on Saturday and stuck them in a ziplock for breakfasts this week. And I’m so glad it’s spring, and berries are on sale again! It is not quite blueberry or strawberry season, so I know they’re greenhouse grown or imported, but I’ve missed fresh berries!
Lunch – Leftover 5 Bean Chili with leftover koftes mixed in. The boy didn’t love these re-heated and honestly neither did I (most things are best fresh) so I just mixed them into the chili. I figured, hey, lentils and onion go great in chili! And it tasted just fine.
Dinner – Changed our minds from stuffed baked potatoes to mac n cheese! Two reasons: 1) we got a “wintry mix” of rain/sleet/snow which made for a yucky cold night and demanded comfort food and 2) I had soooo much cheese leftover from the tea party!
Made a big pot of “lazy black beans“, and then accidentally got caught up blogging and burnt the bottom. 🙁 I still put them in the fridge, we will see if they’re salvageable.
Tuesday:
Breakfast – Leftover biscuits from the tea party warmed up with some strawberry jam.
Lunch – I made this black rice and radish salad, with a few differences. I added lemon juice and zest to the dressing, laid it all over a bed of torn kale, and added thin sliced cucumbers.
Snack – Then after lunch I had a triple chocolate brownie (from last weekend’s 3/3 party) and it was heaven. If this isn’t your definition of heaven I don’t want to know how you define it, and probably don’t want to go there.
Dinner – I made some crispy baked tofu for myself and ground turkey for the boy, and we had Taco Tuesday! My tacos were a little smoky but I figured it was from the fire…
We lit up a fire in the backyard and ate outside. It was still super chilly, but really nice. I can’t wait for it to warm up so we can do this more often.
Wednesday:
Breakfast – Waffles with strawberry/OJ sauce. I just microwaved a cup of cut up berries in about 1/4 cup juice and poured it on.
Lunch – Leftover chili and mac n cheese mixed together
Snack – Finished the beet hummus and some veggies
Dinner – Sooooooooo I made a big batch of black beans… and today I tried to eat them with stir fried veggies and rice.
I choked down part of a bowl because I’d already dished it out, but the burnt flavor was just too much. I had to throw out a whole pound of cooked black beans, and my heart broke a little 🙁
I had a follow-up bowl with the rest of the tofu and more rice.
And yum-yum sauce, because, YUM
Thursday:
Breakfast –Roasted sweet potato with white beans. I loved this combo last week, but for whatever reason I took 2 bites and just could not…
Snack 1 – good thing I had a granola bar in my lunch bag
Lunch –The last bit of leftover chili mac, and leftover Black Rice & Radish Salad. I’m glad I had double the lunch since I had such a lackluster breakfast appetite.
Snack 2 – I did also make a bunch of kale chips yesterday, so I packed up the half I didn’t immediately inhale for an afternoon snack
Dinner – I had no idea what to make, so I made refrigerator soup! It’s basically when you just pull everything out of the refrigerator and toss it together with some water to make soup. I added the sweet potato and white beans I couldn’t finish, plus some rice, some of the tofu, and other veggies.
It’s different every time, and a great way to use up bits of leftovers so you don’t have to throw them away. The boy said that with extra chilies and hot sauce it wasn’t even that bad!
Friday:
Breakfast – Great Grains cereal with Almond milk. Yet again, a cereal the boy requested, and I’m the one eating it. 😀
Lunch – In cleaning out the fridge, I found out that I’d hidden a few pieces of the spinach artichoke pizza! So I dug those out to finish it off. I also had 2 lonely beet veggie burgers hanging out, so I nommed those too.
Things came up at work, so by the time I got back to my desk it was after 3pm. I was ravenous, and never more happy I had double the lunch than this moment.
And now I can almost see the back wall of the refrigerator! Time to cook something…
Dinner – Stir Friday! I made my oven baked tofu and topped a stir fry of frozen veggies and extra odds and ends for a tasty, frugal meal.
The Weekend
My sister and her friends were in Florida this week for their spring break. Since I’m halfway-ish on the drive back to Ohio, they asked to stay at our place to save on a hotel. Of course I said sure! So we will have 5 20-somethings in our house on St. Patty’s Day! Hahaha we will see how us old folk fare, if we can still hang. 😉
Please forgive me for drinking food coloring! Its only once a year I promise.
We got all the fixings for Shamrock Shakes! Not as healthy as the one I made a few years ago, but definitely tastier!
Plans beyond Saturday morning? Sleep. Sit. Read. That’s pretty much it. 🙂 Well, maybe start some sweet potato slips.
Food Total: $122.81
Ugggggggghhhh… this was a death by a thousand cuts. No one thing was super expensive or put me over budget, I just went a little party planning crazy.
When I was looking up tea party recipes, I kept finding more and more sandwiches and sweets that I wanted to make! I ended up with five different kinds of finger sandwiches! FIVE!
But… you know… they were all delicious, and everyone seemed to really like trying one of each kind to see which was their favorite. So I can’t be too mad. At least I had plenty of tea so I didn’t have to buy any of that.
Harris Teeter
Dairy
$15.43
Staples
$20.92
Fruit/Veg
$18.56
Sliced cheese 5
5.98
Almond milk 2
3.94
Lemons 1lb x2
4
cream cheese
0
Pancake mix
1.99
Pears 2
1.46
Goat cheese
3.99
Cereal 2
5
Pineapples 2
1.94
Quart half and half
1.47
Blue agave
9.99
Baby carrots 2
1.68
Fage Greek yogurt
0
Strawberries 2 quarts
4.98
plain Greek yogurt
3.99
Mini cukes 6
1.99
Kale
0.99
Bananas 6
1.52
Harris Teeter has email coupons just for eVIC card holders. I always check because there is usually at least one free or very marked down item that we use. This week the Fage Greek yogurt and cream cheese were totally free. Which is great, because the finger sandwiches needed cream cheese. 🙂
I admit, the blue agave syrup was a total splurge. We have started using agave as our main sweetener for tea, oatmeal, etc, rather than sugar. This was a HUGE bottle, marked down $3. So I went for it.
Kroger
Staples
$23.48
Fruit/Veg
$15.97
Tofu 2
3
blueberries pint
1.78
clif bar (should be free)
1.5
avocado 6
4.14
tortillas chips wtf also should be free
1.29
markdowns red bell peppers 2
0.99
buffalo sauce
0.89
markdowns yellow squash 3
0.99
hot pepper sauce
1.09
organic dill
1.99
green and red curry sauce
4.98
radishes
1.29
Hot pepper sauces 6
6.58
markdowns Serrano peppers
0.99
burger buns
0.89
markdowns apples 4
0.99
bread loaf x2, rolls
2.27
Mushrooms quart
1.99
French bread loaf
0.99
Roma tomato 4
0.82
At Kroger, they do Freebie Friday deals, and I usually wait a few weeks to get several at once. The tortilla chips and Clif bar were included, and I would not have bought them if not free, but they didn’t ring up.
I noticed once I got home and was filling in my spreadsheets… but is not quite $3 worth going back to the store to fight over? Probably not. Just very annoying.
Lessons Learned
More ugggggh… I hate food waste! Hate it. And having to toss a huge batch of my favorite frugal food (black beans) kills me. Plus it throws off my plan of eating black bean breakfast tacos, and beans and rice for lunch. So this week was a bit of a scramble. I plan to do better next week.
I’m considering doing intermittent fasting for a bit, due to my weird dislike of breakfast lately. I used to be a devoted fan of breakfast for many years. Now it seems like nothing sounds good, and even when it does, I take a few bites and then am over it. I don’t want to waste food, that’s for sure. So maybe my body’s just changing in my 30s, and trying out not eating until a little later in the day will help.
How about you guys? Did you have a learning week or an awesome week of wins?
Here is where I’ll talk about the week’s meal plan versus reality, what we ate for the week, and how we did budget-wise. I hope it gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into our life through the lens of food, and it’s also a way to keep us on track with meal planning and grocery budgeting.
Feel free to share your wins and lessons in the comments below!
Well, we picked a great weekend for a dinner party! Harris Teeter was having a 10% off all wine sale, and I also got a coupon for $20 off an order of $100 or more. Without the booze for the party, I would not have hit that $100. Yes, I know, it is justifying spending I didn’t necessarily have to make. But between the sale and the coupon, the alcohol was basically half price!
The party was on March 3rd, so I had a “3” theme. I made three dips: buffalo chicken, beet hummus, and vegan spinach artichoke dip, along with a nice antipasto platter. I had homemade pickles, bacon jam, olives, nuts, figs, dates, and prunes.
Then I had three different types of pasta (one of which was tri-color) and three sauces: marinara, pesto, and alfredo. That way people could mix and match with whatever they wanted; alfredo plus pesto was a popular combo.
And for dessert, triple chocolate brownies with chunks of dark chocolate, cocoa powder, and chocolate sauce drizzle, and a Tres Leches cake! It was totally awesome and delicious. We had a great time chatting, and playing games late into the night.
I paid for it on Sunday though! Good thing it’s supposed to be a day of rest, because I didn’t leave bed all day.
Monday:
Breakfast – Oatmeal with golden raisins & craisins. I don’t know if this is a different type of oatmeal, but the individual oats keep their shape and don’t stick together well. Even after multiple rounds of microwaving. I like my oatmeal to be more mashed-together like, so I was pretty unhappy with it. But I ate it anyways. I’ll have to try it as overnight oats and see if that goes better.
Lunch – Leftover pasta, made new by adding some veggies and shrimp from the freezer, with a lemon garlic sauce.
Dinner – Spinach Artichoke Melts + Tomato Soup. I had a ton of spinach artichoke dip left from the weekend, and read that one way to use it is to put it into a grilled cheese… well, hell yeah!
It turns out whoever wrote that is a flipping genius, and these sammies were hands down AHmazing. Not sure I can have a “plain” grilled cheese ever again…
Snack – a chocolate peanut butter granola bar in the car on the way home. Good thing I put one in the pocket of every coat…
*Soaked beans overnight in the crock pot for tomorrow’s chili
Tuesday:
Breakfast – Uh, so, I’m usually pretty behind the times with food trends. I’ve heard of “sweet potato toast” for years, where you thinly slice a sweet potato and just toast it like in a toaster. So I decided to try that. One of the slices ended up kind of charred on the end, and the other was evidently so thick that even putting it through the toaster four times, it was still crunchy… so I microwaved it for 2 minutes and that did the trick.
Once softened, it was pretty dang tasty. I spread a smashed avocado with lemon on one for the bougie-est toast ever, and then I had some more cooked white beans, so I figured, what the hell why not. DUDE. Why did no one ever tell me that white beans and sweet potato is a DELICIOUS combo?? With a squirt of lemon, sprinkle of salt, I was in heaven. New favorite.
Lunch – I had bits of random veggies all over the fridge, and a batch of cooked rice, so naturally I whipped up a super quick stir fry. The boy was funny, he goes “awww I got all excited because it smelled really good, but then I look and it’s just vegetables” 😛
Dinner – Slow Cooker 5 Bean Chili. We stirred in a few spoonfuls of spinach artichoke dip too, just for funzies, and it was pretty ok. Not a thing I’d be sad about not having, but it used up more dip, so, win.
Lunch – Pasta with meatballs, a salad, with roasted sweet and hot Brussels sprouts
Dinner – Roasted beet & sweet potato veggie burgers. I used cooked brown rice and breadcrumbs as the binders, and tossed in the little bit of cooked white beans left along with the roasted beets and sweet potato. These were softer than the last batch but I liked the flavor better. Still working on the exact right blend.
Friday:
Breakfast – Banana walnut bread
Lunch – Vurgers on rice cakes w hot sauce and lettuce
Snack – Beet hummus & veggies
Dinner – Pizzas! Pork and pineapple for the boy and a veggie for me using the last of the artichoke dip and some peppers and olives
The Weekend
Saturday is a lazy day for me, but the poor boy has to work the weekend. A big project launched this week, and he is ”on call” for fixing all the things. So I’ll be cleaning the house, lots of grocery shopping, and prepping for Sunday.
Sunday I’m having a tea party!! If you know me on Twitter you’re probably already aware, I am simply bursting with excitement! I adore parties, and tea, and tiny sweet and savory snacks. I’m super pumped to have a half dozen lovely ladies over in our Sunday best to sip oodles of tea, use terrible fake British accents, and talk about life. Hopefully it will be an absolute blast and become a regular thing.
Uh, yea, that is all actually tea or tea related items. Bags, loose leaf, herbal, matcha… a French press, honey of different flavors, cups with built in spoons, and more…
And guys, I realized, I have a serious tea problem… I’ve always loved tea and everyone knows it, so between being unable to stop myself around new flavors and gifts from family and friends, I have amassed a formidable collection. The newest addition, of which I am most proud, is this gorgeous porcelain cup and saucer:
I was at the thrift store, and sifting through the housewares section (honestly, in search of a tiered serving tray for this party, which I sadly did not find). The cup jumped out at me with its’ royal pattern and those big yellow roses just immediately made me think of Beauty and the Beast. I had to have it.
I carried the cup around the store another 2 aisles, hoping to find a saucer that looked at least okay with it, but it was coming home with me regardless.
And then, when I was about ready to give up and leave with my few gems, I saw on a lower shelf THE MATCHING SAUCER! It was clearly meant to be. The universe wanted me to have this set. And for only $1.48 total, how could I say no?!?
Food Total: $75.52
Man I’m excited about this week, pretty much nailed it! Even with the impulse purchases and tons of produce we came in at our $75 goal. I’ve also decided that alcohol gets its own category now, so the booze we got for our dinner party was not included here.
Dairy
$21.72
Staples
$28.38
Fruit/Veg
$22.63
Greek yogurts 10
8
Pretzel crisps 2 bags
5
Fresh beets 3
2.99
2lb sharp cheddar cheese
7.99
Canned tomatoes 12
5.64
Bag spinach
2.49
Dozen lg eggs
0.77
Canned garbanzo beans 2
1.54
Fresh stir fry veggies
1.5
Cream cheese 2
2.38
Brownie mix
1.69
Stir fry veggies frozen
1.98
Evaporated milk
0.59
Yellow cake mix
1.49
3lb clementines
2.99
Sweet condensed milk
1.99
Crackers 2 kinds
5
Bananas 8
2.12
Northern beans 2 cans
1.54
Frozen spinach big bag
2.99
Stroopwaffel 8
3.49
Bag spring mix
1.99
Pasta sauce 2
2.5
Cucumber
0.59
3color bowtie pasta
0.49
Basil plant
2.99
Lessons Learned
I did totally give in to temptation at the store when I saw a whole shelf full of Stroopwaffles! I held a box in my hand, then put it back, almost walked away… picked it back up… and then put it in the cart. At least I checked the “per unit” prices, and though the bag full of tiny waffles was close, the not-individually-packaged box of 8 was the best deal, so that is the one I chose.
Part of me wants to add breakfasts into the meal plan. But then the other part of me knows it is currently the least predictable part of my day. Some mornings a smoothie sounds amazing, other mornings toast is the only acceptable answer. And more and more frequently lately nothing at all sounds good, so I just open the fridge and force something in my face because I can’t in good conscience not eat breakfast at all… c’est la vie, we all go through seasons of eating.
How about you guys? Did you have a learning week or an awesome week of wins?
Here is where I’ll talk about the week’s meal plan versus reality, what we ate for the week, and how we did budget-wise. I hope it gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into our life through the lens of food, and it’s also a way to keep us on track with meal planning and grocery budgeting.
Feel free to share your wins and lessons in the comments below!
February 2nd was #WearRedDay for heart health. Cardiovascular disease is the #1 killer, ahead of car wrecks, diabetes, cancer, and many other seemingly more deadly diseases. More than 600,000 people every year are being killed by their own heart.
And the honest truth that the food and drug industry doesn’t want you to know?
Want in on what many call “the best kept secret in medicine”?
Don’t believe me? The Cleveland Clinic has an actual “Heart Disease Reversal Program“, which has been proven to take some heart patients from death’s door to healthy and fit in mere months. You can literally reverse heart disease and prevent it from worsening based on what you put in your mouth three times per day.
On a less serious note, here was the popcorn situation last weekend:
Now, if that seems like plenty to you, YOU DON’T KNOW ME. This is a shortage. This is near-panic-level popcorn status.
And then this showed up on our doorstep on Monday. And all was well in the world again.
Monday:
Breakfast – tropical smoothie. I’d gotten a frozen bag of mixed tropical fruit, and it has chunks of coconut in it. I’m weirded out by coconut, and do not like the chewy-ness. But I will soldier through until it’s gone in the name of not wasting food…
Dinner – Bitter melon & potato curry. Have you heard of bitter melon? Unless you’re Asian or a foodie, probably not. It is a tropical vine fruit, grown throughout Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. And it totally lives up to the name; raw it tastes horrid.
However, despite it’s off-putting taste, it has many redeeming health qualities. “The fruit contains at least three active substances with anti-diabetic properties, including charantin, which has been confirmed to have a blood glucose-lowering effect, vicine and an insulin-like compound known as polypeptide-p.” (source) It also has been shown to have beneficial or reversal effects on obesity and metabolic syndrome. (source)
By generously salting it prior to cooking with it, and then rinsing the salt off, you can remove much of the bitter taste. And it blends right into strongly-flavored dishes like curries. The boy said that in this dish, the bitter melon was actually great and the green beans were the worst part!
Snack – Grapes & 2 cuties
Tuesday:
Breakfast – Over the weekend we went to the thrift store, where I snagged a sweet a$s deal: $0.99 for a waffle maker!! It was pretty dirty, but still worked. It didn’t have a tag, so I took it to the counter and asked the lady what it would cost.
When she quoted me that price, I couldn’t hand over a dollar fast enough! So with it all nice and cleaned up, I made some yummy fresh waffles with a quick (from frozen) blueberry sauce.
Snack – I’m glad I packed an “extra” lunch today, because I was starving yesterday afternoon. I brought the tiny bit of leftover red lentil dal and rice from last week and nommed it around 2pm.
Lunch – Salmon & Couscous salad, and a bowl of leftover pork & rice soup with collard greens
Dinner – I went out and met a new friend from the Bull City Food Swap at a local Indian restaurant called Sitar. She’s vegetarian, so I was super excited to split the “vegetarian for 2” dinner. It came with 2 appetizers, 3 main courses, and 2 desserts!
It was so much food, and it was all SO GOOD! We both ate our fill, and had enough left over for us both to take home 2 more meals’ worth. I’d say that’s a pretty great value.
Snack – rice cakes & an orange
Thursday:
Breakfast – tropical smoothie
Lunch – leftover Sitar part 1 – naan, basmati rice, vegetable vindaloo and chickpea saag
Snack 1 – trail mix still leftover from our Texas trip (I paid the ridiculous airport prices of 2/$20 because I was dying of starvation and the mix actually was pretty nutritionally sound)
Dinner – After a brutal HIIT workout, I was ravenous and grabbed the first thing I saw in the fridge: leftover bitter melon curry
Snack 2 – later that night after dinner, I was still hungry and desperately needed a post-workout snack, and nommed a few handfuls of Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Puppy Chow
Annnndddd then I made stovetop popcorn, which I sprinkled with nutritional yeast 🙂
Friday:
Breakfast – another smoothie! I’m bad at remembering to take pictures of smoothies… maybe breakfast is too early, or smoothies just don’t feel like ‘real’ food?
Lunch – the last of the leftover Sitar. Not gonna lie, I was sad that it was all gone now…
Snack – my coworker had been at a conference all week, and brought back some strange chocolates. They were good though.
Dinner – The boy had to fend for himself in the wilderness of the fridge, because Erin from ReachingForFI was in town! And when she’s here, we go ALL IN on AYCE sushi.
Unfortunately, it seems too many people HAVE read it, because there was a line out the door! Good thing there was only 2 of us and we were more than happy to sit at the bar. After a little less than an hour, this was the aftermath.
They now have a bunch of fried options, including spring rolls, crab rangoon (mostly cream cheese, let’s be real), and gyoza dumplings, as well as a few more specialty rolls.
The Weekend
This weekend is the “Big Game”, I guess, but we couldn’t care less. If you want ideas, though, I’ve written plenty about it:
Our plans include reading, writing, and video games. With a chance of brunch on Sunday 🙂
Food Total: $140.54
Ugh, I broke two of my own cardinal rules: never shop while hungry, and never shop without a list!
I did great at the Spice Bazaar, picking up only some fresh produce staples and a few things I wanted to try (looking at you, bitter melon) and the only impulse was a 10lb bag of basmati rice that was on sale.
Staples
$10.48
Fruit/Veg
$10.36
10lb basmati rice
7.99
Frozen bitter melon
2.99
tamarind paste
2.49
cauliflower head
2.99
ginger root
0.5
turmeric root
0.6
fresh bitter melon 1
0.79
3lb red onions
2.49
But, I went to ALDI right after, and it was past lunch time for me by then. I’m a sucker for ALDI on my best day, and I hadn’t been since the store had evidently been remodeled! It was huge, and bright, and packed with great deals. Y’all, I lost my mind a little bit. I admit it.
Dairy
$5.57
Staples
$38.00
Fruit/Veg
$40.52
Extras
$35.19
organic soymilk
2.19
olive oil mayonnaise
3.45
tomato juice
1.39
seltzer 1L x2
1.18
cage free eggs 12
2.29
coconut water
2.89
frozen berries/mango
4.18
frozen pizzas 2
3.98
1/2 gal whole milk
1.09
plum cherry juice
2.69
frozen edamame 2
3.38
org blue corn tortilla chips
1.89
1lb green beans
0.99
Winking owl syrah
2.89
org wheat spaghetti
2.18
bix box org spring mix
3.79
Winking owl red 3L
10.89
olive oil cooking spray
2.98
celery
0.95
German lager
5.99
green enchilada sauce
1.89
cara cara oranges 6
3.95
Amber ale 6pk
6.49
Coffee
4.79
Avocado 4
1.96
spinach wraps 8
1.99
Org Pears 8
3.49
tax
3.77
shelled pistachios 7oz
4.49
Pineapple
1.29
fresh pico de gallo
4.79
Sweet potatoes
1.29
Pasta sauce
1.98
Bananas 11
1.95
2lb dry northern beans
1.99
Broccoli crowns 3
1.49
green grapes 2lb
2.61
greens trio
1.99
cranberries
0.99
Artichoke hearts
2.49
Cucumber
0.45
mission figs
1.89
I also let myself restock on wine & beer, which I had been trying to go all of January without buying more alcohol. But COME ON, their 3L box of “house red” for under eleven bucks?!? And the specials this month were a German lager and an amber ale, my two favorite beer types. Sigh…
Lessons Learned
My only defense is that at least I bought a sh&t-ton of produce, and we should be able to make it through at least 2 weeks in a row of not buying groceries now. The majority of the spending was on super healthy stuff, which we should be eating anyhow (please ignore the frozen pizzas. The boy needs ’emergency foods’ for when he has no leftovers left).
How about you guys? Did you have a learning week or an awesome week of wins?
Remember my Salmon & Couscous salad that I was 100% addicted to for a few weeks last year? During a BOGO sale on salad dressing, I got a bottle of “Green Goddess”. How in the world, as a food blogger and obsessive reader of recipes, have I not heard of this thing prior to then? The world will never know.
The Green Goddess was amazing, perfect in every way. It was creamy, tangy, smooth, and light tasting. It made me feel like a goddess every time I drizzled it on a salad. And then I ran out. I couldn’t find it at the 3 stores I usually go to. So I decided to try to make it myself at home.
And then I read the ingredients.
Corn syrup, xantham gum, colorings, “natural flavor“, sugar, cultured skim milk, dried buttermilk… all kinds of things I’m trying to cut down on, and that I don’t 100% understand but I’m pretty sure I don’t want to be eating.
So I went on a quest. A mission of sorts. To re-create a dressing just as tangy, creamy, and satisfying, but with a far less questionable list of ingredients.
Friends, this is the answer.
With a base of avocado and tahini for that rich healthy fat, spinach for that vibrant green color, garlic and green onions for a bit of a spring kick even in the dead of winter, lemon juice and apple cider vinegar for a note of acid, and a sprinkle of salt and dash of honey to balance it all out, this stuff is darn near irresistible.
Ingredients:
1 cup spinach or herbs, packed
2 small avocados
1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon tahini (or almond butter)
1/2 tsp honey or sweetener of choice
1/4 cup green onions
Juice of one lemon (about 1/4 cup)
4-5 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Salt to taste, I used about 1 1/2 tsp
Step 1: In a food processor, chop your garlic, spinach, and onions.
Step 2: Add the avocado, and all your liquids. Whip well, using a spatula to scrape down the sides, until smooth.
Feel free to add the liquids slowly, and add more of the acids or even some plain water to reach your desired consistency and flavor.
The recipe is 100% vegan, but you can also mix in some plain unflavored yogurt, mayonnaise, or sour cream at approximately a 1:2 ratio for extra creamy flavor, and it tastes pretty radical. Though it is already good enough that I basically want to eat it with a spoon.
The awesome thing about this dressing is that you can customize it to your tastes too. You can easily sub half or all of the spinach for fresh herbs like dill, basil, parsley, or cilantro. The sweetener can be xylitol or stevia, maple syrup or brown rice syrup, or like I used, a flavored honey (whipped lemon, mmm mmm!). If you don’t care for tahini or it’s too expensive for your tastes, try almond butter, sun-butter or peanut butter instead.
The only limit is your imagination!
Plus, not only is this the best dressing of all time on salads, it is also great on wraps, sandwiches, burgers, baked potatoes, chicken, steak and fish. Basically, put it on anything and everything.
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:83]
The fusion of food, fun, frugality, and curiosity.
