Last Week of September

I am still feeling under the weather, this just seems to be hanging on which means we are still having a lot of comfort foods. This is coupled with the fact that it is the end of the month so we are working with the end of the groceries on hand.

This week's CSA share. I traded off the cucumbers and gave away the squash and pepper.

Third Week of September

Saturday I was feeling ok and had some time on my own while the boys were getting haircuts. Most of the time I spent cleaning up at the house but I also used the time to pick up my CSA share. Minus the onions this is what I picked up

After the pickup I started feeling a bit icky and by Sunday was full on sick so I did not work on a menu plan. I have been going with easy comfort foods since then.

Sunday Sept 16th:
Breakfast: Donuts and kaloches
Lunch: grilled cheese
Dinner:  chicken nuggets and mac-n-cheese

Monday Sept 17th:
Breakfast: biscuits
Lunch: biscuits
Dinner: Carne Guisada from The Food Charlatan which I served as soft tacos with steamed rice and refried beans. 

Tuesday Sept 18th:
Breakfast: leftover biscuits
Lunch: turkey and cheese sandwich
Dinner: Spaghetti with buttered bread

Wednesday Sept 19th:
Breakfast: Biscuit
Lunch: pizza with friend
Dinner: Chicken Enchilada Rice Casserole from Jo Cooks. I used leftovers from the week thus far to make the casserole. It tasted a bit different than normal as I used the leftover Carne Guisada instead of unseasoned chicken.

Thursday Sept 20th:
Breakfast: biscuit
Lunch: Wendy's
Dinner: Bacon, eggs, biscuits and watermelon

Friday Sept 21st:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Sub and soup
Dinner: Homemade chicken noodle soup

Saturday Sept 22nd:
Breakfast: Biscuits
Lunch: sandwich
Dinner: Homemade pepperoni pizza

Second Week of September

This past weekend was full of activity which has made this Monday extra hard. I am really longing for another weekend. The jumping from one activity to the next is why my CSA photo is just a box shot. I gave the bell peppers and lettuce you see peeking through away.

With the veggies/fruit left from last week and this box I came up with this menu plan:

Sunday Sept 9th:
Breakfast: donuts
Lunch: chicken with friends
Dinner: Grilled cheese and turkey sandwiches

Monday Sept 10th:
Breakfast: cereal
Lunch: Arby's on the run to meet someone for an offerup sale
Dinner: Got home last night and realized we still had leftover sausage to use up so I made Jolean's Cheese Potato and Smoked Sausage Casserole from Genius Kitchen instead and will just bump Monday to Wednesday and go from there.

Tuesday Sept 11th:
Breakfast: Part of a kolache that the birthday boy did not finish
Lunch: The biscuit I had purchased myself for breakfast and a plum
Dinner: Met friends for fast food at the birthday boy's favorite place

Wednesday Sept 12th:
Breakfast: Honey Nut Cheerios
Lunch: Chicken strip kid's meal at Wendy's with friends
Dinner:Chicken Pasta with Bacon and Spinach in Creamy Tomato Sauce by What's in the Pan. The sauce separated on me ( I was cooking it in a separate pot) and so I just dumped it and served the dish without it. Even without the sauce this was a really tasty dish.

Thursday Sept 13th:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Chinese buffet with friend
Dinner: Peppery Beef and Broccoli from Cooking Light with steamed rice

Friday Sept 14th:
Breakfast: Kaloche and chocolate iced coconut do-nut
Lunch: Pepper chicken and Lo Mein
Dinner: Stir fry using some leftover steak and noodles

Saturday Sept 15th:
Breakfast: biscuits
Lunch: whatburger on the run
Dinner: Homemade Beef Stew Recipe from Ciao Florentina using leftover steak

September Shopping and the First Week's Menu!

September! Here in Texas we are hoping for fall but still topping out over 90 degrees. The beauty of the extended summer is great produce still showing up at the farmer's market and in our CSA share. I also have just ignored the temps and have put soup on the menu plan for the week using up some leftovers.

Breakdown: $100 total
Bacon: $12
Whole chicken: $16
Pork cutlets: $6
Ground Water Buffalo: $9
Beef Jerky: $12
Cantaloupe: $2
Watermelon: $4
2 heads butter lettuce: $4
Cookies (4): $4
Sourdough bread: $5
tomatoes: $4
Purple hulled peas: $7
Black eyed peas: $4
Gouda cheese: $9
2 bath bombs: $2

This week's CSA share which was a $12.50 investment because I pre-paid for 42 weeks at the beginning of the season.

This plus 2 cases of water came up to $205.71 so my total for the month is $305.71 as I am not counting the cost of the CSA share. 


This week's menu plan:

Sunday Sept 2nd
Breakfast: donuts
Lunch: potluck at church ( I made pea salad, bread pudding and took watermelon. Phillip smoked a pork butt)
Dinner: Spanish Potato Soup from A Little and A Lot served with toasted sourdough. I made the soup using the leftover pork butt from lunch. This is one of our favorites and despite it's monochromatic appearance it is really good. 

Monday Sept 3rd: 
Breakfast: cinnamon rolls
Lunch: birthday lunch out with family
Dinner: little smokies in BBQ sauce and homemade mac-n-cheese

Tuesday Sept 4th:
Breakfast: cereal
Lunch: subs out with coworkers
Dinner: Italian marinated pork loin served with roasted potatoes and fresh green beans

Wednesday Sept 5th:
Breakfast: cereal
Lunch: working lunch of nachos and watermelon
Dinner: Pulled Pork Rigatoni from Life's Ambrosia served with a garden salad and toasted sourdough. I used leftover pork to make the rigatoni and the one adjustment I would make is to cut the amount of cumin. It initially did not seem like that much in the recipe but it was a bit strong. 

Thursday Sept 6th:
Breakfast: cereal
Lunch: Gyro with fries ( Lunch with a friend)
Dinner:Easy Garlic Ginger Glazed Sticky Pork from Foodie with Family using leftover pork served with steamed rice. 

Friday Sept 7th:
Breakfast: biscuit with butter and strawberry jelly
Lunch:Pizza out with coworkers
Dinner: smoked sausage, steamed corn and leftover rice

Saturday Sept 8th:
Breakfast: Biscuits
Lunch: Salami and cheese
Dinner: Pizza at birthday party

Last week of April

This technically is the last week of the month but because payday falls during the week next week I will need to make it 2 weeks before I go grocery shopping.

This week I have this to work with from the CSA and farmer's market

CSA share

Farmer's Market 

Sunday April 22nd:
Breakfast: Donuts
Lunch: fried chicken
Dinner: Grilled ribs, cream peas, strawberries and toasted sourdough

Monday April 23rd:
Breakfast: raisin toast
Lunch: leftover ribs, peas and strawberries
Dinner: Made lettuce wraps using up some leftover smoked pork from the freezer. I simmered it on the stove in sauce (Crock Pot Honey Sesame Chicken Lettuce Wraps) from Domestic Superhero. Served with steamed rice this turned out awesome.

Tuesday April 24th:
Breakfast: raisin toast
Lunch: gyro and fries with friends
Dinner: Mini meatloaf with cheese center with Cheesy Garlic Roasted Asparagus from Cafe Delites.  If I make the asparagus again I will cut the amount of oil, garlic and the cook time. They were a touch soggy and we really prefer ours crisp.

Wednesday April 25th:
Breakfast: donuts!
Lunch: pizza rolls, strawberries and crepe
Dinner:Brinner! Pancakes with blackberry jam, scrambled eggs, and bacon

Thursday April 26th:
Breakfast: donuts for work meeting
Lunch: hamburger in my car while I tried to finish listening to a podcast
Dinner: One Pot Sausage Penne Pasta from Six Sisters' Stuff. This one was pretty good!

Friday April 27th:
Breakfast: cereal
Lunch: sandwich
Dinner: fish sticks with homemade mac-n-cheese.

Saturday April 28th:
Breakfast: Biscuits
Lunch: snacking at home
Dinner: Went out to Hibachi for our anniversary and did not get my phone out at all!

Second Week of April

This food week started with the CSA pick up on Saturday. This week I chose to pick up the all veggie basket as I still had some eggs and sausage. I may alternate depending on what is available but will have to learn on the fly since this is a new CSA

This week I passed on the beets and 1 head of cabbage to grandma as I knew we would not eat them. I still had pickles from last week so I passed those on to a coworker. From there I worked out the following menu

Sunday April 8th:
Breakfast: donuts
Lunch: hamburgers with friends
Dinner: Baked spaghetti using up the leftovers from last week

Monday April 9th:
Breakfast: leftover kolaches
Dinner: Moo Shu Pork from Gimme Some Oven with a couple of changes and some steamed rice. I did not have coleslaw mix and had picked this for the menu to use up some cabbage so I cut some up as well as "shaved" a carrot and used that instead. I also used up the leftover pork chops cut thin so I was able to skip the cooking step for that.

Tuesday April 10th:
Breakfast: leftover donut
Lunch: Wendy's with a friend
Dinner:Flanken style ribs, Parmesan asparagus and cinnamon apples

Wednesday April 11th:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Gyro and fries with friends
Dinner:Leftover Steak Hash from That Susan Williams. I used the last potato from the BB pickup and some of the leftover roast from a couple of nights ago.

Thursday April 12th:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Salad, lunch meat and cheese with a friend
Dinner:Grilled chicken, ranch roasted carrots and black beans

Friday April 13th:
Breakfast: Pig in a blanket
Lunch: chicken strips
Dinner: One Skillet Chicken Enchilada Pasta from Chelsea's Messy Apron. I used leftover chicken and black beans in mine.

Saturday April 14th:
Breakfast: cinnamon rolls
Lunch: pizza rolls
Dinner: frozen pizza

First Week of April

This past weekend was a constant whirl, we had family Easter and then Easter at church with a potluck and egg hunt. That coupled with payday, first CSA pick up and getting grocery shopping done has left me drained. This weekend was going to be the beginning of strawberry season and I really wanted to take the boys to a pick your own farm but we have an 80% of rain which may force me to stay home and get neglected tasks done.

Let's start with pictures of all the produce I picked up on Saturday morning

This was the first pick up from bountiful baskets

I then headed to the farmer's market and picked up the following plus a cream cheese pastry that I promptly ate.

Following this I headed to the farm to pick up my CSA share

All of this great stuff of course led to overload making the menu again. I want to use up fragile produce first and other items I have on hand and this is what I ended up with

Sunday April 1st:
Breakfast: Donuts
Lunch: Easter potluck at church
Dinner: Smoked sausage and baked potatoes

Monday April 2nd:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Wendy's with friend
Dinner: Slow Cooker Tuscan White Bean and Sausage Soup from Foodie Crush. I did use canned beans and kale instead of spinach since that is what I had on hand. The sausage was from the CSA pick up and the kale from the farmer's market. Served with toasted sourdough also from the farmer's market. 

Tuesday April 3rd:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Pizza with a friend
Dinner: Creamy Parmesan Garlic Mushroom Chicken from The Recipe Critic. This one was really good and I will definitely be making again although I may cut back on the liquid as mine was a bit overwhelming.

Wednesday April 4th:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Chicken Fried Chicken with a friend
Dinner:  One Pan Roasted Garlic Potatoes, Asparagus and Sausage  from Chelsea's Messy Apron with toasted sourdough.
I made this one using up the leftover smoked sausage, 1 potato from the BB pick up and some onion from the CSA and asparagus from the farmer's market.

Thursday April 5th:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Ham and cheese sandwich at work
Dinner: Spaghetti and meatballs with toasted sourdough.

Friday April 6th:
Breakfast: Kolache
Lunch: Subs with friend
Dinner: Grilled pork chops, sauteed asparagus and mushrooms and grits

Saturday April 7th:
Breakfast: Biscuits with butter and jam
Lunch: Grilled cheese
Dinner: Crock Pot Cuban Beef from Paleo Hacks with steamed rice