I went grocery shopping 2 weeks ago. I took advantage of my tax return and hit up Costco and did another full run at the regular grocery store. My fridge/freezer have never been so full. I was so busy in meal planning/shopping mode that I didn’t stop to think about logistics. You see, I don’t usually meal plan so I didn’t really know where to start. And I live in an apartment so space is limited.
On one hand I feel good that my freezer/fridge are filled while my pantry is still kind of sparce but… Oh My! It took a good 4 or 5 rearrangings before I fit everything in ways that seemed logical and that kept the most perishable goods at the front of my attention. I can tell you that for sure I have too much fresh produce on hand. I know that means I should eat more of it but still…
With kids away every other weekend, practice, games, fun times, errands etc I’ve not exactly moved through the food as quickly as I would have expected. Even though there are technically 3 bodies in my house we certainly don’t eat more than 2 people combined, and that is probably pushing it when it comes to ham strata with veggies :-p
By this time I expected that I’d have sampled probably at least 4 recipes. It isn’t working out that way. There has still been too much eating out, and too many quick dinners at home of foods I know they will eat while I go my own way. With that said, here are a few things we’ve eaten lately.
1. Ham strata (Woman’s Day)- kids, thumbs down, me? so-so. I had it for dinner twice and threw away the final serving. Had I not had 2 different lunch plans I could have eaten it in smaller portions over more days
2. Healthy Banana Blueberry Muffins (Everyday Food) - these were SO divine right out of the oven. I actually froze some of my fresh blueberries when I realized I wasn’t going to make these as soon as I thought I was and when Z and I both realized that I’d gotten kind of a sour batch of berries. I had to transport them in my car because I was running late and the smell lingered all day. Yummy!
3. Vegan Lunchbox lady’s vegan nacho cheese. I was skeptical and now I am a believer. I’m actually wishing I could find a reason to make it again. And as I’ve been recently trying to food journal I’m glad I had this stuff to go with my nachos. I really recommend you try it. I did the variation with canned white beans instead of cashews. This wasn’t on the agenda originally
4. Last night I made veggie lasagna roll ups. We’ll have them for dinner tonight. It seemed like way too much work to me. I’d rather just the real thing. Admittedly I didn’t have to make my own sauce but I’m worried the finished product will be too bland.
Coming up - salmon with spinach salad, taco pie, a couple variations of meatloaf, pulled pork (thank goodness cabbage keeps so well), risotto (this is prepackaged and I’ll probably make it with some roasted carrots)
Any how… back to this entry title, so far I’ve been keeping pretty on top of the produce (I spent a long time last night packing up lettuce, spinach and peppers to keep longer) but I’ve had a few misses and I wanted to capture them here
* 1/3 loaf of Italian bread, it molded. So sad.
* one bunch of cilantro, it was worthless almost immediately
* a few wilty mini sweet peppers
* half? package of already sliced baby bellas
* 1 serving ham strata
* half batch of the nacho cheese (not because it wasn’t good, exactly the opposite, I would have kept eating and eating and eating nachos. they are really one of my favorites)
So as not to waste:
* I’m hoping I’ll figure out some other use for all the extra veggies I have from the lasagna rolls, oh, they would be good in the meat loaf but not sure when I’ll be making that
* and I need to find an easy recipe that uses ham, pineapple and bell peppers and quick, I’m thinking some old school sweet and sour something?
I’m totally open to, and technically begging for, suggestions on these last two items
Hey, what do you know. Even a virtual smile feels pretty good!
