The 50 Cent Meal Challenge week two and What we ate last week

      The 50 Cent Meal Challenge is a joint effort between two sisters in different regions and with different challenges.  Tina lives in Ohio with her husband and son, and is learning to stretch her shrunken budget while trying to develop an old fashioned, basic approach to cooking.  Jen lives in New Mexico with her husband and they are Foster Parents who are learning the art of flexibility. They live on a single income and are joining this challenge for the sake of the challenge.  Tina and Jen are planning their family groceries on a 250.00 budget for 6 weeks.
                                                                 August 22-28
                          I blew it!!
 I did, I blew my budget! By 28 dollars and 2 cents! But we had company this weekend and lots of it. Eleven peoples worth!! They came to town for The Great American Duck Races. Yes, its a real thing. We race ducks. Our town motto is Pure water and Fast ducks. We even have a duck crossing sign.. And Remember when I said I might have a challenge within a challenge? Well I got one! On friday night I got a foster placement of three little cute girls. 


Oh and I bit the bullet and got 25 pounds of fresh roasted New Mexico green chile, they're isn't going to be a second picking this year because of the drought. So, see I HAD to. That was $12.


So this is what we ate last week..

For breakfasts we had breakfast burritos. I made a bunch of them on Sunday night and froze them so in the morning we can have a quick meal. They were potato, green chile, cheese and egg. Sunday we had pancakes. Lunches were sandwiches or leftovers.

• M-Green chile and cheese quesadillas.
• T-Eggplant parmesan (eggplant from the garden)
• W-leftovers with steamed zucchini(from the garden) 
• T-Curried lentil and brown rice salad with fried zucchini and green beans (veggies from the garden)

Time out... Lets take a minute and talk about the curried lentil and brown rice salad. We had an old friend over for dinner that night and I honestly forgot she was coming until she texted me at 1:00. Oops. So I "knew" I had all the ingredients for this salad and fresh veggies to make, she is a vegetarian. So, I procrastinate as long as I can before I start to make dinner....And it was a mess!  My flat leaf parsley was cilantro, my dijon mustard was stone ground mustard and my tomatoes were moldy! I used the stone ground mustard and left everything else out, it came out ok but could have been better if I had my act together!
Time in...

• F-Pasta primavera, green beans and bread (all store bought)
• S-Chicken makhani (Indian butter chicken), rice, corn, green beans a bread. (all store bought)
• S-Leftovers and friends brought over some fried chicken

Friday-Sunday is when we had all the company, 16 of us all together. It was nice, they are all like family. 


I did have to purchase some things I usually have a pretty good supply of like olive oil and Parmesan cheese. And I have some things left over that I didn't use over the weekend that I planned on which will help me stay on budget next week. Technically I have 25.63 for this week since I went over last week. We'll see if I can do it. 


Weekly budget 41.66
Amount spent -57.68
             -16.02 


166.37 Left in budget. 4 weeks to go. Yikes!


          The 50 Cent Meal Challenge
                          Track Tina's progress here

Wordless Wednesday

Okra Blossom

50 Cent meal challenge week one: What I ate last week

                             

 The 50 Cent Meal Challenge is a joint effort between two sisters in different regions and with different challenges.  Tina lives in Ohio with her husband and son, and is learning to stretch her shrunken budget while trying to develop an old fashioned, basic approach to cooking.  Jen lives in New Mexico with her husband and they are Foster Parents who are learning the art of flexibility. They live on a single income and are joining this challenge for the sake of the challenge.  Tina and Jen are planning their family groceries on a 250.00 budget for 6 weeks. 

                                                        August 14-20

This past week was the first week for the 50 Cent Meal Challenge and this is what we ate. 

We did have 1 foster child who stayed with us from Monday to Thursday, so there were 3 of us for part of the week. 

For breakfast we had cereal, toast or breakfast burritos.

For lunch we had leftovers, sandwiches or chicken salad sandwiches, mexican style.

For dinner we had

• Monday-     Roasted Chicken with veggies and cucumber salad
• Tuesday-     Spaghetti, green beans and bread
• Wednesday Leftover Spaghetti
• Thursday    Fend for yourself night. We had a meeting, no time to cook. I think we ate more spaghetti when we got home..1 pound of pasta is a lot for 3 people..we won't have it again for a while!
•  Friday        Chicken stir fry with green tomato and jalapeno jam and green beans (using leftover chicken)
• Saturday     Cabbage and bacon, steamed zucchini and cucumber, tomato salad
•  Sunday       Went out for Chinese food after church and snacked the rest of the day. (Sam and I shared a plate, it came with rice and 2 choices of the main entree and 2 drinks for $8!! Yes $8. We love that place! And we even had leftover rice and 3 pieces of chicken.

For snacks we had chips and homemade salsa and popcorn.

I only spent 25.95 this week, I thought I spent 37.40 but I had some non food items on the receipts that I failed to deduct. 

 I only had to buy Italian sausage for the spaghetti, bacon and a few things for the green tomato jam (by the way it is really surprisingly tasty--you should make it) 

These are gorgeous green tomatoes from my garden (If I do say so myself) that I used to make the green tomato and jalapeno jam.

 But I must let you know that I have a pretty decently stocked pantry and freezers. I'm a sale shopper. My grandma was a shopper and if she saw a shirt that she liked, she bought one in every color they had. I'm kinda like that with food.  I am a stocker, but for this challenge I am only using my main pantry and freezer, just to keep it real.  And to keep it even more real I am posting a pic of my quickly straightened pantry.

                        Not a terrific picture but it gives you an idea of what I have to work with.
 This is the produce that we got from the garden last week. Can't wait to eat those butternut squash!                              
Having a garden  really cuts down our grocery bill!

                                    And we have these girls that supply us with plenty of eggs.

                                     The 50 Cent Meal Challenge

                    Track Tina's progress here

The 50 Cent Meal Challenge

The 50 Cent Meal Challenge is a joint effort between two sisters in different regions and with different challenges.  Tina lives in Ohio with her husband and son, and is learning to stretch her shrunken budget while trying to develop an old fashioned, basic approach to cooking.  Jen lives in New Mexico with her husband and they are Foster Parents who are learning the art of flexibility. They live on a single income and are joining this challenge for the sake of the challenge.  Tina and Jen are planning their family groceries on a 250.00 budget for 6 weeks. 

I think this is a really fun challenge that will really stretch my cooking skills and style, while still providing my family with healthy nutritional meals. I am a self taught "Cheft" who cooks with a gourmet flare. It will entail denying ourselves some of the treats we like, like Sam's (non-alcoholic) Ginger Beer and my ice cream. But there is nothing wrong with denying yourself things every once in a while. Its freeing in a way. 

My husband works full time and then some. I am a stay at home wife and my focus is taking care of our small homestead where we raise a garden and chickens and two dogs. We are foster parents and currently have no children in the home. But we never know when that will change. We are licensed for 6 so our household can go from 2 to 8 with just a phone call. So that may pose a challenge within a challenge. But I'm game. 

I have never had a set budget for groceries, I have tracked it and cut it down, but never a budget.  I tend to be pretty frugal but this challenge will without a doubt teach me a lot . 

My approach will be a little different from Tina's. I will shop weekly with the budget of 41.66. I have not done a total pantry/freezer inventory yet but through the challenge you will know what I bought and what I had on hand. 

Weekly budget     41.66

Amount spent     -37.40

                              4.26  UNDER BUDGET! 

Left in budget    212.60  Yikes! 5 more weeks to go!

          The 50 Cent Meal Challenge
              Track Tina's progress here

Green Tomatoes..

                                                       Of which I have a BUNCH!

They just aren't getting ripe! I think the New Mexico heat is just too much for them this year. But from the sounds of it there are a lot of people just not having a good tomato year. So, rather than having fried green tomatoes all the time, I decided to see what I could do with green tomatoes. I searched the internet and found some very interesting ways to use them. Like mock raspberry jam and green tomato and jalapeno jam. The green tomato jam peeked my interest and I decided to try it and much to my surprise it was amazing. And very easy to make!

First you pick one pound of green tomatoes

Aren't they pretty!

Next your  Mise en Place--everything in place

5 Jalapenos 

4 cloves garlic

1/4 cup cilantro and mint

1 inch piece of ginger

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp soy sauce

3 cups sugar

and of course

1 lb green tomatoes

Peel and dice tomatoes and set aside.

Roughly chop herbs and veggies and puree in food processor along with vinegar and soy sauce.

Place the pureed mixture into a sauce pan and add the green tomatoes and sugar. 

Bring to a boil.

Simmer until thickens.

About 45 minutes.

I must admit that while it was simmering, I wasn't sure I'd like it too much. There was an overwhelming smell of soy sauce in the air. But as soon as it was done I tasted it and it was AMAZING! There is a slight soy taste but it is not overpowering and it packs a punch! I will definitely make this again.

For dinner I sauted some onion and patty pan squash and an okra from the garden and added about 2 cups of shredded chicken and added about a half of jar of the tomato jam and heated it through, it was really tasty. 

Wordless Wednesday

What We Ate Last Week and other stuff...

Monday we had Chicken Divan and Rice, our son came over and ate with us and then he and Sam headed over to the "other" house to work on the back porch. They are putting on a new roof.
Tuesday, Sam and I went out of town for the day and ate at Chick-Fil-A and just snacked that night.
Wednesday I made Salmon Patties, mac n cheese and green beans from the garden. Yum. Sam really liked the salmon patties, and even he was surprised. I love making things he wasn't fond of when he was a child and he likes them.
Thursday was the day I was putting up squash and got an overnight placement. I had planned on having leftovers but got the call for the kiddos, so I had to come up with something fast. I decided on BBQ chicken in the oven, mashed potatoes I so brilliantly made and froze and fried zucchini and yellow squash. The potatoes were almost thawed, the squash all but done and I check the chicken that I put in the electric roaster. Ok the roaster. I use the roaster whenever I can during the summer because it is SOO hot and the roaster doesn't heat up the house like the regular oven does and it used something like 71% less electricity. Anyway I open the lid and it was still frozen! The kids were hungry....I was hungry. I realized that the lid was letting some heat escape so I grabbed the random random blue towel of my dinning room table and draped it over the roaster.

It looked really bad but worked really well. I jacked up the heat and it was done in no time.
Friday we didn't got out on a date and I can't even remember what we ate so it wasn't anything spectacular!! I do remember there were cookies though =)
Saturday was church work day at church and the women got together to prepare the food that we are going to make for the Women's Conference in September. We are responsible for cooking for 200 women. Its gonna be fun. We are going with Argentinian food. Chicken with Chimi Churry, really yummy black beans, salad and homemade bread. So today we made the food so all the women (and men) can try it and see how it is prepared. So that was our big meal of the day. That evening I made zucchini fries coated in Italian breadcrumbs and panko. Very good. I also fried some green beans, I've always wanted to do that... and I'm not a fan. Black olives, yeah don't bread and fry them. Not so good.
After we were done eating I was doing dishes and Sam was working on tiling our bathroom counter (looks great by the way) and I got a call for another placement. Just one this time.
Sunday we had Ratatouille wraps again, per the request of my buddy Deanna. There that good.

Jen=)

My Yesterday....

This is how I spent my yesterday

Putting up all of this squash.
 (Please excuse my checkbook, the random blue towel  and the creme horn in the zip lock baggie.)

I planned my afternoon around this squash.....

But I only got this far, then I got a phone call from CYFD for a 

new placement of three kiddos.  

(Please excuse the wrinkle in the table cloth, the electric skillet
 and other random things on the corner of my table ;) )

                                                                           
                                 So I quickly cleaned up the massive mess I created while doing this....

Blanched zucchini, summer and patty pan quash  

 It turned out to be a great spot to stop because, as it was, I had to do some rearranging and take a chicken out of the freezer to fit it all in there. Guess what we are having for dinner tomorrow?? The rest of the squash was bagged up to give away to people at Sam's office, except for the four yellow squash and one zucchini, along with an onion I used to make the really tasty fried squash dish my Meema used to make. She started hers off with bacon drippings but since I am having to force myself to get off the couch to do the "couch to 5k running program," because I NEED too, I decided to go with good old Olive Oil.  If you don't think about the bacon fat you don't really miss it.... much.


                                Check this guy out. It got missed, I don't know how, but it did.
                                                           Don't think it looks that big??

                                                                      
                                                                          Look again.

                                        This is the same one put besides a normal sized Patty Pan.
                                                     That sucker weighed in at almost 3 lbs.

             Well it turned out the be a good night even though the bbq chicken I made for dinner took
                                              forever to cook, that story on another day.    

                                                                          Jen =)

What We Ate Last Week

Since the huge turkey recall I have really had to think outside the box for our meals. We don't eat beef and very little pork and you can't eat chicken every night..... And now its just Sam and I. Our foster placement was moved a week ago today. (Our house has been very quiet)  I quickly realized I don't have to prepare near as much food as I used to. Really, 3 to 4 meals a week is all I have to make because of leftovers. So,  the whole meal planning system I came up with and have been using is being put to the side for right now. At least until we get our next foster care placement.  This week I made two vegetarian meals and they went over really well and I'm glad for that because Sam has a lot more of those in his future!

Monday      Spaghetti w/ ground turkey & bread  (pre-recall)
Tuesday      Fend for yourself night (very busy day!)
Wednesday Lentil Burritos with homemade salsa
Thursday    Leftovers
Friday         Date night out Chinese food
Saturday     Ratatouille wraps (mmmmmm....)
Sunday       Ratatouille wraps ( we invited friends over and made them again they were so good!)

 Yes date night. We've had date night two Fridays in a row... its been a while since that's happened! We went for Chinese and saw Cowboys and Aliens which was very good, even though I really dislike anything sci fi-ish. But I guess Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford kinda overshadowed the sci fi-ness of of.   Go see it!

Jen =)