Sale Food (meat)

The last couple times I have gone to the meat section I have been very lucky to find discounted meat (the packages that are on the due date or close to their due date.)

What I do for my pocketbook, I look at what meats are seasonally on sale--for example around Thanksgiving Turkeys were 12 cents per pound! I bought three!!! We used one for Christmas and plan to make one this weekend (we have an outdoor turkey fryer). The nice thing is it makes a wonderful meal plus then we have leftovers. We most likely will freeze some of the meat and have it on hand for a time when we have lots of meetings etc.

Also at Christmas time there were good deals on hams. I picked up two. We just had one recently for a Sunday meal. It was wonderful. We now have some frozen and ready for a casserole, sandwiches or omelets.

What am I going to stock up on now? Most likely hams will be on sale again perhaps I'll pick one up depending??? But I am going to most certainly stock up on FROZEN FISH! With the Lenten Season comes wonderful sales on fish! Especially, the frozen single serve fish tend to be VERY affordable. We also love Salmon and I will DEFINITELY be following the salmon sales!

We like to take the white fish (talapia/cod) and we will bread them and do fish fries in the summer. The salmon we will grill and either eat it as salmon steaks, or shred it up and put it with a pasta or served on a salad. Also shredded up we can make it into patties and salmon burgers which have been a huge hit with the boys.

We have also bought a 1/4 cow every spring. This year will depend on $$ how much we have (It is usually around $300-400 dollars) plus how much the market for beef is. The wonderful thing about this beef is it is grass fed and essentially organic. We know the farmer personally, and we see how the cows are raised. It is the MOST wonderful hamburger, very low in fat and the steaks and roast are pure heaven!

Okay! So today we had a SNOW DAY--therefore, we didn't need to use a frozen lasagna.

Instead, I used left over spaghetti sauce from last week and stretched it out with a jar of, do I dare say it??? RAGU! The nice thing was it was a very easy throw together. I had a piano lesson student, therefore I need something I can whip up in about half an hour.

Many times I will have left over spaghetti sauce I make quite a bit. I have used it to stretch out the next batch of spaghetti sauce, or I use it as a base to stretch out chili as well. When I have had extra I freeze it.

Meals for Feb 27--March 2

This week we are busy!!!!

Monday--We are going out Mom and Dad ONLY Kids--chicken nuggets at home with baby sitter.

Tuesday--Salads!

Wednesday--Frozen Lasagna

Thursday--Cashew Ranch Chicken+ Served with steamed veg and pasta

Friday--WE have family fun night (school carnival)! So we are going to eat sandwiches on the way!

+ Cashew Ranch Chicken

Skinless boneless chicken breasts. (2 and then cut them in half the long way so basically you make cutlets you could cut them in half again depending on the size)

1 egg

1 cup or so of cashews (I get the snack size can in the snack aisle I use perhaps 3/4 of the can?)

I take the cashews and whir them in a coffee grinder and so they are coarsely ground

1 ranch dressing packet mix it with the nuts

dredge the chicken breast in the egg and then into the nut mixture.

I then put them in a pan that is oven safe. I coat the bottom of the pan with EVOO and then cook them through in the oven at 350. Depending on the thickness I start checking the temp at about 20 minutes in.

Feb 26th

Hi all-

This week Swedish Meatballs! Is the main meal I'll focus on for this week.

Easy version, pressed for time?

1 bag frozen meatballs and one package of country gravy found in the aisle with all the packets i.e. sloppy joe, guacamole, taco meat seasoning).

Heat up the meatballs and prepare the gravy according to directions. Put the two together--voila!

We had ours with potatoes and steamed asparagus.

This time I used the bagged meatballs and made my own gravy.

Gravy recipe-

I cooked the meatballs in a pot on the stove (I had the setting on 3 for about 45 minutes stirring occasionally)

I then diced 1/2 of a small onion I removed the meatballs from the pot and threw in the diced onions and 1 swirl of EVOO. I scraped up all the meaty goodness from the bottom of the pot and once the onions were translucent I added a pat of butter, 2 Tbsp flour and one Knorr beef stock and brought these together. I then added 1/2 cup sour cream and 1 1/2 cup milk. I brought the heat up to about 6 and brought the gravy to a boil and cooked until thickened. I then returned the meatballs to the mix.

Most of the time I make my own meatballs. I happened to have frozen on hand this time.

to make my own I do this-

1 lb hamburger

1 lb hot Italian sausage.

1 clove minced garlic

1/2 small onion minced

1 egg

bread crumbs

salt, pepper to taste

I mix these together until I like the consistency--one that is easy to form balls with that will stay together. I then use a small ice cream scoop (one that you may use for cookies) and then form the balls. I then sear them on top of the stove for about 2-4 minutes per side (since they are round I turn them 4 times) I then finish baking them in the oven.

Menus and Shopping list

Canned tomatoes--diced, crushed and sauce enough for spaghetti and chili

black beans Chili spices (how you like to make it)

onion One good sized one--you can use half in the chili and half in the spaghetti sauce

stew meat (beef)

Italian sausage Spaghetti spices (how you like to make it)

tortillas

Fish Sticks

bagged cole slaw

green onions

My Chili Recipe--

I will take the stew meat and coat it flour salt and pepper. I brown that with diced onion. To deglaze the pan I do a couple turns around the pan with Tequila. (Probably 1/4) and then scrape up all the goodies and let the alcohol burn off. I then add 1 can of crushed tomatoes and I large can of tomato sauce and then I flavor it with salt pepper and chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin. Add in the black beans and let it simmer. Keep tasting it. If you think it needs a little sweetness--add one turn around the pan with molasses!

Another note you can make the spaghetti sauce WHILE you put your chili together. Then TUESDAY night just reheat the Spaghetti sauce while you boil up the noodles!!!!

Also you should be able to find the fish tacos recipe and spaghetti sauce recipe in earlier blogs!

Menu Feb 20-24

This week's menu!

Monday--Chili and cornbread

Tuesday--Spaghetti and garlic toast

Wednesday--Stir Fry and egg rolls

Thursday--Rich is working late so I will probably just have salad and the kids will eat Mac n Cheese

Friday--Fish Tacos

Struggle with two year old going to sleep

Over the last month we have struggled with Asher, the two year old, going to sleep. Well, let's face it, going to bed and staying IN BED. For a couple of times I slept with him on the couch, just so I could get some sleep. Then a couple of times he wanted to be rocked to sleep, which worked and then the third night didn't. Well we played hard ball and quite honestly it sucked. But it worked. We did the Supernanny approach. Wednesday he got out of bed about 20 times and it took about 45 minutes. Rich took care of that one. First of all I was sick and wasn't able to put him to bed, and secondly, I think it helped that Dad did it (dad seems meaner). Then Thursday it was my turn. It still took about 40 minutes but he got out a few less times and initially fell asleep on the floor next to his bed. I felt it was successful because he fell asleep AND he stayed in his room. On top of all of this he had been getting up at night. I must say that bedtimes hasn't ever really been a HUGE issue at our house. Both boys were sleeper through the nighters by 3 months old. Well last night--he cried but stayed in bed and slept ALL night AND slept in. HOpefully we are through the worst and we will continue on this path. I must add we asked daycare to not let him nap as long either.....

Rest of the menu

Monday we were still recovering therefore we made something easy.

Monday Fish Sticks and Knorr Pasta Side

Tuesday--Pasties

Wednesday--Italian Sausage & Pasta and tossed sauteed veggies--2 cloves garlic (minced) bell pepper, onion, frozen spinach, grape tomatoes tossed with olive oil

Thursday-- Steak Night--A coupe of nice steaks with homemade hash browns (I grate potatoes** and pan fry them with diced bell pepper and onion. Served with a simple salad (greens and grape tomatoes)

Friday--Homemade pizza

When I grate the potatoes I put the grated potatoes in cold water and give them a soak for about 5 minutes and then strain and then further get the liquid out by wringing them in a tea towel.

Menu for Feb 13

Hi all-

Between me being sick, the kids being sick and now the hubs-- I have not had time to plan meals for this week. The only meal I have planned is PASTIES!!!

There are recipes online, but this is how I am going to do mine---

You will need ground beef or pork ( I am using Italian sausage)

Rutabaga (I am using half it is HUGE)

Potatoes (I am using 2-3 smallish Idaho Russets b/c they were cheap last week)

Knorr Beef stock

1 Carrot Diced

1 Celery stalk Diced

1/2 small onion--diced

I am going to boil the rutabaga and potato for about 20 minutes to soften them some, but not cook them through. Before boiling I am going to cut them into small dices.

Meanwhile, brown the ital saus with the onion, carrot and celery.

Drain the potatoes and rutabaga

I am cheating here too and using pre-made pie crust :D

After the potato and rutabaga is drained, mix in the meat, celery, carrot and onion mixture with one of the Knorr beef stock pouches. Put some of the mixture on one-half of the pie crust, fold over the other half and crimp around the edges with a fork creating a pouch. Also cut a couple steam holes in the crust to vent.

Since the "innards" are mostly cooked they should only need to bake for about 30 minutes to make the crust golden brown and delicious.

I am hoping this recipe will make about 4 pasties.

I plan to make the innards and assemble the pies the night before, so when I come home from work I need to just throw them in the oven and bake.

Shopping list for 2-6--12

Reuben Sliders with
Ingredients for homemade Thousand Island
Hey All Sorry this is late! We were out of town over the weekend and therefore I didn't even make it to the grocery store until last night (Monday.) Also, the grocery store I went to was Walmart and I was rather unhappy because it was a day they were out of everything plus they don't carry everything either (like rye bread---really??????) so I had to monitor and adjust.

Here we go-

Monday we had frozen cheese tortellini with meat sauce. I used some of the leftover taco meat from the week before and I also happened to have some frozen Marinara so I threw it all together. The little boys love 'pillows.' No leftovers for this meal!

Tuesday- Reuben Sliders. Okay so Wallyworld didn't have any rye bread so I substituted by using a multigrain bun. Also I didn't have any thousand island on hand so I made my own. I happened to already have some Hillshire Farm pastrami on hand, otherwise I would have had to change my act all together because Walmart only carries ham and turkey cold cuts because that must be all that Walmart customers eat?????I have no clue, frustrating to say the least, but I digress......They had plenty of sauerkraut (I use Franks Brand) and I used the Walmart brand provolone.

Thousand Island recipe--a dollop of french dressing, a dollop of mayo (or Miracle Whip which I tend to use) 1/2 tsp of horseradish (it is going on a beef sandwich after all!!) A tsp or so of relish plus salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste.

Spread the thousand island on the bun I ripped the cheese in half, and put two slices of the thinly sliced pastrami in the middle with a bit of sauerkraut. I then buttered the outside of the bun and used my electric griddle. I smooshed the buns down by initially weighing them down with a cast iron pan.

Wednesday--Minestrone- I dice up one small onion, a couple of carrots and a stalk of celery. I sweat these with also two minced cloves garlic. This time I am going to brown up two links worth of Italian Sausage (I will squeeze the meat out of the casings and discard them). After they are sufficiently browned and sweated I will add one quart of prepared chicken broth, one can diced tomatoes, one can of rinsed beans (this time black cuz it's what I got) 1/4 cup frozen spinach a 1/2 c of frozen corn, 1 c frozen green beans. Thyme, oregano, basil, salt and pepper to taste. Believe me this soup tastes better the day or two after. The flavors merry very well. I am serving garlic toast on the side.

Thursday-- i have a late meeting once again (the meeting I thought was last Thursday is actually this Thursday) So we are again having a party sized frozen lasagna which makes plenty of leftovers which also means we'll be eating well on the weekend!

Friday--Salad with grilled chicken--once again make salad how you like it!

Just a note---

I use the organic salad in the clamshells. I think they last longer and tend to get less yucky than the bagged lettuce. My favorite is the herb blend. I always look for the one that expires the latest, which means I dig all the way to the back of the display. This week I picked up the spring mix b/c it expires next Tuesday(2-14). Another trick I have learned is at the deli you pay by the pound. So take advantage of going to the deli section and just fill up a clamshell with the mixed greens and you may pay less than buying lettuce from the produce section. Unfortunately, up here I cannot take advantage of this b/c the delis up here don't have a self serve salad bar, but if you happen to be at a grocers that has a salad bar it maybe worth it!

Menu for Feb 6

Monday-Cheese Tortellini with meat sauce

Tuesday- Reubens

Wednesday- Minestrone and garlic toast

Thursday- Lasagna

Friday- Salads