This week’s grocery bill came to 84.02 and everything
came from Aldi. I am also using pantry
items I had on hand, which I built my menu around. Just like last week, I included all items on
the list, but if I had it already, it is crossed out. Here is the menu:
Chicken Caesar Salad Pizzas
Enchilada Casserole with Side Salad and Tortillas
Apple, Brie, & Caramelized Onion Sandwiches with
Salad
Open-faced Meatball Sandwiches with Salad
Chicken and Caramelized Onion Burrito Bowls
McGriddle Bake
Banana Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal
Grocery List:
Bananas
Onions
Apples
Avocado (2)
Lettuce
Tomato
Lime
Chicken Tenderloins (12 tenders total)
Breakfast Sausage (12 links total)
Ground Turkey (1 lb)
Rice Cakes
Cereal
Fruit Cups (for B)
Enchilada sauce mix
Salsa
Black Beans
Diced Green Chilies
Old Fashioned Oats
Gluten Free Crust Mix
Caesar Dressing
Rice Pudding (2) (for the baby in my belly)
Eggs (2)
Milk
Brie
Light Sour Cream
Butter
American Cheese
Shredded Mozzarella
Hummus (2)
Wheat Bread
Whole Wheat Pizza Crust
Breakfasts included: McGriddle Bake, Banana Chocolate
Chip Oatmeal, Eggs with Toast and Sausage, Frozen Waffles (leftover), Omelet,
Cereal.
Snacks: Rice cakes with hummus, Rice pudding with bananas, Crackers
with cheese and pickles, etc.
Lunches: tons of salads, grilled cheese, leftover meatballs,
leftover enchilada bake (turned into nacho toppings, quesadillas and toppings
for a salad).
Here is how I did the dinners/breakfast plan:
Chicken Caesar Salad Pizzas
Lay a whole wheat prepared pizza crust on a foil lined
baking sheet. Top with tomato sauce and
shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake at 450
for 10 minutes and cut into big pizza slices (I made 4 big slices). While the pizza is baking, take 6 of the
chicken tenderloins and pat dry, season with salt and garlic powder, and sear
in pan until cooked through. Take 3
tenders and chop for the salads, and chop the other 3 to use throughout the
week for salads and lunches – the remaining raw tenders will be used for a
different meal later in the week as my package came with 12). In a bowl, mix
chopped lettuce, tomatoes, thinly sliced onion, sliced black olives, and
shredded parmesan cheese. Add in Caesar
dressing and toss, top each pizza with the salad. For Alex and I, I added chopped chicken on top
as well, and just meatless for my Mom. This is obviously a fork and knifer, but
the combo is my favorite!
McGriddle Bake
I have wanted a sausage McGriddle for a week and refuse
to go to McDonalds, so I made this bake as a part of my meal plan. Melt 2 tbsp of butter and grease a casserole
dish. In a mixing bowl, add 1 cup of
flour, 1 cup milk, 4 eggs and a dash of salt and whisk until combined. Pour mixture into greased casserole
dish. In a pan, cook 6 breakfast sausage
links (only 6 are needed but I make all 12 – use 6 and save the other 6 for
breakfasts throughout the week) until browned and cooked through. Remove from pan and chop into small pieces. Drop sausage into the batter. Top with 3 pieces of American cheese, broken
up into small pieces. Bake at 400
degrees for 20 minutes. Cut into squares
and serve with maple syrup! Tastes just like a McGriddle!
Enchilada Casserole with Side Salad and Tortillas
Prepare 2 bags of brown rice (we buy the 10 minute rice
that is already in a bag and you just boil it for 10 minutes). Cook 1 bag of frozen corn in microwave (or
however your directions tell you to do so).
In a mixing bowl, combine brown rice, corn, 2 cans of drained and rinsed
black beans, 4oz can of green chiles (if you like heat, add an extra can, I
just can’t have it too spicy for B), and enchilada sauce. Aldi didn’t have enchilada sauce in a can,
but they did have a dry powdered enchilada sauce mix that you combine with a
can of tomato sauce and water, and I added some garlic to freshen it up a
bit. Combine all the ingredients in a
bowl and mix in one cup of reduced fat cheddar cheese. Season with salt to taste. Add mixture in a greased casserole dish (I
used pam), cover with a bit more shredded cheese and bake at 400 for 20 minutes
covered, then remove cover and broil for a few minutes until cheese is bubbly
and browned. Top with light sour cream,
avocado, and some hot sauce.
This was served with a side salad of lettuce, tomato,
onion, black olives, and the dressing was salsa mixed with ranch. Dinner was also served with some crisped up
tortillas (leftover) by spraying the tortilla with pam and placed on a hot pan
for a few minutes on each side, then cut into triangles.
Apple, Brie, & Caramelized Onion Sandwiches with
Salad
In a skillet, melt 2 tbsp of butter over medium
heat. Add in 5 sliced onions (I used 5
because I am using caramelized onions for two different meals, and like to add
them to salads and such throughout the week).
Stir onions so they are all coated with the melted butter. Continue to cook for 10 minutes. Add in a dash of salt. Continue cooking onions for about 50 minutes,
stirring every 5-10 so they brown but do not burn. Once finished cooking, I added a bit of
balsamic vinegar to deglaze the pan and add extra flavor. Put cooked caramelized onions aside. Core and slice an apple into thin
pieces. Sear on the pan for just a
minute or two on each side and set aside, to soften the apple a bit but still
have a crunch. Butter whole wheat bread
and place butter side down on pan. Add
sliced brie cheese, top with sliced apple and caramelized onions and another
small piece of brie cheese (to glue the other piece of the bread), and top with
the other piece of wheat bread, butter side up.
Cover with a lid and allow to cook until bread becomes toasted and
brown, and flip until the other side does the same (just like a regular grilled
cheese). I served this with a side salad
of lettuce, craisins, beets, chopped apple, and candied pecans with balsamic
dressing.
Banana Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal
Preheat oven to 350.
Spray a casserole dish with pam.
In a bowl, mix 3 cups of oats with ½ cup of brown sugar, 1 tsp of baking
powder, and ½ tsp of salt. In another
bowl, add 2 mashed bananas with 1 cup of milk, 2 eggs, and 1 tbsp of vanilla
extract. Combine wet and dry ingredients and add in chocolate and peanut butter
chips. I probably added 3/4 cup total of
chips, but you could easily just do ½ cup.
Bake for 30 minutes. Slice into
squares and serve.
Open-faced Meatball Sandwiches with Salad
To make meatballs, take 1 lb of ground turkey in a bowl
and mix with 2 tbsp of minced garlic, 1 egg, ½ cup breadcrumbs (or crushed
gluten free crackers), ½ cup grated parmesan, quarter of a minced red onion, 1
tbsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp italian seasoning, and ½ tsp salt. Form into balls. In a pan over medium heat spayed with pam,
sear the meatballs until lightly browned on all sides. In a saucepan, add in 2 cans of tomato sauce
(I added fresh garlic, garlic powder, salt and some italian seasoning to
freshen up the organic canned sauce I had).
Add seared meatballs into sauce and allow to continue to cook in sauce
until cooked through (I cooked mine on low heat for 4 hours). Take wheat bread, spread some butter, garlic
powder, and italian seasoning blend and bake in the oven until toasted. Top the wheat garlic toast with a few
meatballs and sauce, top with provolone and broil until bubbly. Serve with a side Caesar salad (mine had
lettuce, tomato, red onion, black olives, diced beets, fresh parm and Caesar
dressing). Alex’s was made just in a
bowl, without the bread, and my mom’s was made with vegetarian meatballs (which
are surprisingly very good). Plus – we had
plenty of meatballs leftover for lunches!
Chicken and Caramelized Onion Burrito Bowls
Heat a can of refried beans according to directions (we
use fat free). Also, cook a bag of
frozen corn according to directions. In
a pan, cook chicken tenders with ground cumin, chili powder, salt and garlic
powder until cooked through and chop.
Cook brown rice (again – I use the 10 minute brown rice in a bag) and season
with some ground cumin and chili powder. In the bottom of a bowl, spread some refried
beans. Top with seasoned rice and
chopped lettuce. Add in chopped chicken,
tomatoes, corn, avocado, reduced fat cheese and caramelized onions. In a bowl, mix salsa, light sour cream and
some hot sauce, and spoon on burrito bowls.
All of this week’s dinners were really good! I appreciate all of the positive feedback
that I have been getting! I am by no
means a professional chef or cook, just cooking for my family and sharing my
ideas to eat as healthy as possible on a budget, and if I can help anyone in
the process, that is just wonderful!
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