Freezer Cooking & Easy Casseroles

I have only been a mom of 2 for 6 weeks … and a traditional mom of 2 for 1 week since the baby was discharged home, and I have already found that meal time can be very difficult.  Yes – it would be easy to grab fast food, or anything frozen from the grocery store, but we don’t really enjoy eating that way. What I have learned already is that some days, all I want to do is be in the kitchen to have some time to myself, and make us a delicious meals… While other days, I don’t have the energy to brush my hair, let alone cook a big meal.  This is the reason I stocked us up on some freezer meals … for the days that I don’t even brush my hair.  At least I know we will still be eating well!  This does take some time to do, but if you set aside a couple hours in ONE day to do it, it will save a ton of time on all the other days you don’t feel like doing it.

Here are the meals I made for the freezer:

Ham and Cheese Omelet Muffins

Chicken Fajita Crockpot Packs x 2

Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas x 10

Turkey Chili x 3

Garlic Turkey Burgers

Pulled Pork x 3

I also made 3 casseroles to be able to quickly grab and eat throughout the week.  Now I will say – I am not much of a huge casserole person, but each of these were really good.  I assume these casseroles could be prepared in advance and frozen (in an aluminum casserole pan), and then baked when ready to cook, just add extra cooking time.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole (half for the week, other half frozen in individual portions)

Bubble Up Pizza Casserole

Cheesy Cajun Beef and Potato Casserole

(Not Pictured: Cheesy Cajun Beef and Potato Casserole - See Below)

Here is the grocery list: (if you haven’t seen my weekly meals before, you will see a lot of the meals have similar ingredients, which keeps grocery costs down and meal prep easy).

Onions
Bell peppers x 6
Mushrooms
Broccoli

Chicken (10 large breast)
Ground turkey (4 lb)
Ground beef (1lb)
Italian sausage
Pepperoni
Ham steak x 2
Pork roast (very large or a couple sm/med)

Cream chicken soup x 2
Sauce
Black olives
Taco seasoning x 2

Cajun Seasoning
Kidney beans x2
Dijon mustard
Green chiles 2 cans (I bought tomato / green chile combo)

Stuffing Mix

BBQ Sauce

Flour

Oil (olive or canola)

Shredded hash browns
Butter
Milk
Pepper jack block
Cheddar shredded
Swiss
Shredded mozz
Sour cream
Eggs

Biscuit dough (refrigerated canned)

Frozen spinach

Flour tortillas

Here is how each of them were done:

Omelet muffins - beat 12 eggs, season to taste (I use salt and garlic powder), pour in greased muffin tin, fill with toppings (I used ham and cheddar). Bake 350 for 20 minutes.  I freeze these and when ready to cook, microwave them for 1-2 minutes.

Chicken Fajitas - label freezer storage bag, write directions "defrost, cook in crockpot low 4 hours". Fill each bag with 2 chicken breasts, 1 chopped green pepper, 1/2 chopped onion, 1 pack taco seasoning, 1/2 cup chicken broth.  Allow bag to defrost in the refrigerator, cook according to directions.  Once cooked, shred or cut chicken into strips, serve in tortillas (or on salad / rice etc).

Chicken and spinach enchiladas- cook 2 chicken breasts in boiling water, shred and season to taste (salt and garlic powder). Add in 1 package frozen spinach, drained. Add in 1/2 can cream of chicken soup, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles drained, 1 cup shredded cheddar and mix. Place into tortillas and roll. Roll each individually in foil, place in freezer bag and freeze.  To prepare, place in greased casserole dish (as many as you want) with prepared enchilada sauce, top with cheese, bake 375 for 40 minutes.  I made 2 of these for lunch the other day and they were delicious! 

Chili - 3 lb ground turkey, browned, drain fat. Season with ground cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, salt. Add in 2 diced bell pepper, 1 onion diced, 1 can diced tomato with green chiles, 1.5 cups tomato sauce, 2 cans drained kidney beans. Add in beef broth until chili is the consistency you like. Place in freezer bags. To cook, just thaw and reheat.

Chicken cordon Bleu casserole - Cubed and sauté 3 chicken breast, seasoned w salt and garlic powder. In a bowl combine cooked chicken, cubed ham, and 1 head broccoli florets. Mix with 1 can cream of chicken soup and 3 tbsp Dijon mustard. Place in greased casserole dish, topped with 8 slices Swiss cheese, top with prepared stuffing (I just used stovetop), bake at 350 for 20 minutes!

Garlic turkey burgers- just 1 lb ground turkey, salt and lots of garlic powder formed in patties and frozen to easily cook when wanted.

Pulled pork - I used one gigantic 6 lb pork loin in crock pot on low 7 hours until easily shreds. Shred in a bowl and season with salt and garlic powder. Add in whatever sauces you want and freeze in bags. I used Campbell's slow cooker sauces for the Hawaiian pork and apple bourbon pork, and for classic bbq I added sweet baby rays. 

(used the Hawaiian Pork to make tacos with sweet onion salsa, pineapple and spicy mayo!)

Bubble Up Pizza casserole - http://www.emilybites.com/.../07/bubble-pizza-casserole.html followed this recipe - just added green peppers.

Cheesy Cajun Beef and Potato Casserole - http://www.emilybites.com/2015/02/cheesy-cajun-beef-potato-bake.html – followed this recipe.  Honestly, this may have been my favorite meal of all of these!

As always, if you have any questions, just let me know! I will edit this post with pictures of the food once I make them.  For example, I plan to make Hawaiian Pulled Pork Tacos when I am ready to use the Hawaiian Pulled Pork ... When that happens, Ill add a picture ! 

Aldi Meal Planning: Week 4

This week’s grocery bill came to 82.77 and again – everything was from Aldi (except a dressing I really wanted at Target – which was 3.99).  As usual, I utilized leftover pantry items, fresh, and frozen foods I had available already in my kitchen.  Here was our menu this week:

Greek Salad Pizzas
Pittsburgh Steak Salads
Nacho Bar + Buffalo Cauliflower (and fried pickles)
California Sushi Bowls
Spaghetti Squash with Mushrooms, Onions + Swiss

Pancake Bites
BLT’s
Steak and Onion Hash with Eggs (This wasn’t planned)

Grocery List:

Blueberries
Bananas
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Red Onion
Potatoes
Spaghetti Squash
Mushrooms
Avocado
Cauliflower
Apples

Bacon
Steak
Ground Turkey
Imitation Crab
Turkey Sausage Crumbles

Spicy Mayo
Brown Rice
Ginger Dressing (Target)
Hot Sauce
Pancake Mix
Chocolate Chips
Mayo
Cereal
Crock Pot Sauces (new item there – will be used for future meals)
Popcorn
Sauce
Black Olives
Balsamic Dressing
Artichoke Hearts
Fruit Cups
Rice Cakes
Oil
Ranch
Queso
Jalapenos
Salsa
Black Beans
Tortilla Chips
Flour

Shredded Mozzarella
Feta
Eggs
Milk
Shredded Cheddar
Swiss
Light Sour Cream
Shredded Parmesan

Wheat Bread
Wheat Pizza Crust

Salt
Oregano
Garlic Powder
Sesame Seeds
Ground Cumin
Chili Powder

Breakfasts included Pancake Bites, Eggs, Bacon and Toast, Steak and Onion Hash with Eggs, Cereal, and Oatmeal. 

Snacks: Crackers with Cheese, Pickles, and Mustard, Rice Cakes with Hummus, Rice Pudding with Bananas, hard boiled eggs, and Fruit.

Lunches: Salads (with leftovers from nacho bar), BLT’s, Grilled Cheese, and Egg Salad.

Here is how I did the planned breakfasts, lunches + dinners (this weeks were probably the easiest and least time consuming):

Greek Salad Pizzas

The whole wheat pizza crust I bought last week (for the Caesar salad pizzas) came with 2 crusts, so I planned one crust to be saved for this week.  I spread sauce over the whole wheat crust with shredded mozzarella cheese.  Bake at 450 directly on the oven rack for 10 minutes.  Cut pizza into 4 (large) squares.  While the pizza is baking, chop up lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, black olives, artichoke hearts, and cucumber and toss in a bowl.  Add in crumbled feta, some dried oregano, and balsamic dressing and toss to coat.  Top each pizza with a big serving of salad.  I think I liked this even better than last week’s Pizza Salad!

Pancake Bites

Mix pancake mix according to directions.  My mix consisted of using 4 cups of the dried mix with 2 cups of water.  Pour batter into greased muffin tin, 2/3 of the way full.  Fill each pancake but with whatever ingredients you would like.  Some of mine had fresh blueberries, others had crumbled turkey sausage, and a few with peanut butter chips and a spoonful of strawberry jelly.  Bake at 350 for 14 minutes.  I made 24 of these total, saved a few for throughout the week, and froze the rest in freezer bags to quickly microwave for a fast breakfast. 

Pittsburgh Steak Salads

There is seriously nothing better to me than a steak salad with ranch dressing.  My favorite used to be from Parkway Tavern – along with their fried zucchini.  If you aren’t from Pittsburgh, first of all – I’m sorry, and second, this just means the salad is loaded with French fries and cheese (and hardboiled egg, too!).  I bought a big strip steak and seasoned each side with salt and garlic powder.  This steak was really freaking big – so the first side I seared on medium-high heat for 8 minutes and the second side for 7 minutes and the steak came out a perfect rare / medium rare (I always let my steak rest for 10 minutes before slicing).  I also made a big batch of homemade baked French fries (check back to this post to see how I make them: Meal Planning on a Budget: Aldi), lightly seasoned with salt.  In the meantime, 10 eggs were hardboiled, a few for the salads and the rest for throughout the week.  For the salad base, it was just some chopped lettuce, tomato, cucumber, red onion, and hardboiled egg.  Top with a pretty good amount of shredded cheddar cheese and place the hot fries on top (helps to melt the cheese some).  Then slice up the steak and serve on top of the salads.  Add ranch dressing and you have the best salad ever.  

Steak and Onion Hash with Eggs

This was not a planned meal, but because the steak I bought for the steak salad was so huge, there were lots of leftovers (I know – leftover steak is an oxymoron …. Kind of like leftover bacon).  If there are any leftover French fries, you can easily just dice them up and add them in a hot pan with some cooking spray (if not, you can use regular raw potatoes diced/shredded up and cooked).  To the potatoes, add in diced onion and season with salt and garlic powder.  Cook until potatoes are golden and crisp and onions are softened.  Add in sliced steak toward the very end just to warm through, but not overcook.  Serve in a bowl.  In the same pan, cook 2 eggs over medium (or however you’d like) and serve on top of the hash!

Nacho Bar + Buffalo Cauli (and fried pickles)

The nacho bar was simple; minimal cooking, mostly prep work was needed.  In a pan, brown ground turkey until cooked, and drain fat.  Season with ground cumin, chili powder, salt and garlic powder.  Add a ¼ cup of water to create a flavored sauce to coat the ground turkey.  Set aside in a bowl.  Chop up some lettuce, tomato, red onion and avocado.  Dish out some pickled jalapenos, rinsed canned black beans, shredded cheddar cheese, and sliced black olives.  Warm up some queso and dish up some salsa and light sour cream.  Open tortilla chips and allow everyone to create their own nacho platter.  (All leftover nacho toppings were topped on a few Tupperware containers full of shredded lettuce to have easy lunches prepared throughout the week). 

The buffalo cauliflower recipe is from skinnytaste and can be found here: skinny taste.  I hadn't had these before, they are good, but I don’t know that I would make them again.  I’d rather just roast the cauliflower on its own and toss in buffalo sauce … or you know, eat Buffalo wings! 

The fried pickles were not planned what.so.ever, however I am really glad I made them.  When my mom moved in with us to help, she brought a few pantry items and one of them was a tempura batter packet.  The instructions said to add water, but I just added beer instead, because... beer.  I have made similar batters like this before with flour, seasoning salt and beer (if you don’t have the tempura mix).  I patted dry some bread and butter pickles, dropped them in the batter, and fried in canola oil.  I could eat like 47 million of these.  I probably didn’t love the buffalo cauli as much as I thought I would because I had these fried nuggets of perfection to compare them to. 

This was a fun, appetizer-style dinner.  I’ve said it before and ill say it again… there needs to be a restaurant with a buffet of just a shit-ton of appetizers.  How could you go wrong?

BLT's

There really isn't too much to say about these, other than I've been craving a good BLT.  I pre-made the bacon on Saturday morning, to easily make BLTs or to have bacon for other meals/salad toppings for the week.  Just some toasted whole wheat bread, bacon, lettuce, tomato slices, light mayo and a piece of cheese!

California Sushi Bowl and Side Salads

This is really just a deconstructed California sushi roll, so easy and so good.  Cook brown rice (we use the brown rice in a bag that just needs cooked for 10 minutes) according to directions.  Mix few dashes of soy sauce with rice.  Serve rice in a bowl.  Add chopped cucumbers, avocado and imitation crab to the rice (instead of crab, I used crushed peanuts for my mom’s – which is a roll she loves at a local restaurant).  Top sushi bowls with spicy mayo (ours is already prepared from the international food aisle, but you could just mix mayo and sriracha) and toasted sesame seeds.  For the side salad, I just had lettuce, tomato and the ginger dressing bought at Target.  The dressing is the closest thing you’ll get to the fresh ginger dressing served at Japanese restaurants. 

Spaghetti Squash with Mushrooms, Onions, + Swiss with Side Caesars

Cut squash down the center, remove center and seeds, and place face down on a foil lined pan sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.  When the squash is done, you can take a fork and scrape the flesh so it forms spaghetti-like strands.  While the squash is cooking, saute some onions and mushrooms, seasoned with salt and garlic powder.  Scrape the spaghetti squash flesh into a bowl and toss with a bit of butter. Place the spaghetti strands back into the squash shell, add mushrooms and onions, top with swiss, and broil until bubbly and melted.  I added a balsamic drizzle as well.  Served with side caesars of just lettuce, fresh grated parm, tomatoes, caesar dressing and fresh lemon juice. 

So all in all ….  The amount of money spent on groceries in the last month, primarily at Aldi, cost $375.  If you break it down for 4 people (4.5 really … Alex, my Mom, Myself + always a leftover meal for lunches … and B) and only include Breakfasts, Lunches and Dinners (doesn’t include snacks), over 30 days, each meal cost $1.04 per person, per day.  That’s really insane – and I am very happy with this...  Especially because the meals we have been eating are very good!

Keep in mind – I didn't blog the first week (because I wasn't prepared to love everything I bought at Aldi so much)– but the grocery list was $105 and included a lot of pantry items that needed to be stocked up on.  And the meals included Big Mac Salads, Spaghetti Squash with Sauce, Turkey Italian Sausage and Side Salads, Chicken Fajitas with Refried Beans, Honey Dijon Salmon and Salads, Buffalo Chicken Chili, and Chili with Cornbread (among other breakfasts, lunches, and snacks).  Here are some pictures from those meals.

I never know when my last week is to post before baby comes, but I am hoping to do this again next week!  If not – I will pick up again once things are settled! 

Aldi Meal Planning: Week 3

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

Tomato sauce

Old Fashioned Oats

Brown Sugar

Baking Powder

Bread Crumbs

Chocolate Chips

Peanut Butter Chips

Chicken Broth

Refried Beans

Gluten Free Crust Mix

Black Olives

Syrup

Ranch Dressing

Caesar Dressing

Flour

Balsamic Vinegar

Vanilla Extract

Minced Garlic

Italian Seasoning

Salt

Garlic Powder

Rice Pudding (2) (for the baby in my belly)

Eggs (2)

Milk

Brie

Shredded Cheddar

Shredded Parmesan

Light Sour Cream

Butter

American Cheese

Shredded Mozzarella

Hummus (2)

Wheat Bread

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

Frozen Corn (2)

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! 

Meal Planning on a Budget: Aldi - Week 2

I have to admit, it can sometimes be challenging to cook for a gluten free (Alex), a vegetarian (Mom), a toddler (B) and a pregnant-hormonal-craving-crazy person (Me).  FYI – Alex doesn’t have to eat gluten free for medical reasons, but tries out different things to see how it makes him feel, and honestly it has been good giving B a variety of things and trying GF dishes.  It is especially challenging when I make sure I am making basically the same meals for each of us, just small modifications for each person.  I also have to admit that I enjoy it, because it lets me think outside of the box and get more creative in the kitchen.  The only way it is possible is by pretty extensive menu planning, grocery list making, and meal prepping.  All of this week’s meals were $105.03 by shopping at Aldi, using items on hand, and products from the previous weeks shopping trip.

I always start by looking in my pantry to see items I have on hand, or in the freezer and fridge, to make meals out of what we already have to keep the costs down.  Our pantry is often stocked because we buy things when they are on sale for 10 for $10 or other great deals.  I almost always have pasta, sauces, multiple varieties of beans, dressings, different broths etc.  In the freezer, there is usually lots of ground turkey (we buy bulk at Costco) and frozen vegetables, and in the fridge I may have some cheeses leftover from the previous shopping trip.  So my grocery costs stay low because I work around what we already have on hand.  If you do not have the items already, I did include them in the grocery list, but I crossed them out as I already had them.  I even included spices, which many people have, so the list may look long, but it really isn’t).  Keep in mind that although a lot of the items I already had, many of them I bought in the previous week’s grocery trip for $103 total (Week 1 of my monthly budgeted meal plan was not blogged - but you can see some of the meals if you check out week 4).  And many of the items I bought this week will carry over into next week’s meal planning, so it all equals out. 

Also, in order to keep costs down, a lot of the meals revolve around central ingredients.  This week’s meals had a lot of Italian style components, but it is really the easiest way to keep it inexpensive.  But just because there is a lot of Italian, doesn’t mean the meals taste the same (at all).  FYI – next week’s meals contain a few Mexican dishes.

I grocery shop on Friday evenings.  It allows Alex to be with me (since I am not supposed to be doing anything anyways), allows my mom to be done with work to watch B, and gives me time to meal prep and such over the weekends.  Plus – we found we eat out mostly on weekends, so when we have fresh food – it kind of makes us stay in to eat it, and saves us money. I will be shopping Sunday this week though as guests are coming for the weekend and we planned for different meals.

Our menu generally consists of 5 meals for dinner, and 2 big breakfast or lunch ideas.  And the other 2 days, we eat leftovers or may order in one day (but to save on money, I try not to do that, but sometimes the baby in my belly needs it).  Leftovers are also doubled for lunches for Alex the next day.  I also buy staples for breakfasts and lunches for us all.  This week was a bit different though, as I started with a list of 5 meals, but then saw chicken was on sale and we ended up eating French fries one night for dinner.

Here are some breakfasts I made out of this week’s grocery trip: A big batch of hash browns, breakfast sausage and scrambled eggs (this lasted for 2 days of breakfast and 1 random lunch for me), gluten free blueberry pancakes with breakfast sausage and banana, scrambled eggs with toast, and cereal with milk.  I do not really plan out breakfasts; just use what we have on hand.

Lunches included leftover chili, tuna pasta salad, cauliflower soup, many regular salads, frozen pizza and random leftovers.

And lots of snacks, like yogurt and granola, rice cakes with peanut butter, carrots and celery with hummus, hard boiled eggs, fruit, and lots of chocolate covered pretzels (for baby) since my dad stopped at Sarris before visiting us!

Ok – Here is the menu …

Fri: Homemade Baked French Fries (with different items for everyone)

Sat: Chili with GF Cornbread and Mini Cheese Quesadillas

Sun: Zucchini Lasagna with Salad and Turkey Meatballs

Mon: Vegetable Pasta Bake or Sausage Bake

Tue: Honey Mustard Chicken with Cauliflower Soup

Wed: Cauliflower Crust Pizza with Salad

Thu: Meatloaf with Broccoli and Cheese (Frozen pizza for my mom)

And the grocery list …

5 lb bag of potatoes

Green pepper (2)

Red onion (4)

Lettuce

Zucchini (4)

Tomatoes

Fresh spinach

Garlic

Cauliflower (3 heads)

Carrot

Celery

Banana

Apples

Ground turkey (4 lbs) (bought bulk at Costco)

Turkey Italian sausage (5-6 links)

Chicken (3 breasts)

Breakfast sausage

Ground cumin

Chili powder

Garlic powder

Salt

Italian seasoning

Canned diced tomatoes

Black Olives (2)

Red kidney beans

Can creamed corn

Canned beets

Tuna (5 cans – for lunches and just to stock up)

Tomato sauce (I bought organic canned on sale and stocked up with 4 of them)

Fat Free Beef broth

Fat Free Chicken broth

GF corn bread mix

Pasta

Flour

Dijon mustard

Honey

Brown sugar

Ketchup

Hot sauce

Mayo

Sweet relish

Balsamic Glaze

Peanut butter

Oil

Light sour cream

RF shredded cheddar

Milk

Eggs (2 dozen)

Part Skim Ricotta

Parmesan cheese

Shredded mozzarella (2)

Feta

Yogurt (4)

Hummus

Mini corn tortillas (had leftover from fajitas the week before)

Bread

GF rosemary and olive oil crackers

Rice cakes (4 packs)

Cereal

GF Granola

Frozen broccoli with cheese

Frozen pizzas (2)

GF blueberry pancakes

(We also needed a few random items, like jelly, crackers, and snacky items that were a part of the 105 total but did not contribute to the planned meals)

And Yes – All of the items I needed totaled $105 at Aldi!

And here is what I did …

Baked French Fries

This was an odd night, but Alex said “I want a shit ton of French fries”, so I made 4 lbs.  They are super easy but making a big batch takes a while because of oven space.  All you do is either hand cut the potatoes into fries, or make it easy like me and use a mandolin that has this setting.  Soak the cut fries in water for at least an hour to remove the starch.  Then rinse the fries and pat dry (make sure they are really dry).  Toss them in 4 tbsp total of oil (I used heart healthy canola, but whatever you have will work.  I usually use olive oil).  Spread fries out on a foil lined pan and bake at 425 for 20 minutes.  I did 2 pans at a time and after the 20 minutes, I shook around the fries and alternated the racks each pan was on, and baked another 8 minutes.  After fries are done, they come out crispy, and I toss them in a bowl with salt or any other seasoning.  I am telling you – this night was really random because I used things we had already to go with the fries.  I made my mom a veggie burger to go with hers, made my dad a steak with his, Alex had fries seasoned a bunch of different ways, and I made mine like crab fries (seasoned with old bay with melted American cheese).  And that was our dinner …. P.S. with the leftover lb of potatoes, I shredded them up to make the hash browns for breakfast the next day.  Also – If you do not need 4 lbs of fries, because that is absolutely absurd – you can just bake some potatoes for leftovers and top with leftover chili and cheese, etc.  Or to mash as a side dish with the meatloaf…

Chili with GF Cornbread and Mini Cheese Quesadillas

The chili is super easy! Brown 2 lb of ground turkey and remove all fat.  Add in a good palm full of ground cumin, chili powder, and garlic powder.  Then add salt to taste, and allow the spices to cook with the ground turkey for a couple minutes.  Then add in ½ cup any tomato sauce (I usually always have some leftover in the fridge from a previous recipe).  Chop 1.5 green pepper (reserve the other half for cauliflower crust pizza recipe) and 1 red onion and allow to cook for 15-20 minutes to let the vegetables sweat and soften (heat is on med low).  Add 1 can of diced tomatoes with the liquid and 1 can of drained and rinsed kidney beans.  Add ½ carton of fat free beef broth and allow to simmer for at least an hour (we usually let it cook for 2-3 hours). When chili is done I top with shredded lettuce, light sour cream, hot sauce, a scoop of gluten free corn bread, and little quesadillas.

Cornbread: Gluten free cornbread mix from Aldi.  Instructions say to mix with 1 egg, ¾ cup of milk, and ½ cup of oil, but instead of the oil. I used 1 can of creamed corn.  Bake for 40 minutes, instead of 20, according to oven directions.

Quesadillas:  These weren’t a planned part of the meal, but because I had leftover corn tortillas from dinner last week, I quickly made these.  Just sprayed pam in a pan, put one corn tortilla, filled with reduced fat shredded cheddar, and another tortilla.  Cook and flip until crispy and cheese is melted. 

Zucchini Lasagna with Salad and Turkey Meatballs

Cut 4 medium size zucchini in long planks.  Put zucchini in a colander in the sink and lightly salt.  Leave for 10 minutes to allow excess moisture to be removed.  Rinse zucchini and pat dry.  I then seared each plank on a hot pan on each side to quickly dry out some more.  In a bowl, mix ricotta cheese with 1 egg and ¼ cup of parmesan cheese, season with salt.  In another bowl, I poured in the organic canned sauce and added some garlic powder, salt and Italian seasoning.  In a casserole dish, start with a layer of sauce, add the zucchini planks along the bottom of the dish, spread a layer of ricotta mixture over the zucchini, and then 1/3 of the bag shredded mozzarella.  Continue with another layer of sauce, zucchini, ricotta, and mozzarella.  Finish with another layer of sauce, zucchini, (skip the ricotta) and mozzarella.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes covered then 15 minutes uncovered.  Allow lasagna to sit for at least 10 minutes before cutting and serving.  Serve with a side salad (I just had lettuce, tomato, red onion and fresh parm).  And also served ours with turkey meatballs … made with 1 lb of ground turkey, salt, garlic powder, some crushed gluten free rosemary and olive oil crackers, and 1 egg, rolled in mini meatballs and baked at 350 for 30 minutes.  (I had leftover ricotta mixture that I used for the next nights meal, and also had lots of leftover meatballs for the rest of the week). 

Vegetable Pasta Bake or Sausage Bake (or both)

Cut 4 tomatoes into slices and put on a foil lined pan sprayed with pam.  Season with salt.  Roast at 350 until the rest of the meal is prepared (was prob 30-40 minutes).  In another pan, sear the Italian turkey sausages until cooked through.  In a separate pan, spray with cooking oil and add some garlic.  Add in ½ bag of fresh spinach and ½ red onion, sliced.  Once spinach is wilted and onion is softened, season with salt and garlic powder to taste.  Add in 1 jar of sauce (I had a butternut squash and roasted red pepper sauce in my pantry, but you could use any sauce) and heat through.  Then add the other ½ bag of spinach (I add this in toward the end so all of the spinach isn’t completely wilted down and some still has some bite to it).  Cook pasta according to directions. Serve the pasta or sliced sausage (or both) in a bowl, with the roasted tomatoes, topped with the sauce and fresh parmesan.  I also added some ricotta dumplings since I had some leftover ricotta from the lasagna.  To make them, I took the ricotta, egg, parmesan mixture and just added some flour until it was a dough consistency.  Rolled them into little dumpling balls and boiled them in the leftover pasta water until they floated.  Remove from water to drain, and sear them in the pan with the leftover turkey sausage drippings.  Serve over pasta.  (p.s. my mom is a vegetarian but doesn’t mind the dumplings and such being seared in the turkey sausage pan, or she doesn’t mind chicken broth etc… she just hates actual meat and seafood). 

Honey Mustard Chicken with Cauliflower Soup

Chicken: 3 large chicken breasts cut in half to make 6 cutlets.  Pat chicken dry and season each side with salt and garlic powder.  In a pan over medium-high heat with cooking spray, sear the chicken on each side for a few minutes.  Place chicken on a foil lined baking sheet.  In a bowl, mix 3 tbsp Dijon with 2 tbsp honey.  Spoon mixture evenly over chicken and bake at 350 for 20 minutes (FYI - don’t give to babies less than a year old because of the honey). 

Soup: 2 heads of cauliflower chopped in florets and put in a crock pot.  Add 1 carton of fat free chicken broth.  Cook on high for 4 hours until cauliflower can be poked with a fork.  Blend broth and cauliflower (I use an immersion blender but you can do this in a regular blender if you do it in small batches – do not fill blender to the top with anything hot, as it expands and can splash out and burn you!!).  Once blended, add in 1 ¼ cup milk (I used 2% because that is what B drinks, but I have used fat free before) and stir.  Turn crock pot on low.  Add in some chopped celery, carrots and onion (I had probably a cup and a half of chopped vegetables total – these were leftover from last week) and cook 2-3 more hours until vegetables are softened.  Season with salt to taste.  Serve with shredded reduced fat cheddar (and anything else you would like in it … croutons, bacon, sour cream, scallions, etc.). 

Cauliflower Crust Pizza with Salad

Take 1 med-lg head of cauliflower and grate on a box grater (or in a food processor).  The size of cauliflower I had gave me 4 cups of grated cauliflower “rice”.  Microwave the 4 cups of cauliflower for 8 minutes or until softened and allow to cool.  Add in 2 eggs (make sure the cauli is cool so the eggs don’t scramble when you put them in), 1.5 cups of shredded low fat mozzarella, 2 tbsp of grated parmesan cheese, and salt to taste, and stir.  Spray a foil lined baking sheet with pam and form individual crusts on the sheet.  I could have made 4, but I made one large one for Alex and 2 regular ones for my mom and me (the large one on one pan and the two regular ones on a different pan and baked them separately on the middle rack).  Spray each crust with a bit of pam on top.  Bake in 425 degree oven for 10 minutes.  Add sauce, some light mozzarella cheese (I didn’t add a lot since there is cheese in the crust), and any toppings you would like (Alex’s and mine had some leftover Italian turkey sausage, green peppers, red onions and black olives, and my moms had the same but with veggie sausage).  Bake in the oven until melted (approximately 6-8 minutes).  Served with a side salad of beets, feta and a balsamic glaze (because I ran out of lettuce).

Meatloaf with Broccoli and Cheese

I haven’t made tonight’s dinner yet, so I am not going to talk about it much.  But I am sure most have or can find a simple meatloaf recipe.  I always have a ketchup and balsamic glaze on mine … because ketchup is the best.  And it is being served with broccoli and cheese.

I hope this helps anyone who is trying to budget and make healthy meals.  If you have any questions, please let me know.  My next upcoming posts will just focus on the menu, lists, and instructions as long as baby doesn’t come before then!  I’ll be shopping Sunday this weekend but will try to still post sometime on Thursday!  Have a great day!