Day 6: Salmon Burgers with Rice and Salad

It’s Day 6 of my new menu plan. I’m halfway thru the week and my kitchen is practically empty. (OK, I admit to a small, quick visit to the grocery store today – don’t tell my DH! – and I used cash, way less than I have spent in the past!) Today, for our trip to the zoo I stopped at New Seasons and picked up lunch for me (salmon and avacado sushi and Kombucha) and for the kids I got string cheese, Veggie Booty, fresh blueberries, and Z bars. And water. Tomorrow’s lunches will be interesting….PB and J for sure, leftover Veggie Booty, more blueberries, more cheese…Ok, well that doesn’t sound too bad. There’s some hummus in the fridge, I could toast some bread to go with that for me. And carrots, I know I saw carrots in the fridge too.

I’ve been reading a great blog about Bento lunches (is that redundant?) Check out Lunchinabox.net. She’s got great ideas for lunches (Ok, so my kids won’t eat octopus or skate, but rice balls and mini jello cups sound great!) I especially like her preparation times. She gives you a good idea of how long these lunches take to pack. Not long at all. She utilizes leftovers like no one I’ve ever seen; she finds a way to use even a tablespoon of food. She relies very heavily on plastic and microwaving (I don’t use either) but her pictures are pretty and she is a great resource for everything Bento.

So, on to the Salmon Burgers with Rice and Salad. Originally, it was with Chard, but I used that in the Turkey Meatloaf Patties and then again in the Broken Lasagna. Not a bad dinner tonight, very healthy, fairly quick to make. Leftovers included an extra salmon burger for DH’s lunch tomorrow and LOTS of rice. Good rice too, it’s organic, long-grain brown rice. Yum! What shall I do with it? Maybe fried rice? No, I’ve only got 2 eggs left until Sunday and I’m making blueberry muffins tomorrow. Plus I’m out of veggies. I’ll have to come up with something else….

Salmon Burgers

I purchased a package of premade salmon burgers from TJ. I grilled them on the stove top in my iron skillet. (They are also great on the BBQ) I served them on toasted sourdough bread with Garlic Dill Mayo

The salad I served tonight was a combination of creativity and desperation. Well maybe not desperation, but I am seriously running low on food. It’s not like we are going to starve, but flavor and variety will not be around for long. Is it Sunday yet?

Day 6 Salad

2 hearts of Romaine lettuce, chopped

1/4 cup crispy walnuts (recipe follows)

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup homemade croutons

1/3 cup Oriental Dressing from Nourishing Traditions

Add all ingredients, toss well.

Day 5: Broken Lasagna

I am going to use a Broken Lasagna recipe inspired by Rachel Ray for Day 5. I am going to incorporate yesterday’s leftover Turkey Meatloaf Patties plus some leftover marinara from Day 3.

Broken Lasagna

1 box of no boil lasagna noodles, broken up into bits

2 cups cheese (any kind; ricotta, mozzerella, cheddar, whatever you have on hand); reserve about 1/2 cup for the top

2 leftover Turkey Meatloaf Patties, broken up into bits

1 1/2 cups of marinara (use leftover or store bought)

Mix all ingredients well and pour into a Demarle Flexipan Mold. I like to use the Fluted Square Mold. Top the mixture with the reserved 1/2 cup of cheese. It’s important to do this: all the broken bits of no boil noodles need to be covered with cheese, otherwise they stay kinda crunchy.

Cook in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Serve with a spoon right out of the Fluted Square Mold. You can flip it onto a plate too if you are looking for a nice presentation.

The Broken Lasagna turned out great! It was easy and quick to prepare, it utilized leftovers and there’s enough left for more leftovers. Guess what my DH is having for lunch tomorrow? For me the best part is always the easy clean up. Hot soapy water in the Fluted Square Mold and I’m done. No spraying, soaking or scraping.

Day 4: Hot Dogs and Hamburgers

I’ve skipped to Day 4. Days 1-3 went well, not bored yet! No grocery shopping this week, although we are going berry picking Thursday and possible Friday. I have cash for that The “real” grocery shopping starts on Sunday, 7/20, what I call Week 2.

All L wants to eat is hot dogs right now. C won’t eat much of anything. So it’s hamburgers for the grown-ups! I don’t really want a hamburger, but that’s what the plan is for today so I’m sticking to it, sort of. I am going to use ground turkey to make a meatloaf, sort of. But I don’t have time to cook a meatloaf so I’m going to cook it as patties.

Turkey Meatloaf Patties

1 package ground turkey from Trader Joes

2 eggs

2 tblsp mustard

4 leaves of Chard, de-veined and finely chopped

1/2 cup Sourdough Croutons

1 tblsp Soy Sauce

Mix all ingredients together, form into patties and cook in a skillet roughly 5 minutes on a side.

Serve on toasted sourdough bread. It’s especially good with homemade Savory Plum jam (can’t find this recipe right now but I’ll keep looking). We had it with guacamole and organic tortilla chips.

L ate a bunless hot dog with organic ketchup, some guacamole from Trader Joes and some organic tortilla chips.

C ate…organic tortilla chips? I can’t remember what the little guy ate, but I guarantee you it wasn’t much.

Combatting the $900 Grocery Bill

After months, no years, of outrageous grocery bills (to the tune of $800-$900 per month for 2 adults and 2 small kids) I have finally come up with a plan for lowering our food costs. I usually cook pretty nice dinners; I’m always trying new recipes and looking for new flavors. In the past I was always running out to the store to pick up this ingredient or that, and coming home with an extra $60-$80 worth of groceries, on top of my normal weekly grocery run. I don’t want to give up healthy eating; I will not eat processed foods, I will not eat produce from foreign countries, I will not give up healthy eating. So, the new plan includes 10 different dinners that we eat roughly 3 times a month. I will start each week with a grocery list and $100 cash. Extra cash at the end of the week will go towards beer, wine, eating out or next week’s groceries. The grocery list will include items for breakfast and lunch. My DH’s lunches will mostly be leftovers from the night before. I plan on prebaking much of our breakfast; waffles and pancakes (from my favorite cookbook, Nourishing Traditions), muffins, and occaisionlly, eggs.

The big question is, can I actually do this. The eggs I like to buy are $6 a dozen. The meat and fish we eat is $7-$28 a pound. We really need a garden. And we really need laying hens. *sigh*

A big motivator for me is that my husband agreed to let me spend the first “extra” $450 or so anyway I want. That’s a lot of money to me. I’ve been home with the kids and haven’t had a paycheck for over 5 years now. With $450 I could buy that Dyson vacum cleaner I have my eye on. I could use it for the girl’s retreat my friend A is planning for this fall, I could fly to LA to see my Aunt. I could buy clothes (nah, nothing fits or looks good). I could hire a babysitter, go to a spa, see a movie and have lunch. I could save it for our garden, and the hens I’ve been dreaming about. Too many choices…

Here are the 10 meals I have in rotation for each month:

The Menu Plan

burritos/quesadillas

soup w/bread

pasta

pizza (homemade)

lasagna

chicken w/veggies and potatoes

beef w/ veggies and rice

fish w/ veggies and rice

breakfast for dinner (sausage, eggs, pancakes or waffles)

hot dogs and hamburgers

Some of the meals look larger than others; consider that in lasagna, you have protein, veggies and a carb all mixed together. Some of the meals will take longer to make than others (chicken for instance, I usually roast a whole chicken so I can make stock with it too), some are quick and easy. Some will be great with leftovers in them. I have some space for creativity; this week I had to get pretty creative with lunches and snacks for the kids. I’ll say this, we are eating healthier!