This week Ansen and I actually sat down and made a menu out of the stuff we already have. While he was antsy for us to go watch a Big Bang Theory episode, we stuck it out and actually came up with enough meals for the week. Here’s what we’ve had/will be having this week:
Hamburger Helper – Not really the most exciting dinner, Ansen managed to make it a little better by adding some corn and sour cream. Overall, not bad for a prepackaged meal.
Fried Rice & Pot Stickers – We’ve had these frozen pot stickers for a while, so Ansen made fried rice and used up a bunch of our veggies and the pot stickers. That’s 2 for Ansen!
Italian Sausage Pasta and Zucchini – My family was in town Tuesday evening and mom brought dinner. We fried up some zucchini (although it had to be separate for the picky sisters), browned some regular sausage with some Italian herbs (like the oregano from my garden), added some red sauce and poured it over some pasta. Oh, and I made some french bread dough in my bread maker and baked it in a french loaf.
Philly Cheese Steaks – We had 2 top round steaks left that needed to be used up, so while trying to come up with a creative way, Ansen suggested philly cheese steaks. We had these Wednesday while the fam was still here. I made some more french bread and divided it into 6 small loaves, one for each person. We marinated the steaks in some soy sauce, olive oil and lime juice, seared it in a pan on the stove and then sliced it really thin. We caramelized some onions and bell peppers (again separately for the picky sisters). Then we put them all together with some provolone and melted it under the broiler. Probably not super authentic, but delicious nonetheless.
Bourbon Pork Chops – Not to mention any names, but someone who moved a year or so ago, gave me a box full of liquor, so I may, or may not actually having any bourbon, but I found this recipe in Martha Stewart Living the other day and it sounded good. If I don’t, we’ll make due with some other type of liquor from the box ‘o goodies. We’ll have some sides too, like maybe some corn on the cob and potatoes?
Pecan Crusted Salmon – There is nothing I love more than a good piece of salmon… unless maybe it had nuts on it! I bought a big bag of pecans this winter and have been using them very conservatively, so we can probably swing enough to cover a couple of fillets. Again, some sides of veggies and maybe some bread sounds pretty good to me!
Cucumber Soup – We have quite a bit of cucumber left from sushi, so in effort to use that up, Ansen came up with yet another idea… cucumber soup. That’s what the plain yogurt was for… and depending on texture, maybe the avocados too. I don’t have a recipe yet, but Ansen did find one, so we’ll figure that out somehow.
Baked Pasta – We’d like to do another baked pasta meal so we can freeze half of it. Ansen’s idea was to do one similar to the very first one we did, back when I was pregnant. It calls for sun dried tomatoes, which are absolutely delicious, but also expensive. I thought maybe we could use regular canned tomatoes and roast them. I did this once for a tomato soup that was delectable, so it might work. We’ll let you know when we get to this one.
I think next week we’re going to have to inventory and figure out what we can eat out of our pantry without buying much at all, or we’re never going to make it on $17.20! But I do have some good news, I finally made those freezer burritos, so more on that later!