August Week 3 Meal Plan Review and August Week 4 Options

Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice

These were my meal plan options for August Week 3:

Brunches:  Scrambled eggs and toast (Monday & Wednesday)✓; French toast Bread pudding, instead and for tea; fried egg and cold cuts sandwiches; hamburgers✓; Waffles or pancakes with sugar and lemon juice and/or nutella and banana, for tea bacon and blueberry compote; Fried rice; leftovers (Chinese food)

Dinners: Stringhopperswith  chicken curry and garbanzo beans (chick peas) curry;✓  Rice with chicken curry, kale, moringa curry, and garbanzo beans curry✓;  Burritos (from the freezer)✓; Tortillas and chicken curry; Pork Chops with rice and corn on the cob; Rice, beef curry, leftover vegetables; Pizza; leftovers

Snacks/Desserts:  Fruit✓, protein shakes, yogurt, ice cream✓, cookies✓Bread pudding

Did I at least somewhat keep to the meal plan options?

Monday Dinner: Stringhoppers with Chricken 
Curry and Garbanzo Beans Curry

Monday:
Brunch: Scrambled eggs with sausages and lunu miris; toast (there were two small breakfast sausages leftover from the previous week, which I cut up and added to the eggs); apple juice
Dinner:  Chicken curry (from the freezer), garbanzo beans curry (from the freezer), stringhoppers (a type of rice noodles).

Snacks/Dessert:  Iced shortbread cookie from Sunday's bridal shower, Asian pears from the garden

Tuesday:
Brunch:  Homemade hamburger (me); leftover Chinese takeout from Friday (daughter)
Dinner:  Stringhoppers with chicken curry and garbanzo beans curry
Snacks/Dessert:  Chocolate chip pistachio cookies!  Yum!  Worth putting on the oven in 90+ heat!  LOL.  Apple slices

Wednesday:
Brunch:  Scrambled eggs and toast
Dinner:  Burrito from the freezer
Snacks/Dessert:  Chocolate chip pistachio cookies. honey roasted peanuts

Thursday Tea: Pancakes with Sugar and Lemon 
Juice

Thursday:

Brunch:  Banana and peanut butter (me; daughter was too busy with meetings to eat)
Tea:  Thin pancakes/crepes with sugar and lemon juice (daughter had some with Nutella and banana, as well)

Dinner:  Freshly cooked rice with  chicken curry, kale, garbanzo beans, and peach chutney (daughter); rice, kale, garbanzo beans, and moringa curry (me)
Snacks/Dessert: Chocolate chip cookies, honey roasted peanuts, apple juice

Friday Brunch: Fried Rice

Friday:
Brunch: Fried rice - leftover rice with the last few pieces of Chinese take out barbecue pork and orange chicken cut up and added to it, a handful of frozen mixed vegetables from the freezer, a handful of roasted salted peanuts, and a bit of sriracha sauce and soy sauce.  
Dinner:  Rice, pan sauteed pork chops, boiled corn on the cob
Snacks/Dessert:  Chocolate chip cookies with ice cream, honey roasted peanuts, bananas

Saturday Tea: Bread Pudding

Saturday:
Brunch: Banana and freshly squeezed orange juice (me); juice and coffee (daughter)
Tea:  Bread pudding (with cashews but no raisins because daughter doesn't like raisins)
Dinner:  Rice, beef curry, kale, and peach chutney (daughter); rice, beef curry, kale, and moringa curry (me)
Snacks/Dessert:  Bread pudding; cookies

Sunday:
Brunch: Leftover fried rice from Friday (me); frozen burrito (daughter)
Dinner:  Pizza!  

I didn't want to cook something for dinner (too hot!) and didn't feel like eating any of the leftovers I had in the fridge, either!  Instead, I asked daughter to order us a pizza to be delivered.  Two medium two topping pizzas (had to order two to get the deal at $7.99@); an order of garlic bread pieces ($2.99), delivery fee ($5.99), plus tax and tip all came to just over $30, which I thought was reasonable for a Sunday night treat.  We enjoyed our dinner and there are leftovers for at least two more meals for us.  
Snacks/Dessert: Bread pudding; ice cream, bananas, orange juice, watermelon

And that is how last week's meal plan options turned out!  Did I stick to the meal plan options?  No, not fully, but, I'm okay with that.

On to this week's meal plan options!  I'm calling it August Week 4 and I am starting the week with a fridge full of leftovers! 

Brunches:  Scrambled eggs and fried potatoes or toast; Egg salad sandwiches; Hamburgers;  Waffles  Peanut butter sandwiches

Dinners:  Tortillas with beef curry and cucumber salad; Rice with beef curry, sauteed kale, moringa curry, and cucumber salad; Pork chops with rice and green peas; Rice with chicken curry and spicy sauteed potatoes; Pizza; leftovers

Snacks/Desserts:  Fruit, bread pudding, ice cream, yogurt, maybe a fruit smoothie, honey roasted peanuts, homemade potato chips

Of course, we might go off the listed meal plan options, too!  We'll be in the triple digits later this week and we might just want cucumber salad, leftover cold pizza, and fruit for dinner all week!  

I am grateful for:

- the chickens providing us with eggs
- the garden providing us with fresh fruit (lemon, passion fruit, calamondin) and vegetables (kale and moringa; I picked another six or seven moringa pods on Sunday)
- a full fridge and freezer (and electricity to keep it run
- being able to order groceries online and have them delivered
- being able to order take out/delivery for a treat

Did you meal plan or make a list of meal plan options last week?  If so, did you stick to your list?  Will you be making a meal plan for this week?

On Sunday

 

They wanted to roost on the door to the inner coop!

On Sunday morning, I got up at 8:00 a.m. and let the chickens out of the inner coop and gave them more food.  They both let me pet them a little bit before I went back inside.  

The morning was relatively cool and after I had a cup of tea and said my morning prayers, I decided to sweep and mop the kitchen floor and, later, I cooked a chicken curry (we won't tell Niwatori and Henny Penny about that!) for dinner.  I also folded and put away a load of laundry.

My daughter checked on the chickens and cleaned out the coop a little after noon and she found one brown egg!  She said she took a few blueberries out to them and held out the berries in her gloved hand and they came up to her and pecked the berries from her hand!  She said that while she was there, Niwatori went into the hen house and we assumed she went to the nest box at the back of the hen house.  Sure enough, when daugher went to check on them later in the afternoon, there was another egg in the nest box!  That makes a total of seven eggs since we got them on Tuesday! 

In the evening, I went with daughter when she went to her gymnastics session (the first time she's gone this month) and stayed in the car and read my book while I waited for her.  

After we came home, daughter put the chickens into the inner coop while I cooked a pot of rice.  We had rice with chicken curry, green beans, and peach chutney for dinner and ice cream for dessert.

On Sunday, I am grateful for:
- Two more eggs from our chickens
- What I was able to accomplish
- Washing machines and dishwashers
- A safe drive to the gymnastics center and back (we passed a multi-car accident on our way back)
- Fans to keep us cool

Sunday's joyful activities included collecting more eggs!

Plans for Monday include:

- Returning my library books
- Picking up my medications
- Maybe a visit from friend R 
- Taking the trash and recycling out to the bins (daughter will wheel out the bins to the curb)
- Watering the indoor plants (daughter will water the garden)
- Making my meal plan options
- Scheduling a car service for an oil change, etc.

How was your Sunday?  What are your plans for Monday?

Eggsperiments

 

Newly Laid Brown Egg and Store Bought White Egg

Yesterday, daughter decided to compare and contrast the egg our new chickens laid (brown one) and one of the store bought eggs (white one).  These are the pictures she took.

Brown Egg on the Viewer's Left 

We expected the new chicken egg to have a more orange colored yolk, but, we didn't see any noticeable difference.  Maybe, once they start being out in the garden and eating more plants and insects, in addition to their pellets, we might see a change in the color.  Also, apparently, feeding them pieces of dried red chili flakes will also turn their yolks a deeper orange color!  

Scrambled - Brown Egg on the Left

Next, daughter scrambled them, each egg separately, to see if there was a noticeable difference in taste.  We both tasted them and to be quite honest, neither of us could taste a difference!  

The store bought eggs are "cage free", but, that does not mean that they are "free range" according to the definitions used in the U.S., with cage free chickens being kept mostly indoors in large barns and free range chickens being allowed outdoor access.  Niwatori and Henny Penny are kept in a fairly large enclosure (which would technically be a cage, I suppose?) but, it is outdoors and eventually, they will have access to the garden as well, over the next few days.

There were no eggs laid this morning when I let them out of the coop into the bigger enclosure or at noon when daughter checked on them during her lunch break and gave them more food, fresh water, and cleaned the enclosure.

She checked on them again in the afternoon and gave them more food and cold water (we are freezing bottles of water and putting them in their water containers to chill the water).  She also poured some water over one area of the ground in the enclosure to create a damp spot in which they could be to cool off a bit.  It's 96F today and the poor chickens need all the help they can get to keep cool!  Even though they are supposed to be heat tolerant, they were raised in northern California where it doesn't get quite as hot as it does down here! Also, if they are less than a year old, they would not have experienced summer time temperatures.

We checked on them again, after daughter got off work, with both of us going to see how they were doing.  Henny Penny had dug out a nice bowl shaped depression in the corner where the ground had been wetted down and was relaxing there while Niwatori was in the area under the coop. 

We offered them a couple of kale leaves, yesterday, but, they seemed quite uninterested in them.  Today, we gave them a few freshly picked blueberries and, at first, they didn't know what to do with them, but, then, they learned to pick them up and eat them.  I had daughter bring two of the garden chairs to the area by the coop and we sat and watched them as they scratched at the ground and pecked around.  

We went inside after that, and I made a cucumber salad to have for dinner along with rice, salmon, and green beans.  I also ordered some groceries to be delivered tomorrow.

Daughter put the chickens into the coop for the night at sunset.  We had checked on them last night, around midnight, and saw that they had settled down for the night, on top of their feeder and water container, in the open area of their coop.  We have to figure out a good roosting place for them, but, today, we placed an old metal ladder with just two rungs inside the coop.  It just fitted inside and still allowed the lid to be closed. Ideally, it should be a wooden ladder, but, hopefully, they'll use it for tonight.

Today, I am grateful for:

- The chickens made it through the night!
- That first egg
- Daughter doing all the hard work of tending to them and keeping the coop and enclosure clean
- Easy access to water which helps with cleaning the food and water dishes, etc.
- The joy of having backyard chickens!

Better brace yourself to a few more daily chicken reports over the next few days until we figure out what we are doing!  LOL.  I am thinking we are doing this at the correct time as there seems to be another egg recall due to salmonella contamination according to today's news broadcast!  The recall includes eggs sold at the grocery store from which I get my eggs!  I need to check if the last batch of eggs I bought are among the recalled ones!  

Meal Planning: July Week 1 Review and Week 2 Options

Wild Asparagus Fronds

This was my list of meal plan options for July Week 1 (June 29-July 5)

Brunches/Lunches:  Bagels; Egg salad sandwiches; Tortillas with eggs and lunu miris; Milkrice with seeni sambol; French toast/Waffles/Pancakes; leftovers, toast

Dinners: Ground beef keema curry with rice and vegetables; Chicken curry with rice and vegetables; Tortillas with either ground beef or chicken curry; Macaroni & Cheese Fettuccini Alfredo Pasta (boxed mix) with tuna (or hamburger patties from the freezer; or, maybe hot dogs for 4th of July (if they go on sale, later this week, for a 4th of July dinner) Shrimp curry; Salmon steaks with asparagus fronds

Snacks/Desserts: Oranges, bananas, mandarins, flan, patties, apple pie? papaya, cherries, nectarines, white peaches, plums, apples, fruit salad, brownies, cookies

Here is how that worked out:

Monday:

Breakfast:  Bagel & cream cheese

Lunch:  Rice, ground beef keema curry, sauteed curried green beans, cucumber salad, kale mallung:

Monday Lunch

Dinner:  Boxed fettuccini pasta mix with frozen green peas added and a hambutger patty:

Monday Dinner 

Dessert/Snacks: Chocolate chip cookies; bananas, oranges

Tuesday:

Brunch: Bagel with butter

Dinner: Rice and leftover curries (keema curry, green beans, kale) with freshly cooked dhal

Tuesday Dinner

Dessert/Snacks: Bananas, oranges, cookies

Wednesday:

Brunch:  Milkrice with seeni sambol

Dinner:  Rice and leftover curries (ground beef keema curry, dhal, green beans)

Wednesday Dinner

Dessert/Snacks: Bananas, chocolate chip cookies

Thursday:

Brunch:  Banana

Dinner:  Rice, shrimp curry, leftover green beans

Thursday Dinner

Dessert/Snacks: Cherries, dates, bananas, cookies

Friday:

Brunch:  Leftover milkrice and ground beef keema curry

Dinner:  Rice, shrimp curry, dhal with spinach added to it:

Friday Dinner

Dessert/Snacks:  Brownies, cherries

On Friday evening, when my gardener friend M was here, he shared some wild asparagus fronds (pictured at the top of this post) that he had been given by one of his other clients.  She gets boxes of fresh organic produce from a farm delivered weekly to her house and she often shares various items with him.  According to a text she sent him, which he showed me, these asparagus fronds were wild asparagus and the side shoots or leaflets forming on either side of the main stem are the parts that are eaten and are served at just two Michelin star restaurants.  Now, I don't know for sure if these are wild asparagus or not, but, I do know that the leaves of asparagus that are grown mostly for the spears or shoots are edible.  The leaves are needed for food production for the plants, but, a few leaves maybe picked from each plant without causing any damage to the plants.  The stems are usually too woody to be eaten and the berries (found only on the female plants) are poisonous and should not be eaten, but, the leaves are edible.   So, I picked the tender side shoots and a bit of the tender tips of the stalks, too, and added them to the salmon I cooked for Saturday's dinner, along with the larger Berkeley Tie Dye tomato I had picked from the garden on Friday.

Saturday:

Brunch:  Banana, toast

Dinner:  Rice and salmon cooked with onions, tomato, and asparagus leaves:

Salmon with Asparagus Leaves

Dessert/Snacks:  Brownies, papaya, cherries

Sunday:

Brunch:  Toast with butter and pineapple jam (me); leftover milkrice (daughter)

Dinner:  Rice, ground beef keema curry, Persian cucumber salad with Japanese seasonings (shiokoshiou)

Sunday Dinner

Dessert/Snacks:  Fruit salad (papaya, white peaches, nectarines, apples, cherries); the last of the brownies

Well, that worked out well enough, I think.  I went off plan after buying groceries, but, it was fine.  

I am grateful for:

- The availability of food and bargains at the grocery store

- Homegrown tomatoes
- M sharing some new and interesting ingredients

- Convenience foods (boxed mixes, frozen foods, etc.)  in moderation
- Some treats

It's time to make a meal plan for July Week 2.  I am having a sciatica flare up which started on Sunday so, this week's meal plan might have to be mostly leftovers and whatever is easiest for daughter to cook until I feel better and can stand for more than two minutes without pain.

Brunches/Lunches:  Egg salad or tuna salad sandwiches; toast with peanut butter; fruit, tortillas with seeni sambol 

Dinners: Rice with salmon and broccoli, rice with salmon and green beans, boxed mac & cheese with tuna, Chicken curry with rice and cucumber salad, leftovers.

Snacks/Desserts: Fruits/fruit salad

As always, meal plan options will be subject to change, especially if I order groceries towards the end of the week.

How about you?  Did you make a meal plan last week?  Are you making a meal plan this week?

July Grocery Shopping - Part 1

 

Vegetables: Cabbage, Onions, Persian Cucumbers, Broccoli, 
Cauliflower, Green Beans, and Beets;

I did my first grocery shopping for the month on Thursday, July 2, going in person to one of my favorite ethnic grocery stores.  My main reason for going there was to buy salmon steaks on sale for $6.99/lb.  and large, headless shrimp for $5.99/lb.  Neither of which are included in my photos as they were put in the fridge as soon as I got home and I didn't want to take them out again to take photos.  But, I bought six salmon steaks (came to $26.06) and just over one pound of shrimp (came to $6.32).

In addition to the salmon and shrimp, I bought a variety of vegetables and fruit.

Fruit: Bananas, Papaya, Cherries, Red Plums, White Peaches,
Apples, and Nectarines

Some of the items I bought were on sale or offer; others were regular price, but, this store's regular prices tend to be lower than the supermarket's regular prices on produce, so, I didn't mind paying their regular prices.

In addition to the fish, shrimp, and fresh produce, I also bought a few treats:

Treats: Rose Syrup, Chestnuts, Dates,
Coconut Water

My total came to $78.71.  Here's the receipt:

Receipt

July Grocery Budget (for food items only) = $250 + $11.51 carried over from June (I didn't buy the pork chops and potatoes in June, after all) = $261.51

Spent to Date = $78.71

Balance left in July Grocery Budget = $261.51 - $78.71 = $182.80

Later in the evening, I cooked the shrimp I bought, making a curry to have with rice and green beans for dinner:

Shrimp Curry

I am grateful for:

- The availability of groceries
- Being able to shop at the ethnic grocery store
- Weekly deals
- Treats
- A safe drive to the store and back

My joyful activity for the day was enjoying some of the treats I bought.

Since I bought the salmon steaks and the shrimp, my meal plan options for the rest of this week will change from what I had listed in a prior post!

On Saturday

 

Saturday Lunch Compliments of Neighbor S and Her Mother

On Saturday, daughter woke up early,  did her laundry, and started making the fish cutlets we've been asked to bring to Easter lunch at our friends' house on Sunday.  She boiled the potatoes and made the mixture using canned tuna since we didn't have any canned mackerel.  I got to taste test the mixture and suggested adding a bit more salt, curry powder, and some ketchup to the mixture to get the taste just right.  Then, I helped her to scoop up the mixture and roll them into little balls, dip them in beaten eggs and coat them with bread crumbs.  We made 82 cutlets.  We set aside the majority of the cutlets to be fried in the morning before we take them to our friends, but, decided to fry 10 cutlets for our brunch and to do a taste test.

But, just before I started to fry the cutlets, neighbor S called me.  Her mother had fried tilapia fillets and would we like to have some and also some Easter eggs they had made?  I accepted the offer, gratefully, and quickly fried 12 cutlets to give to her in return.  She brought us a whole feast!  Plates with tilapia (hidden under all the herbs), rice, half a tomato, a boiled egg each, some sort of grated pickled root vegetable, tzatziki, a piece of Armenian cheese on one of the plates, bread, two puff pastries filled with lentils (the lentil filling was delicious), and dessert (chocolates and baklava)!  

We had cutlets and the puff pastries for brunch.  Then, daughter took a nap and I watched some online videos and the evening news.  

We had the tilapia and rice, etc., that neighbor S brought us for dinner.

On Saturday, I was grateful for:

- Making the fish cutlets with my daughter
- Neighbor S bringing us a delicious meal
- Being able to give neighbor S some of the cutlets we made
- Pleasant weather (a high of 85F)
- Electricity, running water, indoor plumbing, etc.

Saturday's joyful activities included exchanging food gifts with my neighbor.

Plans for Sunday include frying the cutlets and going to our friends' house for Easter.

I wish all my blog readers, who celebrate Easter, a very happy Easter. 

March Grocery Shopping Part 4 and Week 4 Meal Plan Options

I put in an order for groceries on Saturday and it was delivered today (Sunday).  This time there were a few mishaps because I was not diligent about specifying no substitutions on sales items.  It didn't use to be a problem when the store would substitute for an out of stock item with a similar item and charge the lower amount, whichever that might be.  But, now, the store charges the price of the substituted item, which is often higher than the sale priced item I had ordered.  I forgot to specify no substitutions on this order and so, substitutions were made.  I did receive text messages when items were substituted and I texted back to indicate if I did or didn't want the substitution.  I approved of the substitution for the salmon (the salmon fillet on sale for $9.99/lb. was not available and I said yes to the center cut salmon at $10.99/lb.).  However, the shopper forgot to return the substituted cans of condensed milk (I wanted the brand that was on sale for $2.49/can) and they were included in the shopping.  As a result, I went over my budgeted amount, but, that's a lesson learned and I'll be more diligent to specify no substitutions, next time.

Here's the receipt:

---

Order Summary

Original Item Total$80.22

Item Coupons/Sales-$22.01

Fulfillment Fee+$0.00

Sales Tax$0.00

Order Total$58.21

---

Item Details

15 Items

10# Smartway Granulated, 10 lbs$7.99

1 x $7.99 each

Cucumber, 1 ct$0.99

1 x $0.99 each

Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk, 14 oz$13.16

4 x $3.29 $4.49 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$1.20

Item Coupon/Sale: -$1.20

Item Coupon/Sale: -$1.20

Item Coupon/Sale: -$1.20

Fresh Seedless Red Grapes, 1 lb$3.03

1.77 lbs x $1.71 $3.99 each (approx.)

Item Coupon/Sale: -$0.50

Item Coupon/Sale: -$3.53

Kroger® Cage Free Large White Eggs, 18 ct$1.99

1 x $1.99 $4.39 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$2.40

Kroger® California French Style Salad Dressing, 16 fl oz$2.00

1 x $2.00 $2.79 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$0.79

Kroger® Fresh Jumbo Hass Avocados Bag, 5 ct$5.00

1 x $5.00 $9.99 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$4.99

Kroger® Half and Half Half Gallon, 1/2 gal$5.79

1 x $5.79 each

Kroger® Sweet Relish, 10 fl oz$1.99

1 x $1.99 each

Ralphs® Vitamin D Whole Milk Half Gallon, 1/2 gal$2.99

1 x $2.99 each

Royal® Family Size Flan Mix, 3.81 oz$2.29

1 x $2.29 each

Service Counter Fresh Atlantic Salmon Center Cut Loin Farm Raised (never frozen sustainably sourced), 1 lb$10.99

1 lbs x $10.99 $15.99 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$5.00

Total = $58.21

My March grocery budget: $250 + $73.64 carried over from February = $323.64

Total spent to date: $69.63 + $57.54 + $56.93 + $85.03 + $58.21 = $327.34

Balance left = -$3.70

Oops!  I went over the budget!  I will be deducting that $3.70 from my April grocery budget of $250.  

Later in the evening, on Sunday, I did some cooking and baking.  I cooked the salmon, a beef roast, devilled beef, and kept aside the rest of the beef to marinate for a beef curry.  I also baked some banana muffins to have as snacks over the week.

March Week 4 Meal Plan Options:

Brunches:  Bagels with butter or cream cheese, scrambled eggs and toast, tuna salad sandwiches French toast or pancakes, milkrice with seeni sambol or curry or jaggery (onWednesday, April 1), garden salads; roast beef sandwiches

Dinners:  Sauteed salmon with rice, green beans, peach chutney; Devilled beef with rice, green beans, cucumber salad; beef curry with rice, green beans, peach chutney; Roast beef with mashed potatoes and carrots, green peas or salad; leftovers

Snacks/Desserts:  Pumpkin Spice Banana muffins (made from a mix a friend gave me as a gift), fresh fruit,  Sri Lankan sweets, crackers, cereal,etc.

Pumpkin Spice Banana Muffins

How did you do with your March grocery shopping and grocery budget?  Were you able to keep to your budget or did you go over like I did?

Are you making a meal plan for the week ahead?  

On Wednesday

 

Osteospermum

The osteospermums are flowering.  They've sort of taken over this part of the planting bed where we planted some succulents!  The succulents are still there and you can see one or two of them under all the osteospermum!  

Once again, I've got my days and nights completely mixed up!  I went to bed at 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday, so slept most of the morning, waking up once at 10:00 a.m. to take my morning medication and sleeping for another hour to wake up at 11:00 a.m. when my alarm went off.

Gardener friend M was here in the early afternoon to tend to the garden.  He had germinated some blue morning glory seeds which he shared with me, planting them in various places in the garden.  We are hoping that some of them will grow!  We had tried growing them a couple of years ago with very limited success.  

I skimmed the fat off the turkey broth and added a diced carrot, a small piece of tomato, a bay leaf (picked from the newly planted bay tree), some seasonings (garlic and onion powder, black pepper, half a green chili, and some lemon juice) and simmered everything and then, blended it smooth.  It's in the fridge waiting for when I might want to have some broth instead of ice cream after the oral surgery.  

I also continued to mend my quilt and I watched some online videos while I sewed.  

Brunch was a slice of bread with peanut butter, followed by grapes.  Dinner was chicken curry and indiappa (stringhoppers), with seeni sambol.  I had yogurt for dessert.  Daughter had banana bread for brunch and a banana.  For dinner, she had zuppa Toscana, followed by rice, chicken curry, and sauteed cabbage (and peach chutney).  She had another banana with peanut butter for dessert.  

On Wednesday, I was grateful for:

- All my blog friends who leave such lovely, kind comments 
- A warm, sunny day (high of 79F)
- M's help with the garden and sharing the morning glory seeds
- Water for the garden
- Online videos

My joyful activities included spending time in the garden, sewing, and watching videos.

Plans for Thursday include a fasting blood test in the morning.

How was your Wednesday?  What are your plans for Thursday?

Meal Planning Options for February Week 3

 

Slightly Over Baked Curry Puffs

I haven't meal planned in a couple of weeks, but decided I should do some meal plan options for this week.  I meant to post this yesterday (Monday), but, time got away from me!  

On Saturday, I baked a batch of curry puffs - puff pastry turnovers with a curry filling.  I usually make these with curried ground beef, but, with ground beef  costing $8.49/lb. for the 80% lean/20% fat and $9.99 for 90% lean/10% fat, I haven't bought much ground beef, lately.  Instead, I used canned chicken breast I already had in my pantry, which needed to be used up soon (as in already beyond the best by date).  Sauteed with onions, a grated carrot, some shredded cabbage, and the usual curry leaves, curry powder, chili powder, lemon juice, a tiny bit of soy sauce, a handful of cooked garbanzo beans from a package in the freezer (in lieu of potatoes since the only potato I had left was soft and sprouting; it will be planted in the garden), and a little coconut milk leftover from making milkrice on the first of the month, the canned chicken made a good filling.  Unfortunately, I left them in the oven a bit longer than ideal and they got overbaked!  The burnt parts were easily scraped off and we enjoyed some of them for dinner and the leftovers have been eaten for brunch or snacks (mostly by me!)

On Sunday, daughter made a big pot of Zuppa Toscana, using a smoked sausage I had bought the  previous week and frozen, potatoes from the new bag of potatoes I had bought earlier that day when I picked up my groceries after the store mix up, and kale she picked from the garden:

Zuppa Toscana

She used milk, instead of the cream the recipe called for since we didn't have cream (not something I would normally buy).

I was planning to make a new loaf of bread to have with it, but, I didn't.  I have been experiencing some sciatica pains, on and off these past few days, so have not been up to doing much; that's my excuse for not making the bread.  I am still planning to make some bread to go with the rest of the soup as we have many servings of the soup left.  

However, on Sunday, even though I didn't make the bread, I cooked a beef curry with some of the beef I had bought earlier in February and frozen.   Daughter wanted some of the beef to make black pepper beef; she left the beef to marinate overnight and cooked it, adding some kale to it, on Monday. 

Black Pepper Beef with Kale

I am planning to make a chicken curry with some of the chicken I bought on Sunday and these dishes will form the basis of our meal plan options for this week:

February Week 3 Meal Plan Options:

Brunches:  Scrambled eggs with sausages and fried potatoes (Monday); Pancakes (Tuesday); Bagels; Curry puffs; Black pepper beef and rice; Soup; French toast; Leftover pasta from the previous week

Dinners:  Soup and bread; Black pepper beef with rice (Monday); Beef curry, sauteed greens, and rice; Chicken curry,  sauteed curried cabbage, and rice; Leftovers

Snacks/Desserts:   Bread/toast with banana and peanut butter; yogurt with fruit and cereal (me); cereal and milk (daughter); fruit; leftover pancakes; chocolate pudding (maybe).

I've added the links to the previous grocery shopping posts, only to show how I will often buy something when it is on sale and then, cook it later.  

I am grateful for:

- The luxury of choice when it comes to meal planning
- Daughter making some of this week's meals
- A well-stocked pantry and freezer
- Fresh greens from the garden
- Being able to cook (the availability and access to a working stove, electricity, fuel, etc. - things we often take for granted)

What are you planning to have for meals this week?

Starting A New Week

Gazania

Here we are, already on the last week of January!

Monday had been a sunny, warm day.  Friend R stopped by in the afternoon to pick up her packages.  Later, I took the trash cans to the curb and daughter watered some of the plants in the back garden.

For brunch, I cut up an re-sauteed the last of the previously sauteed slices of chicken breast, adding some sliced red onion to it and used it as a sandwich filling.  For dinner, we opted for a buffet style, selecting what we each fancied: I had coconut roti with pork curry and daughter had chicken curry and the pickled vegetables she had made.

On Monday, I was grateful for:

- Being able to help friend R by accepting and keeping her packages for her
- A sunny and warm day
- Flowers in the garden
- Weekly trash collections
- Water for the garden

Joyful activities included visiting with my friend and exchanging emails with another friend.

On Tuesday, when the pharmacy notified me that a prescription I had requested had been filled and was ready to be picked up, I was reminded of the fact that, back when I used to have a weekly schedule I actually followed, Tuesdays used to be my day to run errands.  I need to update and revive that weekly schedule!  

Tuesday was another sunny day.  I brought in the emptied trash cans, collected the mail including this week's grocery flyers, and went to the pharmacy to pick up my medication refill.  In the evening, daughter and I both worked on our knitting projects (she is making herself a scarf).

I had crackers with peanut butter for breakfast and I made fried rice for a late lunch:

Sausage Fried Rice

Leftover rice, leftover breakfast sausages cut up into small pieces, a grated carrot, some broccoli, a scrambled egg, and a handful of peanuts.  We had a snacky dinner - bananas and apples with peanut butter, breadpudding, crackers, etc.  

On Tuesday, I was grateful for:

- Another sunny and warm (71F) day

- My prescription was available
- A safe drive to the pharmacy and back
- Working appliances
- My blood pressure was normal

Tuesday's joyful activity was knitting.

Plans for Wednesday include tending to the garden with M.

How is your week coming along?  What are your plans for Wednesday? 

On Friday

 

Osteospermum Flowers

The first osteospermum flowers of the season are starting to bloom!

It was a mostly sunny day, on Friday.  I took a walk in the garden and took some pictures of the flowers.  I was happy to see the purple osteospermum flowers starting to bloom.  

I tried on my new clothes and I was happy to see that they all fitted me.  I wore one of the tank tops under my sweater and wore the leggings, too.

Friday Brunch

For brunch, I cooked a package of breakfast sausages, fried potatoes, and scrambled eggs.  I cooked the potatoes and the eggs in some of the oil left in the pan after I fried the sausages, but, otherwise, I didn't salt them.  I gave daughter her usual serving of sausages, but, I limited myself to half of a sausage, cut up into small pieces.  It provided just enough salt for me to enjoy my brunch.

In the afternoon, during daughter's 30 minutes lunch break, we made a quick visit to the library to return our books that were due and I borrowed three magazines.  Daughter picked up a book about raising backyard chickens and we will both read it as we are wanting to try our hand at raising chickens.  

Later in the evening, M tended to the garden, watering, spraying the rest of the fruit trees, etc.

 Chicken and Vegetable Soup

For dinner, I removed all the meat I could from the chicken carcass I had boiled to make stock on Thursday, cut up some onions, carrots, and some scallions I hd in the freezer, and made a chicken and vegetable soup.  Since I made it without salt, the soup didn't taste very good to me.  I had about a third of a jar of pasta sauce in the fridge, and, in an effort to improve the taste of the soup, I added that to the soup, along with a can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed to remove any salt, and a can of drained and rinsed green beans, too, which needed to be used up.  Daughter said it just tasted like pasta sauce (she is not a fan of tomato based pasta sauce unless it is homemade), but, I found it acceptable, if not exactly tasty.  I had a bowl of it for my dinner and kept the leftovers in the fridge.  

On Friday, I was grateful for:

- A sunny day
- Flowers in the garden
- Libraries
- M's help with the garden
- A safe drive to the library and back

Friday's joyful activity was a visit to the library.

Plans for Saturday include a visit from friend R to pick up her latest package and maybe ordering groceries.

How was your Friday?  What are your plans for the weekend?