March 2011 Home Cooking Challenge

[Alyantavid]

Ready, set, go!

[Alyantavid]

3-1 pancakes (and eggs after wrestling practice)
Edited by Alyantavid - 3/1/11 at 7:24am

[MaryElizabeth]

I want to join! Trying so hard to ground myself from eating out ...

03/01- Toast, oatmeal, grapefruit
- Left over tuna casserole and mixed fruit -- hubby took leftover pizza for lunch!
- Salad for Mommy, tuna casserole for Daddy, pizza and oranges for DD

03/02- Ham and cheese omelette, toast
- Tuna casserole ( this stuff lasts forever!)
*** going grocery shopping today!
- Beef and bean burritos with guacamole

03/03- Oatmeal, cereal, banana, yogurt
- leftovers
- Tuna steak and quinoa

03/04- Oatmeal for DD, Egg and cheese bagel for Mommy
-Veggie patty for DD, leftovers for Mommy
-Chicken Masala with jasmine rice
Edited by MaryElizabeth - 3/4/11 at 5:22am

[mags.bubble]

3/1 family dinner out to help celebrate good friend's birthday

3/2 bb & sweet potato chili

3/3 family dinner out with grandpa

3/4 coconut shrimp, maple glazed squash, roasted asparagus

3/5 couple's dinner out with friends

3/6 pasta with pancetta, roasted cauliflower w/paremesan

Please don't kick me off this thread! I do see that we will be eating dinner out 3x this week. BUT, they have been planned for some time now. Next week will be better!

[BirthIsAwesome]

These are my dinners. We have eggs, oatmeal, congee, yogurt/granola, and fruit for breakfasts. Lunch is usually tuna and crackers, pita with hummus & vegetables, peanut butter & jam (or banana slices) sandwiches, baked sweet potato with cinnamon yogurt, or a cheese/veggie wrap.

3/1 Chicken Ratatouille

3/2 Rendag Daging with homemade pita bread and cucumber-yogurt salad

3/3 Spinach Curry over rice

3/4 Spiced Salmon with quinoa and green salad

3/7 Minestrone with garlic bread

3/8 Chicken Pot Pie

I generally try to have one chicken dish, one beef dish, one fish dish, and 2 vegetarian dishes per work week. Then we eat leftovers, sandwiches, and salads on the weekends. 

[crazyms]

Tonight: going to be dinner out but we're going to be running out the door when dh gets home from work so I'm going to have to grit my teeth on this one

03/02: chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes with sweet peas, corn

03/03: jambalaya

03/04: ??

[jimblejamble]

Tonight we're having leftover soup and I'm going to make some tortillas to dip into it. Oh, I finally found the perfect tortilla recipe!

2 cups flour
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt

[Momsteader]

Subbing! We will eat out dinner 2x this month, preplanned. (We live in a tiny town w/ no fast food/take out so that's easy enough...LOL but we do go to the one cafe 2x per month for their fabulous Friday dinner special--$30 total for the three of us with soup or salad, veggie, chicken fried steak, pie and tip!) And we may eat out one lunch in town this month when doing our big grocery shopping trip mid-month.

We always eat breakfast/lunch at home and it's a variety of oatmeal/cold cereal/toast/bagels and sandwiches/soup/leftovers from dinners.

3/1: Pancakes for dinner as it's national pancake day of course!

3/2: Cabbage and Bacon

3/3: Eggs Benedict with Fauxllandaise Sauce

3/4: Our preplanned eat out night--Chicken Fried Steaks

3/5: Sandwiches from leftover Chicken Fried Steaks and salad with tomatoes from our Bountiful Basket pick-up this am

3/6: Bacon Cabbage and fruit

3:7: Spanish Rice and fruit

3:8: Grilled Sourdough Swiss Cheese Sandwiches, Tomato Soup & brus sprouts

Edited by Momsteader - 3/9/11 at 12:13am

[naturalcrunch]

All that is planned so far...

3/1: Eggplant parmesan and carrots 

3/2 : Leftover eggplant parmesan and asparagus

3/3: Ranch breaded chicken over brown rice with spinach

3/4: Mexican rice with black beans and kale

3/5: whole wheat spagetti with a grass fed beef sauce and kale

3/6: BBQ beef brisket (grass-fed) not sure about a vegetable yet.

Edited by naturalcrunch - 3/6/11 at 10:13am

[CameronsMama]

I did way better than usual cooking at home last month- we only ate out 4 times! This month I'm hoping to keep it at 4 this month (3 dinners and one lunch, all preplanned for special occasions), and to make better food at home. Last month we did well eating at home, but there was more convenience food than I'd like. Being a student takes so much time away from my family :( This quarter ends in 2 weeks, though, and I'm not taking anything next quarter, so I'm hoping I'll have time to feed my boys much better quality food. (Which should help my grocery budget, too- eating convenience foods is super expensive!!) So glad to have this thread, not only to hold myself accountable, but I also like being able to easily keep track of what we've eaten, and get some ideas from others :)

3/1 Breakfast casserole

[peaceful_mama]

Love this thread for the ideas!  (especially going to try that spinach curry sometime)

3/1  Hubby made lamb biryani  :)  my favorite-favorite Indian food.

[Alyantavid]

3-1 pancakes (and eggs after wrestling practice )

3-2 steak, haven't decided on sides yet

 

Originally Posted by CrunchyClark 

Subbing! We will eat out dinner 2x this month, preplanned. (We live in a tiny town w/ no fast food/take out so that's easy enough...LOL but we do go to the one cafe 2x per month for their fabulous Friday dinner special--$30 total for the three of us with soup or salad, veggie, chicken fried steak, pie and tip!) And we may eat out one lunch in town this month when doing our big grocery shopping trip mid-month.

We always eat breakfast/lunch at home and it's a variety of oatmeal/cold cereal/toast/bagels and sandwiches/soup/leftovers from dinners.

3/1: Pancakes for dinner as it's national pancake day of course!

3/2: Cabbage and Bacon

3/3: Chicken Pot Pie

3/4:

I didn't even realize that until yesterday, but for once my meal plan worked out perfectly!

[Ragana]

I recently rejoined Mothering after a long absence (joined when preg with DD2 - she's now 7!) & would like to participate here. I am actually doing this challenge on another board I'm on, too, but what the heck! I love getting all the dinner ideas.

We also have an interesting array of eaters in our family: DH and I are omnivores, DD1 is mostly vegetarian but eats fish/seafood & loves everything mixed together and spicy, DD2 is an omnivore but eats everything plain and separate, mostly raw vegetables except baked potatoes. Help! None of this is medical or allergy-related, and I just like giving my family foods they like, so I accommodate it. I am getting to be an expert at "modular meals."

Sun. - DH cooked up a pot of white beans & two chickens for the week. I cooked dinner, which was pasta bake w/ ricotta, mozzarella & red sauce

Mon. - Met new cousin, so pizza

Tue. - Rice, veg curry or cut-up raw veg & chicken

Wed. - Tacos w/ chicken & frozen pintos (cooked from dry - I started doing this recently due to concern over BPA in cans. I still buy some things in cans, but am avoiding canned beans and tomatoes, which we use a lot)

Thu. - White bean soup from the weekend beans that are left

I should add that my goal is not to never eat out, but to be very selective and conscious about it and planning to have easy stuff in the pantry to make rather than "just picking something up" while we're out or using the "I'm too tired" excuse (which, believe me, is *completely* valid sometimes, but I was overusing it!)

[Ragana]

Oh, wow. I see now that I actually joined 2 yrs. before DD2 was born!

[CameronsMama]

Originally Posted by Ragana 

I should add that my goal is not to never eat out, but to be very selective and conscious about it and planning to have easy stuff in the pantry to make rather than "just picking something up" while we're out or using the "I'm too tired" excuse (which, believe me, is *completely* valid sometimes, but I was overusing it!)

 This is me, too, especially the bolded part!

And welcome back  :)

[MaryElizabeth]

So I went to the Harris Teeter in town (the nice, clean grocery store) and while it was definitely more expensive, the selection was so nice :) I spent $230 for at least 3 weeks of groceries and $60 of that was meat, $30 was juice/drinks, and $50 was fresh produce. I think I will go there for my meats/fish and go back to Walmart for my dry goods. Even with my new VIC card, the prices couldn't compare to Walmart and Aldi's. I'm not excited about having to go to mulitple stores with my DD in tow... but I don't want to spend an arm and a leg either!  Any tricks for keeping a toddler occupied while shopping?? She gets very bored and annoyed fast! I've tried giving her cheddar bunnies and random toys, but all that wears off about every aisle haha.

[Alyantavid]

Originally Posted by MaryElizabeth 

So I went to the Harris Teeter in town (the nice, clean grocery store) and while it was definitely more expensive, the selection was so nice :) I spent $230 for at least 3 weeks of groceries and $60 of that was meat, $30 was juice/drinks, and $50 was fresh produce. I think I will go there for my meats/fish and go back to Walmart for my dry goods. Even with my new VIC card, the prices couldn't compare to Walmart and Aldi's. I'm not excited about having to go to mulitple stores with my DD in tow... but I don't want to spend an arm and a leg either!  Any tricks for keeping a toddler occupied while shopping?? She gets very bored and annoyed fast! I've tried giving her cheddar bunnies and random toys, but all that wears off about every aisle haha.

I always go (or send dh) to 2 different stores.  Our little store because the sale prices are so good and Fred Meyer because they run some amazing sales.  Plus I just love that store!  And dh doesn't ever mind running in there for things on his lunch break so he can get sushi while he's there!

This may get my mama crown taken away, but I loathe shopping with my kids.  Unless I absolutely can't help it, I never take them both.  One or the other is fine, with both, they go crazy.  And I'm definitely not above bribes when it comes to grocery shopping.  So I'm not really any help there.

I'm realizing this month is going to for sure be a challenge.  DS1's bday is this month and he's got wrestling meets every weekend that end right at lunch time.  Plus twice a week practices, which mean he's starving and is eating tons more.
 

[CameronsMama]

Originally Posted by Alyantavid 

I always go (or send dh) to 2 different stores.  Our little store because the sale prices are so good and Fred Meyer because they run some amazing sales.  Plus I just love that store!  And dh doesn't ever mind running in there for things on his lunch break so he can get sushi while he's there!

This may get my mama crown taken away, but I loathe shopping with my kids.  Unless I absolutely can't help it, I never take them both.  One or the other is fine, with both, they go crazy.  And I'm definitely not above bribes when it comes to grocery shopping.  So I'm not really any help there.

I'm realizing this month is going to for sure be a challenge.  DS1's bday is this month and he's got wrestling meets every weekend that end right at lunch time.  Plus twice a week practices, which mean he's starving and is eating tons more.
 

Well, you certainly won't get a word of criticism from me! I'll do almost anything to go grocery shopping alone, I've even gone at like 10 at night before, after DS was asleep!
 

To MaryElizabeth: Toys and special snacks don't work very well for DS, either. I usually have to find things in the store for him to play with or look at. He gets bored every couple of minutes and then I have to find something else to entertain him. Then by the time I get to the checkout, I have like a dozen items in the cart that I'm like "oh, not buying that..." that they have to put away for us. My best strategy when I have to take him with me is to be super organized. I know exactly what I need, and how many, I get any coupons ready ahead of time, so when I get there I just go through the store as fast as I can and grab what I need. Sometimes turning it into a "how fast can we get done here" game helps DS get through without a meltdown.

[MaryElizabeth]

At least I'm not the only one! She is good for like 15 minutes and then... not so much :) I've even been known to carry a pocket full of organic suckers to get through the trip<--- eek! But, a mama's gotta do... what a mama's gotta do

I can't believe how much we spend on beverages, and while that has gone up a lot since Ive been preggers (I can't stop drinking Simply Apple!) I do justify buying the Naked Green Machine and C-Boost juices for DD....

I just really hate grocery shopping, so having to go to more than one store is soooooooo annoying!!!

[mags.bubble]

Originally Posted by CameronsMama 

 This is me, too, especially the bolded part!

And welcome back  :)

Ditto! & welcome!