Blue Monday! That's what today is. I hate things going wrong on a Monday. The only consolation is that I cooked all our meals for the week yesterday. One less thing to deal with. I was awake before the chickens yesterday, but didn't want to get up. I eventually dragged myself out of bed at 7, showered, had coffee and decided to start on the cooking. By the time the guys got up, I was already halfway done with cooking. It must be nice to wake up to freshly baked muffins :) Here's our menu for this week.
Monday : Lasagna stuffed peppers, big side salad
Tuesday : Pesto chicken casserole, baked potatoes and some veggies
Wednesday : Sweet & sour chicken stir fry
Thursday : Leftover buffet
Friday : Homemade falafel in pita with tzatziki sauce & all the trimmings
Saturday/Sunday : Dinner out
I only cooked the peppers & pesto chicken yesterday. I like to make the stir fry fresh. Same with the falafel. Besides, falafel is quick & easy to prepare.
I shredded some of the leftover roast beef, added refried beans, salsa & cheese and made burritos out of that. We might have that (with fresh pico & mexican rice) for dinner on Wednesday. We shall see how I feel. Otherwise I'll freeze the burritos and we can just grab some for lunch from time to time.
I also made bran apple muffins for breakfast and sautéed our mushroom/onion/pepper mix for omelets. We still have leftover pancakes & waffles. So there's more than enough breakfast foods.
I stopped by the Indian store yesterday to pick up cinnamon & cardamom. Good grief, cardamom pods were $15 for 50g (I think 3.5 oz). Holy cow! This is outrageous. I grew up with this stuff. It's such a common item to me, because we use it in a lot of Indian and middle eastern dishes, so I'm shocked by the ridiculous price. A few years ago, I found ground cardamom for $2.99 at Ollies (I'm still using it). This was before everyone jumped on the cardamom bandwagon, so it now costs an arm & a leg. I didn't buy any.
I also stopped at Trader Joe's for samosas and ravioli (DH was waiting in the car, so I didn't have much time to browse). I love me some Trader Joe's. I went there especially for samosas, cause Aldi never restocked. There's always something good to find at TJs. I sure wish it was closer to me, then I'd be there every day...lol. They didn't have the Ezekiel raisin bread though. I'm bummed, because they charge $5 compared to the grocery store's $7.xx.
Linda mentioned egg prices (I always think of her when I buy sale eggs). I've been cherry picking the weekly specials at Kroger. Last week it was $1.77 russet potatoes (5 lbs). This week, the 18 ct eggs are $1.49. The sale price went from 99c to $1.19 and now $1.49. I bought the maximum 5 cartons, because Sams now charges almost twice as much for the same thing. I paid $2.98 for 2 x 18ct cartons at Kroger, that now costs $5.xx at Sams. Crazy! I'm hoping for a milk sale later this week (their sale starts on Wednesday), because I'm running low.
Have a wonderful evening everyone!
Your meals sound delicious! Cardamom has always been expensive here, and not super easy to find. I'd say about $7-9 for a small jar of ground cardamom, which is on the pricier side for spices.
ReplyDeleteThank you HP! I never knew that cardamom is so expensive here. Boy, I have been spoiled back home, because we had all kinds of good herbs & spices at our fingertips. The only expensive spice I know of, is saffron. I do know that Aniseed (not the whole Star Anise. You can buy the seeds that's inside the Star Anise in a jar), is rather pricey here. I know it's because not everyone uses it, so I have to pay the high price at Meijer. The ethnic stores are out of it.
DeleteEggs are never that cheap even at the cheapest places! I have no idea what cardamom tastes like. Nothing is ever cooked when I wake up. If anything gets cooked around here, I do it...sigh.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how you get by with such high prices Linda. I figured most southern states had a lower cost of living than we do. Cardamom is delicious. It can be used in both cooking & baking (whole pods for cooking or ground for baking). Friendly advice - don't ever bite into a cardamom pod. It's a very unpleasant experience. It's not meant to be consumed. You cook with it, then discard it.
DeleteI do all the cooking here too, so there's no waking up to anything freshly cooked or baked, not even fresh brewed coffee. Life just isn't fair...lol
DeleteYour meals sound just great. Sometimes it is really hard to get out of bed in the morning.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Thank you Jackie! I only struggle to get up when I don't get a good night's sleep. Today is one of those days. I've been awake since 3:30 :(
DeleteAll of your meals sound delicious. Cardamom is expensive here lately too. We live in a rural area where most everyone raises chickens so eggs are 2.00 a dozen here from backyard/farm chicks. I haven't seen what they are going for in the stores.
ReplyDeleteI think a dozen eggs are around the same price at the grocery stores here in MI. I usually just stock up when Kroger has the 18ct on sale, but you're getting way fresher eggs. I just can't justify paying that much for cardamom.
DeleteCardamom is big in Sweden. I wonder if it is cheaper there? I will have to find out and get some sent over if it is. You, cooking all meals on the weekends. Putting the rest of us to shame.
ReplyDeleteWhen my mom was alive, she always used to send me all kinds of spices from SA. Lol Kim, I cook once a week for my own sanity. I don't want to slave over a stove every day or have my day interrupted, because I still need to fix dinner. It's so much easier this way. I just wish I had an extra freezer. I'd do lots more freezer cooking.
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