4.45 a Day: Week 3

Heading to the grocery store on the 14th day of the month knowing you only have $70 left to spend
for the next 15 days is quite nerve-racking.

I had to keep reminding myself that I had a ton of food in the freezer and that I just needed to buy a few things to round out the meals.

At any rate, I spent a total of $49.70.

With the money remaining in the budget, I'll only need to pick up some produce and the very few items I still need for Thanksgiving next week.

I did pick up an extra butternut squash because they were still on sale for $0.49/lb. I'm going to dice it up and freeze it to make that curry dish from last week again sometime in the future.

I bought extras of some items that were on sale like the chicken stock, butter, and cheese. There's no way I'm going to use 3 containers of stock, 3 packages of cheese, or 2 lbs of butter in the next two weeks but I will use it eventually.

Earning fuel saver points on these items was an added bonus.

In my opinion, stocking up on pantry items that you will actually use when you find a good sale is one of the best ways to save money.




On to the food...




Blackberry Scones

Breakfast this week was either a protein shake or blackberry scones with an orange glaze and scrambled eggs. I used the blackberries on sale as an excuse to practice making scones because I'm not very good at it. I generally despise scones but did find one version out of 20 in a baking class that I could tolerate. Clearly, scones are still a work in progress for me. I destroyed the berries in the first batch and the whole scone turned blue. The second batch was better but not what I had pictured.

In looking for berry breakfast recipes before I decided on scones I found this BuzzFeed article that has 39 different ways to use berries for breakfast. There are some great ideas there so I've tucked it away for future use. 

 

Thin Crust Sausage and Veggie Pizza

Yes, I put green beans on a pizza. No, it wasn't gross. I've been making pizza almost once a week but hadn't tried to make thin crust yet. This is a very easy and very tasty recipe. It's not quite the cracker crust I'd hope but I'll definitely make this one again! 

Spice Rubbed Pork Tenderloin 

O.M.G. SO DELICIOUS. Here's the recipe. I don't get excited about meat often but this was amazing. Charlie and I both went back for seconds.The spice rub really complements the pork. The glaze is a bit sweet and a nice treat but I think the dish is great without it.

Pork Sandwiches 

I used what was left of the pork for sandwiches served with lima beans. Lima beans are one of my  favorite foods. I'm looking forward to eating a ton of them this winter.

Orange Scented Chicken Stir-Fry 

Why have I never made stir-fry before? So easy. So many combinations. Stir-fry is getting added in to a weekly rotation. After making this one I immediately started searching for other recipes and have already bookmarked several. I used this recipe for the technique and the sauce which I made spicier with the addition of sriracha and red pepper flakes. I also replaced the marmalade with 2 fresh squeezed clementines.

Ham and Cheese Empanadas 

I decided on this dish because I was desperate to do something completely different with all the ham I still have in the freezer. These were very good but not very healthy. If I make them again I'll make the shells bigger so I can stuff some extra veggies inside the empanada. Here's the dough recipe.   

Spicy Peanut Chicken

This might have been my favorite dish of the week. I loved the peanut sauce. I used this recipe for the sauce but kept adding a little bit extra of all the ingredients and a lot of extra sriracha until I was satisfied with the taste. 






 
Gnocchi with Bolognese
Before the last 3lbs of potatoes from week 1 went bad I made a huge batch of gnocchi. We now have enough gnocchi in the freezer to have it once a week for dinner until the end of 2014. I used one of the leftover containers of bolognese that I froze from week 2.  Charlie was skeptical about putting such a heavy sauce on the gnocchi but he loved it. It is tied with the pizza for his favorite dish of the week. 



Friday
Tomorrow we'll have a bowl of lima beans and the rest of the sausage and the left over empanadas.