‘Twas a fairly chill day for us at home, though it was a dumpster fire elsewhere. Kinda been a theme for the last 10 months….
But, at least FishBoy18’s foot didn’t get run over today. That’s what happened yesterday while he was taking orders at work. Please, if you’re getting takeout and there is staff outside, please be mindful how you drive.
Okay, PSA/editorializing over. Let’s get to the food.
Our meals for day 6:
Breakfast: some folks had oatmeal; others had smoothies; others had CFA.
I had one of my favorite breakfasts: Greek Yogurt With Muesli topped with blueberries. So good!
Lunch: Girls ate leftover pasta, boys had ham sandwiches. Bryan had his Chicken Fajita Burrito; I had a big salad.
Dinner: I made Pantry Challenge Minestrone with leftover turkey stock, marinara sauce, and chicken breast. I used a whole onion, a handful of mushrooms, three carrots, a can of chick peas, frozen green beans, and ABC noodles. I made mine pasta free and added leftover cauliflower and spaghetti squash. FishChick14 had her vegan tomato soup. I served Saltines as our “bread”.
The fam really liked the minestrone, while I wasn’t super crazy about mine. I watered the broth down too much so it just tasted like vegetables and water. Oh well.
Overall, it was a good day — and I know we’ve got gyros on the menu for tomorrow! Yum.
Jodi
Breakfast was the usual for everyone.
I had cheese and cracker for lunch; older boys found something and youngest ate at school. DH had usual frozen dinner and salad at work.
Dinner was a bag of chicken strips from freezer and some boxes of Mac and cheese sitting in pantry. Good enough. We ate last of holiday treats for dessert.
I had to go to store yesterday for more beverages for everyone and some dairy we were low on. Not seeing the savings yet but hoping to rein it in the rest of the month. Kids are not a fan of pantry challenge but they always know it’s coming lol!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Trying to catch up here.. First off, thanks to Wendy, Kathy and Tasty re: the blanching of the green beans. Each of you helped me figure out why mine were mushy. I think since they were from the store, they probably weren’t super fresh, then it was the very thin style (haricot verts) so I’m pretty sure I over cooked them, and I may not have gotten them cooled or dried completely. Hopefully when I grow mine this spring I’ll do better! Thank you for your help.
1/5/21
B: toast, yogurt, coffee
L: more soup!
D: LO beef pot pie, LO cauliflower, LO fruit medley
1/6/21
B: toast, coffee
L: soup again, fruit
D: I was so rattled and distracted by all that was going on in our nation’s capital that I really had not thought about a dinner plan. At our usual dinner hour, my husband was asking what we were going to have and I had no idea. I had some chicken strips in the freezer so we wound up having a quick meal of chicken quesadillas, black beans, lettuce and tomato, fruit. (And thank you Kathy for your thoughts. I was a very hard and shocking day for sure)
Jennifer
Ok day today. My back is bad and I had a dr appt this afternoon and couldn’t do much this afternoon. I stood in the kitchen and directed the cooking of dinner.
Breakfast – homemade chocolate chip muffins
Lunch – I had crackers and cheese and leftover sweet potatoes, dh took leftovers and fruit, dd made a pasta salad, other dd had cereal, boys made a huge mess with lots of pots but I have no idea what they ate.
Dinner – breakfast burritos with tortillas that had been sitting in the fridge almost too long and a cucumber.
I am instructed by my dr to stop grocery shopping as it is a trigger for my back. Sent dh for decaf tea bags, yogurt and some fresh produce. $25 spent and should tide us over til Sunday when I make my list and menu for the week.
Janet
We had an easy day. For the most part we ate from the freezer.
Lunch: crock pot roast beef and baked potatoes
Dinner: cinnamon waffles, sausage patties, grapefruit
Laura
I went to make salmon from the freezer but it didn’t smell good so we just had the sides I made to go with. It was fine and there was leftover baked penne so that was eaten as well. Breakfast was steel cut oats and lunch was a curried chickpea salad sandwich.
Cindy
Covid vaccine (round one) this morning, so far so good!
Breakfast: hubby’s usual, I had English muffin w/pb, kiwi and green tea
Lunch: For me was leftover stir fried Vegas w/udon noodles and a mandarin
Snacks: hubs had a smoothie and I had a protein shake
Dinner: pan fried steak and a Ceasar salad
julie
Glad you’re doing well with your first Covid vaccine. I for whatever reason, tend to get reactions to anything that could have a side effect.
Cindy
I’m so sorry to hear that Julie, it would definitely make me hesitant to jump right in and get the vaccine for sure.
Julie
Oh it’s ok. I got my 2nd covid vaccine on Wednesday and I do feel tired but I’m thankful to be able to get it. I don’t want to get my patients or family sick .
julie
Yesterday I got my covid shot at noon then ended up needing an afternoon nap…
breakfast – eggs, oatmeal, pancakes (from the freezer, GF I had frozen)
lunch – leftovers
dinner – frozen spaghetti pie / dinner rolls with homemade butter/ ham and cheese on dinner rolls/any other random leftover/frozen stuff from fridge
snacks – apples and dip, canned peaches. We have apples, celery, and carrots left and my husband just bought bananas today along with a lot of .48 /dozen eggs and some cereal for .99/box. So far $33.01 spent on food since Dec 16th.
Lisa S
So sorry to hear about 18’s foot–hope it is not hurting too much today.
The news weighed me down yesterday. Adulting seemed too much. We ate leftovers or didn’t bother with food. The kids had the last of their Christmas ramen for dinner. BTW that’s just plain old ramen, but they aren’t allowed to have it normally cuz I’m scared of what’s in that stuff. So a 12 pack ended up in their advent calendar treat bags. What was poor college student sustenance to me is holiday gold to them so they were happy as can be. We just snuggled on the couch and listened to the rain.
Jessica Fisher
It was the edge of his shoe, so he seems to be fine. But, such a headache for his managers, I’m sure. The kids have all had close calls since the take-out and pick-up stuff have increased. There’s easily 50 cars lined up at any given time.
RE: ramen, same here. My kids make it really fancy with seaweed, meat, and soft cooked eggs, etc., definitely NOT what any college kid ate when I was that age. I keep several varieties of Better than Bouillon on hand so they can use a better broth than those packets and we sometimes get fancier ramen noodles, too.
Pat
Day 6 and we are still chugging along!
Breakfast for me and my son were the usual.
Lunch -I skipped. Still no kitchen att work so hubby took random things that did not require heating. Son at work?
Dinner was planned Chinese takeout. My hubby and I split the meal and he got Egg Foo Yung. He got alot more than usual cuz I didn’t like it.
Karen J
Day 6
Breakfast was avocado toast with everyday bagel seasoning sprinkled on top. I had to toss two avocados for rotting. Makes me so sad as they looked fine on the outside.
Lunch-Curbside take out then a socially distanced lunch with two friends in their garage with the door open. We had blankets, masks, and a lovely visit.
Dinner-navy bean and ham bone soup that cooked in the crockpot all day. Yummy and enough for at least three more meals.
Cindy
I love Everything Bagel seasoning from Trader Joe’s; during the height of the pandemic, early on, hubby ordered some for me on Amazon, it took six weeks!
Karen J
It is amazing stuff, isn’t it! I always keep a back up jar (or two) so we never run out. We put it on so many things-for dinner tonight it was on our salad and on our french bread.
I don’t go to Trader Joe’s that often, but will stock up every time.
Cindy
Everything Bagel seasoning, Mandarin Orange Chicken and the French Brie are our gotta haves from TJ!
Kathy in Denmark
Day 6:
B: Oats and milk for DH, HM rolls with butter or jam for the girls and me. Milk for the kids, coffee for me.
L: More rolls! with different toppings. I ate mine with the last of the hardboiled eggs.
D: Oatmeal for DD1, rye porridge for DD2. Nachos with chili beans for the grown ups after kids were in bed.
S: Grapes, assorted veggies
DD1 had a class meeting with her math teacher on “Teams” at 9 am and another one at noon with her Danish teacher. They both lasted a full hour, and I swear it could have been over a lot faster if it hadn’t been for the oodles of irrelevant questions my daughter’s poor teachers had to answer. Those people are saints, no question!
I could feel my daughter get frustrated with her classmates and it took some coaching to get her day back on track, especially after the first meeting. This is why we stuck to eating rolls during the day, it was just easier than making something else. At least her little sister was in a good mood all day LOL
Since the kids were tired, we decided to feed them and get them to bed a little early. I ended up spending quite a while reading to them after all, but it was “hyggeligt” and I probably enjoy it as much as the kids do 😉
I used the last of our rye bread to make the rye porridge, so I made dough for a new batch. It has to rise for 12 hours, so I almost always make this at night and bake it in the morning.
I’m sending thoughts and prayers across the pond – it must have been a both shocking and scary day for everyone.
Lily R.
Living the “hyggeligt” lifestyle is something I am trying to incorporate more into our routine!
julie
I just learned hygge this fall/winter. I agree with teachers having to answer so many random questions. I have a hard time keeping my kids from interrupting when I read aloud, too.
Kathy in Denmark
My kids don’t interrupt a lot, but my oldest wants me to read long books and snuggle, which is wonderful but timeconsuming 🙂
I’m glad my daughter payed attention to her teacher, muted her microphone and didn’t feel the need to ask random questions. I have been thinking about it today and I think some of the kids lack adult contact and try to get it from the teachers. The teachers were incredibly patient and listened, which I think is great. But I understand my daughter’s frustration and I hope the meetings get shorter as they become more accustomed to distance learning.
Carol B.
Breakfast was the usual. For lunch we worked on leftovers in frig. Broccoli soup finished. Most of leftover sausage rice is gone.Supper was new, successful invention of lobster bisque with added “lobster chunks” ( pollack), green salad and half grapefruit on side. This was all from last grocery pickup.
I scheduled my next grocery pickup for Saturday. So that is one goal met– I stretched the time between pickups to 8 days.
tasty
Another OK day here for food.
We are out of fresh fruit so we both had cereal and yogurt for breakfast. Lunch was toasted westerns and supper was a new-to-me Cheddar ham chowder, The soup used 3 cans from the pantry and the last of the New Year ham. Made some biscuits to go with supper. Happy hubby!
Lily R.
Isn’t it funny how just having some freshly baked bread/biscuits makes the meal more special?
Tasty
Totally agree!
Maureen Krause
We had a good day inside the house trying to tune out the world. Everyone had items that I’ve been trying to get rid of for lunch (and the teen son thanked me for his – must have hit the spot). I changed up the dinner menu when I realized I would be rushed to cook, eat, and run my errand. The good news is we ended up repurposing some leftovers as sides, the bad news is the protein I had planned for tonight is now gone. It’s not a big deal, as I have plenty to chose from…but, I’ll have to see if I can figure out a menu that uses up something else I want gone. And my girls are itching to bake something, but we still have quite a few holiday treats on the counter.
julie
My 4 year old wanted to bake cupcakes and I redirected her because of how much sugar we’ve had recently.
Sarah
Watching the news was awful yesterday – we are in a nearby state to DC – we ate way too many GF pretzels while watching tv.
B: coffee w/ cream
L: the last of the leftover beef veggie soup + clementines
D: GF pancakes and bacon and eggs
S: GF pretzels + sun butter
I was hoping to make it to Sunday without grocery shopping but we will probably end up going on Saturday. I’ll have to brainstorm a bit!
julie
I’m also GF. Is your whole family GF?
Sarah
It’s just me and my partner – he isn’t gluten free but he eats anything I cook so all of our home cooking is GF by default. if he’s dying for a sandwich or something, he can have it. I’m gluten intolerant but it not a serious allergy so he can bring wheat into the house. There’s so many Gf “fun” foods now that he doesn’t do it very often.
I have a standing doctors appointment and he gets a roast pork sandwich from a local place while I’m gone 🙂
julie
Yeah, there are a lot of good GF options. My husband and I have 4 kids and I’m the only one who can’t eat gluten in the family (and I have a lot of other foods that trigger migraines or at least bad headaches) so I frequently make foods that everyone else can it and I just don’t eat it.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
Oh Sarah it was. My daughter is in Arlington and sent me pictures of their police force heading to DC.
Heather M
We live in Arlington, VA. My husband is a journalist. It was a nightmare day/night. I know how you feel.
Julie Smith
Day 6:
Breakfast and lunch: the usual suspects
Dinner: takeout pizza which I had planned for day 7, but current events had us all a little shaken so I took the easy road.
Kroger trip: About $29 for “Braces off!” Treats, milk, Greek yogurt (so much cheaper at Costco but not worth the budget busting to make a trip), plus clearance finds of Graham cracker crumbs, salted caramel chips, carne picada beef, and Hawaiian rolls.
julie
Braces off sounds like a great celebration!
Kim
B-the usual, cereal or oatmeal
L-beef vegetable soup made from fridge/freezer odds and ends
D-restaurants opened back up just in time for us to have a 20th anniversary dinner out! It was so nice, haven’t eaten in a restaurant since summer. Then I caved and picked up a pizza for the kids- we left them at home 😉
Maureen Krause
Happy Anniversary! Glad everyone got to celebrate.
Kathy in Denmark
Happy anniversary! I hope the dinner was yummy 🙂
Lily R.
Happy Anniversary!
julie
Congratulations! Happy anniversary!
Cindy
Happy Anniversary!
Heather M
Happy Anniversary!
Marci
Feeling terribly sick arg….and decided to order out for dinner. B= english muffins, L= tuna sandwiches, D= take out- chinese food, chicken soup for me. I hope this passes
Kathy in Denmark
I hope you feel better soon!
julie
Feel better soon!
Lily R.
Day 6
Breakfast: I had a toasted croissant with Kerrygold cheese and hubby had Buttermilk pancakes with maple butter.
Lunch: we both had Greek salads. I topped mine with falafel and he topped his with gyro meat.
Dinner: Shrimp pumpkin curry over basmati rice and sauteed cabbage on the side.
Snacks today included apples and cashews. We are chugging along!
Kim
Shrimp pumpkin curry sounds yummy!
Lily R.
Thanks, Kim! I really like pumpkin. A lot of people that think they like pumpkin really like pumpkin spice. But we toss the cubes into so many different dishes : )
julie
Yum for Greek salads!
Lily R.
Hi Julie! Mediterranean food is one of my faves. So good!
Sandi
Love Med food. How so you make the shrimp pumpkin curry? That sounds very interesting.
Lily R.
Hi Sandi,
I sautee onion, garlic and ginger with curry powder, garam masala, cumin, salt and pepper. After a few minutes add peeled shrimp , about 1 cup of diced pumpkin cubes and a couple of fresh diced tomatoes. Let those release their juices. Then I add a cup of coconut milk, a half cup each of water and tomato sauce. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. We like it with rice or naan but the options are endless! If you don’t have fresh pumpkin you can use about 1/3 cup of canned pumpkin. You may need to add a bit more liquid if you use canned to loosen it up.
Let me know if you try it!
Sandi
Thanks. I looked at that list and had all of it including canned pumpkin except any fresh ginger. I had powdered and thought I would use that, but went to the store for some much needed veggies so picked up a little piece of ginger too. I totally plan to make this soon.