Food waste and a menu, week 1/12-1/18, and a self-imposed mini-challenge

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Ha, better late than never, right?

I know, I was planning on posting about our food waste and meal ideas starting from the beginning of the month, and here we are, almost half way through January... Oh well, I'm still a new Mom and I will milk this excuse until they are in college as long as I can :)

I did plan our menu the past few weeks, I just didn't blog about it :) I do not do the assigned days like I used to. We'll be keeping it flexible for a while. Also, on the days that are especially hard, we might grab a pizza or Subway, and I'm fine with that. My sanity is worth more :) But we try to keep this expense low. In January we budgeted no more than $100 for eating out. Since we don't really go out, I think it's doable.

I also finally finished organizing the refrigerator, and the damage was less than I thought. I threw away a couple of eggs and some lunch meat that have been in our fridge... well, I'm not going to tell you how long it's been :) Let's just say, they were way past their prime time...

 We also had a couple of freezer burned cucumbers but I have a suspicion that they were already "damaged" when I got them from the store. I didn't know they were bad until I was about to use them in a salad.

And so far our menu looks like this:

Plov, green salad, homemade smoothies (using up fruit from the freezer)
Cabbage and bean soup, rolls
Sweet potato puffs (from the freezer), cutlets, slaw
Sausage and tomato pasta bake (my sis made for us), steamed broccoli, grapes
Leftovers
Stuffed peppers (from the freezer)
Breakfast for dinner

Since we have almost everything on hand, I decided to challenge myself to spend no more than $25 on groceries. That will basically limit us to some produce, bread, milk and, maybe, a box of cereal for the kids because we are running low and after a long night with the babies, cereal is my new best friend...

And what meals are you planning for your family this week?

Food waste and a menu, week 10/6-10/12

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Hello, hello, my lovelies,

I hope you all had a quiet Monday. Wishful thinking, huh? :) Well, my Monday was surprisingly normal. I know I'm going to jinx myself now and have a crazy day tomorrow... I was busy with work, laundry, cleaning, organizing, the usual stuff. And I actually had the energy to do it all. Love the days like this!

This week in the kitchen we are trying really hard to catch up on leftovers. I have a myriad of small containers, cans and jars in our fridge. Guess what we are eating for most of our lunches here? We are usually so good with eating leftovers but now that I have to count every carb, I kind of let it slide. I'll be trying really hard to incorporate all kinds of leftovers into different meals over the course of this week.

But before that, here's our food waste for last week:

A pepper and some chicken. I found the pepper in the produce drawer and it looked nothing like this on the other side. Unfortunately, it was all rotten on the inside too. And the chicken was totally supposed to be used up (I wanted to make some of these over the weekend. Don't they sound delicious??). I tried it Saturday morning and it was still fine but by Sunday afternoon at was already smelly... Blah... Chicken is too expensive to let it go to waste...

And this week we are eating (not necessarily in this order):

Mon. - teriyaki pork chops (scroll down for the recipe - I froze some and made some, and they were delish!), jasmine rice, peas, cheesy cauliflower
Tues. - fritatta (nice way to incorporate bits and pieces from the fridge :), green salad
Wed. - spaghetti with meat sauce, steamed broccoli
Thurs. - homemade pizza, salad
Fr. - chicken noodle soup with all kinds of veggies in it
Sat.- leftovers - cause we'll have more by then :)
Sun. - TBD

And what's cooking in your kitchen this week?

Food waste and a menu, week 9/8-9/14

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I had an appointment with my doctor today. My throat (and it's definitely strep) is doing better, so, hopefully, I'm finally on my way to recovery. Unfortunately, looks like I shared my cold with the rest of the family. They don't seem to have strep (yet - keeping fingers crossed here!) but everybody is sneezing, coughing and have runny noses. Ugh! I'm so not ready for this season...

I also talked to my OB about GD and a new diet and she comforted me a bit. I will have a meeting with a nutritionist, hopefully, very soon. In the meantime, I'll start testing myself and will go on a diet like I did with my first but add extra protein and calories. Fun times...

But going back to food waste :) I was really hoping not to have any this week. And I was close, so very close. But alas... On Sunday I discovered some moldy bread in the pantry :(

That was our only waste but I'm still not happy. I need to do better with food waste as I've been slacking lately...

And so far on our menu this week:

Mon. - spinach raviolis, salmon (leftovers from last week), salad
Tues. - zucchini pasta (with lower carb pasta for me)
Wed. - Kid #1 Birthday (going out)
Thurs. - meatballs, mashed potatoes (mashed cauliflower with loads of cheese for me), steamed green beans and carrots
Fr. - chicken salad sandwiches (with low carb bread for me)
Sat. - leftovers
Sun -  TBD, not sure yet

There will be many adjustments to our meal plans but I still want the boys to eat normal sthat they are used too. Plus, low carb food is EXPENSIVE. Seriously, a loaf of bread is almost $4! And I don't know how to bake low carb bread myself, unfortunately. All the recipes I found are still kind of high. So whatever I buy will be mine, all mine :)

And what's on your table this week?

Food waste and a menu, week 9/1-9/7.

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Good morning, my friends! How was your Labor Day weekend? Lots of labor or lots of fun? :) Ours was a true "labor day" - busy and sweaty :) But we caught up on a few things that needed to be done and it feels good.

I also seriously tackled our deep freezer. And hence some unfortunate food waste:

I really dislike greasy, nasty sausage links, my man loves them. But with his stomach issues, it wasn't something he could eat for a while. And honestly, I don't even remember when we got those sausages but they expired forever ago... sad... but I'm not buying them again. Yuck! I'm a bacon girl through and through, lol:) And the strawberries were an unfortunate buy from Walmart. I salvaged what I could in a smoothie but the rest went bad within just a couple of days.

And again, our menu has a ton of things from the freezer included. I really want to avoid any more food waste. So this week we are eating:

Mon.- turkey chili, corn bread, ice-cream for dessert
Tues.-baked salmon, rice, steamed spinach, green beans
Wed. - sticky drumsticks, leftover rice, stewed cabbage
Thurs. - baked ham, smashed potatoes, baked beans, salad
Fr.- leftovers
Sat.- breakfast for dinner with leftover ham, eggs and waffles
Sun.- homemade pizza night

And what are you eating this week??

A busy day...

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As the weeks pass by, it's getting harder and harder for me to keep up with the usual housework. So on the days when I feel a little extra energy, I try to take full advantage of it. I know, it might be a little boring to read my to-do list but I feel so accomplished today I had to boast a bit :)

1. I finally caught up with the laundry and ironing! I try to fold things right after they come out of the dryer. And yes, I love my dryer with the amount of stuff that I have to wash every week. Not frugal but keeps me sane... So about 80% of the stuff gets put away right away (which kids help me with as part of his chores) but the other 20% usually need to be ironed - mostly, skirts, dresses, dress shirts and khakis. Did I ever mention before how much I hate ironing khakis?? Ugh... But what can I do, that's the price for my love of Hubby looking all sharp for work... It took me weeks but I finally tackled the whole pile and I'm so proud of myself.

2. Cleaned the half-bath and a toilet in a full bath. Yes, just the toilet. Still pretty happy about it. That's the type of cleaning that's really getting harder and harder to do. But somebody has to do it. I asked Hubby yesterday to help me with scrubbing the tub... Sigh... Guess who will have to re-do it all? No, not me :) I will still keep trying to teach him how to do it :) I take bathroom cleaning one thing at a time right now and it works... most of the time...

3. Dishes and dinner. Well, that's one thing that I'm pretty good with but I had to mention it because I tried a new recipe and it was delish!! A bit time-consuming but so worth it. The kids actually ate all the mushrooms on their plates and that's a first for us...

4. Finished some work assignments and edited. I work a lot right now. Even more than I used to before. I try to pick up as many assignments as I can because my paycheck is what pays for all the babies' stuff we need. August was insanely expensive for us therefore I'm extremely grateful for any work that comes my way. I don't know how long I would be able to do it and even whether or not I will have the job after the babies arrive but I will keep working as long as I can.

5. Saved a box of strawberries from it's food waste destiny. I went through the fridge and cleaned it. The only thing that really needed to be dealt with was a box of strawberries. I cut them all up and froze for future snacks and smoothies. We've been doing quite a few smoothies (trying to use up stuff in the freezer) lately so they won't hang in there for long.

6. Dusted and washed the living room window. I haven't washed that window in so long, and the amount of sticky fingers all over were totally showing. It was screaming my name for weeks, and I finally got to it. Feeling so accomplished today :)

I've done a ton of other things but this list is getting a little too long :) I really want to lay down on the couch and stretch my legs right now but it feels good. Now keeping fingers crossed that I have the same energy back tomorrow :)

And how was your day??? What were you up to today?

Food waste and a menu, week 8/18-8/24.

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Because we spent a good portion of last week on a vacation, we didn't have that much food waste. Would be nice if we didn't have any but alas. These were bagels from our trip that got moldy before we had a chance to finish them:

I also threw away a bad potato from our potato basket and a small box of raspberries. That was the saddest food waste because we all LOVE raspberries here. They looked really good but, I think, they were already getting moldy when I got them :( Meee...

I do want to try extra-hard to avoid food waste this week. When we came back home, my first impulse was to go and buy some fresh produce because we left our fridge literally bare before the vacation. But then I went to our garden and realized we had more than enough in our own back yard:

Definitely won't need any produce for a few days:) My tomatoes are coming in very slowly but I picked enough for a salad this week. We also have plenty of kale to add to the salad too.

Our goal in the next couple of weeks is to work through a good portion of what we have in the freezer. I want to make a bunch of freezer meals before the babies come. I did it with my second, and it was life-saving for us! I already started to line up the recipes on Pinterest (yum!!).

So this week on our menu so far:

Mon.- breakfast for dinner (eggs, hash browns, turkey bacon, smoothies)
Tues.- vegetarian burgers, potato chips (leftovers from the vacation)
Wed.- pasta with ham, mushrooms and peas (almost everything from the freezer)
Thurs.- fried potatoes with chicken, green salad
Fr.- Church picnic
Sat.- leftovers/ zucchini mini-quiches
Sun.- salmon, rice, stewed cabbage

What are you eating this week? And what is your favorite frozen meal recipe?

Food waste and a menu, week 7/28-8/3.

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Well, hello, August! How did that happen?? I can't believe we have less than a month before the kids are back to school... Waahhhh... I'm so not ready...

But I can't say I'm not ready for summer to be over. Well, maybe, not completely over but a few less degrees would be nice. We had a beautiful, long rainy day today (our lawn and garden are both extremely happy!!) and it felt wonderful! I normally don't even like rain... But now I welcome all this beautiful moisture with open arms. It's been too hot to cook - and I seriously crave this right now:

But I really don't want to turn on the oven... Ugh...

On a good note, we didn't have any food waste last week. And so far on our menu this week (subject to change as it's been happening many times lately :)

Mon.- pizza night (kids' choice)
Tues.- zucchini pasta
 Wed. - green chicken salad
Thurs.- hot dogs, mashed potatoes, cut up veggies (lazy Mama dinner...)
 Fr.- breakfast for dinner (and another one...)
Sat.- dinner with friends
Sun.- leftovers

And what's gonna be on your table this week?

Food waste and a menu, week 7/21-7/26.

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Hello, hello, my dear friends,

How was your Monday? I woke up feeling great and full of energy this morning. I love mornings like this, especially at the beginning of the week. I had quite a productive weekend and it didn't stop today. The proof of my productivity? Well, how about 13 cans of pickles? :) This girl is getting ready for winter already (even though I doubt they will last until winter...):

And my house is surprisingly clean too :) I don't remember when the last time that happened was... I don't count on it to last with two three little piggies here but it feels nice...

I also organized our fridge and the only food waste I have is this little tomato:

I will have to reevaluate a few things about my cooking now though. Last year my husband was diagnosed with Esophagitis. He finally made it to the doctor a week ago and they did preliminary tests and already told us that he's allergic to most nuts (especially, pistachios) and sesame seeds. But we also noticed that he's been struggling every time he eats tomato-based meals (he's still fine with fresh tomatoes). And I never realized how many things I make with tomato sauce/paste!!! It's been weeks since we had anything but Alfredo sauce or plain cheese and butter with our pasta... He's fine with us eating things made with tomato sauce but I'm just too lazy to cook twice. So this week I decided to wait with the menu until (hopefully!) we'll get more answers. We will just work through the leftovers, make eggs and grill some, and will see how it goes. Our garden finally started to produce - we will have peppers and zucchinis this week, so we'll be eating them too. I'm kind of craving some grilled zucchinis here:)

And that's how things are :)

What is your favorite go-to recipe on a lazy day?

Food waste and a menu, week 7/7-7/13

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Hello, everyone! And happy Monday to you!

I don't know about you but it's a happy day for me :) After suffering with 90 degrees at home for a week, I knew that there was something wrong with the swamp cooler. So my husband spent an hour or so on the roof today, trying to figure it out and also replacing the pads. There is still one minor issue but it's already a beautiful 73 degrees in many parts of our house. I can breath!! Hoorah!

I might even start cooking again...

I'm ashamed to say it but we relied on a restaurant and take out food more than we should've last week... I just couldn't even be in the kitchen. And we are redoing our patio, so grilling was not an option either...

And because of that, I had some food waste (see Tanner, I'm far from perfect myself :) Surprisingly, it was a salad week. I rarely buy packaged salad but when I went shopping on Monday, it just looked so good. Leftovers two days later... not so much:

I wonder why this salad just goes bad so quickly! I also lost a bunch of spinach. There is really no excuse for it. I got it even before we went for our vacation and when I realized that we can't use it all, I wanted to cook and freeze what was left but simply forgot... By the time we came back, it was too late for this sad bunch:

So here you have it. I kind of miss those weeks when I didn't have any food waste... Sigh...

But at least I'm hoping to be able to follow our menu for this week:

Mon.- breakfast burritos
Tues. - pulled chicken sandwiches, 2-bean salad
Wed. - meatballs, mashed potatoes, green salad (I've had meatballs on my menu for the past two weeks. time to make them already...)
Thurs.- salmon in tomato sauce, rice, stewed cabbage
Fr.- veggie noodle ham casserole
Sat.- dinner with friends (yet to think of the menu)
Sun. - leftovers

What are you eating this week?

Food waste and a menu, week 6/30-7/6.

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Hello, hello, my lovelies,

How was your Monday? I hope you all had a good and quiet day.

I have to say, it was not a bad week here altogether. And mostly because we finally went on our vacation!!!! And I loved every minute of it :) Be sure to come back for the picture overload :)

So it kind of helped with our food waste. You might remember (but more than likely not :) that I was planning to clean the fridge last week. Well, I did before we left, and it wasn't too bad. I did a full deep-clean and there were only two things that went to the garbage can: a bottle of ranch that expired in November of 2013 (insert a big "yuck" here!!!) and this poor zucchini:

Yep, another yuck... And after some thought I decided to add the bag of biscuits to the pile too. It's just not worth it to try to make something out of them that might end up tasting just as disgusting. And they are just way too salty for birds or squirrels. Thank you all for putting some sense in me :)

And since our fridge was pretty bare, I had to go shopping today. I got a few good deals, so, hopefully, everything I bought will last us for the next two weeks or so.

And so far on our menu:

Mon. - fried potatoes with chicken, salad
Tues. - ham bake, Russian slaw
Wed. - meatballs, mashed potatoes, spinach salad
Thurs. - leftovers
Fr. - grilling (chicken, veggies, potatoes)!!!
Sat.- shaurmas
Sun.- whatever is left in a fridge :)

And what are you eating this week? Any special menu for the 4th of July?

Food waste and a menu, week 6/23-6/29 (maybe...)

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Hello, hello, my lovelies!

I know it's been a while but I'm thankful that you still stick by me and are patient with me. The last few days were crazy! It's probably the first time since I started blogging that I haven't really touched my blog for 4 days. But thank you so much for all of the sweet and encouraging comments that you've left in those days. Talking about the comments, do you know what's happening in blogger reader? It only shows me one blog at a time??

But where have I been? Honestly, I don't even have a good excuse (or a fun one, at least). My Hubby was out of town on a business trip, and the kiddos decided to be especially ornery, day and night, keeping me on my toes all day long... All of us really hate when Daddy leaves town.... I tried to catch up on housework while staying on top of my regular work but it all ended up being one big mess. The kids did help me with the laundry, so there is some progress there at least...

One of the things that was on my long list and that just never happened was deep-cleaning the fridge. Hopefully, I can get to it tomorrow... Lately, we've been getting more and more food waste here, lots of it due to my aversions (food still pretty much sucks and I'm almost a vegetarian at this point...). This week the rest of the family managed to finish almost everything I couldn't stomach but we still ended up with a few things in the garbage, like:

No excuse for wasting the last piece of cheese. I still eat dairy, in fact, I crave it! It just got lost in the back of the deli drawer. Bread on the other hand... I bought a loaf of french bread to have it with soup. Turned out it was sourdough, to the point that it left that nasty sour feeling in my mouth for most of the day, even after I brushed my teeth... At first, I thought it was just me but no, the boys felt the same way. And it want bad within just a couple of days, so I'm thinking there was something way off with the actual recipe... Yuck!

I also threw away a bit of taco meat and one cucumber that never made it to a picture because I simply forgot to take one. I'm afraid, I have more stuff hiding in the fridge but I won't know until I finally clean it...

And the lack of eating really jeopardizes my cooking abilities. The past few menus that I posted... well, let's just say, I failed more times than I want to admit... I was doing great all last week, actually cooking and eating most of it (minus meat) but today it's back to square one. So boys had cottage cheese mixed with apple sauce for dinner, hubby got leftovers, and I munched on a bit of beef jerky that surprisingly sounded good, a microwaved potato and a beet salad. Oh, and half of a watermelon... Almost... I know, a weird combination but I try to comfort myself that I got some protein, carbs and healthy produce in, so it's all good... Sigh... Now I'm sitting here battling terrible heartburn and hating life...

So this week there is no official menu... We'll probably grill chicken and zucchinis because, I know, we have some that need to be used up, I will make soup of some sort, and, maybe, rice with a stir-fry. But other than that, I have no desire to think about food. I've actually lost 5 pounds with this pregnancy and only gained back one. I know I'll start gaining and ballooning before I know it, so neither me, nor my doctor are concerned but I'm ready to start eating normally again.

And what are you eating this week (maybe, I'll get some inspiration from you :)?

Food waste and a menu, week 6/9-6/15.

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Wow, it was a busy day! I had a whole list of things I wanted to achieve and I got almost all of them done:

1. 3 loads of laundry - cleaned, folded and put away (still need to mend some socks)
2. Worked a ton! Read: extra money :)
3. Cleaned the kitchen almost completely (still need to scrub the sink and mop the floors. Probably, after kiddos are in bed)
4. Clean the bathroom
5. Put away a couple of dozen little things that seem to be everywhere. I really hate clutter! I wish kids would understand...
6. Put away small clothes
7. Help Kid to clean his room and organize some clothes
8. Got some letters and bills ready to be mailed

Phew! Got tired of typing it even... Oh, and I also went through our fridge and we have zero food waste this week. Woot woot! We do need to eat one mango and a cantaloupe really quick but it will not be a problem :) And I need to use up two sad bananas. I wanted to bake zucchini banana bread but that's the only thing from my list that I didn't find time for today...

Mon.- turkey tacos, 2 bean salad (recipe is coming!), cantaloupe (I told you :)
Tues.- vegetable frittata, salad
Wed.- vegetable and potato filled pirojkis
Thurs.- grilled chicken, roasted vegetables
Fr.- some sort of soup (I know it's still hot summer drought outside but I'm craving it)
Sat. grilled salmon, green beans, rolls
Sun.- TBD (really need to go shopping!)

So what's on your menu this week?

Food waste and a menu, week 6/2-6/8

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Hello everyone!

How has your Monday been? A typical Monday or was it actually a pleasant day? My Mondays are pretty boring and predictable most of the time. And that includes piles and piles of laundry... Considering we have 3 flights of stairs in the house, I can always squeeze some exercising too :) Feeling super-tired but pretty accomplished today...

I was really hoping to avoid food waste this week. The past few weeks weren't very good for us. But alas, this week went down the drain (or in this case, down into the garbage can) too. First we had this:

This orange looked perfect on the outside but, unfortunately, nasty and gross on the inside... Sorry for the dark picture. It was supposed to be an evening snack :)

I also had a can of mixed fruit from the dent area of the store that was apparently dented too much... That's the risk you sometimes take while trying to save a penny...

I did go shopping for this week today, and now our fridge is pretty full. It was getting kind of sad at the end of May... So this week on our menu (order is subject to change, as always):

Mon- pasta Alfredo, leftover baked beans, salad
Tues.- zucchini pasta (I really need to update pictures for this recipe...)
Wed. - IKEA dinner (need to go get a couple of things, and it's $10 night for a family of 4)
Thurs. - mashed potatoes, meatballs, mixed veggies
Fr.- plov, whatever veggies we have in the fridge by then
Sat.- chicken salad (we just top lettuce with leftover chicken from the freezer, other veggies, our favorite dressing and sprinkle with mozzarella. Yum! It's our family's favorite!)
Sun.- pot roast/leftovers

And what are you eating this week?

Food waste and a menu, week 5/12-5/18.

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Hello, hello, everyone!

How was your Monday?

Busy? Lazy? Or you don't even want to talk about it? As summer approaches, it seems like weekends fly buy quicker and quicker... I think, I need a week-long vacation...

Last week was not that good in the food waste department. I threw away some canned salmon that was sitting in a container for way too long, a handful of cilantro, 2 TB of canned peas that never got used up (family prefers frozen). But this was the saddest waste of all:

A whole bunch of salad. it got shoved to the very back of the fridge where it literally froze. What's the deal?? I was hoping to salvage some but, alas, it was beyond saving. Usually I wrap salad in a paper towel but this time, honestly, I just forgot... Bleh... What a waste of money. Oh well...

And this week on our table:

Mon. - chicken salad on bagels (ran out of bread :)
Tues.- baked ribs, coleslaw, 2-bean salad
Wed.- pasta and stir-fry (with added chicken)
Thurs.- cabbage and bean soup
Fr. -  BLT sandwiches with homemade smoothies
Sat. - dinner with friends
Sun. - leftovers

And what's on your menu this week?

Food waste and a menu, week 5/5-5/11.

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This last weekend just came and went... I did some shopping, a little bit of cooking, had some fun with my boys outside but mostly I vegetated on the couch with my laptop going through hundreds  of DIY inspirational ideas and delicious recipes on Pinterest. I also took a nap both on Saturday and Sunday. And that felt GOOD! Honestly, I don't remember the last time I took naps two days in a row. I have a suspicion it was some time before the kids...

It was nice to have some time for myself (and yeah, I doubt it's going to happen again any time soon...) and I needed it. My husband was a peach taking care of meals, housework and baths. I love him so much (hey, honey:).

And with all this newborn energy I'm ready for what this week will bring. Which should be a lot. First, it's Mother's Day this week and I'm yet to get my sweet MIL anything special... I have a truckload of work that needs to be done, do or die. And I need to finally (FINALLY!!) plant our garden. I gave up on peas already but some other things need to go into the ground.

I also went through our fridge and was pleasantly surprised to find no waste this week (sorry, Debby :). I do have sort of a dilemma here:

What would you do with an almost full bag of bagels? I got them on Saturday but they are just gross. I was thinking of making breadcrumbs but I'm just not sure I need that much crumbs. What is your go-to idea for stale bagels?

And this week our gang is eating:

Mon.- potatoes, sausage, stewed cabbage (because I forgot that it's Cinco De Mayo)
Tues.- tacos (because I remembered :), Churro Cheesecake
Wed.- Shaurmas, salad
Thurs. - Creamy chicken and rice soup
Fr. - Beef strognoff over rice, steamed veggies
Sat.- eat out for Mother's Day
Sun. - not sure yet. Doing something with the family

What's on your menu this week?

Food waste and a menu, week 4/21-4/27.

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Hello, hello, my friends,

How was your Easter weekend? Ours ended up being quite eventful. First, my BIL was involved in a fender-bender on Saturday where the other guy was threatening him with a knife. He is Ok and the guy was arrested but it was a few long and terrifying minutes for both him and his family. Then later on Saturday night we had a small (only 3.2) but still very real earthquake. It was my first ever and I wouldn't complain if it's the last one... I didn't even get what happened at first. It felt like an airplane flew by too close, or an explosion, or even a huge gust of wind. It really scared my little one and it took us a while to put him down that night... I have to say, it shook me too. This was an unusual  and sobering reminder of what or Who this Easter season is all about...

Luckily, Sunday was quiet and uneventful. We had a great time with the family and got an enjoyable break from a busy life.

And we had some yummy leftovers to start this week with :) I love me some leftovers. It's going to be a crazy week again since we are still working on the garden and weather just doesn't want to cooperate, so simple is again on our menu :)

And I have a confession to make - I do not have any food waste this week but not because I don't have any (in fact, I'm positive that I have a bag of some very unhappy spinach there at the bottom of the produce bin...) but I just never got to organizing our fridge. It's definitely on my to-do list tomorrow. So instead, I'll share with you a picture of these mouthwatering grilled zucchinis (and yes, they taste just as good as they look):

Even though I still need to organize the fridge, I know approximately what we have. So here's our menu so far:

Mon. - leftovers
Tues. - chicken pasta with broccoli (and, possibly, spinach...)
Wed.- zucchini mini-quiches
Thurs. - salmon, rice, cauliflower in cheesy sauce
Fr. - vegetarian hamburgers, salad
Sat. - sticky drumsticks, mashed potatoes, whatever veggies we have on hand
Sun. - leftovers
  
And what's on your menu this week?

Food waste and a menu, week 4/14-4/20.

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First, I want to thank each and every one of you who stopped by here yesterday with your kindest comments about my Mom. I seriously have the best blogo-friends in the world!!  We are all excited for her progress and so thankful for it. Thank you, guys, for your sweet wishes and prayers!


This week is all about simplifying in the kitchen! I have so much to do that I just don't have the time to cook.I desperately need to start gardening. Unfortunately, last year I never got to winterize our garden. So it needs a lot more work than I'd like to do... Plus, we got a green house, and it's a bit bigger than the rest of the spot, so we will have to make quite a few changes there. Now keeping fingers crossed that the weather cooperates...

But before the menu, we did have some food waste. There were a couple of things I didn't save. Like this poor potato and zucchini:

We grilled zucchinis last week but this one, I think, was already going bad when I bought it. I'm not sure how I missed it but, hey, it happens. We also had a bad mango in a bag that I forgot to take a picture of.

And that's what we are eating this week:

Mon.- breakfast for dinner
Tues. - bbq pulled pork sandwiches, salad
Wed.- hot dogs, fries, baked beans, carrots
Thurs.- mashed potatoes, meatballs from the freezer, green beans
Fr.- pasta, steamed broccoli
Sat.- leftovers/TBD
Sun.- Easter dinner with the family

And what's on your menu?

Food waste and a menu, week 4/7-4/13.

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Food waste? What food waste? :) Seriously, with the crazy week we had I'm surprised we didn't have a ton of waste. But other than some parsley and a few grapes we didn't have any! I am surprised! I thought it would be much worse. I did save half a can of tomato sauce. Have you ever opened a can to use a few spoons just to end up throwing away the rest of the can a week after because it got lost in the back of the fridge? Well, my simple solution is to freeze it! I use an ice cube tray for leftover sauce:

Each cube compartment holds exactly two tablespoons. After frozen, I just keep them in a ziploc bag and add them to soups or sauces. No more moldy sauce here :)

And lately I've been cooking the same things over and over, so it was time for something new. A couple of you recently shared a few delicious ideas, so I decided to incorporate them into our menu this week as well:

Mon.- pizza night!
Tues. - vegetable soup
Wed. - grilled chicken and zucchini
Thurs. - Oven Chicken risotto (Thanks, Sharon)
Fr.- Easy noodle Stir Fry (Thanks, Rhonda)
Sat.- going out (kid got a free hamburger from a library reading program so he's getting a treat :)
Sun.-TBD (seriously, have no idea. Hopefully, have some leftovers by the end of the week :)

And what are you eating this week??

Food waste and a menu, week 3/31-4/6.

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A couple of years ago when I first started tracking our food waste (inspired by The Frugal Girl), almost every week I would throw away something. I did not get discouraged and since have had months with no food waste.

Well, this week is not one of the good ones. First, I threw away this yummy bread (not so yummy looking any more...):

You can say that bread doesn't have a ton of preservatives in it when it goes bad within just a few days...

I also tossed about half a cup of cooked chicken:

The container is not dirty, I promise. it's just old and scratched :)

I was planning to add it to my salad for lunch today but, unfortunately, it already got a funky smell. I did save some carrots that were going bad. I also tried to make a farmer's cheese pie (quite popular back home) using leftover ricotta cheese in it. It did not turn out completely disgusting but it's definitely not a recipe I will share with you any time soon :)

I have a few things in the produce bin that need to be used up very soon, so I will try to incorporate them in our menu this week.

And so far that's what's planned in our kitchen:

Mon. - ham, potatoes, a bunch of cut up veggies with dipping sauce
Tues.- Russian beet soup, rolls
Wed.- zucchini pasta
Th. - ham casserole, steamed broccoli
Fr.- cabbage stuffed rolls
Sat. - leftover rice from Friday, Asian-inspired salmon, stir-fry
Sun. - leftovers

And what are you cooking this week?

Food waste and a menu, week 3/24-3/30.

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It was such a great day today! I had a huge to-do list to work on and I finished every single thing on it (which included 4 loads of laundry among other things). I don't even remember the last time I was that productive. I deserve a pat on the back :) But, honestly, I think the warmer temperatures definitely contributed to it. Spring is here, I can smell it. No, really, almost literally can. Here's the proof :)

I can't wait for some spring blossoms and tender-green leaves everywhere...

I also went through our fridge and realized that we did not have any food waste this week. Wohoo!! I told you it was a good day :) And I also have most of the ingredients we will need for our menu plan this week, so I hope to stick to only one small shopping trip tomorrow.

So far that's what I planned for our dinners this week:

Mon. - grilled chicken, salad, banana bread
Tues.- omelette and mixed veggies
Wed.- baked swai, rice, steamed broccoli
Thurs.- mashed potatoes, meatballs, salad
Fr.- ham, leftover mashed potatoes, glazed carrots
Sat.- leftovers
 Sun.- ham and bean soup, rolls

And what's cooking in your kitchen?