Thursday & Friday Dinners

Roast Turkey Breast

Thursday night I made what The Kid calls "Mini Thanksgiving" - roast turkey breast (brined, of course), Del Monte green beans with potatoes, cranberry sauce, and yeast rolls. And homemade gravy, Good God. I ran across a funny essay in a women's/mother's magazine a few years ago titled, "You Know You're Over 40 When..." The list item I most identified with is, "You have a definite position on how gravy should be made."

Well, I follow my mother's method for making gravy and can finally say - at 40-something years old - that mine comes close to hers. I always remember a line from the movie Twister, when referring to the aunt of Helen Hunt's character: "[her] gravy is legendary. It's practically a food group." That's my mom's gravy and - hopefully - mine, too, one day.

Thursday Totals:

$5.85 - turkey
$1.25 - cranberry sauce
$1.25 - green beans w/ potatoes
.40 - yeast rolls

$8.75 for dinner for 4 (sister joined us), plus plenty of turkey, gravy and cranberry left over

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Because it is Lent (and, as I explained, other family members observe meatless Fridays), I cooked fish. It wasn't much of a hardship on me (although I sometimes pretend it is), because I love fish and will take any excuse to serve salmon. I coated fillets with Chef Prud'homme's Magic Salmon Seasoning (I've blogged before about this awesome stuff), and pan-fried them in a little olive oil until nicely browned. On the side we reheated some of the leftover ricotta-lemon-spinach spaghetti - and we still have plenty left, proving that the original recipe serves way more than 4. It was a bit dry, so I added in a drizzle of lemon juice and olive oil, and stirred in another spoonful of ricotta. That moistened it up nicely. I definitely think this dish works better as a side than as an entree.

Friday Totals:

$3 - salmon fillets (from Aldi - $3.99 for package of 4)
free - leftover pasta

$3 for dinner for 3

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Saturday we took a day-trip to the new Charlotte IKEA, so dinner was Swedish Meatballs, mashed potatoes, ligonberry jam, and assorted Swedish desserts (almond cake, Princess cake, and apple cake) in the IKEA cafe.

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I've been neglecting the Foodie blog lately and I'm sorry. I've been fortunate enough to take on a little temporary side work over the past few weeks and it's taken up a lot of my time and energy. Things should be getting back to normal as of this week, though - and I'll have both a fatter wallet and more time to cook, save money, and blog about it.

Peace.

Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday

Spaghetti with Ricotta, Lemon & Spinach

Both spaghetti and ricotta cheese were on sale at Harris Teeter last week, and I had 1/2 a bag of fresh spinach and a few lemons to use up, so running across this recipe was serendipitous. It couldn't be more simple - boil spaghetti, drain, then toss the hot pasta with fresh spinach leaves, olive oil, a little of the pasta cooking water, and ricotta cheese to which you've added lemon zest, nutmeg, salt & pepper. (I added the juice of 1 lemon, too, although recipe didn't call for it.) The result was simple, tasty and good. I do think it's more of a spring/summer meal than a winter one, and I have a feeling we'll all be hungry again long before bedtime. So while I'll definitely be making this one again, I think I'll pair it with grilled chicken or shrimp next time.

Wednesday Totals:

.50 - spaghetti
$1 - 1/2 bag spinach
.75 - ricotta
.25 - lemon

$2.50 for dinner for 3 (with lots left over - recipe claims to serve 4 but I think it's more like 5 - 6)

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Monday and Tuesday dinners were nothing special because I was busy both days. Monday we had Wanchai Ferry (bag to skillet) Orange Chicken, and a box of frozen egg rolls. Both were purchased when Harris Teeter was doubling coupons up to $1.98, and I had a raincheck on the skillet dinner besides. Tuesday we just threw a couple of frozen pizzas in the oven - purchased BOGO + coupons.

Monday totals: $6.50 for dinner for 3

Tuesday totals: $4 for dinner for 3

Weekend Dinners

Curried Coconut Chicken

You know the story on this one. In a few months this dish has gone from a totally unfamiliar flavor profile to one of my family's favorite recipes. The Kid does a fist-pump whenever I mention this is what I'm cooking.

Sunday Totals:

$3 - 1.5 lbs boneless chicken breast
$1.39 - can coconut milk
.55 - can tomatoes
.40 - 2 cans tomato sauce
.25 - onion
.40 - rice (double my usual recipe)

$5.99 for dinner for 4 (sister joined us) plus 2 lunch servings left over

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The Kid was away Saturday night. I knew in advance that it would just be the 2 of us for dinner, so I had my eye out for a good deal on a dinner for 2. Sadler Smokehouse brand has a line of heat n' serve "dinner for 2" sold at Harris Teeter. These are meat & side dish combos, sold in the packaged meat case. They're pricey at $7.99 each, but I had a $1 off coupon that doubled last week. Plus there was an additional $3 markdown because they were short-dated (I don't think they're selling too well), so for $1.99 it was quite a deal.

We had the Country Style Ribs (boneless pork tenderloin in BBQ sauce) with white cheddar mashed potatoes. It was quite good, but this is one of those meals that means it when it says "serves 2." Some you can stretch into a 3rd serving - this one, you can't. On the side I opened a can of collard greens - an Aldi house brand I'd never tried before. The verdict: OK, but not worth the .20 - .30 savings over Margaret Holmes brand. Rounding out the meal were a couple of Sister Shubert's individual heat n' serve yeast rolls.

Saturday Totals:

$1.99 - Sadler BBQ pork entree w/ cheddar mash
.69 - collard greens
.35 - rolls

$3.03 for dinner for 2

Friday Dinner

Leftover baked spaghetti tonight (free), along with a box of garlic-cheese breadsticks I picked up BOGO + double coupon for 95 cents.

Thursday Dinner

I've been shopping Harris Teeter's Super Double Coupons every day this week. (Due to their limit of 20 per day, because I keep finding new online coupons to print, and because they've been out of items.) Anyway, that's also given me lots of opportunities to scour the meat department for markdowns and I've made some great finds. (And missed out on some, too. I saw a woman with her cart filled with yellow-stickered lamb shoulder roasts and ground lamb, but when I got back to the department I found she'd cleaned them out.) Thursday night we had one of those great markdown deals when I made steak fajitas with skirt steak marked more than 50% off.

To marinate the mean, I used a packet of McCormick Mesquite BBQ marinade (just add cider vinegar and oil) that I've had for just about forever. (Way back when, it was also an almost-free deal after triple coupons.) After marinating the whole steak for several hours, I grilled it on the George Foreman for about 4 minutes, then let rest for another 5 before slicing thinly against the grain. I served on heated flour tortillas with carmelized onions and roasted red peppers (from a jar, because it was what I had on hand). We passed salsa, sour cream (free after double coupons), shredded cheese and guacamole (free after double coupons) at the table. I had thought I had a can of refried beans in the pantry, but couldn't find it so I was left scrambling for a side dish. We ended up with just tortilla chips (.50 a bag after double coupons) and salsa.

Totals:

$2.25 - skirt steak
.15 - marinade
.50 - onions & peppers
.80 - tortillas
.50 - cheese
.20 - chips

$4.40 for dinner for 4 (sister joined us)

Wednesday Dinner

I don't abstain from meat for (Ash Wednesday and Fridays in) Lent, but other family members do, so I'll be cooking with them in mind during the season. Being Ash Wednesday, I planned in advance to serve fish. (And joked with my sister about it all week. I just typed the whole thing out then deleted it because it didn't translate into funny. I guess you had to be there.)

Harris Teeter recently had Gorton's Grilled Fillets BOGO and I had several coupons for them besides. It's HT's weird policy to only allow 1 coupon when buying 2 BOGO items (even though they ring up half price each, not 1 full price and 1 free). Some stores really enforce this, others don't. But since I saw on the shelf tag that the sale was good for 2 weeks, I just bought 1 box each on 2 separate trips and used a coupon each time. The end price was $2.25 for 2 boxes, 4 fillets total. Now I'm a little freaked out by the perfectly (unnaturally) square fish, but it's my understanding that's just the way it's cut (as opposed to being a "fish cake" of fish and by-products compressed together into that shape). At any rate, I've had many of the varieties of this product over the years (lemon, grilled, blackened, etc.) and I've always liked the flavor.

This one was no exception - we had the Signature Grilled Tilapia and it was very good. On the side I made steamed white rice, hollandaise (from a mix), and roasted fresh asparagus. Saints be praised, it's almost asparagus season! The regular prices are still high unless there's a sale (Lowe's Food had it $1.49/lb last week), but the quality is definitely that of in-season (tender, mild, sweet) as opposed to off-season (tough, strong, bitter). 99 cent a pound is just around the corner!

Wednesday Totals:

$2.25 - grilled tilapia
.20 - rice
$1.49 - asparagus
$1.50 - hollandaise mix + 1/2 stick butter

$5.44 for dinner for 4

Tuesday Dinner

As I've mentioned before, Tuesday is one of my busier days. That's where my stockpiling comes in handy, because I have quick meals ready to go without any thought or effort. (I avoid making "Express Lane" dinner runs like the plague.) Tonight's dinner was good but nothing special - just baked spaghetti (pasta & jarred sauce, topped with cheese) and frozen garlic bread.

Tuesday Totals:

$1 - spaghetti
.66 - jar of Ragu (purchased during sale + triple coupons)
$1.50 - shredded mozzarella
$1 - frozen garlic bread (double coupons)

$4.16 for dinner for 4 (sister joined us) plus 4+ servings spaghetti left over