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.