It's about 2 AM and I'm wide awake. I got to sleep at about 11 but had a nightmare and was awakened by it a bit ago. So here I am, checking email and such and hoping to get back to sleep soon.
Last night I cooked two more beef roasts in the pressure cooker. This time I dumped one package of brown gravy mix, a package of onion soup mix, and about 3/4 cup of Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce into a 4 cup measuring cup and added enough water to make 2 cups of liquid.
I brought it to pressure and cooked it for 15 minutes, then used the quick release and added a bag of frozen green beans, some carrots and potatoes, and set the PC for another 12 minutes. When it was finished, I used slow release and the resulting beef roast is so very tender and very delicious!
The meat, vegetables, and juice were divided into 2 large freezer bags and I got a small freezer bag of just sauce and vegetables. All of it went into the freezer to be used in the future. I'll use part of it for stew, part to be served over rice, some will be used in a crockpot beef pie, etc. Those two roasts should provide us with at least 12 meals.
Tuesday night dinner was a #9 from Long John Silver's. I didn't get off until 6 and Rod wanted to go out for fish so we did. Ehh, it wasn't frugal or healthy but it sure was good!
Today is a day off for and I got the laundry done yesterday so today I'm going to rest. Dinner will be leftover cheesy chicken pulled from the freezer and used to make chicken and rice that we'll have with a salad and green beans. Yum!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Terrific Tuesday & tonight's dinner
So far this has been a great Tuesday. Since I don't have to go to work until 2, I slept in until a little after 8. That's rare for me and it was sooo nice! I got up, did a little cleaning, checked email, set the beef roast out to defrost, and am going to head out in just a few minutes to do laundry before going to work. While I'm out I might pick up a few fresh vegetables since we're running very low.
We don't have a garden this year, unfortunately. There's not really space for one but we are going to put three or four tomato plants in pots. If all we can grow is those wonderful tasty tomatoes that will work, though we would prefer to grow much more. As they say, though...if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
Anyway, tonight's dinner is Beef Quesadillas made from last week's leftover beef roast, low carb tortillas, a mix of several grated cheeses, roma tomatoes, and some plain yogurt mixed with sour cream. We'll have them with a salad if I get the vegetables while I'm out. I get off work at 6 so it might be a late dinner but it should be great.
Okay, I'm off to do laundry then head to work...
We don't have a garden this year, unfortunately. There's not really space for one but we are going to put three or four tomato plants in pots. If all we can grow is those wonderful tasty tomatoes that will work, though we would prefer to grow much more. As they say, though...if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
Anyway, tonight's dinner is Beef Quesadillas made from last week's leftover beef roast, low carb tortillas, a mix of several grated cheeses, roma tomatoes, and some plain yogurt mixed with sour cream. We'll have them with a salad if I get the vegetables while I'm out. I get off work at 6 so it might be a late dinner but it should be great.
Okay, I'm off to do laundry then head to work...
Monday, May 5, 2008
Menu Plan Monday and menu for the week
Continued thanks to Laura at I'm An Organizing Junkie for her Menu Plan Monday. Participating in the memes really seems to help me keep on track so I'm in for the duration!
Here's our menu for the week with the first meal being tonight's dinner. The rest will just kind of happen when the time seems right for them.
Chicken and brown rice, green beans, and salad (I'll make enough rice for the other two rice containing meals and put that in the fridge)
Slow cooker bean enchilada casserole
'Beef tips', rice, gravy, spinach, and salad (made with leftover beef roast from last week)
Slow cooker Swiss Steak, green beans, and salad
Cheesy Beef, buttered new potatoes, and mixed greens
Leftover Red Beans and brown rice with salad
Beef salad sandwiches (made with leftover beef roast from last week) with kettle cooked chips
Here's our menu for the week with the first meal being tonight's dinner. The rest will just kind of happen when the time seems right for them.
Chicken and brown rice, green beans, and salad (I'll make enough rice for the other two rice containing meals and put that in the fridge)
Slow cooker bean enchilada casserole
'Beef tips', rice, gravy, spinach, and salad (made with leftover beef roast from last week)
Slow cooker Swiss Steak, green beans, and salad
Cheesy Beef, buttered new potatoes, and mixed greens
Leftover Red Beans and brown rice with salad
Beef salad sandwiches (made with leftover beef roast from last week) with kettle cooked chips
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Sunday dinner - Beef and Cheese Rollups
I didn't get off work until 2 hours past my scheduled time and am tired this afternoon. I really didn't feel like cooking a lot but was hungry and came up with something quick and very tasty.
I used some of the Carne Picada from Wal-Mart in tonight's dinner. I dumped it all into the electric skillet in about 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil, added some sliced onion, salt, pepper, and chopped garlic, and browned it well. When the meat was cooked, I removed half of it to the freezer for later this week. The other half still in the skillet I topped with shredded Mozzarella and Monterey Jack cheeses, a small hand full of each. Then I turned off the skillet, no stirring of the meat and cheese, and let it sit until the cheese melted, about four minutes. I put some on a low carb tortilla, added a little chopped tomato and picante sauce, rolled that puppy up and ate it! It's very good that way - tasty and filling. Black olives and green onions would have made it better but since I'm out of green onions I settled for what I had and was happy to have it. As my sister said earlier today during a phone conversation about her breakfast, "I'll just shut my mouth and eat it and be grateful to have it". Uh huh, that's it!
Anyway, if you come across Carne Picada in your local store, give it a try. It's good stuff!
I used some of the Carne Picada from Wal-Mart in tonight's dinner. I dumped it all into the electric skillet in about 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil, added some sliced onion, salt, pepper, and chopped garlic, and browned it well. When the meat was cooked, I removed half of it to the freezer for later this week. The other half still in the skillet I topped with shredded Mozzarella and Monterey Jack cheeses, a small hand full of each. Then I turned off the skillet, no stirring of the meat and cheese, and let it sit until the cheese melted, about four minutes. I put some on a low carb tortilla, added a little chopped tomato and picante sauce, rolled that puppy up and ate it! It's very good that way - tasty and filling. Black olives and green onions would have made it better but since I'm out of green onions I settled for what I had and was happy to have it. As my sister said earlier today during a phone conversation about her breakfast, "I'll just shut my mouth and eat it and be grateful to have it". Uh huh, that's it!
Anyway, if you come across Carne Picada in your local store, give it a try. It's good stuff!
Pantry meals
The business has been a little slow lately and since most weeks I work less than 30 hours, money is a little tight. Bills are paid and we have gas in the truck and plenty of food stored up so we're trying to eat from the pantry. We spent about $58 on groceries last week and I'd like to keep it under $15 this week with that $15 beingly mainly for bread and milk. We're pretty well stocked on everything else, I think, so eating from the pantry shouldn't be difficult.
The menu for the coming week is comprised of things we have on hand already. There's always the chance that my man person will decide he wants to go out at least once but we've found a pretty reasonable way to do that. There's a Chinese restaurant near us that charges $10.80 for two lunch take outs from their very large and good buffet. They don't mind if we really stuff our containers full so we can get 2 meals for each of us for $10.80 total. Not bad at all! If we do decide to go out, we'll more than likely do that. It's better than spending $20 or more for one meal and gives us a little diversion.
Hopefully business will pick up again soon but it's so nice to know that we have enough food to keep us fed for quite awhile.
The menu for the coming week is comprised of things we have on hand already. There's always the chance that my man person will decide he wants to go out at least once but we've found a pretty reasonable way to do that. There's a Chinese restaurant near us that charges $10.80 for two lunch take outs from their very large and good buffet. They don't mind if we really stuff our containers full so we can get 2 meals for each of us for $10.80 total. Not bad at all! If we do decide to go out, we'll more than likely do that. It's better than spending $20 or more for one meal and gives us a little diversion.
Hopefully business will pick up again soon but it's so nice to know that we have enough food to keep us fed for quite awhile.
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