Wow, it's been a while since I've been here!! It seems I always take photos of my favorite recipes but never get around to posting them. My camera feed is full of pictures of past meals, it's really quite pathetic. The kids have gone back to school today (yay and boo!!) and I've decided to commit to getting some of these recipes on here, if nothing else at least I can come back to them later when I need some dinner ideas, especially since I won't post anything that didn't turn out amazing and of course, kid approved. My kids are funny, I have decided not to force my kids into being vegan. We eat vegan at home but I wouldn't say no if they wanted to order a burger or chicken nuggets (cringe) on the rare occasion we go out. The way I see it, they eat healthy all the time at home. We eat only plant based, try to avoid processed foods and unnatural ingredients as much as possible and they don't complain at all, in fact they love it! I mean today they all wanted chickpea "tuna" sandwiches in their school lunches (recipe to come)! I feel it's my job as a mother to educate them about what they put into their bodies be it food or other, but I won't hold back on allowing them to partake in pizza day for school lunch every so often either. As they get older I am finding that they choose vegan or vegetarian menu options (when available) more often than not!
So as I said, back to school today. I am happy because the kids were starting to go stir crazy, there's are just some days when I have to much to do to entertain them and they get bored. It's also a little saddening not having them around throughout the day, plus the quiet tends to be unnerving. Back to school this year was a little rough on our budget. School clothes, supplies, new shoes, class fees. All of these things have put a hole in our finances so yesterday we went through closets and found some items to sell online and this morning I rummaged through the pantry and freezer and made a list of staple items on hand to minimize our grocery bill. With those I made a whole weeks menu and all I have to buy are a few fresh produce items, bread and almond milk. Not bad!! I'm guessing my grocery bill this week will be around $25. That's pretty amazing for a family of 5. It helps that I stock up on staple items when they're on sale. We always have plenty of various types of rice, canned and dry beans, lentils, quinoa, pasta, biscuit mix, canned tomatoes, frozen veggies and potatoes, peanut butter, oats, cereal and spices. So... this weeks menu is:
Chinese sour noodle soup with sesame ginger salad
Lentil loaf and steamed broccoli
Vegan "hamburger helper" with rolls and side salad
Cabbage rolls with German potato cakes (this one I plan on making 2 batches so I can freeze one for later)
Black eyes pea patty sandwiches with tomato soup
Tofu veggie scramble with biscuits and gravy
I'm pretty excited about how frugal I'm being this week!! We'll see if I can keep this up! I'll be sure to post recipes for all my dinner plus my chickpea (garbanzo bean) "tuna" salad later this week. Trust me on the chickpeas, I've made this a few times and the kids just devour it. I even made it when my sisters 3 young boys visited and had them asking for seconds. Chickpeas are high in protein and fiber and low in saturated fat and cholesterol plus they taste great!!
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