February’s Meals – Photojournaled

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4 (frequent use meals)
February’s Shopping Trips

This month (4-week cycle, really), as with the last 24+ months, I spent under $200 on my groceries. That doesn’t count the $25 per month I save every month towards summer produce, which I preserve and use all year long. (applesauce, canned pears, homemade spaghetti sauce, etc.)

This month, I’ve been struggling with morning sickness. Oh bleh! But worth it! But anyway, the goal was to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible and to avoid any foods that I deemed bad-smelling. No fish this month – OH MY GOODNESS, that just sounds awful. Maybe next month. 🙂 We were blessed by a meal from a friend and by some muffins from another… did I forget anybody? Let me just throw out a huge, heartfelt, at least one more time, THANK YOU to my friends and family who have been so full of love and support for us. It is so good to not be alone. We are so blessed!

So, not counting the chicken dinner brought by our sweet friend Mindy (you know who I’m talking about, Gretchen! Your mom is AMAZING!) – here is the photojournal of our meals:

1. Teriyaki Chicken Sandwiches

ok ok – that’s from google.

Here’s what they really looked like at my house this month:

Cookin’ leftovers – because I forgot to take pictures the night they were fresh.

2. Spaghetti

That’s right – wonderful comfort food! Made with homemade spaghetti sauce. It was alright. Need a better recipe next year.

3. The Ultimate Salad

This wasn’t on our list to eat, but for some reason we had a bunch of salad fixings. Anyway – take your lettuce and top it with: carrots, celery, boiled eggs, cheese, bacon, cucumber, broccoli, tomatoes, nuts. Oh yum! And serve with focaccia (sp?) bread.

4. Baked chicken, potatoes and broccoli

Ok, so this doesn’t look so tasty, but it was pretty good. Imagine it with more barbeque sauce all over it.

5. Nachos

Simple food. Pretty good too. Corn tortilla chips, home-cooked beans (cheaper and tastier too because I throw in random yummy things like tomatoes), sour cream, salsa (home-canned), fresh cilantro:

6. Quiche

Basic quiche recipe in homemade crust plus spinach, bacon, cheese and stuff. 🙂

7. Pulled pork sandwiches

These taste better than they look. 🙂 And they drip with bbq sauce that you continue adding. Can’t seem to put too much on there. (I just cook a pork roast in the slow cooker with a ton of bbq sauce. Then shred and put on bread with cheddar cheese and more sauce) That’s white cheddar there. Also, these are better and even more hearty on homemade buns.

8. Pork chops with Rice & Veggies… turned into Teriyaki Beef and Snap Pea Stir Fry

Why? Because I didn’t actually have any pork chops in the freezer like I thought. Dagnab-it! This turned out really tasty though. Pulled some sliced cheap steak out of the freezer (bought some really cheap steak a long time ago and pre-sliced it just for stir fry), grabbed some snap peas from last summer’s garden out… cooked it up with onions… slathered with teriyaki sauce… decided to add a can of pineapple bits… it was pretty good, actually! Served on rice.

9. Chicken alfredo

This is always good. ALWAYS. I threw in the rest of my frozen spinach. Still good.

10. Soup and Bread

Soup from my home-canned supply. Just a simple chicken soup. Added noodles and extra broth. And my mom baked me a loaf of bread. Mmmmmm
:

11. Chicken rice casserole

I am totally out of vegetables except for one unwanted can of green beans. I found some carrots and onions and put them in my chicken rice casserole. It was alright. I forgot to take a picture until it was ALL GONE except for this bowl I wanted to show you the casserole in all its glory, but it was eaten so fast that this is all that was left:

12. Tacos
No picture – oops.

13. Frozen lasagna from last month
No picture – oops again. But it was delicious!

14. Steak, rice, veggies

T-bone steaks – yum! The kids get just a little. 🙂

Desserts and snacks

And don’t forget the chocolate chip and butterscotch chip cookies. MMmmmmmm. No picture – sorry!