I’m teaching a cooking class on Thursday — ‘The Casserole Comeback‘ — and want to test out the three recipes ahead of time, as a refresher since these recipes aren’t in my usual wheelhouse, and it’s been years since I’ve cooked these… so the theme of this weeks dinners is recipe testing!
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 12 – NOVEMBER 18
GROCERY SHOPPING = $309.85
$136.65 at Trader Joe’s for the Big Sunday Shop, $23.45 for mid-week shop, and $149.75 at Costco for all of the random staples we seem to be out of (soy sauce, granulated sugar, granola, bread, English muffins, Nutella, butter, etc.)
Insane amount of money for groceries in one week, but hey, we needed a Costco run. And Thanksgiving is next week, so this Costco run absolutely needed to happen.
DINING OUT = $170
Eek, yes we spent a lot of money on our date night. But it’s budgeted for and only happens once a month, so…
SUNDAY LUNCH
After we got home from Hebrew School I made everyone turkey sandwiches and made myself a large simple green salad with homemade bread from yesterday evening.
SUNDAY DINNER
Tonight was a chicken teriyaki casserole. It’s better than it sounds, in fact it was delicious. Prepping dinner was nearly impossible tonight with both boys whining and screaming and complaining and crying on the kitchen floor. My husband and daughter were outside raking leaves.
MONDAY LUNCH
The baby and I went on a nice long stroller walk and really worked up an appetite. When we got back, I finished off the two stuffed peppers from last week and paired it with a bowl of Saturday nights corn chowder, plus a slice or two of crusty bread.
MONDAY DINNER
I’m testing out a Shephard’s Pie recipe tonight for my Thursday class. I don’t know why this isn’t on my winter meal rotation, it was SO GOOD. It took a bit longer than I anticipated to prep, but luckily the baby napped so I was able to relax while cooking.
TUESDAY LUNCH
Leftover Shephard’s Pie, because YUM. I tried giving the baby the Chicken Teriyaki for lunch, and he wanted none of it. Screamed for our Shephard’s Pie. So he, my husband, and I finished off the rest of last nights casserole.
TUESDAY DINNER
Tonight, my husband and I are going out, and plan on feeding the kids Sunday’s leftover Chicken Teriyaki. Because I’m not cooking dinner tonight, I took the opportunity after preschool to get ahead of our Thanksgiving baking. The kids helped me prep two batches of chocolate chip cookies and apple cider donuts – so good!
Meanwhile, we had a fantastic night out at a new-to-us restaurant. We’re trying to eat our way through our new neighborhoods restaurants, and so far it’s been a blast. I ordered salmon with wild mushrooms and my husband ordered short ribs with mash and green beans, we each had a glass of wine, a handful of oysters to start, and a chocolate torte for dessert. It was all heavenly, and eye-watering expensive. $170 with tip.
WEDNESDAY LUNCH
Last nights salmon & short ribs leftovers. My older kids were both at school, my husband was at work, and the baby slept through lunch. When the baby woke up, I offered him short-ribs, but he wasn’t interested. He chose to snack on Goldfish as we ran our mid-week errands together.
WEDNESDAY DINNER
More salmon. Sheet pan salmon with green beans, quinoa cooked on the stovetop. I also had a ton of strawberries and cucumbers, so I threw that together with feta and red wine vinegar on top of the salmon.
THURSDAY LUNCH
Today we hosted a potluck for my husbands office, it was so much fun. I had a little bit of everything, the theme was Thanksgiving, so there were all the delicious comfort foods.
THURSDAY DINNER
I had work tonight, my casserole class, so my husband was on his own with the kids and a cheesy southwestern casserole I had made earlier in the day.
FRIDAY LUNCH
The kids and I had a busy morning at the library, and when we got home, we heated up some mac & cheese and shared leftover salad from the potluck. I also prepped the kids a snack plate to pick at for the rest of the afternoon — usually always a good idea, I was able to squeeze in an afternoon nap.
SHABBAT DINNER
I threw beef, honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, onions, and garlic into the slow cooker early in the morning, and it magically turned into Korean Tacos for Shabbat dinner, paired with shredded cabbage, thinly sliced cucumbers, red chili paste for heat, and quinoa.
SHABBAT LUNCH
Someone at my husbands office had ordered brisket and ribs from our favorite local BBQ spot, and there was a ton leftover, so we all had that with even more macaroni and cheese for lunch, it was excellent.
SATURDAY DINNER
I’ve gotten into a habit of clearing out the fridge on Saturday night, so we did an ‘Everything Must Go’ night, which meant polishing off the brisket, ribs, mac & cheese, the potluck salads, and a nutella casserole for dessert.
All in all it was a pretty good week, meal planning wise. We had no food waste, a solid meal plan, and everyone seemed happy each meal. Especially our toddlers. My older son is becoming a salad person, and it’s adorable to listen to him ask for some of my salad.