Feb 8-14th

This is a week of leftovers. I frequently freeze our left overs in hopes of using them for another meal later in the month. This week we are low or completely out of many staple items. I decided in order to keep our grocery bill from ballooning this week, we will eat our leftovers and free up the money we would usually spend on meals to buy our staple items. 


Our grocery bill ballooned despite my efforts! This week I spent $113. It was quite disappointing, but we had a lot of staple items needed. From now on I am going to post the cost of each meal.  


Monday: Leftover Slow Cooker Vitamin A Blast Black Bean Chili

-Recipe from healthyslowcooking.com

Tuesday: Immune Enhancing Miso Soup with a side of Lightly Sauted Kale ($2.44)

- Recipe from the site Eating Consciously



Wednesday: Left over Cajun 15 bean soup w/ Millet Mash ($6.22)
-Recipe for Millet Mash from Amazing Grains pg. 108


Thursday: Sun-dried Tomato Veggie Burgers ($2.50) w/ Sweet Potato Fries ($1.62)


~ This dinner was so good! I diced the veggie burgers and mixed it with green onion and frozen peas. I then made hamburger buns using my bread maker and this recipe.  Instead of baking the buns right after they were done rising, I flattened then and piled on the veggie burger mix and put some shredded cheddar and then folded and closed the uncooked bun around the veggie burger mix. I then cooked at the suggested temperature for 20-25 mins. It was a delicious veggie pocket.  My husband loved it too and said he would like it again. 


Friday: Butternut Squash Enchiladas ($9.40) w/ Drunken Beans ($1.62)
-Recipe from Vegetarian Times 
-Recipe for Drunken Beans from Romancing the Bean pg. 76


~This recipe was a good deal more expensive than I like to spend for a meal. It also took a very long time to make. The first step of roasting the butternut squash took an hour and a half instead of 45 mins. I think if I make it again I will dice it before roasting it. The dinner was very good and spicy! My husband suggested replacing the butternut squash with sweet potato, which is a terrific idea. Not only are sweet potatoes a small fraction of the cost of a butter nut squash, but they cook faster. I may try this again with sweet potatoes instead and Verde sauce instead of enchilada sauce. The drunken beans were great, as always! 


Saturday: Mexican Pizza ($4.14)

- Recipe from The Vegetarian 5-ingredient Gourmet pg. 164


~This recipe calls for salsa, refried beans, pizza crust and cheese. Instead of using premade items I used left over pizza crust from our pizza last week, made the salsa by adapting the recipe for Spicy Vegan Quinoa Chili, and made refried beans from the left over drunken beans.   I made the salsa by following the Chili recipe until it called for the TVP and Quinoa. I also added some lime juice and cilantro. To make the refried beans I blended the drunken beans with a bit of the cooking liquid and added 1 tsp of chipotle powder. 

Sunday: Winter Stew ($6.23) w/ garlic bread
-Recipe from Vegetarian Pasta Cookebook pg. 112


Breakfast: Warm Nutty Cinnamon Quinoa ($5.67)
-Recipe from 101cookbooks.com


~This was delicious!! I think it is now my all time favorite breakfast! It was easy and amazing!