What we ate

Before I get down to what we spent, (and yes... we went over budget...) Lets look at what we ate the second 1/2 half of the month when I remembered to take pictures of our dinners. It's not in order by any means, and I missed a few nights, but it gives you a little idea about what we have been doing.

Chicken Sandwiches (We ate this 2 times in the second half of the month)

Canned chicken mixed with organic fat free Greek yogurt, salt, pepper, organic diced onion. Add you favorite cheese to some tasty bread and heat it in your toaster oven so you don't have to butter the bread and fry them on the stove.

Pork Crock Pot Mex Meal (This was dinner for 3 nights spaced out. We ate this, picked something else the next day, then ate leftovers of this... and we did that one more time).

So I took some frozen pork loin (think three 1 inch-ish thick pork chops we cut ourselves out of a pork loin) and put it in our mini crock pot with a jar of generic mild salsa. I tossed in some garlic powder, salt, pepper, and maybe 1/4 cup of bell peppers I didn't know what to do with with maybe 1/4 chopped onion that was leftover in a container. I stuck that on high all day and then shredded the meat and kept some of the salsa juice.

We made "chipotle" rice. (Little oil in a pan, then toss in the uncooked but washed rice, heat for a little, then add water and cook rice like normal... then mix in a little lime juice and the cilantro), then just did taco fixings like avocado, cheese, lettuce, olives, tomatoes, onions, etc. I ate mine with my fork or with chips and hubs made his into burritos. 

Spinach Bites (This ended up being used for one dinner, and lunch and a snack for me during the week)... then we made them again and I brought some to a work pot-luck too!)

It's thawed and drained spinach, a chopped onion cooked in melted butter, garlic, salt, pepper, a few eggs, a box of unprepared stuffing, Parmesan cheese... mix, roll, bake. I found the recipe here at the Curvy Carrot.

Artichokes, Sweet potato fries, and burgers. (artichokes we ate twice, and we did burgers at least twice this month, but only once in the second half when I was taking pictures)

They are pretty self explanatory, but I steamed the artichokes in the microwave and after i washed and peeled the sweet potatoes, i tossed them in a little olive oil, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and some Parmesan cheese and baked them in the oven. We had some melted butter to dip our artichoke leaves in... and just your basic burger toppings. Since we have been experiencing summer weather, I've kind of reverted to our summer meal plans a bit.

Broccoli Cakes with Baked Potatoes (One dinner, plus a side for another below)

You can find the broccoli recipe here from the Smitten Kitchen but its steamed chopped broccoli with tasty awesomeness. And again, when my husband asks me to make a meatless meal... you know its tasty!

Steak Kabobs! (One dinner, three lunches for me- I did steak taco leftovers 2 days and a steak sandwich melt the other)

I tried to get some organic meat, but no local store had any so we picked some regular meat up from Ralphs. I marinated it in Newman's light Italian dressing and after soaking the skewer sticks in water almost all day, we put the steak pieces on with onions, bell peppers, and potatoes.

This was before we cooked them

Frozen fish (Wild caught Pollock from Costco, and stuffed sole from Omaha steaks) and sweet potatoes (one dinner... but we did a different kind of frozen fish from Costco the week I wasn't taking pictures too. We try and do fish once a week, even if its frozen).  I did the sweet potatoes the same way as before without the Parmesan cheese. The fish was just cooked in the oven.

Shrimp Pea Pasta (2 and a 1/2 dinners and 1 lunch)

South County Boy was craving his mom's shrimp pea pasta, so with his permission I tweaked the recipe slightly because we don't buy mayo anymore. We also normally use whole wheat pasta, but I couldn't find any shell pasta in whole wheat so he got the regular stuff. 

All it is, is chilled cooked pasta, a bag of frozen peas that have been thawed, and frozen cooked shrimp that had been thawed. Squeeze a little lemon in there and then normally you coat it in mayo, but I used the fat free Greek yogurt instead. I has to add a little Parmesan cheese to mask the Greek yogurt taste, but SCB gave it 2 thumbs up and liked the addition of the Parmesan. With my changing work schedule, this helped us when I was working a couple evenings.

Pot Roast and Mash Potatoes (1.5 dinners +3 lunches. I used the meat in  homemade soft tacos, and salads, etc) 

Crockpot a hunk of meat with onion soup mix on high.... then slice and serve with mash potatoes (potatoes are mixed with butter, fat free Greek yogurt, salt, Parmesan cheese and a little milk... topped with green onions.)