Some meals from last week

Wow, this week really flew by.  I can't believe it's already Friday.  The girls aren't allowed to watch any television during the week.  There really is no time or need for it and they always jump right into playing as soon as they complete their homework.  It will be interesting to see if they ask to watch tv this afternoon.

Anyway, here are three meals that I cooked last week:



These crustless mini egg frittatas are fairly simple to make.  You really are just beating eggs and mixing in veggies, herbs and cheeses.  The meal was fairly successful but a few lessons were learned, as always.  It may eat up time but allowing the girls to pick their fillings and/or making a variety will ensure greater success.  I made two different frittatas this time - basil leaves, parmesan cheese and diced tomatoes in one, feta cheese, spinach and diced tomatoes in the other.  I have one kid who does not like tomatoes but she ate the spinach.  Instead of having her pick the frittata apart to take out the tomatoes, I'll make her one without.



I love these mini meatballs but the whole process is fairly time consuming.  I finished some of the prep while the girls were in school.  The meatballs are cooked in a frying pan with some EVOO and then dropped into a big saucepan.  Some of them fall apart so the sauce becomes almost like a meat sauce.  The girls had theirs with pasta (they taste-tested the squash) while I ate mine with spaghetti squash.  This was my first time cooking spaghetti squash and it was really simple to make.  Admittedly, I was skeptical as to how it would taste.  I am not a squash-lover.  Here's the deal - mix up that spaghetti squash with the pasta sauce and you won't have any idea that you are eating squash.

Let's talk about the cost of eating healthy for a minute.  I'm very interested in how some keep their grocery bills so low.  I've seen a few budget grocery shoppers state that they only shop the outer aisles of the store, which translated means "we don't eat your processed crap."  This spaghetti squash cost $4.69 and would not have been big enough to feed my family.  I would have needed two of them, for a total cost of over $9.  It costs me $1 to buy a box of dry pasta, which is more than enough to feed my entire family.  I never cook an entire box of pasta for one meal.  If the kids want grapes, that's $4+ for a bag.  You want your kids to drink organic milk, that'll be $3.99 for a half gallon.  It's expensive.



When I asked for meal ideas for the week, Rich asked for tacos.  With meat.  So I cooked up only a half pound of meat and roasted a head of cauliflower.  I decided to eat lettuce wraps while everyone else had tacos.  Allie did have one lettuce wrap with her tacos.  

Note:  I know my food photography is not outstanding and I'm feeling self conscious because of it.  Honestly, I'm slapping the food onto a plate so we can eat.  Think of it as real life food photography.