I realized today that although I’ve been sharing recipes for things we’ve eaten, I haven’t really done a meal-by-meal accounting of our days this week. So, I thought I’d take some time to get caught up on that.
Wednesday morning started with a breakfast of cinnamon-sugar toast, bananas and milk. That has become one of our biggest stand-by breakfasts on really busy mornings.
For lunch, the 4 of us at home had tuna pasta salad and nectarines. The tuna pasta salad is a favorite with the kids, although to be honest, my husband and I are a little tired of it. But we still eat it because it’s quick and filling. I basically just stir together some mayo, a can of drained tuna, a few spoonfuls of relish and salt and pepper. Then toss in some noodles and call it lunch. Easy enough!
After school, our oldest daughter and I made cookies together for a school project. The assignment was to make cookies as a way to fit in some fraction practice. We made Fruit Loop Cookies. (Which is the same recipe as the Apple Jacks Cookies, but with fruit loops instead.) We also made 1 1/2 times the recipe, fitting in some extra fraction practice!
For dinner we had a simple casserole of Polish sausage, potatoes, veggies and homemade cheese sauce. I put this dish together in a hurry in the morning and then just baked it for about 45 minutes before dinner. It was great!
Today (Thursday) was our youngest’s third birthday. I let her call the shots for meals, at least as much as a 3 year old can. So we had cereal and bananas for breakfast, leftovers for lunch and barbecue meatballs, Ranch pasta salad and peas for dinner. I find it kind of amusing that my 3 year olds favorite dinner is barbecue meatballs, but I’m not complaining.
She also decided she wanted cupcakes for dessert. I have a confession to make – I don’t think I’ve ever made cupcakes before…ever. Personally, I’ve never been a very big fan of them although I know they’re all the rage currently. But, my baby girl requested cupcakes, so cupcakes she got.
I figured if I worked with a recipe that I knew we all really loved, I’d up my chances of creating a successful batch of cupcakes. I used my all-time favorite white cake and buttercream frosting recipe. I changed things up a bit by adding 1/3 cup of chocolate sprinkles to the cake batter and replacing part of the powdered sugar with cocoa powder.
I am definitely pleased with the results, although the cake will still be my go to. And for the kids, I believe the novelty of having cupcakes was more important than the taste. But, they all finished in record time, so I’m guessing they enjoyed them.
Today also included a quick grocery run for a gallon of milk and powdered sugar. The total for those two purchases was $3.99. Add that to the $368 we’ve already spent this month and we’re up to $371.99, leaving us $78.01 in the monthly grocery budget.
Tomorrow I’m planning to answer a few questions that I haven’t gotten to yet, so feel free to ask away if you have any questions.
And make sure you visit The Happy Housewife and Balancing Beauty and Bedlam for more 3 Moms, 3 Kitchens, 31 Days.