Back in Cucina

So yes, it has been a while, but here I am once again.  The meal planning is going really well and it has really helped with our grocery budget.  I no longer get things I do not need at the store, unless I forget to check the fridge or pantry before I make my list.  I do have trouble coming up with different meals.  I try to not get into meal ruts, such as when my husband accuses me of cooking pasta too often.  (As if there could ever be too much pasta)  So now I try and limit myself to pasta once a week and I vary it to different cultural noodles so it it not always Italian.

I also try to avoid red meat as much as I can because of the prices.  Beef is a once in a while treat.  We are not apposed to vegetarian meals, which are healthy and inexpensive.  Poultry gets boring if you don’t break it up with other things.  Pork prices are pretty good.  So I splurge on a pork shoulder once in a while and do pulled pork in the crock pot.  Crock pots are nice in the summer as they do not heat up the cucina.  In fact, this week will be meatballs in sauce a la crock pot for a couple of meals. 

The garden is up and running and we have had some success.  The lettuce table has produced a very nice crop of lettuce and we are on the second planting.  However my other plants are not producing stuff.  No flowers on the tomato plants and though the zucchini has flowers, it has no zucchini.  We did get kale and swiss chard.  We might get beans, but they are slow.  Potatoes are doing well in their buckets.  We just harvested our first bucket and got three meals out of it.

Tonight’s dinner is keilbasa and pirogies with green beans.  We will have pasta and meatballs tomorrow with the crock pot’s help.  We build in at least two left over days per week.  Meatball sammies and salad another day, grilled salmon and grilled london broil I found on special over the weekend.  That’s this week’s plan!  Until next time, ciao!