Meal plan for April 30th - May 6th!

Good morning!  I'm not sure how the weather is where you guys are, but yesterday was just perfect around here!  It wasn't all that sunny, but it was warm enough to be outside without any extra layers.  I ran errands while my old piece o' crap car was once again in the shop, and ended up walking about 4 miles to hit up the post office, fabric store, and Goodwill. Where I picked up this beautiful glass milk bottle, which was the perfect vessel for some kale blossoms.
While I was off doing that, Troy and Jack were using a sawzall (what, toddlers and power tools?  Something wrong with that combo?  It's pretty typical in our house) to the old bushes in our front yard.  We spent the rest of the day mowing the law, weeding, making repairs to the house, and planting new bushes!  They're blueberries!  So not only will they be beautiful to look at, but we can eat them.
Before.  The bushes were overrun and smelled like urinal cakes.  They also attracted flies like a dead body.
After the removal, but before the weeding.
After.  Each of the bushes will only grow about three feet tall.
The evening brought cool weather that was too cool to be outside, but the day had been too fun to be confined to the table.  We ended up having a picnic on the living room floor as we introduced Jack to Star Wars!




So in to the scene that he couldn't even finish his bite!


Before I talk about our dinners, I wanted to briefly talk about our breakfasts, snacks, and lunches since I did get an email from a reader this week.

Breakfasts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday is oatmeal that I make at home and then we eat at work.  Tuesdays and Thursdays are smoothies on the way to work/preschool.

Lunches for Troy and myself are leftovers from dinner the night before.  If we're light on leftovers, we grab pints of leftover soup that I store in the freezer and pair with slices of cheese and some crackers.  We also take carrots each day.  Snacks are typically pistachios, almonds, and a/or a piece of fruit.

Monday:: Roast chicken, salad (from the garden), and mac and cheese from the freezer.

Tuesday:: Mostly meatless burgers, kale chips, and home canned fruit.

Wednesday:: garlic cheese pasta (new recipe) with leftover chicken from Monday, salad from the garden, and home canned fruit.

Thursday:: Soup from the freezer, grilled cheese sandwiches, and home canned fruit.

Friday:: School event for Troy.

Saturday:: chicken fried steak, salad from the garden, and maybe some other veggie to combat the heaviness of dinner!

Sunday:: Dinner at my parent's.

This week I spent $15.39 at the grocery store* (a relief after my $500 shopping bill last week!!!!), $12 on organic eggs (3 dozen), $3.50 on a half gallon of raw milk, and $30 (estimated) at Costco.  We'll hit up Costco later today, and will need organic carrots, avocados, organic olive oil, and vanilla extract.  Yep, we make our own vanilla, but for things that I serve Jack uncooked (smoothies, yogurt, etc.), I don't feel comfortable giving him flavored vodka!

Grocery store purchases: artichokes, bananas, garlic, natural ham lunchmeat from the deli, and a pineapple.

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