the $50.00 a week grocery challenge

well the gas is back on and i've been cooking more than ever. one thing we have come to realize however, is that we eat out WAY too much for two people that love to cook. bloomington has some amazing local and ethnic restaurants though, who can really blame us?

so, in an effort to save money and stop eating out so frequently, i proclaimed a 2 week spending freeze. and to go with it, a $50 a week grocery challenge. spend $50 bucks at the grocery and have enough food to feed 2 people for 7 days. now keep in mind that this definitely requires a well stocked kitchen. spices, flour etc. can most be costly...especially when you're looking at purchasing a $6.00 container of spices that you need for just one meal. so that was something that i tried to remember when planning for our first week. of course it also makes a big difference to prepare meals that you know you'll have plenty of leftovers from OR ones you can turn into something else. i personally find the latter to be more difficult...we're a mostly vegetarian household...you can cook a whole chicken and do SO much with it. chicken salad, soup stock, etc. while that doesn't apply to us, you might keep it in mind if you ever find yourself wanting to make some changes.

anyway, i wanted to share my first weeks meals with you as well as some recipes. here's what our first week looked like:

blueberry muffins- oh muffins, we had a brief love affair many years ago and i have recently rediscovered the joy of these little yummies. these are great for breakfast or just a snack. replace the blueberries with ANYTHING. i've done apple cinnamon, pear walnut, cranberry walnut...i basically open the cupboard and combine what sounds good.

1/2 cup butter- softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 to 2 cups blueberries

grease or place paper baking cups in a 24 muffin pan. preheat oven to 375 degrees. mix butter and sugar until fluffy. add eggs one at a time and mix. combine dry ingredients. combine milk and vanilla. alternately mix dry and wet ingredients. slowly fold in berries. spoon into cups and bake for 30 minutes.
NOTE: to make low fat- use 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup butter and add 1/4 applesauce

chickpea ratatouille w/ couscous and garlic naan-
i LOVE this recipe and have been making it religiously for years. it makes a huge casserole dish worth and is excellent alone or with couscous. we ate this for dinner twice and even had enough for us to each have leftovers for lunch once.

goat cheese and tomato tart w/ sauteed asparagus and a salad with green goddess dressing-

my friend elizabeth made this for janel and i last week and oh my goodness it is smack yo momma delicious! it was surprisingly easy to make and again, makes a whole lot of it. we ate this for dinner once and lunch twice....and we still have leftovers.

cream of white bean soup w/ jalapeno cornbread muffins- i wasn't that fond of this particular recipe, but i can't stress enough the economical sense that soup makes. we ate this several times for lunch and once for dinner. we froze some for later use AND i made extra beans to make my super easy pasta and bean dinner for later in the week. the jalapeno cornbread muffins are easy, i use a box of jiffy mix and add either fresh corn cut off the cob or 1 can. add 2-3 fresh or canned jalapenos.

ray ray's pasta and beans-cheap and easy...just the way i like it

2 cups rotini pasta
1 can or 2 cups cooked white beans (chickpeas work ok too)- drained and rinsed
2 tsp. minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbs. olive oil

cook pasta according to directions. in a separate pan, heat olive oil on medium heat. add garlic and beans. salt and pepper to taste. once pasta's done, mix the beans and pasta together. that's it. this is so quick and always a good fallback meal when i just don't know what to cook. it's also a nice make ahead lunch.

we also purchased some fruit for snacking at work, as well as oatmeal and eggs for breakfast. we still have dressing and salad stuff leftover and the celery i bought for the soup is also being used for this weeks new batch of meals, which i will probably post tomorrow.