Fresh and Tasty Summer Sausages

Prep: 20 minutes

Cost: $11

Yes, this meal was as good as it looks.

I made a great Greek salad as our vegetable source. Lots of red peppers, onions, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, black olives, and feta. Olives and feta were both on sale for $0.99 per hundred grams this week!

Our starch was yellow skinned potatoes with fresh chives and green onions from our garden. Yum!

Our protein was Chorizo sausages cooked on the barbeque.

For dessert, we had watermelon because that is what you do in the summer.

Our setting was our beautiful patio, although a couple wasps annoyed me very much!

Simple Summer Chicken Dinner

Cost: $12

Prep: 30 minutes

I had a break in my day at 3:30PM when Charlie went down for a nap, so I put on the chicken then. I put a bunch of garlic, 1/2 an onion, 2 large and peeled carrots, and a bunch of little yellow potatoes in the bottom of my great-grandma's roasting pan. Then, I put a small chicken on top and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Two hours + later, we were ready to eat! We boiled some cobs of baby crack/corn and steamed some green beans.


This meal was a huge success. Charlie ate a ton. It was fresh and light.

It was, however, a major downer to heat up the house by using the oven!

The potatoes were the best I have ever eaten, though, so I guess it was worth it.

However, TMI, but this meal also resulting in having to change the first diaper that ever made me hardcore gag.

Slow Cooker Strikes Again

Cost: $12

Prep: 20 minutes +

I haven't brought out the slow-cooker for a while, and parts of it were good. Specifically, the roast beef was great. Very tender! It was huge, however. I could have bought one about 1/2 the size. We ate sandwiches for days after and eventually had to throw some away.

I made a great gravy to go with this, and Matt likes to eat his roast with the onions from the slow cooker.

I also put potatoes in the slow-cooker, and they were gross. So let's not talk about that.

Steamed green beans were served as the veg. Yum!

For dessert, Charlie ate his weight in watermelon. I also ate his weight in watermelon. Matt, however, ate his own weight. It was an expensive dessert.

Bbq Steak

Cost: ?

Prep: Quick

We skipped a meal today because of our brunch at the Fernwood Inn, so we made up for it by having a rich dinner.

We had a decent, thick cut of steak. Matt marinated and barbequed it. I made the side-dishes: our usual steamed brocoli and tiny new yellow potatoes. These were the highlight. Charlie loved eating the little potato "ball".

Matt often has trouble cooking my steak how I like it. This was just a little on the rare side, but still good.

More of the Same

Cost: $12

Prep: 40 minutes

I am kind of embarrassed that I made this meal again. But, pork chops are often a good price and this is the way we know we like to eat them. Plus, the baby LOVES mushrooms. The red potatoes were a nice treat, too.

This pack of chops had 5 HUGE ones. We ate 2 that night, and Matt ate 2 for lunch the next day. There was one in the fridge that I am guessing will be wasted :(

Slow Cooker Pork Roast

Cost: $10

Prep: 20 minutes

Mom is going out! But, before she does, she has been kind enough to feed her men.

I put a pork roast in the slow cooker this afternoon, along with onion, garlic, rosemary, potatoes, and carrots.

For the veggies, I served them my leftover lunch. Seriously. The lunch was grilled veggies, and it was WAY too big a serving for me to eat all at once, so the boys had a hearty serving with dinner.


Okay boys, I have a date! See you later!

Love Mom

Beautiful Weather/Beautiful Food

Ah, Victoria! Thanks for bringing us the summer weather in May.  We took Charlie to Cadboro Bay/Gyro Beach. He's an odd duck, and seems to feel no cold, so he kept walking into the water fully clothed. The finale was when he walked into the water, sat down, and started playing.

We had no extra clothes, no extra diapers. Luckily, we were headed to dinner at the in-laws, and Grandma always keeps spares. But he still had to have a naked car ride there!

Once there, he took the opportunity to do some more pantless gardening. Norm, the dog, took the opportunity to do some unhindered baby-bum-sniffing.

Matt's parents made dinner and plenty of it. There were a lot of things to choose from (and I remembered to snap pictures for once).

Matt's dad barbecued some steaks. He remembered I like mine rare! The steak was a little much for me though, probably 10 ounces or so, and I couldn't finish it even though it seemed like a great cut (but what do I know about that?).

The other sides including fresh bread, carrots, mushrooms, green beans. coleslaw, and these potato/sweet potato thing that Matt's dad makes that are really special.

For dessert, Matt's mom made strawberry shortcake--as in, actually made the cake, not just bought those cup things. It was awesome! If I hadn't had eaten so much steak, I may have had more!

Charlie also ate some of the chocolate cake he brought Grandma. But what happens at Grandma's, stays at Grandma's.

Korma Chicken Legs

Cost: $12

Prep: 30 minutes

For a dinner thrown together at the last minute, this wasn't bad.

For veggies, we had squash and steamed asparagus. We also ate boiled potatoes.

My mom left some appies as well. We call it "Spanikabeata". It is like a little spinach pie, but instead of spinach, it has beat greens.

The protein was chicken legs baked in Korma sauce. Quite tasty, but messy and not very healthy.

Stuffed Chicken Breast

Cost: $12

Prep time: 15 minutes

The grandparents took Charlie to McDonalds for lunch, so I am glad I had a reasonably healthy dinner for tonight.

We had bone-in stuffed chicken breasts that were clearanced for around $3. It was stuffed with roasted red pepper stuffing. Very nice. We did eat the skin, which we usually don't do, but it was seasoned very nicely.

I steamed some broccoli and roasted some tiny little tri-colour new potatoes. Those were GREAT. So yummy after being rolled in olive oil, salted, peppered, and baked on a tray at high heat. I am excited that there are leftovers to make hashbrowns with tomorrow morning.

For dessert, we had a bowl of strawberries.

Pot Roast

Cost: $7

Prep time: 20 minutes

Broke out the slow cooker again. Made a tiny meal. It was okay but I am so sick over our job action I couldn't eat. There was enough left over for two roast beef sandwiches.

Weekend Leftover Breakfast

This is from last weekend, but I just wanted to share this idea for using leftover slow cooker ingredients. This easily could be paired with a side salad and served as a dinner.

I sauteed the leftover potatoes on the skillet, fried up some eggs, and toasted some focaccia bread. Seriously, focaccia bread is the best thing to happen to eggs since chickens.

We are going to try, eventually, to have a meatless night. We eat too much meat and can save some money this way. Not yet though. This week we eat steak. Stay tuned for meal plans.

Family dinner

Another slow-cooker day! It was nice not to have to take too much time away from being a family to make the evening meal today.

I made a slow-cooker pork roast today. I used a recipe from the "Fix It and Forget It" cookbook my friend Jamie lent me. Although I did not have all the ingredients, the recipe was called "Savoury Pork Roast".

The recipe called for simple ingredients: onions, bay leaf, and soy sauce along with the roast. I didn't have a bay leaf, and I accidentally spilled far too much soy sauce in. I also added carrots and potatoes.

I paired the roast with steamed green beans, zucchini with butter and parmesan, and Pillsbury crescent rolls (leftover from Christmas-time--must use up). Using the drippings and soy sauce from the bottom of the pot, I made a surprisingly good gravy. Little cups of apple sauce completed the spread.

My parents, even my mom who is a fantastic cook, gave their approval! So, I guess I can safely say week 1 was a success.