Sausage in a Bun Cookout

Cost: $18

Prep: 30 minutes

The cost of this dinner was higher than usual because we had our good friends the MacLellans over to eat (so 6 instead of 3).

We barbequed some nice sausages: honey garlic and bratwurst. We ate these like a classy hot dog.

I made two salads to go with dinner. The first was a simple Caesar. THe second was an awesome pasta salad. It was tortellini, yellow peppers, green onions, and a balsamic vinaigrette. I wish I had a better picture, as it was also very beautiful!

Chorizo Nachos and Fresh Salsa

Cost: $8

Prep: 40 minutes

Another perfect summer meal, as this only needed to be ovened for about 10 minutes!

Matt made us a GIANT bowl of fresh salsa--the picture is of our large salad bowl and a serving spoon.. This is one of the best things he knows how to make, and is perfect for any summer day. It takes a lot of tomatoes, but when tomatoes are on sale, we eat as much of this salsa as we can. The other ingredients are simple: onion, cilantro, lime juice, bit of sugar. At times we add jalapeno, but not recently as we don't want to upset Charlie's belly.

For the nachos, I thinly sliced up the left over Chorizo from yesterday, as well as green olives and yellow peppers. The only downside to this meal was that I did not add nearly enough cheese to the Que Passo chips. The cheese was very finely grated, so I should have put a lot more than I did. I cooked it on parchment paper, which saved on clean up, as there basically was none.

Still, a bit of protein from the cheese and sausage, starch from the chips, dairy from the sour cream, and tons of veggies because of how much salsa we ate, I think this is a pretty decent meal.

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!

Esquimalt Buccaneer Days & Pancake Breakfast

I have been going to Esquimalt Buccaneer Days for as long as I can remember.

Seriously, my first memory of it puts me at less that school age (4), having pancake breakfast with my friend Eric and our families.

Last year, we took Charlie to see the parade, and although he was interested by the sounds, colours, and general goings-on, he eventually feel asleep.

This year though, we resurrected my family tradition and joined another family for pancake breakfast followed by parade.

The pancake breakfast is what you would expect: a couple pancakes and sausages with juice and coffee served in the Archie Browning Centre. But really, is this about the quality of the food? No. Plus, the $ goes to support community groups. (Plus, I really liked the food. I love cheap pancakes and sausage.)

The real fun was at the parade. Because the weather was nice, we had to secure our spot early which left us pregnant moms and busy dads with some very cranky toddlers.

Steele and Charlie both thought the parade was just about the best thing they have ever seen. Every time a float or display would end, Charlie turned to me (and away from the parade) and asked "mohr?" like I controlled the parade.

His favorite part, aside from the bands, was the A&W lollipop that was given to him (as well as a few chocolate coins). It was too bad though, because ALL I wanted out of this parade was a rootbeer sucker of my own, so whenever Charlie turned his baby-head, I took a little pull on the 'pop.

Charlie, Charlie, Charlie, Lame Dinner, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie

Cost: $4

Prep: 10 minutes

We played too long at the park, and therefore were very pressed for time again.

So, to distract you from the lame dinner, look at all the pictures of Charlie!

Baby Cracks Comeback

Cost: $7

Prep: who remembers?

Baby crack, aka corn on the cob, made a comeback tonight. Charlie didn't seem to notice that the pieces were smaller and not as good as before.

We paired the corn with a kind of hodge-podge meal. A little bit of pasta with a sour cream and parmesan sauce, honey garlic sausages (the "Naturals" brand, VERY VERY greasy), steamed broc, and toxin green coleslaw.

Trying to eat corn on the cob with a fork

Simple Meal for our Simple Family

Cost: less than $5

Prep: 5 minutes

We were having some fun family time going to the park near our house, as well as walking back on our 10 inch legs...oh wait, no, that is just Charlie. But we all enjoyed our family time, so we were glad that the dinner we planned was quick, easy, and simple.

We ate some all beef sausages, the left over baked potatoes (with sour cream and green onions), and steamed broccoli and snap beans. The sausages were marked down to $2.50, so this was a super cheap meal as well.

Because we did so well, Matt went out and got Coldstone Creamery for him and me. They have a deal right now where it is only $2 for a Love-It size. You can choose any of their signature creations and then replace any mix-ins you want. Mine was chocolate ice cream with Skor bar and pecans. YUM!

Salt-fest 2012

Cost: $8 + dessert (about $3.70)

Prep: 15 minutes

Tonight's dinner was not our high point. In fact, it was a lot like the dinners that Matt and I would eat pre-Charlie. We ate many sausages, mainly because they are quick, easy, and cheap. We also ate a lot of instant potatoes.

And tonight, that is exactly what we had.

We had sausages from Walmart, $4 a package, turkey variety. Honestly, the sausages were very tasty, but very salty. I also had an instant of almost losing a tooth from biting into a piece of bone and many times when I had to pull gristle from my mouth. Otherwise, the sausages were good, but now that I am reading what I wrote, maybe we wont buy these again.

As the side dish, I made a Sidekick, instant mashed potatoes with instant gravy, Rich Beef flavour. Both of these are high in salt, but man oh man, are these delicious. This is one of our comfort foods, and interestingly enough, one of the things I could not stand when I was pregnant with Charlie. I know it is unhealthy because of the salt, but I did drink 1.4L of water with dinner to try to deal with this. I also had fully intended to lie on here and claim I had made mashed potatoes, but the only person I would really be lying to is myself.

We also tried to go healthy on side dish two: steamed veggies, broccoli and green beans, but our third side dish was also not the greatest: one of those 1/2 baked loafs of bread that you finish baking. Our baby loves carbs, and I thought this would be a bit better for him than the mashed potatoes.

After Charlie went to bed, Matt and I also indulged in dessert. On Friday, we stopped at the Marble Slab to use a Groupon we had purchased. The Groupon was $10 for a $20 credit. When we walked in, we realized how difficult it was going to be to try to spend $20 on ice cream for two, especially when I really didn't want to eat it then. So, instead, we spent the entire credit on a box of ice cream cupcakes (6). We ate 2 that day, but there were still 4 in our enormously packed freezer. So, Matt and I each had one. Mine was Turtles, and Matt's was Double Chocolate. The ice cream was nice, but whatever weird frozen icing was on the top is gross. The waffle bowl is very tasty though.

Double Chocolate

Turtles, minus 1 bite

Anyway, we are full now. We will see if Matt can control his grazing tonight.

Failure

Because we ate tonight's dinner last night, I slipped back to our old ways tonight. It was a Mattless dinner, so it had to be quick and easy.

And it was awful.

I cooke up some turkey sausages from the freezer, but 6 small sausages no longer are enough for the three of us.

I cooked up some peroggies (how the heck do you  spell that? My spell check is failing.). Meh. I'm just not a fan. These were so tough, I think they must have been old. The sour cream was Charlie's favorite part though.

And I steamed up some broccoli, but it was cold by the time we sat down.

Charlie was happy though. He also ate a HUGE serving of kraut, but the smell sent me gagging.

Let's just forget this hiccup of a meal and pretend it never happened.