Where Can I Find A Time Turner?: Summer Speculations

Perhaps the title is misleading, as it is not technically summer. Not until the end of June. But in my mind, summer begins when the academic year ends. As I have mentioned many times recently, my primary goal this summer is to become much more domestic than I already am. I figure it is good practice for when I am actually living on my own, in my own apartment or house, not eating dorm food.

This week has been primarily focused once again on food, as it is the easiest and requires the least amount of materials (besides the weekly grocery shopping, of course). My family ate well again this week--or at least I thought so--with the following menu:

Monday-Red Beans and Rice with added pinto beans, onions, and peppers, served with tortillas

Tuesday-Fresh Take Chicken Chili Lime & Panko version (Caroline had a $1 off coupon, which was incentive to try it) served with rice and the Green Giant Baby Brussel Sprouts with Butter Sauce (yes, I know, brussel sprouts...but they were a) in the freezer, b) lathered in butter, and c) actually quite palatable)

Wednesday-Four Cheese Ravioli (found deep in our freezer from Meijer, but no complaints about taste, save for the freezer burn!) with sauce made from our last can of home-canned tomatoes, spruced up with garlic, basil, oregano, and celery

Thursday-Portabello Mushroom Burgers (we used premade balsamic vinaigrette as the marinade from The Cheese Lady in Muskegon) served on Aunt Millie's Hearth Buns (buy one get one free, with two coupons totaling $0.60) with dilled zucchini and summer squash (the veggies were discovered on the "dead produce" rack at Meijer for a grand total of $1.69; there were four zucchini and five summer squash, enough to give each of us a good cup of vegetables)--Judging from this meal, I don't think my parents need to worry about me being a big spender once I leave home. Budgeting is a game, and I think I'm in the lead!

My apologies that there are no pictures...of the meals, that is. However, another find from the dead produce rack was two 1-pound containers of strawberries (1 berry was dead, the rest were perfectly fine) for $0.84 each. I chopped them up, and froze them for smoothies. This morning I made a smoothie with a ginormous banana (certainly not local, but one of the cheaper fruits on the market right now at Meijer), a bit of milk, the strawberries, and ice. It was very thick, courtesy of the banana, and a perfect way to start the day.