It's almost the end of Spring Break - we stayed at home during the break, and didn't do a lot, but we did relax. And we went to see our new professional soccer team (New Mexico United) play in Albuquerque (they play home games at our baseball stadium)... we saved money by bringing our own dinner, and we saw a ton of friends down there!

We ended up not going anywhere because D had to go back to the UK to see his parents, so that used up the vacation budget.

But we have a trip planned for early June - F and I will go to LA for my sister-in-law's baby shower (which I am hosting at my mom's house). Along with this, a day at Disneyland! Yes! Disney is soooo expensive, but we save by doing just one (very long) day, bringing our lunch and snacks and only eating out at dinner (we are going to have dinner at the Blue Bayou because F loves that).

So, it's back to work, back to school tomorrow...

The meal plan for the week is:
- Elote pasta
- Tuna melts and salad
- Tostadas
- Roast chicken with asparagus and rice (leftover chicken will be used for a meal next week)
- Stew from the freezer with garlic bread
- Crustless quiche

Lunches (with each one: fruit, chips, veggies and dip/hummus, a square of chocolate)
- big salad
- turkey/lettuce and boursin wrap
- avocado wrap
- burrito
- corn/green chile/cheese tamales

Breakfasts
- hash browns with courgettes
- oatmeal
- eggs with stirfried leeks
- toast with peanut butter
- pancakes

I hope you're having a wonderful holiday season!!

It has been way too long since I've written anything! I was working on two things:
- a fire station (turned in the drawings on 12/20)
- a Christmas Advent Village (made of cardboard) for me and my daughter. We each wrote stories about each building, too, and gave them to each other each day. You can see them here: https://www.instagram.com/every_.little_.thing/?hl=en

I have work to finish later this week, but I am taking off Christmas!

We had a great day yesterday with all of the Santa Fe traditions. We did the Farolito walk, singing carols at the bonfires, and stopped in at the houses of two different friends, ending up at my friend K's house for frito pies. This is a free and beautiful tradition. Have any of you ever been here for Christmas?

It's supposed to snow tonight (fingers crossed we get a lot!).

So, two recent odd financial things:

1. We got nice presents for F's teachers and for her karate teachers. She signed the karate teacher cards when a friend was over, and the friend (who also takes karate) wanted to sign the cards, too (yes, she knew there was a gift included). I wasn't around (they are teenagers after all) or I would've suggested she do her own cards (I have some on hand). I didn't know what had happened until I saw her handing one of the envelopes to one of the karate teachers and then asked F about it in the car. Her mom is going to be surprised when she is thanked for the gift, but whatever. I decided to let it go. One of the cards/gifts was for someone F does private lessons with sometimes; her friend does privates with someone else, and I feel a little bad that he didn't get anything, but can't do anything about it.

2. I was at Trader Joe's the other day, and something didn't scan, and they had overcharged me $71 when they coded it in! (The item was turkey, and was only $10.24). I was super surprised that the total of the groceries was so high, but I figured "Well, I bought some special things for Christmas."
Still, I checked the receipt when I got in the car, and went right back in. They took care of it quickly. Check your receipts!!

3. My brother and his wife are expecting a baby boy! So excited! I want to knit a little cardigan, but all of my stash yarn has at least some wool in it (20% merino/80% cotton on the stuff I wanted to use) and they are vegan. I need to go to the store and find something. I am going to find something they can machine wash, but I know they wouldn't like 100% polyester.

I am super happy that these are the things on my mind because they are insignificant and not really bothersome at all! Looking forward to the day; already made cranberry sauce, and Christmas crackers are ready to go!!

We spent $117 on groceries this week.

S - Friends over - spaghetti with courgettes and bread (and my friend brought a salad) - vegetarian dinner
S - asian cauliflower stirfry with rice - vegetarian dinner
M - kimchi quesadillas - vegetarian dinner
T - chili with cornbread (has turkey in the chili)
W - potatoes with rosemary, kale salad with avocado and other veggies - vegetarian dinner
T - crustless quiche (with goat cheese, sundried tomatoes, broccoli) - vegetarian dinner
F - elote pasta - vegetarian dinner
S - not sure...

We are eating more vegetarian meals, but trying to make sure they are packed with good protein and good fats, especially on soccer practice nights! Kimchi quesadillas has beans and cheese, crustless quiche is eggs/cheese. Soccer is T/Th this week.

I went to my friend A's house yesterday - she's going away and her garden is producing a ton, so she gave me a huge pile of vegetables! Yay!!!

We invested in a bowl shaped thermos for F's lunches after seeing a really cool vending machine called Farmer's Fridge in the Chicago Airport. We're inspired to try different grain bowls and salads for her lunch (I realized - duh - that I can set the rice cooker overnight and have rice or other grains in the morning to use in a bowl). Check out their website. https://www.farmersfridge.com/ I looked it up for inspiration for different things to put in the bowl.

They have a greek salad, a cobb salad, a peanut sauce thai salad. Southwest salad, napa salad (F says - "I want that one!"). There are bowls, too, with rice or noodles or quinoa. Lots of good veggies, avocado, etc.

All of this is super easy to make at home! Need to look up some dressing recipes.

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I think my daughter is HANGRY. She played all 70 minutes of the soccer game today and that doesn't include the warmup. I have, of course, been feeding her all day, before and immediately after and since the game. I am going to go make dinner in 5 minutes.

But first, while I'm thinking about food...

Here is our meal plan and "why it's frugal."

S - flacas with mini peppers (flacas are two corn tortillas, dry pan fried with beans and cheese) - Frugal because not meat-based, corn tortillas are a cheap grain, we already have some extra mini peppers on hand...
S - asian meatballs - Made with ground turkey instead of ground beef, we put in a couple of diced green onions and some garlic and ginger, make a sauce with leftover marinara/rice vinegar and add some rice - nothing exotic or expensive. Usually a vegetable on the side - whatever is on sale.
M - pasta with zucchini and goat cheese - No-meat meal. Goat cheese from Trader Joe's is affordable - this uses about half a package and we use the rest for lunches.
T - aloo gobi with rice - Makes a ton! No meat, two potatoes, one head of cauliflower and some onion and spices - I think the whole dinner is less than $5. This is made in the crockpot which is good for soccer night.
W - lemon crumbed fish with veg and cheddar bay biscuits - The fish is not cheap but we buy whatever vegetable is on sale at Sprouts and make our own cheddar bay biscuits. I have the breadcrumbs from bread heels in the freezer ready to use. Probably one of our more expensive dinners, but definitely under $15 total.
Th - freezer and salad - We have some posole and chili in the freezer, leftover from a crockpot meal specifically for soccer nights when we don't get home until 7:30 at the earliest. We make a salad with lettuce ($1) and some radishes, shredded carrot and sunflower seeds. Homemade salad dressing that I always have in the fridge.
F - tacos - One last soccer night to deal with. Corn tortillas, a little bit of shredded chicken made in the crockpot, sour cream, salsa, lettuce... Or we might do these veggie with avocados instead of chicken.

Now time to feed one hungry girl... and two hungry adults... and a dog and a cat.

My very sweet not-sister-in-law (but we're hoping that she is my actual sister-in-law one day) wanted to send us food since I've been sick. She decided to send one of those food box services like Hello Fresh, but not Hello Fresh because she and my brother are vegan.

Well, there's a vegan Hello Fresh. It's called Purple Carrot. The meals came today. Three meals, so over the next three days we are having:
- Baja Bowls (with hearts of palm)
- Tomato Farro Risotto
- Black Bean and Polenta Casserole

The meals sound good! We eat mostly vegetarian. But we are not vegan, so I am going to sub out their Veganaise for my own mayo, their vegan butter for my own regular butter, their vegan mozzarella and cream cheese for my own.

The meals are supposed to feed 2 people, and we are three, so I am going to try to bulk things up with stuff from my own pantry (I have polenta, basmati rice, risotto rice etc.). We bought a can of hearts of palm.

I would never use a meal service like this, because seriously - $72 for three dinners? But as I mentioned, I didn't pay for this, and it was very sweet of her to send it.

If we like the meals, they give you the list of ingredients and recipes, so we could make them again. Pretty certain I could make these meals for less than $24 a meal!!! I mean, polenta, black beans, green chile, cream cheese and spinach - that is like $5!

Have any of you done meal services like this? Did you like them? Did you do it save money or for convenience or ??