Save Your Money- Buy Our Groceries: Vol. 30

2 people, 5 days, 70 bucks or less

For more info on this series of posts, click here!

There is a little more prep on Sunday than usual, but it’s worth the ease throughout the week, so carve out a couple hours to get it all done!

THIS WEEK’S MENU

Breakfast

• Spinach, Mushroom and Goat Cheese Omelet

Lunch

• Russian Banh Mi

Dinner

• Heirloom Pasta Pomodoro and Watermelon Granita

Snack

• Escabeche

THE GROCERY LIST  (for 2 people)

• bread for toast
• 1 lb. beets
• 1 bag or bunch of baby spinach
• romaine
• 1 head cauliflower
• 2 bags or bunches of carrots
• 2-3 medium zucchini
• 5 jalapenos
• 2 large tubs grape or cherry tomatoes
• 1 large tub heirloom cherry tomatoes or a variety of 4 large heirloom tomatoes
• basil
• watermelon
• 1.5 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 tubs sliced baby bella mushrooms
• garlic
• 2 yellow onions
• 1 red onion
• 1 tub small fresh mozzarella balls (in water or olive oil)
• parmesan cheese
• goat cheese
• small 2% milk
• 3 baguettes
• 3 boxes of spaghetti
• 2 dozen eggs
• horseradish

WHAT WE ALREADY HAD AT HOME

• salt
• pepper
• olive oil
• white vinegar
• cider vinegar
• oregano
• butter
• thyme
• mayonnaise
• peppercorns

PREP ON SUNDAY

Omelet Filling

• 2 tubs sliced mushrooms, chopped up more if some are quite big
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 bag spinach, roughly chopped
• pat of butter
• salt and pepper
• thyme

Heat butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook about 2 minutes or until almost tender.  Add the mushrooms and a sprinkle of salt, pepper and dried thyme.  Cook until mushrooms and onions are tender; about 8 minutes.  Add the spinach and cook just until wilted.  Salt more if needed.  Store in the fridge for the week.

Sandwich Stuff

• 3 baguettes, cut into 4 even pieces each and cut in half lengthwise
• 1 lb. beets, ends trimmed, peeled and julienned
• 1 red onion, cut in half and thinly sliced
• 1 bag of carrots, ends trimmed, peeled and julienned
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 5 tablespoons cider vinegar
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 jar horseradish, squeezed dry
• 1.5 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts

Wrap each hunk of bread tightly in foil and store in the freezer for the week.

Mix the horseradish with the mayo in a clean jar or bowl and sprinkle with pepper.  Stir, season to taste and store in the fridge for the week.

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the carrots with 2 tablespoons of the vinegar until just barely softened; about 3 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper, spread on a plate to cool, and then transfer to a bowl or container and refrigerate for the week.

In the same skillet, coat the bottom with a little olive oil and heat over medium heat.  Add the beets and the onion and cook for 1 minute.  Add the remaining vinegar and 1/4 cup of water.  Cover and cook until the beets are crisp-tender; about 5 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper and then spread onto a plate to cool.  Transfer to a bowl or container and store in the fridge for the week.

Heat broiler.  Pound chicken breasts with a mallet until they are about 1/2 inch thick.  Season both sides with salt and pepper.  Transfer to a baking sheet or casserole dish lined with foil and broil for about 7-8 minutes on each side.  Remove from oven, cover loosely with foil and let rest 5-10 minutes.  Slice the breasts thinly and store in the fridge for the week.

Escabeche

• 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 12 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 1 yellow onion, peeled and cut into 16 wedges
• 1 tsp. whole peppercorns
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• salt
• 1 head cauliflower, cored and broken into florets
• 5 jalapenos, sliced thinly into rings
• 1 1/2 cups white vinegar
• 3 medium zucchini, sliced diagonally

Heat oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium high heat.  Add garlic and onions; saute for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Lower heat to medium and add carrot, peppercorns, thyme and oregano.  Cover and cook 2 minutes.  Season to taste with salt.  Add cauliflower, jalapenos, vinegar and 1 cup of water.  Stir well, cover and continue to cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.  Season again with a little salt to taste.  Add zucchini, cover and cook an additional 5-8 minutes.  Vegetables should be crunchy-tender.  Remove from heat; cover and refrigerate for the week.

Pasta Sauce

• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• all of your tomatoes (if using large tomatoes, cut into 1 inch hunks)
• salt

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic and red pepper flakes; cook 1 minute.  Add all of the tomatoes and continue to cook until the skins burst and the tomatoes start to deflate and break down.  You want a fresh flavor with this sauce, so don’t overcook it and you will be cooking it a little more each night as well.  Squish any tomatoes that are particularly large or whole and   sprinkle with salt (only a little as you will be adding cheese and salted noodles to this later in the week).   Store in the fridge for the week.

Watermelon

Cut into 1 inch cubes and store in the fridge for the week.  This allows the watermelon to break down a bit, releasing some of its juices and making it easy to puree throughout the week for the granita.

BREAKFAST- 10 minutes

Spinach, Mushroom and Goat Cheese Omelet

• 3 eggs
• splash of 2% milk
• salt
• pepper
• 1/5th of the mushrooms, onions and spinach from Sunday, reheated in the microwave
• Goat cheese
• butter
• 2 slices of bread

Whisk the eggs with a splash of milk and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.   Heat a pat of butter and cooking spray in a non-stick skillet over medium heat.  When the oil and butter is bubbling, pour in the egg mixture.  Move the eggs around with a fork or rubber spatula for about 10 seconds and then wiggle the pan to coat the bottom.  While this sets a little, pop the bread in the toaster.  When the egg is almost cooked through, spread the reheated mushroom mixture over one side and crumble some goat cheese over everything.  With a large spatula, loosen the edges of the egg, shake the pan back and forth to loosen the whole thing and use the spatula to fold it in half or like a burrito and slide onto a plate.   Butter your toast.   Divide the omelet in half and serve with a slice of toast.

LUNCH- 15 minutes

Russian Banh Mi

• 2 frozen sandwich rolls, split in half
• romaine lettuce leaves (about 4)
• beets from Sunday
• chicken strips from Sunday
• carrots from Sunday
• Horseradish Mayo from Sunday

Pull your bread out of the freezer.  Heat your broiler for about 5 minutes.  Place both rolls, opened up under the broiler and toast just until defosted and lightly golden.   Starting from the bottom, stack your sandwich fillings as follows; bread, romaine, carrots, chicken, a generous drizzle of horseradish mayo, beets and then bread.   Eat!

DINNER- 30 minutes

Heirloom Pasta Pomodoro and Watermelon Granita

• 1/5th of your watermelon cubes
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 lb. spaghetti
• salt
• 1/5th of your sauce from Sunday
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup basil, roughly chopped
• 1/5th of the small mozzarella balls, cut into small chunks

Fill a pot with water for the pasta and liberally salt it.  Bring to a boil over high heat.

While that boils, blend the watermelon cubes with the sugar until pureed.  Pour into a glass dish and pop in the freezer.

Throw the pasta in the boiling water and cook 2 minutes less than the package directions.  Heat the sauce from Sunday over low heat in a skillet while the pasta boils.  Drain the pasta and transfer into the sauce.  Raise the heat to high and toss together for about 45 seconds.   Remove the pan from the heat, toss in the parmesan cheese and basil.  Dot with mozzerella chunks and immediately plate the pasta.  Serve.

After the watermelon has been in the freezer for about an hour, pull it out and scrape with a fork.  Continue to do this until you have created watermelon snow.  If its still a little wet, pop it back in for 30 minutes and repeat the scraping and fluffing.  Serve in bowls!

SNACK-  no minutes

Escabeche

Eat some!