I don’t know why, but I love to know what people are eating during the day. It’s like when you’re at someone’s house and want to go through their bathroom cabinets.
WHY DO WE DO THAT?!
And why do I care what you are eating?!
I don’t know. But I am running with it!!
I love to get inspiration for menu plans from others so…if you enjoy things like that, keep reading!
*Affiliate Links may be used in this post. This means I may receive a small kickback if you purchase anything, of course at no cost to you! This just helps out my blog!*
I typically start out my morning with some variation of Avocado Toast. Fun fact? I actually don’t enjoy avocados too much. However, avocado toast seems to keep me full for awhile and with hot sauce added, it’s not too bad!
My version:
Whole grain bread of some kind – toasted.
Avocado cups like this
Everything But The Bagel Seasoning
Dash of hot sauce of your choosing – I always go with Tapatio.
I was shooting for a meatless meal one night so I made this lifechanging recipe I found HERE from 40 Aprons website. I crave this all the time!! Haha. And so simple to make!!
One night we had Chicken Taco Bowls
Lettuce
Crock Pot Taco Chicken Meat
Black Beans
Tomatoes
Salsa
Avocados
Sour Cream
And anything else you want to add in there!
We’ve been using our espresso machine A LOT more since we’ve been stuck at home, too! We drink a lot of coffee in our house so we’ve been loving our new espresso machine! This is the one we have!
Friday night I did homemade Coconut Shrimp with Bourbon and Brown Sugar Glazed Grilled Pineapple and also homemade Hush Puppies. Guy. It was so good! We did some Malibu & Pineapple cocktails to go with it and we were in heaven!!!
What’s been on your menu during quarantine?! I’d love to hear about it!!
Tostadas | Easy Pantry Dinners
Marriage is really great, guys. One of the many amazing things that comes from marriage is marrying into new food. And not just new food…but GOOD new food. Who knew “chili” was NOT in-fact a pot of ground beef, beans and tomatoes served with corn bread and it ALSO came in the form of “red” or “green”. HAHA!!! Michael and I always laugh about this one because one of my favorite meals is “chili”. MY KIND OF CHILI. First time I made “chili”….he was very confused. So now we call MY CHILI “bean stew”.
Believe it or not, I had never had tostadas before meeting Michael. At least it is not something I ever remember my mother making. Mom, correct me if I am wrong. But I do believe I have confirmed this with other siblings and they agree that we never had this growing up.
Guys. IT IS THE EASIEST MEAL EVER. I don’t know why my mom, raising 6 kids, never made this. It is so easy and so delicious. We have tostadas probably once a week because….#lazy.
There are a few things that are ALWAYS stocked in our pantry. Those are refried beans, shells or tortillas of some kind, El Pato, and our fridge always has shredded cheese. Are we the healthiest of people? Nah. Are we well fed and happy with our choices? Absolutely. So here is an easy, family and budget friendly meal for you!
Here’s what you need…
TOSTADAS:
– Shells (or you can fry your own.) We are using La Reyna De San Luis brand right now and WOW! They are so good. I couldn’t find them online for you anywhere, so if you’re ever in a Mexican market or in Mexico, GRAB THESE!
– Refried beans
– Shredded Cheese
– Toppings of your choosing. (Salsa, El Pato, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole, etc.)
INSTRUCTIONS:
– Set oven to broil
– Lay out shells on pan
– Top with refried beans
– Sprinkle with cheese
– Pop pan in oven until cheese is melty. Make sure to watch these so they don’t burn! (I say this from experience. It happens quick, okay?)
– Take out and top with your favorite toppings!
GUYS. THAT IS IT! BEST AND EASIEST DINNER EVER!
I understand everyone has their own way for making these SO DON’T COME AT ME! I am just sharing what we do in our home, ya dig?!
Do you like tostadas? What is one meal your spouse brought into your marriage that you love?!?
Cheap Meals for People Who Actually Like to EAT!
As I talked about in my last post, we have started the Dave Ramsey plan again! This month has been going good and we are still really excited about things!
*Some affiliate links may be used in this post. If you click on these, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.*
One of the biggest areas that I struggle is FOOD and groceries! We are a family who likes to eat and we like to eat GOOD. I could literally drop $500 in the grocery store in a short amount of time. Anyone else? Just me…? Okay….moving on….
I hate looking on Pinterest for “cheap meals” and the most ridiculous crap shows up. Who slaps spaghetti sauce, cheese, and a pepperoni on a piece of bread and calls it “pizza night”?! Like….that’s not real OR practical. What do your husbands eat if you literally think that’s “dinner”?!?!
Believe it or not, you can actually eat pretty good without spending a fortune. I can’t promise that these meals are $.50 or anything crazy like that…but this is to show you that eating good CAN be cheap and doesn’t have to be processed crap from a box and/or spaghetti sauce on bread as pizza….
If you’d like me to do detailed recipes posts for any of these, let me know! I’d be happy to have an excuse to cook these up and take pictures! HAHA!
Okay back to the topic of spaghetti sauce……
Guys…the cheapest easiest meal on planet earth…
SPAGHETTI!
We buy both noodles and sauce in bulk at Sams Club and it makes for a super quick and easy meal more times than I like to admit.
The noodles we buy from Sams Club are $4.98 for 6, 1-lb packages. The sauce I buy is usually just whatever I see there that seems to be a good deal.
If you’re an Amazon lover, here’s some Barilla Pasta. It’s cheap. Promise!
Homemade Beef Stroganoff. I’m not talking Hamburger Helper, friends. HOMEMADE. It will change your life. And it’s cheap. You’re welcome.
Loaded Quesadillas. Cheese, tortillas, and veggies are cheap. Make some magic with them.
Breakfast for dinner! We always have eggs in our house and when I’m in a “dinner funk”, we like to get creative with them during breakfast for dinner. We also buy this pancake mix in bulk and it’s a quick staple in our house! And since we buy it in bulk, we can make as many pancakes or waffles as we want! No going hungry around here!!!
Meatloaf. Okay, okay….I know a lot of people HATE meatloaf. We are not one of those families. I like that I can do meatloaf in the Instant Pot (before mine broke. *tears*) and when I need to, I can make a pretty easy Whole3o compliant meatloaf!
Pumped Up Grilled Cheese. I LOVE a good classic grilled cheese with tomato soup. My husband? Not so much. He needs a little something extra. So on grilled cheese night I will add whatever we have lying around….bacon in the fridge? Yup. Delicious. Green chili? Add it in. Deli ham? SOOO good!
Loaded Baked Potatoes. A regular for us in our house is BBQ Pulled Pork (or chicken) Sweet Potatoes. We add purple onion and its great!
What are some staple cheap meals in your house? I would love to hear about them!!!
How To: The Perfect Patty
Sometimes there are people who can whip up the perfect hamburger concoction, form it into perfect little circles, and grill them up like a boss.
I am not one of those people.
And if you aren’t either, this is the perfect post for you!!
Tuesday night we decided to grill up some burgers for dinner. I had bought ground meat and thought to myself, “how hard could making a burger be?” Until I realized I had no clue what I was doing. But alas, I did it. It was delicious. It was magical. It was perfect.
Although I will tell y’all what I put in the actual burger mix, the real beauty here is how to make the perfect patty! Seriously, prepare yourselves….
Burger Mix:
-Ground Meat
-Green Onion
-Salt and Pepper
Mix together in a bowl until combined.
Alright people, ready for the magic?! I used a Pyrex bowl to mix everything in and then used the same bowl to press the patty into. BAM! The perfect circular patty! Literally the easiest thing on this planet.
I was even thinking that using smaller sized Pyrex bowls, you could make different sized burgers. Obviously. But using the smallest bowl, you could make the easiest sliders of any kind! YUM!
After I made these I was feelin’ like a champ. Literally walking out to the grill saying “Not gonna toot my own horn, but I did pretty DANG good on these patties!” And what do I do?! WHAT THE HECK DO I DO?! I dropped the plate. HAHAHA. Go ahead, laugh, because i’m still currently laughing about it. M clearly thought it was comical too because he said “make sure you put in your blog post that you dropped the plate of them.” Thanks babe, thanks.
How do you make your burger patties?!
What’s your favorite kind of sliders?
(I am in no way affiliated with Pyrex and all opinions are my own)