Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Pasta Bolognese


Hands down this is one of my family's favorite meals, especially my pasta loving youngest.  It is perfect to serve to company and your guests will be quite impressed.  While I consider this one to be not only elegant but a bit on the decedent side (it has cream in it) it is surprisingly a rather thrifty meal to make and quite easy too.

Pasta Bolognese

2 cups cooked roast beef
8 oz. mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 15 oz. can Italian style diced tomatoes
1 tsp. dried basil
3 tsp. minced garlic
1 to 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 pound pasta, cooked

In a large pot or slow cooker place beef and mushrooms.  Cook until roast beef falls apart.  Add tomato sauce, canned tomatoes, basil and garlic.  Simmer on low for two hours.  Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of cream.  Sauce should have a nice pink color to it.  Add a little more if necessary.  Serve over hot pasta.

Wouldn't this be nice on Valentine's Day?

I almost always save a portion of a pot roast every time I make one just for this recipe.  It works  beautifully in this dish.  To make it fancy I serve it with Farfalle (bowtie) pasta or penne, but just about any pasta if fine.  Spaghetti, linguine or fettuccine pasta is quite nice as well.


I will usually accompany this with a nice spinach or Caesar salad.  If company is coming I'll make up a loaf or frenchbread or some dinner rolls.

Let me know if you give this one a try.  I'm sure you'll love it as much as we do.



Tuesday, January 30, 2018

My Grocery Budget 2018 - January Update


I have to admit I'm quite proud of myself for making our big shopping haul last the entire month without any extra trips to the store.  We had used up our entire budget on that trip and I was determined to stick to it.  Plus, with all of you encouraging me, how could I not?

Trader Joe's

Our nonfood items were comprised of cat food, cat litter, facial tissues and toilet paper and a few other odds and ends.  I used two digital coupons at $1.00 each and both items were on sale which helped me get more mileage out of my dollars .  Total spent came in at $23.98.  My budget is $25.00 per month so I still have $1.02 left to roll over and use next month.

Fred Meyer

Non-Food
 $$$
Snack size bags
       1.00
Dollar Store
Fabric softener
       1.00
Dollar Store
Shower hats (2)
       2.00
Dollar Store
Cat food (3)
       2.37
Trader Joes
Toilet paper - 6 ct
       1.99
Digital Coupon
Fred Meyer
Tissues - 4 ct
       2.99
Digital Coupon
Fred Meyer
Trash bags - 40 ct
       7.99
Fred Meyer
Cat litter - 25#
       4.64
Walmart


Total
$23.98
Winco

This month I did a fair amount of investment shopping to replenish items we were low on like twenty pounds of ground beef and several packages of cheese that were on sale.  After some pretty methodical planning I devoted one Saturday morning to shopping for 2 1/2 hours to acquire everything on my list.  Then home to repackage the ground beef and a large bag of cheese and get it into the chest freezer in our garage.  The beef should last the better part of the year and the cheese for several months.

Albertson's

Here is all of the food I bought this month:

Groceries
 $$$
Baking powder
              1.58
Sale
WinCo
Eggs
              0.98
WinCo
Tortillas (2)
              1.96
Sale
WinCo
Tomatoes (2)
              0.47
WinCo
Coleslaw mix (2)
              0.98
WinCo
Apples
              1.56
WinCo
Potatoes - 5#
              1.48
WinCo
Bell peppers (2)
              1.16
Sale
WinCo
Onions (2)
              0.57
Sale
WinCo
Oranges
              3.40
Sale
WinCo
Frozen berries
              1.78
Sale
WinCo
Frozen mango
              1.78
Sale
WinCo
Tater tots
              1.58
WinCo
Sour cream
              1.78
Sale
WinCo
Cream
              3.38
Sale
WinCo
Mashed potatoes (2)
              1.76
Sale
WinCo
Parmesan
              2.36
Sale
WinCo
Olives (2)
              1.76
Sale
WinCo
Cottage cheese
              1.79
Trader Joes
Milk - 1/2 gal
              1.39
Trader Joes
Ground turkey
              2.99
Trader Joes
Romaine
              1.99
Trader Joes
Mushrooms (2)
              3.38
Trader Joes
Spinach
              1.99
Trader Joes
Green beans
              2.79
Trader Joes
Green onions
              1.29
Trader Joes
Bananas
              1.52
Trader Joes
Avocados (6)
              2.99
Trader Joes
Ground beef - 10# (2)
            39.80
Sale
Cash & Carry
Cheese - 5#
            11.85
Sale
Cash & Carry
Feta (2)
              2.00
Dollar Store
Garlic (2)
              2.00
Dollar Store
Gnocchi (2)
              2.00
Dollar Store
Peanut butter (12)
            11.88
Sale
Albertsons
Salsa (2)
              2.00
Albertsons
Clementines - 3#
              2.99
Albertsons
Cheese (5)
              4.95
Digital Coupon
Fred Meyer
Pasta
FREE
Friday Freebie
Fred Meyer
Larabar
FREE
Friday Freebie
Fred Meyer
Chicken breast
              7.02
Sale
Fred Meyer
Italian sausage
              0.99
Sale/Coupon
Fred Meyer
Salsa verde
              1.42
Coupon
Fred Meyer
Ham
              1.99
Sale
Fred Meyer
Almond milk - 1/2 gal
              1.99
Digital Coupon
Fred Meyer
Stir fry veg (2)
              2.98
Markdown
Fred Meyer
Salad mix (2)
              1.98
Markdown
Fred Meyer
Total
         150.28

$150.28 ÷ 31 days ÷3 people = $1.62 per person per day!

Cash & Carry

I am very pleased with how well we did this first month of the year.  How did you do with your grocery shopping goals?  What great buys did you find?


This budget month runs from January 1 through January 31



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