I know I’ve said it to myself before, but just like any other type of addict, I’ve got to get with the program! I’m not a food addict, I’m a cooking addict. If I get up in the middle of the night to go you-know-where, I get back in bed and start thinking about recipes. I anylize what I could do better, or what I could create with what’s on sale, or what I should do with the food in the refrgerator that needs to be used. I hate repetition, as well. I guess that’s why I have posted about 300 recipes on this blog in the last year and have over 1000 in my data base. The only one excuse I have to offer for my freezer over-load, other than my addiction, is that it is so hard to cook for two. At least half the servings of many recipes wind up in the freezer. Most recipes are written for at least four people and if you try to scale back your thinking, especially in baking, you throw the ratios off. How do you split an egg in two? I’m going to work on recipes for two as well.
First, let’s catch up a bit. Oh, did I mention another of my faults is procrastination?

Last Saturday was another meat marithon. Well, maybe a mini-marithon. Our little local grocery had chuck roasts on sale for $2.98. Now, who can pass up on that price, especially if you grind your own meat. (But that’s another story. Check out “My Meat Grinding Marithon“, 04/24/13). Anyway, I made a new batch of Krystal Style Sliders,  Saturday’s Best Beef Burgers, and six Stuffed Peppers.

Krystal Style Sliders                                            Best Beef Burgers

Stuffed Peppers                                                  Spicy Brown Rice Pilaf

Oh, I forgot, the mini-marathon also produced five meals of Taco Seasoned Beef, so on Wednesday we had Beef and Bean Burritos along with a new side, Spicy Brown Rice Pilaf with fresh tomatoes and jalapeno peppers.

Thursday’s dinner was a little decadent calorie wise. We had Chicken and Bacon Hoagies. Probably half of one of those would have been plenty, especially with a House Salad. I didn’t have any Swiss cheese on hand, so I used cheddar. I think Swiss is better.

Chicken and Bacon Hoagies                              Artichoke, Shrimp, and Mushroom Casserole

Friday’s dinner was as the result of my using The Sticky Menu Plan. I had planned to serve my Artichoke, Shrimp, and Mushroom Casserole last week, but as usual, life got in the way and that dinner just didn’t happen. I just slid the shrimp dish to this week’s Sticky Menu Plan and pulled soup out of the freezer for that night.

Back to my addiction…
My mini-marathon produced 6 lunches for two as well as 9 dinners for two for a meat cost of $15.00! That averages 50 cents per serving, pretty addictive, wouldn’t you agree? The only problem is that I can’t resist. I can’t resist a meat on sale when it really is a deal, or a truely good coupon deal, or fresh summer produce from local farmers. I can’t resist the challenge of seeing what I can create out of all this bounty, BUT we can’t eat it as fast as I cook it. Thanks to my Food Saver and organizational inventories very little gets wasted, but every so often I have to put myself into detox, and here I am. I’m going to see how long I can go without buying anything but perishables and shop my freezer and pantry instead of the store. I still have to give next week’s Sticky Menu Plan some thought. Check out “This Week’s Dinners” in the right hand column in a day or two to see what’s up. I certainly have plenty to choose from.

Be thankful for what life gives you.