Just throw it together

I'm due for a grocery shopping trip...one of the big guys. I recently implemented a budget for myself and I allotted $50/week for groceries. Since I've gotten sloppy with the grocery shopping as of late, I end up making several last minute trips to the grocery store during the week. While I'm not quite sure how it all adds up, I know it adds up. So the plan is to try to make one shopping trip for the main items, and if need be, stop back one more time for fresh items like produce or dairy. By shopping once a week (rather than bi-weekly or monthly), I should be able to make it without that second trip. I restart my budget every Friday, so that I can begin the week with my grocery shopping trip on the weekend. Other than an unexpected (and somewhat expensive) trip to the vet, things seem to be going okay for the most part. I did get off track last week, but tomorrow is Friday (and payday! and 1 month from starting the budget project) so I'll begin my budget anew.

Now onto the food...

Over the weekend I picked up ingredients for pita pizzas, which Ash and I made for dinner on Sunday. The pizzas are great - around 400 calories for a traditional white pocketless pita with a little olive oil, seasoned pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, Italian blend cheese and black olives. I also had a container of brussel sprouts I bought toward the end of last week. Usually I buy brussel sprouts from my co-op - they have a large bin and you scoop out individual brussel sprouts, taking just the right amount for you. The store is undergoing renovations right now, and the pop-up produce market outside was all out of my veggie. I ended up having to purchase a carton of them at the grocery store, and it contained a far larger quantity than I needed, so I've been eating them most nights for dinner in an effort to use 'em up and not waste. So last night's dinner was a combination of extra ingredients I had in the fridge, and it ended up making the perfect dinner - just under 500 calories and using up my leftovers so they don't get wasted.

For the pizza, I spritzed the pita with olive oil, sprinkled on garlic powder, added about two tablespoons of sauce, the cheese and the olive slices. I washed and cut the brussel sprouts (cut the end nub off and then cut them in half), sprayed with my olive oil mister, sprinkled on some garlic powder and baked in the oven with my pizza at 425 for about 30 minutes. Done and done. And yum!