Day 58, Monday with leftovers for lunch

This afternoon I had need of a quick dinner.  I had spent too much time posting, and then so much time talking with my kids after school, that everybody was starving, and I hadn't even begun to think of dinner yet.

Rice would take too long, potatoes would require peeling, cutting, and boiling---too much effort and time, no bread in the house, didn't want to tackle 40 tortillas, so I thought of noodles!  It has been awhile, plus, I just came home with some exciting noodle shapes from WinCo. 

Trudy put some water on to boil, I cut up some romaine for a salad (we're getting our leafy greens today), she shredded some cheddar, and I measured out a pound and a half of fusilla pasta. 

The fusilla is a  spiral hollow noodle, a nice variation from the usual.  Each shape of noodle had a different price tag in the bulk section at WinCo, so I had chosen some variants which seemed to possess the element of cool, without the disadvantage of high price.  I think the fusilla is one of the prettiest noodles on the plate, and was happy to find it one of the cheapest, too.

We added the shredded cheddar cheese to the drained, cooked noodles, then added a teaspoon of onion powder, along with some salt and pepper.  We stirred in a cup and a half of milk to the noodles and cheese, to make a bit of sauce, and to add more protein. 

Besides what you see in the picture, there were enough noodles for each person to have a generous second helping.  This meal was a winner.  Adding some parmesan chicken strips would turn it into an excellent company meal.

For the salad we concocted our own low-fat caesar dressing.  We mixed the really cheap ranch (which I bought at four bucks for a whole gallon last month) with some low fat Northern Italian style.  I found a bit of parmesan cheese too, which I sprinkled over both the noodles and the salad. 

It's surprising what a small  addition, such as that parmesan, can do.  Although we used only 3 ounces for the whole family, it really dressed up the meal.  And parmesan has a strong flavor, which also added it's benefit to a more bland flavor like cheddar. 

Parmesan cheese is Noah's favorite food, I think, so he was happy to take anyone's share who didn't care for it.  Nothing goes to waste around here.

Here are today's details:

 breakfast:  cold cereal and milk

Cost:  $1.99

1 box of cold cereal:  1.00

half gallon milk:  .99

sack lunches:  leftover mashed potatoes with beef & gravy, carrot sticks, animal cookies

Cost:  $1.13

beef and gravy and potatoes, n/c, accounted for in yesterday's total

25 oz carrots:  .43

animal cookies, 3 for each person:  .70

after-kindergarten snack for Noah and me:  M & Ms

Cost:  $.48

this was a quarter of a bag of Easter M&Ms which I had taken for my college kids.  They hadn't eaten the whole bag, so when I was unpacking, I found the treasure and had my chocolate fix for the day!  Noah was equally excited.

afterschool snack:  pretzels, 16 for each kid

Cost:  $.48

not so exciting as the m&m's, but the kids never knew what they had missed...shhh...

supper menu:  noodles and cheese, caesar salad with parmesan, peaches

Cost:  $3.13

2 heads of romaine:  .96

4 oz cheddar, shredded:  .38

1 1/2 cups milk for noodles:  .17

3 oz parmesan @8 oz/1.00:  .38

1 tsp onion powder:  .05

3 tsp salt:  .01

3 oz dressing:  .09

1 quart canned peaches:  .50

Today's total bill:  $7.12