What's Left Over?

On Sundays, I do plan my meals for the week. I almost always plan before I go shopping so I will buy exactly what I need and, in theory, only what I need.

But even so, I have a pantry, fridge and freezer full of food I need to eat! I think it's because I mainly cook for myself so even if I eat rice twice in a week, if I don't plan to eat rice for the next two weeks, I'll have a ton leftover from when I first bought it.

As I result of my overflowing food storage and the fact that, who doesn't need to save a little money around this time of a year, I decided this week I would buy only a few fruits and veggies at the grocery store and everything else I would eat would come from what I already have.

It's actually going quite well. Better than I would've expected to be honest. Sure, my dinners have all involved rice in a bowl- but they have been nutritious and different enough to not be too boring. All I bought at the grocery store this week was apples, bananas, mushrooms and zucchini.

On Sunday night I used one of my salmon patties from Trader Joes. I love these because they are frozen so they are easy to grill up and quickly add some healthy omega 3s to any meal. I grilled this salmon with some rice, mushrooms and teriyaki sauce. Messy, but delicious. I also had a side of leftover carrot ginger soup my mom gave me last week. Yum.

I told you, lots of bowls. For breakfast I have been eating lots of peanut butter and for lunch I made my favorite black bean and veggie pizza.

For dinner tonight I attempted to make fried rice, though I'm not sure it was any different than just pouring some sauce on my usual tofu, rice and veggie mix but hey!

Ingredients: extra firm tofu, rice, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms and Trader Joe's Island Soyaki Sauce.

Pretty amazing that I had all this stuff lying around my house just ready to be used. I have to start implementing a no grocery store shopping rule once every couple of months! Have you ever tried to eat only what you have in your house? If not, I seriously recommend trying it out and let me know how it goes!

So, does anyone else feel like MAYBE it's time for a vacation? Or...if you don't get a vacation this time a year, at least a couple of long weekends in row? I feel like every day at work because more of a comedy act. Today one of my lovely 6 year olds tried to convince me that the word "yellow" starts with a "w." I nicely pointed out that it, in fact, ENDS with a w but does not start with one. He continued to fight with me about it for 5 minutes, and would've continued but I stopped caring. He still thinks he is right...

Also, I have ANOTHER six year old who sucks her thumb. This is not normal school behavior for a kindergarten kid, but her doctor insists that "peer pressure" will make it go away soon. Well, so far all peer pressure has done is convince two of my other girls to start sucking their thumbs too. I love the idea of kids sneezing all over each other and then sticking the germs RIGHT into their mouths. Not to mention, do I teach two year olds? Thumb sucking?! Honestly!

End rant. 6 days to go.