This week I made big batches of chili and had tons of leftover chicken noodle soup. So, that’s about what I ate all week: black bean turkey chili over basmati brown rice and chicken noodle soup with all the week’s leftover veggies (i.e. zucchini, tomato, celery, carrots and onion bits). I thought it would bother me to eat the same thing a few days in a row, but it didn’t. The meals were good and I topped them with lots of extras (shredded cheddar cheese, sour creme, salsa and grated Parmesan)

Since it’s close to Christmas time, one of the family food traditions (passed down from generation to generation) was stuffed artichokes, I thought I would replicate the recipe. The two I bought were an astounding $2.50 each BUT they were huge (the size of two actually). I stuffed them with a fresh bread hand[made stuffing mix and ‘steamed’ them in lemon scented water for two hours. Tasted just like grandma was here.

Friday night we made two pizzas (one for him and another half for him and then a half for me) on flat bread. I used to make my own dough and will probably go back to making real dough again now that money is getting tighter. But when you’re busy all day or get back home late, rather than pop a whole frozen processed pizza in the oven, we just buy the flatbreads ($3.19 at Aldi) and continue to make our own. In the end it’s healthier and cheaper than either sending out for a pie or throwing a frozen one in the oven. Hubby loves to top those flat breads with raw onion!

One lunch time meal was grilled, melted yellow cheddar cheese on a buttered panini with a side of that chicken noodle soup. Saturday night I have my sister and BIL coming over for a pre-Christmas dinner and a walk through a very holiday decked-out home town. I made her a lasagna (my signature dish) filled with sausage, ricotta and mounds of melted mozzarella cheese. I’ll serve it with a Caesar side salad and some very flowing glasses of red wine.

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