Breakfast for Dinner
Grocery budgeting, weekly menu and a massive croissant breakfast sandwich for dinner.
Hi friends, Happy Monday!
My new focus is using what’s in the fridge, and squeezing everything out of what I have in the fridge and pantry. Without a garden right now, I’m trying to find ways to be sustainable before the warm season kicks in. Even though we just got dumped with snow, spring must be close, right? I’m praying everything melts soon to get some cool-season plants in the ground, like lettuce mixes, kale, radish, and spinach.
Anyway, I’ve been working on a grocery budget, trying to see realistically how much I need to spend on food each week and month. Creating a budget for a single household and cooking for one has been quite the learning experience. Less people to feed may be cheaper, but a new issue arises of how to be as efficient as possible with leftovers. A few things I’m learning. Resist the urge to get takeout or go to restaurants. Right now, it’s just not within the budget, and when I realize I can make something just as delicious at home with what I already have in the fridge, it becomes less appealing. I’m choosing to have the mindset that it’s not about restriction but more about planning. I always go in with a list. That way, I don’t let my stomach decide what to buy. My biggest downfall is buying ingredients I already have or buying items that don’t go into the planned weekly menu. The main goal of the weekly menu is not to overspend or compromise on delicious food. Most of the time, I can have that meal I want if I just plan it out. My monthly budget is hanging around the $300 mark, give or take a few moments of weakness.
A few things I’ve found helpful so far.
Make homemade chicken stock.
No more full loaves of bread; they always go moldy before I can eat them.
Freeze uncooked meat for future meals.
Freeze tortillas; only take them out when you need them.
Use the freezer as much as possible.
What are your favorite tips for grocery budgeting, especially with rising food costs? What have you found helpful?
Expect a new blog recipe later in the week. With all this snowy, gloomy weather, I really needed a sunny day to capture all those gorgeous food photos, and there’s nothing better than natural sunlight. It should be done on Friday. It’s probably one of my favorite snack recipes I’ve made in a while.
What I’m eating this week.
Croissant Breakfast Sando: I have a weakness for croissants from Kowalski’s, a local grocery store in MN. Since croissants require lots of patience to make from scratch, I don’t eat them often except when I splurge at Kowalski’s. I also have some ground pork from the freezer I needed to use up, so I thought a breakfast sandwich would be perfect with some cheddar, onions, scrambled eggs, and a spicy sriracha mayo sauce.
Fried Mortadella Pasta and Peas: This is a new recipe from Hailee Catalano that looks so delicious. Mortadella has been trending for a while now, and I haven’t tried it before, so I’m giving it a go. I can’t wait!
Frittata & Roasted Sweet Potatoes: I really enjoyed the Frittata last week, so I’m adding it to the menu again. I’ve been trying to add more budget-friendly meals to the menu so that I can throw just about anything in. Leftover Frittatas are the best for that.
Chicken Terriaki Pineapple Bowls: I found this recipe on Instagram from Anna’s Table, which sounded delicious. It comes together in less than 30 minutes. Lots of ginger and Sriracha, I’m looking forward to it.
Dutch Baby Pancake: As you may know, my default dinner meal is breakfast food. I have a few apples in the fridge that are getting a tinge soft, which would be perfect for an apple cinnamon Dutch baby pancake. It’s basically dessert disguised as breakfast with lots of maple syrup. I like to follow an Ina Garden recipe as a guide. I’ve also made this Dutch baby pancake with pears, which is super delicious. I might even throw some bacon on the side, too.
Sesame Brown Butter Cookies: I ate a fancy seven-course dinner at Young Joni last New Year’s Eve. For dessert, we had a variety of tasty treats, but these sesame Brown Butter Cookies were the most memorable part of the meal. I have had them in the back of my mind ever since and want to try and recreate them this week for a quick dessert.
Share what you’re eating this week. What’s planned, any new recipes you're looking forward to trying? Share below!
Realistic Monday Night Dinner: Croissant Breakfast Sandwich
My go-to when I’m hungry and don’t want to cook a meal. I’m obsessed with breakfast for dinner; it’s not a thing I cannot help but love. A breakfast sandwich is the perfect vehicle for using up just about anything from the fridge. If I don’t have a croissant, I’ll use an English Muffin, too. And if there’s no ground pork, I’ve also used ground beef, Italian sausage, breakfast sausage, or bacon.
What to do with leftover ground pork?
This recipe was inspired by the 1/4 pound of leftover pork in the freezer. I don’t know about you, but I find making anything with ground meat difficult because I can never use up 1 lb before it goes bad. When I buy meat for a meal, I’ve now gotten into the habit of immediately freezing the other half. This pork had been in the freezer for a few weeks, and breakfast was the first thing to come to mind.
How I made it.
I heavily seasoned the pork with salt, pepper, fennel, and cumin to mimic a flavorful breakfast sausage. I then added thinly sliced onion to the pork and smashed it into the patty. The onions get all caramelized and add so much flavor to this sandwich. The key to a smash patty is keeping it super thin. This patty ended up massive but was perfect for the large croissant. I then melted a lot of cheddar on top and piled the croissant high with scrambled egg and spicy Sriracha sauce. The sauce had one tablespoon of mayo, two teaspoons of Sriracha, and a splash of rice vinegar. It adds the perfect tang to cut through all the rich, meaty flavors. All this smashed together, gooey, spicy, saucy goodness. It’s so good. Sometimes, I’ll add a bit of ketchup, too. It’s not complicated or fancy, just comforting, good food.
That’s all for today. Thanks for being here, let’s have a beautiful week friends! See ya soon!