So…I was sitting here, and I realized that a bunch of people were talking about “the long weekend” on their blogs…and it occurred to me that it’s the Canadian Thanksgiving this coming weekend!  I totally had no idea.

I guess it’s the fact that a.) I’ve never been that obsessed with Thanksgiving before anyway and b.) I live in Kuwait where Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated.

I do have tons to be thankful for, though!!  I’ll save that for Monday though when it’s the “real” Thanksgiving.

In the meantime, for those of you from Canada who are planning your Thanksgiving menu for this coming Monday (or for you Americans who are really planning in advance!!), here are some of my favourite dishes to eat in the fall.

Appetizers: Perfect for sharing with a small crowd of friends or family while waiting for the main meal!

• Pumpkin Garlic Knots
• Bloomin’ Onion
• Cheese Ball
• Lentil Hummus

Side Dishes: Yummy options for taking to a gathering where you’re expected to contribute something to the main meal.

• Simple Sliced Side Dish (eggplant, potatoes, carrots)
• Cheesy Pepper Bread
• Coconut Curry Butternut Squash Soup
• Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad
• Crock Pot Cran-Apple Pecan Stuffing
• Squash + Lentil Soup
• Baked Sweet Potatoes
• Cinnamon Quinoa
• Curried Pumpkin Soup

Main Dishes: If you’re to into eating turkey (although I’ve included a recipe for that too), or you like additional options, these are some yummy fall-themed main dishes.

• Roast Turkey
• Butternut Squash + Sage Lasagna
• Chicken Pot Pie
• Mac ‘n’ Cheese (this could easily be a side dish as well!)
• Roasted Cornish Game Hen
• Crock Pot Roast Chicken
• Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

Desserts: Perfect for finishing off a hearty meal!

• Pumpkin Spice Muffins
• Auntie Alison’s Date Cake
• Autumn Brownies
• Apple Pie

I’m a big fan of simple foods.  In our busy season of life with school happening and us getting up at 5 a.m., I’m doing more prepping of lunch items in the evenings.  And because we don’t have proper lunch breaks, but rather various times where we don’t have classes, it means that we’re eating whenever we have time.  It’s also still really hot here in Kuwait (in the 40s C each day), so we don’t want really hot foods either.  So some of these tasty recipes that are quick and easy, but healthy, are on our list to try:

Raw Brownies

Oatmeal-on-the-go Bars

Coconut Date Energy Bites

Caramelized Onion Hummus

Berbere-Spiced Red Lentil Hummus

Marinated Cucumbers

Have you tried any quick snackable recipes lately?

In our quest to save money and be better at budgeting for groceries, we were on a mission this week to break the record!

{this is not a recent pic of groceries – it’s from last summer}

What we’d like our weekly budget for groceries to be is $60.00.  This should be no problem in a lot of towns/cities, but in Victoria groceries are SUPER expensive.  Keeping it under $60.00 means that we need to a.) not buy meat b.) not buy cheese and c.) not buy any random snacks.

However, we’re committed to doing it not only for the health of our budget but also for the health of our bodies!

So this past weekend we were very excited when our entire total came to just over $40.00!!!!

So what did we get for $40.00?  Well, I will tell you!  (Please keep in mind that we already had all of our grains and legumes purchased at home, so none of those were needed on this shopping trip.)

TOTAL: $43.57

SAVINGS: $16.43

We went to a local produce place first where we had already checked their online flyer to see what was on sale.  That determined what our menu would be and what ingredients we would purchase.  After we bought our produce we decided what exactly we needed from the rest of the list.  Some ingredients weren’t essential to this week’s menu so we left them aside and purchased only two other things we needed beyond produce: toothpaste and eggs.  Yes, we spend more on toothpaste than many usually would, but it’s a personal preference for knowing exactly what’s in it and feeling safe about our choice.  But ultimately saving on our produce really allowed us to have freedom to spend a bit more in that area.

All in all we’re happy with this past week’s purchases.  How do you save money on groceries?

We’re kind of in a phase of trying to cut down our grocery costs and eat up what we have in our fridge/pantry/freezer.

Not to mention it’s Lent and we’re not buying any “luxury” items such as: cheese, meat, fancy ingredients (like stuffed olives, etc.), and snack treats (chips, salsa, chocolate, ice cream, etc.).

SO, keep that in mind, and keep in mind that I just went shopping on Saturday and that I won’t be shopping again until this coming Saturday, and that I have to feed us 3 meals a day for the next 3 days including creating two potluck dishes…

Scary, huh?

That’s our fridge…it’s running a little on empty.  Clearly I didn’t plan things out well for this week.  This is what we have in there going from L-R, top-bottom:

• water jug, leftover curry, leftover peanut sauce, almond milk, blueberry yogurt & plain yogurt
• pickles, leftover beans, one of my no-bake chocolate peanut butter truffles thawing for a snack, strawberries, butter, half a can of pureed pumpkin, 1.5 dozen eggs
• 1 lone homemade tortilla from dinner the other night
• 1/2 of a potato, a lemon, two apples

HOWEVER, it gave me a fantastic challenge in feeding us basically out of nothing (well, nothing “fresh”, that is) for the rest of this week.  I took inventory of our freezer and pantry (which is better off than the fridge!), and here’s what I came up with:

• Wednesday Breakfast: Oatmeal or Eggs or Yogurt (we still have plenty of all of those)
• Wednesday Lunch: The only two random leftover items in our freezer: curry and some peanut sauce which I’m mixing with frozen snap peas from our garden and some brown rice pasta.
• Wednesday Dinner: Noodles, frozen snap peas and black beans all mixed together with some soy sauce and Asian-inspired spices.
• Thursday Breakfast: Same deal as Wednesday.
• Thursday Lunch: Hopefully leftovers from Wednesday’s dinner.
• Thursday Dinner: Lentil and Rice Pilaf with garlic, shelled peas and spices (I don’t have to make this a well-rounded meal b/c it’s a potluck!)
• Friday Breakfast: Same as the other two days.
• Friday Lunch: Out for a lunch meeting
• Friday Dinner: Vegetable soup for yet another potluck.  We have a giant bag of pureed vegetables from our garden stored in our freezer: tomatoes, herbs, zucchini, etc.  I’ll add rice, beans and some tomato sauce I have to make it a soup!

It’s kind of a lame menu plan for someone who likes cooking, but I think we’re doing awesome at using up what we have, saving money and still eating pretty well!!  We certainly won’t starve, that’s for sure.

How do you handle weeks when your house seems empty and you still have meals to cook?

There are some simple things that can really add substance to a meal, but oftentimes we just don’t list how to cook them. I’m talking about things like rice, beans, grains, etc.  We just take it for granted that everyone knows how to cook them!  I’m definitely guilty of listing something like “1 cup of cooked chickpeas” in a recipe, without expressing how to cook them.

Meanwhile, we all have different tried and tested ways of doing it – myself included!  So I thought I’d list how I cook some staples in our home: beans, lentils, quinoa and brown rice.

Dried Beans:

• Get out your crock pot and decide how many beans it can hold.  Measure that out with chickpeas, black beans, navy beans, etc. (NOT kidney beans!  They need to be cooked on a stove top to ensure that they boil properly.  Also, not lentils as they don’t require that long of a cooking time.) into your crock pot.  Cover your dried beans with water about 2 inches above them.  DO NOT turn on your crock pot.  The beans will expand and grow overnight as they absorb water.  In the morning drain your beans and place them back in your crock pot and re-fill it with water until they’re covered by an inch of it.  Turn it on high for 6-8 hours (or low for 10-12 hours).  They’ll be perfectly cooked by the time you get home!

{Chickpeas above are featured from my Chickpea Curry}

Lentils:

• Cover 1 1/4 cups of dried lentils with 1 3/4 cup water.  Bring your water to a boil.  Once it’s boiling, cover the pot and turn it down to simmer for 20 minutes.  Stir every few minutes.  After 20 minutes they should be tender and ready to eat.  Strain any remaining water (although I never have any left, you might have a tiny bit) and add to whatever dish you’re serving.

With both dried beans and lentils, you can bag up the extras and put them in your freezer to use at a later date!  We have small ziploc bags that we portion them out into.  We freeze them flat and then they can stand up in the freezer and hide in all kinds of nooks and crannies!

{Quinoa featured above is from my Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad}

Quinoa:

• Cover 1 cup of dried quinoa with water and let it soak for a minimum of 5 minutes (I usually try to remember to get mine ready before work and then strain it later when I get home).  I use a French coffee press to do the job!  It makes straining very easy.  Pour the strained quinoa into a pot and add 1 1/2 cups of water.  Bring the quinoa to a boil.  Once it’s boiling, cover and reduce the heat to simmer for 15 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  Once 15 minutes has passed, remove the quinoa from the heat (still covered) and let it sit for 5 minutes.  Fluff and enjoy!

{Brown Rice from above is featured in my Basil-infused Brown Rice}

Brown Rice:

• I’ve actually already done a post on how to cook brown rice, so I’ll just direct you over to the original post.  It’s always good to cook up extra rice and keep it on hand throughout the week for quick meals.  Or freeze some extras!

December is a ridiculously busy month for us (like most!), but especially so because of things like Christmas parties, extra duties, and Christmas kettles.  Ever seen something like this in your neighbourhood?

We have a couple of kettles that we take charge of for our area, which keeps me busy filling them with volunteers.  Peter stands at one regularly each day which he loves.  But it does change up our schedule a wee bit!

In any case, I LOVE December the most out of any other month in the year. I think it has to do with the glow of Christmas lights, trees decorated beautifully, and the way that people become just a little more generous and a little friendlier in public.  It’s a good month!

During November I had some goals to accomplish, which I think I did remarkably well at if I do say so myself.  Here’s a little recap:

1. I had a goal to read 1 fictional book. I really outdid myself this month, because I didn’t read just 1 fictional book…I read TWO AND I read a non-fictional book AND I started a 3rd fictional book.  Phew!  I really got back into the habit of reading in those small down moments like waiting for an appointment somewhere, in bed at night, etc.  Those little doses of reading a page or two can really add up!  What did I read? I read “Dreams of Joy,” “The Secret Daughter,” “Battlefield of the Mind” and I’m currently working on “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter.”  They were all AMAZING.  I would read them all again in a heartbeat!

2. I wanted to make sure that I had some meals stored away in my freezer. Check!  I stored away a variety of soups that I whipped up with what I had on hand, including mass amounts of frozen zucchini that was still kicking around from last year.  I also made some pasta sauce for quick dinners, and I have small batches of green tomato corn bread as well as green tomato loaf.  Not just that, but when I participated in the squash community kitchen group I brought home some tasty chutney, squash lasagna and a few other things which have filled it up nicely!

3. My last goal was to meal plan more regularly. This has gone really well and been extremely helpful in this busy season!  We came up with a really simple outline for how to plan which has been awesome.  Instead of planning it out exactly, we have a system that looks like this:

• Saturday: Quick or Seafood – We are always out right around dinner time so I either make something involving seafood or I grab something from the freezer or something from the health food store deli.
• Sunday: Crock-Pot Company – Our goal is to have something available should we end up having company at the last minute.  This means I have cooked up a roast chicken, pot roast, soups, etc. all in the crock pot to save time and make large amounts.
• Monday: Vegetarian – Very simply to make a vegetarian meal.
• Tuesday: Chicken – A meal based on chicken of any type (i.e. ground, breast, thigh, etc.).
• Wednesday: Vegetarian
• Thursday: Vegetarian Potluck – We have a potluck every Thursday with our cell group (Bible study) so I make something large enough to contribute but it’s always vegetarian because we have a few in our group.
• Friday: Red Meat – A meal with any form of red meat…but sometimes this just becomes leftovers or whatever seems good at the end of the week!

So all in all it’s been a great month of accomplishing goals!

As to December, my only goal is to make it through sane and to enjoy the month of celebrating Jesus’ birth.  The rest is “icing on the cake”!

Today’s the final day of October, and there’s just a few more hours left (or maybe there isn’t, depending on where you live!!).

October was a FANTASTIC month for us!

We celebrated Thanksgiving with our community.

And of course, for the most of the month we visited Spain, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium.

I had a few October goals, which I think I definitely accomplished.

1. I wanted to live more in the moment. It’s hard not to while traveling, so I’d say I rolled with the punches and did some spontaneously fun things!

2. I wanted to read 2 fictional books. I actually ended up reading THREE! I’m proud of myself.  I read “Vanishing Acts” by Jodi Picoult, “Pictures of You” by Caroline Leavitt, as well as “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett (can’t wait to see the movie now!).  They were ALL excellent.  I loved them all and am so pleased with my choices.

3. I wanted to be more positive. It’s always going to be a work in progress I think!  But I know there were definitely moments when I chose to be positive rather than negative.

Now, onto my November goals!

1. Based on last month’s goal of reading 2 fictional books, I want to continue reading, but recognizing that I have to work, and am not on vacation, my goal is to read 1 fictional book.

2. I want to make sure that my freezer has some meals in it as we enter the busy Christmas season.  Right now I have some stuff frozen, but who knows what November will bring.  So as long as I have a few leading into December, I’ll be happy!

3. I want to meal plan more regularly. We’re changing the way we buy our food (nothing worth noting, just different stores, etc.), and so I need to plan it out a bit more.  Doing this will help us stay more organized and buy more efficiently.

That’s all I can think of for now!  It’s a good start to November.  :)

Do you have any goals for November?

Stay tuned this week: I’ll be posting pictures from our trip as well as some travel tips we learned along the way, and a couple of recipes I cooked while in Spain and France.