Grocery Day!

Happy two-week anniversary to me. The beginning of the Sexy Divorcee's third week of existence happens to coincide with shopping day, and a new two-week plan.

First, maybe I should review last week's cycle. For the detailed menu, see this post. I'll list what I made from my favorite to least favorite, and rank on a scale of 1-5 for convenience, deliciousness, value, and leftover-worthiness, with 1 being least and 5 being most:

1. Puerco pibil

• convenience: 3 (easy, but time-consuming)
• deliciousness: Off the charts
• value: 3 (expensive spices, but good investment; dirt-cheap meat)
• leftover-worthiness: 4 (reheats well, but is best straight out of the oven. Would probably freeze well? I didn't have enough left over to find out.)

2. Louisiana red beans and rice

• convenience: 3 (simple but time consuming)
• deliciousness: 4
• value: 4 (pretty darn inexpensive per serving)
• left-over worthiness: 4 (keeps fairly well; can be frozen)

3. Ratatouille with chicken and rice

• convenience: 3 (simple but time consuming)
• deliciousness: 4
• value: 4
• left-over worthiness: 5 (just as good if not better reheated; also freezes well)

4. Summer succotash with bacon

• convenience: 3 (simple to make, but multi-tasking and different cooking techniques involved)
• deliciousness: 4
• value: 3 (combo of inexpensive and more specialized ingredients)
• left-over worthiness: 4 (good cold, but loses some crispness)

5. Kofta sandwiches

• convenience: 4 (pretty quick and easy)
• deliciousness: 3 (not bad)
• value: 3
• left-over worthiness: 3

6. Angel hair pasta with pesto and chicken

• convenience: 4 (as easy as measuring and boiling water)
• deliciousness: 3
• value: 2 (basil and nuts are a bit pricey)
• leftover-worthiness: 2 (it was great the first night; leftovers, not so much. I think if I were to do it over, I would definitely store the pesto and the pasta separately--not only did it seem to make the pasta soggy, but also, it didn't taste like much after a few days in the fridge except oily garlic. The fresh basil flavor disappeared.)

So here's my new menu (new recipes are italicized, transitional recipes are in green):

Chana masala (chick pea curry) with rice x 4 --this was the last thing on last week's plan, but I never got around to making it.

Sweet and sour pork x 4

Rigatoni with sweet Italian sausage, arugula and sweet potato x 4

Chicken molé enchiladas x 4

Yellow split pea and sweet potato soup x 4

Chicken with roasted vegetable pilaf x 2

Dal nirvana (curried lentils) with rice and homemade naan (Indian flatbread) x 2

And here's my shopping list, with changes and substitutions in green:

Canned pineapple

Tomato paste

Rigatoni

Dried yeast

Dried pasillo peppers

Dry roasted pumpkin seeds

Sesame seeds

unsweetened Mexican chocolate (They do not carry this. Odd, and sad. :( Now I must go to WF for it)

Almonds (bulk)

couscous Bulgar wheat (bulk)

Green lentils (bulk)

Chicken breasts

Sweet Italian sausage (3 links, just over a pound)

queso fresco Monterey Jack--their fresco was muy exspensivo

Wheat bread

Corn tortillas

Plain yogurt

Eggs

Sweet potatoes (technically, jewel yams) x 3

Arugula (5 oz package)

Green onion x 2

Onions x 2

Italian parsley x 1

Zucchini x 1

Lemons x 2

Fresh fruit (bunch of 4 bananas, 2 6-oz cartons of raspberries)

All for just over $70, which was about what I was guessing it would be. I continue to be in love with Sunflower. The employees are so nice there, and not in the creepy forced way that they are at Safeway. I'm just sad they didn't have my chocolate. So, there's at least one unscheduled shopping detour in my future.