100 DOLLARS A WEEK PT.2 - Day 3 (Sunday)...

Sunday was brew day, and brew days are always full of activity from early morning into the afternoon. I'm always up before everyone else, but brew days find the Man up and at it not long after, setting up burners, brew kettles, mash tuns, and all kinds of other odds and ends to ensure that the day goes smoothly. Sunday's batch was a barleywine which has been bubbling like crazy all day and should be ready just in time for Christmas festivities (if we were the Christmas-loving kind...). Not that we need Christmas as an excuse to get frunk on barleywine.

And barleywine is much too easy to get frunk on, but I digress...

BREAKFAST

Breakfast was something I haven't had in ages but have been craving for a while now. As I've described it before, a Dutch Baby is the baby that would result if a crepe and some custard bumped uglies.

They're often served with a sprinkling of powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon, but we did powdered sugar and cinnamon for the kids, strawberry jam for the grown peeps.

   2 eggs, some flour, some milk, some sugar, a little vanilla, and a healthy pat of butter for the Dutch Baby $1.25
+ 2 cups of coffee $0.40
+ 4 cups orange juice $1.00

= $2.65 FOR BREAKFAST ($0.70/person)

SNACK

Ever her mother's daughter, Mads needs to eat constantly, so she asked me for a bowl of ramen and some kimchi. Joe made a special request for carrots cut into coins rather than sticks to dip in some Ranch dressing.

   1 packet of ramen and some kimchi $0.30 (it was the supercheapo Maruchan kind)
+ 2 carrots and some Ranch $0.40

= $0.70 FOR SNACK

LUNCH

The gods were kind yesterday and gave the Man and his brew buddy just enough good weather to get the barleywine brewed before the wind started in. But hard work and cold weather called for something hearty, so I made a hodge podge chili using the scraps of the ribeye trimmed from the steaks used for pho on Saturday, a quarter of a link of chorizo, a pound of ground beef, 3 hot dogs, and some black beans.

Served with rice and topped with chopped cilantro, green onions, avocado, cheese, sour cream and just a little bit of minced habanero, that chili was one of the better chilis in recent memory. You will likely not believe me when I tell you that those hotdogs were the shizz in that chili, and if you haven't tried it yet, you should.

1/2 lb. of ground beef $1.25

+ 3 oz. chorizo $0.35

+ 3 hotdogs $0.30 (they were on sale the week I bought 'em)

+ 1/4 lb. ribeye $1.50

+ 2 cups black beans $0.40

+ 1 onion, 1/2 green bell, 1/2 red bell, 3 serranos, 6 cloves garlic and 2 Romas $1.75

+ spices and seasonings $0.50

+ 2 cups jasmine rice $1.00

+ 1 avocado, some sour cream, cilanto, green onions, habanero $1.25

= $8.30 FOR LUNCH ($1.40/serving for 6 servings)

TREAT

The week before last, Fresh & Easy had this sale on Betty Crocker cake mixes, so Mads and I picked up 5 boxes of cake mix. The monsters don't cook too much at their other house, and baking goodies is one of the things they look forward to doing when they come to our place.

So this weekend, we made devil's food cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting. I usually add a couple of tablespoons of either mayo or sour cream to make the cake extra moist and fluffy. (An old trick I overheard once at a church potluck when I was 7.)

I think boxed cake and brownie mixes are a great way to give older kids some autonomy in the kitchen. Joe and Mads had fun measuring and mixing, and I finished the rest while they took their weekly walk to 7-11 to buy Oreos and Flamin' Hot Cheetos. I think it's cool that they still think it's a treat to walk to the corner store and get to buy a little bag of something that's maybe not so good for you, but apparently tastes bomb to their pre-teen palates.

We sent some cupcakes back to Stepford with the kids and kept a few for ourselves.

I wonder when they'll be too cool to let me take these
pics anymore. I hope not anytime too soon...

   1 box of Betty Crocker cake mix $1.25
+ 1 can of frosting $1.50
+ 3 eggs and some oil $0.60

= $3.35 for 18 cupcakes

DINNER

As I had taken an uncharacteristically large serving of chili for lunch, I really didn't need much dinner and ate one cupcake and half an apple that was left over from making Japanese curry earlier in the week. The Man ate the rest of the chili and rice.

$0.20 FOR DINNER (for the 1/2 apple - all else was previously accounted for)

$15.20 spent on Sunday. A pretty economical day, all things considered!

Friday 11/18 - $9.05
Saturday 11/19 - $12.65
Sunday 11/20 - $15.20

$36.90 spent so far with 4 days left to go in the week.

I think I've done about all the catchup I can handle for one night.

I hope there's some good trash TV on right now. This week's epi of Beverly Hills Housewives was lackluster.

shinae