In the kitchen: Budget

The kitchen has been a busy place for me this week!  With ordering take out, needing to have snacks in the house, and buying drinks lately our budget for food has been a bit out of control.  This week I have really been trying to reel it in and man has it kept me busy!

Take out pizza... oh my. A favorite of ours on Friday when the week has been a blur and a visit from the energy vampire has left us weak both in will and physial strength.  I put my foot down on that pattern and decided to make our own take out pizza. I have a couple of recipes that I like for pizza, but my go to one when I am pinched for time is this one 

I am also realizing that with the heat, we were wanting sweet drinks in the afternoon. Lemonades and iced green tea sweetened with local honey have been constantly in the fridge. It has really cut down the impulse buy at the grocery store for a soda or cold juice.

Snacks.  On the go, snacks, I am learning, are so important to have.  I am trying to embrace the whole new need for snacks in the house and I am trying to have fun with it.  A snack that is a must in this house are crackers.  This little boy of mine could eat me under the table when it came to crackers. Boxes of crackers can cost a pretty penny here so I started making my own.  This recipe is amazing and is wonderfully paired with cheese. Our favorite popcorn has been on the table almost everyday, and a new favorite, kale chips now join the snack rotation.  Liam actually likes Kale chips a lot. They are very reminiscent of the roasted seaweed we eat all the time.

And then there is the necessary sweet. This week's afternoon sweet is banana bread. That was mostly due to the fact that I had bananas that were going bad. I added chia and flax to the mix so as to not feel as guilty when I break off a brick and slather it with butter for breakfast.

The kitchen has been a whirlwind, but it has been so nice to have the sweet and snack containers fully stocked. When they are I feel ready for the week  come what may. We have food in the house.

 What have you been up to in the kitchen lately?