Slight change of dinner plans

So far this weekend, we've tried to stick to the menu plan. Yesterday, however, E, Baby J, and I  did end up going to Meijer, followed by Costco. We left the house about 9:45 and were at Meijer until noon! Since we still had the meat to buy at Costco, along with several other things, and it was right next door, we went ahead and finished up our shopping. E and Baby J decided they were hungry and thankfully there is the little cafe right in the store. Not my first choice, but hey, they had to eat, it was 1pm and we had a good 25 minute drive home. I got E a slice of pepperoni pizza, Baby J and I a slice of cheese pizza and myself the 1/4 plus "meal" (1/4 lb all-beef hot dog and pop). I hadn't eaten breakfast - dumb choice- so I was super-hungry and I forgot how large the slices of pizza were, so that's why Baby J and I shared the pizza. E and I shared a Coke (a rare treat for him). By the way, he ended up doing excellent through both stores, helping me with Baby J, and the shopping. So lunch plans were thrown off and since we had pizza, I surely didn't want to make homemade pizza for dinner last night. I decided to switch last night's and tonight's dinners so we ended up having the ww cheeseburger macaroni - with applesauce instead of green beans, because I remembered them at the last minute and they were frozen! oops! Jas was so awesome by helping me make dinner last night, and we worked together as a team and actually ate before 6!!!

I would love to say that it got rave reviews, but alas, it did not. Jas and A loved it, I kind of did, and E did not like it. He and I could taste the roux (read: flour/butter mixture) and it threw off the whole flavor. E has some texture/taste sensitivities - I really think he has more sensory issues than we are aware of - and so he wouldn't eat much of it. Baby J kind of liked it, but I think his got cold so quick from being cut smaller and having to cool off some before he could eat it, that it just wasn't tasty anymore.

Tonight, I planning to make the homemade whole wheat pizzas. We are going to be using Muir Glen organic pizza sauce, freshly shredded mozzarella - I have found that freshly shredded cheese, not only tastes better, it melts smoother. Plus read the back of the bag of shredded cheese. That extra little ingredient to prevent caking? Yeah, go google that. Seriously, go ahead. I'll be here when you get back....


Um yeah, I don't want to eat that.

So back to what we are topping the pizza with. One will be plain cheese on whole wheat crust, the other will have organic ground beef (browned and seasoned with garlic, onion powder, salt and pepper, most likely) and pepperoni - the only ingredient that is questionable. I would LOVE to find some uncured, no-preservative pepperoni, preferably made from organic pork. If anyone knows of a good brand and where I could find it, please, please, please!!! let me know. We have Kroger, Meijer, Costco, Sam's Club (no membership here though...) very close by and a Whole Food's and Trader Joe's within about a 30-45 minute drive, and I may be willing to drive that far for good pork products (read: bacon, pepperoni, pork sausage, pork chops, ham, pretty much any of the above) ;)

I did end up getting everything on my list plus a few "extras" for the kids for snacks, and stayed under my $340 budget by $7 so I was able to get lunch for the 3 of us and have a whole whopping dollar leftover ;)