Week #3 of the Pantry Challenge

I'm home!
I was out of town from Wednesday until late Friday night, and it is nice to be back in my own bed.
I wasn't sure how we'd do on the pantry challenge since my darling husband LOVES to eat out, but he made a concerted effort to be mindful of the budget, and they only went out to dinner once.  Yea!

I had to go to the grocery store on Saturday morning - I bought celery, mushrooms, apples, cottage cheese, yogurt, and bacon.  We were good for everything else.

You can see what we're eating every day on the challenge right here.

with a few chocolate chips sprinkled in...

I felt like my guys needed a treat to keep us from feeling deprived on this challenge, so I pulled out a box cake mix from the pantry. I do not usually stock these, but I got it on a BOGO sale...ordinarily I bake from scratch.  I wanted to make it a little healthier, so I did some surfing and found the Sneaky Chef's recipe for Quick Fix for Chocolate Cake Mix.   It was exactly what I was after!  I already had some of the purees in the freezer, so I mixed it up, and my guys had no idea there were blueberries and spinach in that cake!  I left off the icing, so it's a reasonable treat.

Here's the plan for this week:

Sunday~ brisket in the crockpot with onions and mushrooms, served over a baked potato. Sneaky chocolate cake for dessert.
Monday~ It's supposed to rain. Leftover chili.
Tuesday~ Teriyaki chicken, rice, oriental veggies from the freezer
Wednesday~ Ham slices from the freezer, collards, leftover mac'n'cheese from Saturday, and maybe some swiss beans
Thursday~ I have a hair appointment & hubs has class.  It'll be a leftovers kind of night.
Friday~ Either leftovers or pasta fagioli soup in the freezer.
Saturday~ Ds is going on a campout, so I'm leaving this open.

Share your menu inspirations at Menu Plan Monday,

and stop by Good Cheap Eats to join in the Pantry Challenge!