Surprise dinners

I am lamenting the closing of our local Trader Joe's. It was so close, convenient, and a fun place to shop. Now the closest one is half an hour away and I don't think I will be making the trip in the Phoenix heat and with gas prices high. Next best thing....or maybe better because it's cheaper, is our farmer's market, Sprouts. They have cheaper produce and bakery items, but more expensive frozen foods. I usually bought 2 bags of frozen TJ's Orange Chicken whenever I went to TJ's. I got 2 today at Sprouts, a brand name called Ling's and they were $3 more per bag. (eek) Still that is a cheap and quick dinner for us. I also got some great looking naan, a flat bread that is long and oval. I think I'll make rustica pizzas on it later in the week.

I am starting to pull leftovers out of the freezer to eat for dinners to empty out the freezer and condense it into just my side by side freezer for the summer. Our huge upright freezer in the garage runs harder in the summer with the heat and runs up our bill.

So last night I pulled out a good amount of something red with chunks in it. It was either beef/veg soup, chili, chimichanga filling, spaghetti sauce or jambalaya. *note to self* LABEL THE LEFTOVERS!

It's kind of adventurous but a little adventure goes a long way with me. It turned out to be chili and was very good. The trouble is, I also pulled out some white chili for tonight at the same time....a little monotonous (as is that word to type) so I'm thinking save that for Wednesday and eat orange chicken tonight. =)

Such is my summer life......I hope there is more to write about than dinner and shopping as time goes on. I am loving the break from working at the school (much needed in fact), but I've got to get into a groove that includes more than sleeping late and watching morning news shows. bleh