Day 10, we still won't win.

Despite individual meal cost being low, our food bills continue to rise.  Unexpected Birthday expenses this week totalled $50, bringing our running total to $174.30, nearly 2 months of our initial budget in just 10 days.

I've made some pretty successful dishes this week.  I've gotten used to pulling chicken legs apart to remove

all the tendons, and have made chicken parm (pictured), pretzel crusted chicken, chicken and dumplings, bbq ribs, pizza, and lots of pierogies.  I saved all the bones and leftover bits from the chicken legs I used, 6 of them made a very good quart of chicken noodle soup.  All of the meals have been satisfying, nay, downright normal.  It is nice to enjoy meals made of ingredients you can recognize, no trisodium megaphosphate or whatever else you see on the side of boxes.

I can't say I really miss any foods.  Cooking does take up a good deal of time but the crockpot and items prepared last sunday do help to keep cooking times minimal.

The sandwich to the left shows the return of an old challenge favorite - Apocalyps Bacon.  I call this sandiwch the ABLT.  This incarnation is chicken skin, stripped from the legs I prepared earler in the week, fried crisp in a pan.  The tomatoes on the ABLT (and the chick parm for that matter) are runted leftovers from my mom's garden.  I gathered them the last day before she went on vacation, which was 3 days before the first killer frost.  I've kept them in the garage and then the back hall when the garage got too cold, letting them slowly ripen.  I'm amazed that I still have a few good ones left!

There has only been one real failure so far (aside from our balooned expenses.)  I tried to make beef barley soup from what was left in the crockpot when I made ribs last week, and I added too much barley.  The barley doesn't have a great consistency either.  It is just sitting in the refrigerator now, thouch I can't quite bring myself to throw it out.