Adventures in Our Kitchens: We're not in Kansas anymore....

It's been a crazy few months for me and my two boys as we prepared to spend as much time with my husband before he left for Afghanistan. Being married to the Army, it has it's disadvantages, but it makes us stronger. Before my husband left, we had decided that since he'd be gone for an extended period of time, that the boys and I should spend the summer in NC with family and then return to Kansas before school starts back. It's bittersweet and odd being back "home", seeing friends and family, but you do what you got to do. And I thank my husband and all of his fellow soldiers for their sacrifice for our country and our freedom.

Yesterday morning, I got up, picked up Mande and ventured off to the farmer's market in Lexington to see what we could find to make for dinner. The produce was amazing and we decided a salad would go along great with dinner. We spent a total of less than $15 between the two of us and in addition to our salad fixings we grabbed some veggies for us to enjoy later in the week.

Here's Ayden posing with a pig at the Farmer's market.

Ayden enjoying a homegrown tomato as a snack.

Some of our veggies from the Farmer's Market.

Next we hit up Harris Teeter and I finally succumbed to the sticker shock of groceries. I'm used to shopping primarily at the Commissary on post, where we pay for items at cost and usually 30% cheaper than anywhere else and not pay tax, just a surcharge fee of 5%.

So, we grab some fruit and some mushrooms that we couldn't find at the farmer's market and spent about $40 there. I also got some staple food items there since I'm restocking the kitchen in our vacation home for the summer. Next we traveled to a brand new Aldi's across the street. It was crazy in there, but we picked up a few items that we knew we're cheaper than a regular grocery store and ended up paying less than $5 there. Food Lion was our last stop and we hit up the meat department and picked up $30 worth of steaks to grill for dinner.

So, last night for dinner my family got together (12 out of 18) to celebrate my return to North Carolina. Mande made Boursin cheese for me to try, Julie brought blackberry Merlot to wash it down and we enjoyed it as we prepared dinner. We had grilled steaks served with a red wine cream sauce, had a huge farmer's market salad and homemade French bread. Later we enjoyed fresh fruit dipped in chocolate for dessert.

The Boursin Cheese appetizer Mande made and a glass of Blackberry Merlot.

Joey showing off the steaks.

The ingredients for the red wine cream sauce.

Homemade French bread fresh from the oven.

Let's do some math, we spent roughly a total of $90 on food for 12 people (and we had leftovers) which breaks down to $7.50 per person. Wow, if that's not impressive, then I don't know what is! :D