The culprit has been found!

No.....a rogue salmon did not swim into the brownie batter.....

First, let me back up to the dinner before the brownie. Perhaps this was the origin of "eat dessert first"?

For dinner, as per the menu plan, salmon. I relented slightly and offered the small folk a choice of tuna burger. A choice that was most eagerly accepted. That leaves more yummy salmon for me. Oven baked sweet potato fries were also not so popular with the kids, or for that matter, Honey. More yum.

I was particularly pleased that I had gotten a large slab of fresh salmon from Sam's (about $14) and divided it up into 2 meals. I even used the spify vacuum pack bags with the extremely COOL little vacuum tool. And, boy did that little sucker work - no pun intended. The thawed salmon look fresh as can be, and tasted great.

But everyone has a preference about how their fish is grilled.....so one piece was coasted with (blech) butter and salt substitute, one with (yummy) soy-ginger marinade, and the last, simply sprayed with......you guessed it.........

PAM. See that muffin tin?

Apparently, although I am insenely obsessive about keeping my hands clean, there must have been some cross-contamination on the can.....and voila;

The Salmon Brownie Muffin is born.

Too busy cooking to blog.....Cheapskate Challenge Day 18

I call these guys

the "Twins".

Dinner last Friday and planned leftovers for Saturday. ($8.54 for the 10+ lb. pair, by the way.) Originally, the menu called for Pork Fried Rice....but that's a whole other story. Now that would have been quite a trick, my friends.....

Unfortunately (or fortunately ?) we had the first slippage of the challenge on Saturday night. Guests. Who we hosted for dinner....because I forgot to return their DVD to redbox. Know what happens then? Mmmmm, a nifty $25 fine. So we invited them to dinner because they flat refused to take cash for my little misadventure.
So I just could not serve Meal # 2 (see below) to our guests. You guessed it.....take out Chinese. Which reminded me why I started this all in the first place. Because it cost the same as a WEEK of groceries. Although I did throughly enjoy my Scallion Pancakes and General Tso's Chicken for several lunches.

And may I say, said DVD...Mamma Mia! was so. not. worth. it. It's been a long time since I couldn't bear to sit for one more minute of a movie. So sad, because I loved the show, and the music, and the actors....but this was pure torture. But, I digress.

So the "Twins" broke down like this:

Meal #1: 1.5 chickens for 6 of us. The .5? the legs and wings. Who know, my kids LOVE the wings and drumsticks. Blech, I mean broccoli and instant mashed potatoes on the side. And lest you think me a total ogre tothe kids during the challenge, Klondike bars for dessert (less than $0.42 each.)

Meal #2

Add tortillas, shredded cheese, lettuce and tomato,
plus a healthy glob of salsa (PACE preferred), and voila......Chicken Quesadillas. For those of you not watching their weight, feel free to add a "dollop of Daisy" sour cream too. Had some avacados as well, but I was too lazy to cut them up. Due to some grumbling on the part of some children, only 2 of us enjoyed the quesadillas.

So, for the past 17 days, my family has stuck to the menu plan and listened to "No, I am not buying [insert wasteful item here], did you forget that it's Cheapskate Challenge month?"

And now I've got to get back to the kitchen......