Menu Plan Monday – Feb 17

Last week I made Split Pea and Cauliflower soup from the Forks Over Knives blog. That was a wonderful and easy soup. The garam masala really made it exceptional.  I also recommend the Tuna, White Bean and Arugula salad from last week.

Monday – Kitchari, requested by DD who loved this dish at Annapurna in Santa Fe.  This restaurant is reason enough to move to Santa Fe!  Kitchari is basmati rice, dal, veggies and greens.

Kitchari, turmeric makes is that beautiful yellow color

Tuesday – Fajitas with black beans

Wednesday – Dinner out!  The temperature may go over 30 degrees F so we will leave our den.

Thursday – Tarascan Pinto Bean Soup from last week.  I didn’t end up cooking that night because of our water main break.

Friday – Turkey Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries

For more menu inspirations, see orgjunkie.com!

Back from the ‘Land of Enchantment’

The Savers have just returned from a vacation to Santa Fe, New Mexico.  We took the Amtrak Southwest Chief train across the country which was wonderfully relaxing compared to the post 9/11 hassle of air travel.  No sending shoes through a x-ray machine and you can bring your own wine into your sleeper car to boot!

Commuter train reflected in window of Santa Fe train station

We found Santa Fe to be our perfect combination of idyllic weather, outdoor exploration opportunities, and amazing food from all over the world.  Usually I am ready to come home from vacation, but I was prepared to have our neighbors call a realtor, put our house on the market, and send us the check!  Sigh.

While we were there we really made no major efforts to save money.  We had budgeted for the vacation and enjoyed it freely.  We were home no more than an hour before Mr. Saver had fired up Quicken and was reconciling our expenses against our budget.  We found we had a decent amount of money left at the end of the trip.  We will set aside some for a “Stay-Cation” in August and put the rest into savings.

Mr. Saver carefully looked at our Enterprise car rental charges and found that they had assessed a $24.00 fuel charge despite the fact that the clerk had waived fuel charges because we started with an empty tank.  A phone call later, we had our money back.

We spent 5 months saving for our trip, and it was so worth it.  We are grateful for our commitment to be debt-free so that we can have experiences like this trip to Santa Fe.

Hiking at Bandelier National Monument, home of the Ancestral Pueblo People