The Grand Total

$43.64

Not bad.

The breakdown...

• $7 - lunch.  I had to.  (Really!  It was for work.)
• $4 - beer.  Again, I had to!  My boss bought me one, so I felt obligated to buy her one.  I didn't buy one for myself though! (I didn't NEED it.)
• $32.64 - dry cleaning.  Really, this money was spent when I dropped my clothes off back in November (yes, November!).  This did make me think, though...  I don't have to dress up for work.  I can (and usually do!) wear jeans to work.  So the "dry clean only" clothes are going into storage.  Since I've been wearing "business casual" for (many, many!) years, I'm probably going to have to replace some of that clothing.  But I've been scouring sites like The Sartorialist for ideas, and I'm making a list of pieces that I need and I'm going to start searching for good deals (or, Goodwill!).  I'm thinking (hoping) it'll be cheaper in the long run.

The best part of this experiment?  It worked!

I went to the grocery store today, with a list of ingredients for several recipes.  One of the recipes (Moroccan Couscous) calls for a lot of ingredients (a lot!), most of which I won't use for anything else (Raisins?  Yuck.).  So, I skipped everything I needed to make that (despite the fact that I've been CRAVING it), and got the few remaining ingredients I needed to make Four Cheese Lasagna. 

Here's the recipe I use (with a few of my own modifications)...

INGREDIENTS

• 16 ounces lasagna noodles (I use the kind you don't have to cook)
• 1 (26 ounce) can spaghetti sauce
• 1 pound cottage cheese (I use ricotta)
• 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
• 8 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.  (or don't!)
• In a blender or with an electric mixer, blend tomato sauce and cottage cheese together until smooth. (I just stir it up with a wooden spoon.)
• Spoon a little of the sauce mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Place a layer of cooked noodles over the sauce, and sprinkle a portion of the mozzarella, the cheddar and the parmesan over the noodles. 
• Repeat layering of sauce, noodles and cheese; finish with a cheese layer.
• Bake in preheated oven 30 to 45 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and golden.

I think I made the right choice - this is really good, and I have enough for lunch all week!