cook rice, add chicken and veggies.. Takes about 15 min. to cook...and feeds 4 big appetites!
Thanks Beth, I will have to try that one night when I am pressed for time!
Chicken Francaise "Fancy" up your chicken tenders without adding a lot of cost! My family goes nuts when they find out I am making this one. It's really easy. Next time you buy chicken tenders to make for dinner, grab a lemon too. I will assume you have flour and an egg or two on hand at home.
Take your raw chicken tenders and put them in a big baggie with a couple big spoonfuls of flour and shake til coated. In the meantime, whisk a couple eggs in a pie tin (or similar dish). Then, have another plate with flour. Now melt a stick of butter or margarine in a frying pan.
Take the flour coated chicken tenders from the baggie, coat with egg, and then the other flour and carefully place the in the frying pan. Cook till golden brown on both sides. Just before serving, squeeze the lemon all over the chicken while the pan is still on the burner. (The butter will sizzle when you do this and it mixes with the lemon to make the lemon butter sauce.) Prepare to get compliments!
This is really good with fettucini alfredo and broccoli. You can buy the noodle side dishes for like a buck. I like to steam the broccoli, then transfer to a frying pan with oil & garlic. A little squeeze of lemon just before serving.
Sausage & Peppers Here's a Super-Easy Crowd Pleaser. I grew up in Chicago & worked in a lot of Italian restaurants. Italian sausage is like Bologna up there! This is just one of the ways I like to prepare it. I brought this to family Gatherings down here in TN and always put Italian bread right next to it for people to make sandwiches, but no one knew to make a sandwich! Anyway, now when I make it I just cut the sausages into quarters and tell everyone it's an appetizer. Regardless, There's never any left to take back home! You can multiply this recipe according to how many people you are making it for. If I just make it at home, I use 1 lb of sausage, 1 green pepper and one 15 oz. can of tomato sauce.
Bake 1 lb of Italian sausage in a pyrex dish for about an hour (or til brown) at 350 degrees, turning over half way through. If you are going to have sandwiches, just leave the sausages whole and serve with Italian bread or panini rolls. (1 Lb. usually=5 links). If you want to serve it as an appetizer, cut each link into bite size pieces. Now, slice up the green pepper and add it to the sausage, pour the can of tomato sauce over the top, cover with aluminum foil and return to the oven til the peppers get soft. NOTE: The longer you cook it, the more tender the sausage gets.
So, how easy was that? I promise, you will get a lot of compliments on this dish. Of course, I never pay full price for the sausage, I wait for it to go on sale, then I buy a few and freeze them. $3.19 a lb. is reasonable.
Meatloaf Dinner with Pineapple Upside-Down Cake for dessert – Feeds 4 (or more) w/leftovers
My Mom’s Meatloaf:
3 Lbs. +/- Ground beef - (I got mine in the meat manager’s special bin for 1.57 a lb.) - $4.58
1 Stack Saltines – crushed or put in food processor* - .25
1 sm. Onion Chopped finely or put in food processor* - .50
6 eggs - .75
2 – 15 oz. cans tomato sauce (I used 4 - 8 oz. cans, they were cheaper & I saved 40 cents) – $1.00
Salt & pepper to taste
Crush or process* the crackers to make crumbs, Chop or process* the onion. Mix meat, cracker crumbs, chopped onion, eggs, salt, pepper and 1 of the cans of tomato sauce in a large bowl. Use a big fork to stir, don’t use your hands. My Mother always told me to do it that way because the heat from your hands does something to the fat in the meat and the meatloaf is not as juicy when you mix it with your hands. Divide in two and form 2 loafs with the meat mixture on a jelly roll pan. Spoon tomato sauce over the tops of the meatloafs. It should run down the sides. Sprinkle with pepper and bake at 350 for 1 hour.
I got a big package of potatoes off the produce special rack for 1.75 and made a big bowl of mashed potatoes. I will use the left-over potatoes to make potato cakes with our next meal. My family LOVES potato cakes! So the potatoes, including Margarine, cost me 1.90.
We had corn & green beans - .78
I made a Pineapple Upside-down cake for dessert. The cake mix was .89, the Pineapple was $1.19 (I saved the juice and left-over pineapple and will probably use it to make chicken teriyaki later this week.), the brown sugar was .35, the margarine was .15, the eggs were .37, so the cake was - $2.95
Did you know: Pineapple + ginger + Soy sauce = Teriyaki?
Total for meal – $12.71
I fed my family of four, plus I invited my neighbor for dinner and sent her home with cake & 2 slices of meatloaf. We will have meatloaf sandwiches tomorrow YUM! I already have potatoes left-over for my next meal, and I have the leftover pineapple juice & pineapples to make teriyaki chicken.
*This little gadget will save you tons of time in the kitchen. Remember, TIME is MONEY, so if you save time you are saving money. I use mine to chop onions, nuts, make cracker crumbs (instead of buying bread crumbs) I use the wand to make tomato puree out of whole canned tomatoes. I just stick it straight in the can. (The whole tomatoes are better because they are cheaper, require less processing and if you want to dice them you can.) I also use it to make milkshakes and to blend gravy and soup right in the pan. Anyway, when I find something good, I always try to share. My husband bought me a similar one at Wal-mart, but I couldn't find the exact one. Click on the picture to see more. If you decide to get one, remember, Wal-mart has FREE site to store shipping.
Family size chicken pot pie
2 Lg. chicken breasts* - $2.34
1 package pillbsury (or store brand, whichever is cheaper) refrigerated pie crust - $2.50
1 can cream of celery soup – store brand of course – 80 cents
1 can cream of chicken soup – store brand of course – 80 cents
1 can mixed vegetables – 44 cents
½ can peas – 20 cents
*I bought a package of skinless chicken breasts in the “meat manager’s special” bin for 1.30 a lb. There were 3 chicken breasts in the package. I will use 2 for this meal and make a bowl of chicken salad with the other large breast. My family LOVES Chicken salad!
Boil the chicken breasts and simmer until tender. When cool enough to handle, pull the meat off the bones and dice it up. In a deep pie pan, lay one of the pie crusts in the bottom. Mix the chunked chicken with the soup, mixed veggies & peas (make sure to drain the liquid). Pour this into the crust-lined pie dish. Unroll the 2nd crust over the top and pinch the edges together. I tuck the excess top crust behind the edge of the bottom crust and then I crimp it. Whatever is easiest for you. Bake at 350 degrees for around 20 to 30 minutes until the crust gets nice & brown.
Note: If you don’t have a pie dish, you can use the deep dish frozen crusts. If you know how to bake, you can make homemade pie crusts.
Cost – $7.08 (1.77 per person family of four)
I feed my family of four on this recipe and usually have some left over. It NEVER goes to waste though, my family loves it!
Rita Mills’ Mushroom Burgers
Here's a delicious and inexpensive meal that just about anyone can make. If you have $10 (or maybe less) and 3 friends, you can all fill your bellies tonight!Here is what you will need: 1 lb. +/- ground beef - shouldn't cost you more that like 3 bucks
2 small cans or 1 big can Cream of Mushroom soup - about 1 dollar
1 box instant mashed potatoes or Mac & cheese (or Both!) - about a dollar each
1 can of corn - 50 cents
1 can of Green beans. - 50 cents
1 can of biscuits - about a dollar
The potatoes or mac & cheese, make according to box. The corn & green beans, I just put them in a bowl (drained) with a little butter, salt & pepper and nuke em. Make the biscuits last. Ok, divide the ground beef into 4 patties. Fry them in a skillet til brown on both sides. I sprinkle some pepper on them while they cook. Now, if there is a real lot of grease, dump some but not all of it. Pile the patties up on one side of the pan and dump the cream of mushroom soup in the pan. Take a wisk or spoon and stir it really good so you mix in all of the brown stuff from the bottom of the pan. Re-distribute the patties in the gravy and cover them with the gravy with a spoon.. Put the cover on the pan and reduce heat to low (like 2 or 3 max) simmer for about 30 Minutes stir occasionally. You can use this 30 minutes to prepare your potatoes, biscuits, etc. Voila!
