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I’m often asked…well, how much do your kids eat? How much do you give them?
How about a “visual” answer to that question. Above is my 2 year old’s plate. Before and After.
He nearly polished off the chicken, almost all of the peas and squash, and ate at least half of his rice…before declaring himself, “fuh,” and asking to be excused.
Tonight’s dinner comes from the freezer. Remember those farm fresh chicken breasts for $1.79/lb from a few weeks ago…well, before I froze the chicken, I added about 1 cup of Italian dressing (that I recently got on sale with a coupon for $.49) into the freezer baggie with the chicken. I took the chicken out last night and put it into the fridge…where it has been thawing and marinating all day!
Plus, that butternut squash from last night’s meal was MUCH larger than I thought! We only ate half of it last night, so we’ll finish the rest tonight. If there is any leftover after tonight, then I’ll use it to make more of these delicious squash muffins!
A simple and nutritious dinner…
Ingredients
4 small or 3 large (about 1.2 lbs.) chicken breasts ($2.14)
1 cup Italian dressing ($.25)
1 cup brown rice, uncooked ($.40)
1 half (about 1 lb.) of LARGE butternut squash ($.57) Leftovers
2 cups frozen peas ($1)
Plus some BBQ sauce for the kid’s chicken ($.10)
My “never pay more than” price for 16 oz. bag of frozen veggies is $1! Stock up when these go on sale!!!
Directions
1. Marinate chicken breasts in Italian dressing in a 9×13-inch glass baking dish for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Bake marinated chicken breasts at 350 for 45-55 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink in the center.
3. Cook brown rice according to package directions. Takes about 45-50 minutes for “raw” brown rice to cook!
4. Reheat or cook butternut squash.
5. Cook frozen peas as directed on package instructions.
6. Serve Baked Italian Chicken with Brown Rice, Butternut Squash, and Peas.
Cost $4.4
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Great little dinner. For under $5- I’m impressed!
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Whoa! I wish I could get my 2 yr old and 3 yr old to eat that much!!! =o)
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It looks like you’re blessed with a good eater! That’s a big dinner for a two year old! I’m happy on nights when my 7 year old eats that much (but she is on the small side and does only weigh 47 pounds). I was happy to see that your “separated plates” don’t translate into picky eaters. My sister-in-law always fed her kids on them and they are very picky eaters (in college now!) so I’ve always had it in my mind that the “separated” food helped contribute to that. Obviously one of those “when I have kids I won’t do it that way” mind sets that I developed that wasn’t true after all!
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Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom Reply:
October 6th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
@Linda,
No picky eaters here! My 2 year old eats just about anything I put in front of him! And he’s got his daddy’s metabolism…High! He is a great eater!
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Love it! Love it! My son can be picky at times, but is beginning to clear his plate too!
Great post!
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Linda,
I’m lucky when My 8 year old can eat half of that and he’s only 52 lbs, a little picky so I have to puree the veggies and put them into sauces.
Erin,
You have awesome eaters! Great blog!
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Where do you get those great plates? I love them!
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Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom Reply:
October 6th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
@Tara,
We got them at the Pottery Barn outlet 2 years ago. They are a key part to every meal! I’m not sure if they’re still made or how to find them! Sorry
Erin
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Tara Reply:
October 7th, 2009 at 12:24 am
@Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom,
Thanks Erin! I’ll keep looking
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LeeAnne Hudson Reply:
October 7th, 2009 at 10:42 am
@Tara, I have found several divided plates at Target—they are usually seasonal, but my little one doesn’t mind eating from a Santa plate year round!!
What a great site! As opposed to frozen veggies though, I like to buy fruit and veggies when they are on sale and spend the time to cut these up. You can find out more about my frugal ideas, including this one through my site at http://www.frugalgirl.ca
I LOVE that you have a pay-no-more than limit, me too! In fact, I have a giant list of things that I won’t buy unless they are practically free, including MANY household items. Thanks for the ideas and I too, love the plates!!
http://www.frugalgirl.ca
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This is awesome. I have a 6yr old son who is a pretty good eater too. A little spoiled since he seems to want to eat out all of the time. Not sure where that came from. His favorite meal is actually baked chicken, broccoli and applesauce. I wish that he would eat mashed sweet potatoes. Any suggestions? Thanks.
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Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom Reply:
October 7th, 2009 at 11:18 am
@Christina Baita,
Keep offering them! Would he eat them if you added some sweetened chopped walnuts?!?
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Christina Baita Reply:
October 7th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Nope. Doesn’t like nuts. Unless they are peanuts and on the plane. I will keep trying though. I know that it isn’t always a first time thing. I can’t believe that he get’s excited when he is eating something healthy. Of course, he still want’s pop tarts some times. I don’t want to buy them though because they have artificial colors, flavors, hydrogenated oils, ect…ugh. Pick my battles, right?
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claudia Reply:
October 12th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
@Christina Baita,
try adding some pineapple (crushed or tidbits) or chopped apple to the mashed sweet potatoes. also ground cinnamon enhances sweet potatoes
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Wow your 2 year old is a great eater! I just started using anthony’s separated plate and he loves it. I got it for .50 on summer clearance at our local DG.
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