I’d like to introduce y’all to Angie!  Tonight, she’s sharing a meal for her family of 7 that’s just under $8.50!

In between school, boy scouts, choir, girl scouts, homework, BPSA scouting, potty training, MOPS, learning how to walk and PTA – somewhere in there this family of 7 has to eat! I don’t have an excess of time or money so I need to cook smart.  That’s right, this is a complete easy meal to add to your recipe books. Using the crockpot is just awesome to the 10th power because you don’t even have to be there until the finishing touches are needed! It looks like a complex meal, but the ingredient list is actually pretty simple.

Chicken and Dumplings

3 cups cooked shredded chicken $2.68
1/2 onion (diced) $.13
1 clove garlic (chopped fine) $.06
3 cans of biscuits* $1.17

Green Beans

1 1/2 pounds fresh beans $1.95
1 tsp butter

Watermelon Slices

1 whole watermelon $2.50

Total meal $8.49

Chicken and Dumplings:

• In a crock pot, combine chicken, onion and garlic in 8 cups of water until done (approx 4 hours on high)
• Remove chicken, and shred with knife (should yield 7 cups, what you don’t use – freeze for another meal)
• Strain broth
• Set aside 2 cups of chicken broth for green beans
• Add remaining broth plus 8 cups of water to large pot
• add shredded chicken
• Cut each biscuits into 1/4ths and add to chicken and broth
• Boil on medium for 45 minutes stirring every so often.
• Let sit for 15 minutes before serving to firm up.

Green Beans:
While you are stirring your chicken and dumplings,
In a medium pot combine 2 cups of reserved chicken broth and 1 cup of water to and bring to a boil. Snap off the ends of the beans and add them to the broth mixture. Boil for about 10 minutes depending on how firm you like your beans. (By boiling it with the chicken broth, you are getting all those wonderful garlic and onion flavors.) Drain beans, return to them to the pan and add the butter. Saute until butter is melted and serve warm.

*I choose to use biscuits (and you can use ANY kind) because I can find them for .39 a can. To make the meal more frugal, make your own dumplings. To make the meal faster, use boneless skinless chicken breasts, canned broth, garlic & onion powder.

Now child #2 wants to start Taekwando, I may need to find kitchen appliances that plug into the car.

Happy Cooking!

Angie Atchley is a freelance writer and is also the voice behind Vivo Bello. She chronicles the antics of her 5 young children, posts kid friendly recipes, and hosts Meaningful Mondays about random acts of kindness.

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I made up a new word. I think.

I haven’t googled it.  And I don’t plan on it.  I’m going to play ignorant on this one and just revel in my new word.

Balsam-melized.

Onions. Caramelized. In balsamic vinegar.

Balsam-melized.

Add said onions with some grilled chicken, lettuce (and swiss cheese if you’re not dairy free) in a tortilla…and you’ve got yourself some scrumptious wraps!

I dare you to balsam-melize something.

I double-dog dare you.

(Now there…you have to try it now.)

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, grilled and sliced ($2.14) On sale recently for $1.99/lb
1 red onion, sliced into strips ($.80)
1 Tbsp olive oil ($.10)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar ($.35)
Heaping Tbsp sugar ($.03)
Few handfuls green leaf lettuce head, torn ($.25)
8 burrito size tortillas ($1.02)

Green beans from the garden

Directions

1. Grill chicken. This is a perfect meal for batch grilled chicken slices.

2. Let’s move onto the red onions, shall we!? Chop off the top and bottom and slice down the middle in half.

3. Peel away the skin and slice into half-moons.

4. Add to a large skillet with some hot olive oil and saute for 1-2 minutes, separating the half-moons.

5.  Add the balsamic vinegar.

6. Add some extra if you like.  Now we’ve got the balsam- part done.

7. And for the -melize part to these onions…add a heaping Tbsp of sugar. The tangy balsamic vinegar needs some sweetness to balance the flavors.

8.  Toss around…and when it starts to get all bubbly, reduce heat to medium low. (I turned my dial to 4…out of 9.)

9. Let the vinegar reduce.  And let the onions take on the sweet and tangy flavor.

10.  Once they look like this, and taste like perfection, add them to a chicken wrap.  And if you like, add some Swiss cheese.

11. Cook green beans.

12. Serve Chicken Wraps with Balsam-melized Red Onions and Green Beans.

Cost $4.69

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Gardening helps offset my grocery bill, especially since I grow items that can be expensive at the grocery store such as peppers and tomatoes. The one downside to gardening is that supply sometimes exceeds demand, particularly when I grow things like yellow squash and zucchini.

My children are now examining all baked goods with a suspicious eye, so I have to step up my game and hide the squash where they will least expect it: in plain sight! The peppers provide a flavorful cover, even if they do not entirely camouflage the squash.

Ingredients for Vegetable Confetti

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups mixed color mild peppers, cut into thin strips
2 cups zucchini, julienned (If you are not sure how to julienne squash, here you go!)
2 cups yellow squash, julienned
1 cup onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh basil, shredded

Directions for Vegetable Confetti

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or wok. Add the peppers, squash, zucchini, onion, and garlic.

2. Sauté for 3 minutes over a medium high heat.

3. Reduce heat to low and add basil. Cook on low for 7 – 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

Ingredients for Herbed Chicken

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts  
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander (optional)
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions for Herbed Chicken

1. Preheat broiler.

2. Combine the spices in a small bowl.

3. Pour spices onto a dinner size plate. Dredge each chicken breast through the spices, then flip and coat the other side. Place chicken on broiler pan.

4. Broil for 4 minutes. Flip the chicken over and broil for 4 more minutes or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear. Cut each breast into thin slices and serve on Vegetable Confetti.

How are you hiding your excess zucchini?

Alea shares her tips for saving money and time while reducing waste in her home at Premeditated Leftovers. She is committed to providing her family with homegrown, organic produce despite living in an inhospitable climate. Alea chronicles her gardening efforts at One Determined Gardener. She can also be found on Twitter. Check out all of her $5 Dinners Recipes too.

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So I grabbed some green chilies a few weeks ago when I was stocking up (and going over-budget, sigh!)…and I had plans to make a green chile chicken in the slow cooker…but decided to pound out the chicken and roll it around the green chilies instead.  I paired this with brown rice, corn kernels and green onions…plus some green beans from the garden.

I’m glad I changed my mind because this was terrific!  We all loved it.  I did have to push some of the green chilies to the side on the boys’ plates…because they were too spicy.  I wish we’d have had 2 more ingredients though…I think it would have been perfect to mix fresh chopped cilantro in with the green chilies, and I would have loved to give Steve a dollop of sour cream on his plate to dip the green chile chicken bites.

Or if so many of us weren’t dairy-free, I would have mixed the green chilies with some sour cream before “stuffing.”  If anyone tries that, let us know how it turns out!

Le recipe…

Ingredients

1 cup brown rice ($.40)
2 corn cobs ($.30)
3 green onions ($.20)
Salt and pepper

1 tsp garlic powder ($.05)
1 tsp ground cumin ($.05)
About 1/2 tsp salt and pepper each
3 chicken breasts ($3.04)
1 4 oz. can green chilies ($.59)
1/4-1 cup cheese, mexican blend or other variety ($.25-$1)

Green Beans from the garden

Directions

1. Start cooking brown rice as directed on the package.  Then shave off the kernels from 2 corn cobs (2 cups frozen or canned corn works too), and slice 3 green onions.  After the brown rice has been cooking for 20 minutes, slide these goodies in with some salt and pepper and let finish cooking over low heat. Fluff with fork before serving.

2. Set up your spice plate. Lightly toss the garlic powder, ground cumin, salt and pepper.  Spread out in a thin layer on a plate or shallow dish.

3. Pound out 3 large chicken breasts with a meat tenderizer or other pounding tool.

4. Place smooth side of the thinned out chicken breast onto the spices.  Add some green chilies (and some cheese if you so desire), and roll up.  Place in baking dish.  Top with any remaining green chiles and/or cheese.

5. Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes, or until chicken has cooked through and through. Let cool slightly before serving.

6. Wash and cut stems from the green beans. Steam or saute.

7. Serve Stuffed Green Chile Chicken with Corn-y Brown Rice and Green Beans.

Cost $4.88 – $5.63, depending on amount of cheese

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(Please pardon the iPhone photo. Dead camera battery.)

I went out yesterday morning to survey the garden…and to make sure it survived our weekend away. I was pleasantly surprised to find lots of red grape-roma tomatoes, and a meal’s worth of green beans!  I picked some basil, parsley and oregano and then got to work.

So we’re calling this “Mediterranean” because it has olives. And olives are plentiful in the Mediterranean. And I’d really like to take a trip to the Mediterranean. (This weekend getaway to California really gave me the travel itch!)

And the real question from the video…is it “halving” or “halfing”?!?

Loved the variety of textures and how the flavors meshed…

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup quinoa ($1.25)
1 Tbsp olive oil ($.10)
2 garlic cloves, crushed ($.10)
About 1 pint grape, cherry or grape-roma tomatoes (from the garden)
Small handful of fresh basil, parsley, and oregano, chopped (from the garden)
About 3/4 cup black olives, halved ($.60)
2 chicken breasts, grilled and diced ($1.66)
Salt and pepper

Handful of green beans (from the garden)
1 tsp olive oil ($.03)
Salt and pepper

Note: Substitute 1 15 oz. can of diced tomatoes, well drained, for the fresh tomatoes.

Directions

1. Cook the quinoa as directed on the box. 2 parts water to 1 part quinoa.

2. In a large skillet, add the olive oil and saute the crushed garlic for about a minute, then add the halved tomatoes and saute for another 2-3 minutes, or until tomato skins “wrinkle.”  Then add the black olives and diced chicken and saute together for another minute.

3. Add the cooked quinoa into the Mediterranean Chicken mixture and toss. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Saute the green beans in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Serve Mediterranean Chicken Quinoa with Sauteed Green Beans.

Cost $3.74

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Every had one of those super productive days…only to forget one very important thing on your to-do list.

That thing: Make dinner.

Eeps!  That’s what happened to me tonight.  I scurried around all day, catching up on Mt. Washmore (yes, we have been home for 10 days and I still haven’t caught up on laundry from the Savvy Blogging Summit!), helping the boys with a new puzzle and reading their new book to them approximately 18 times, answering emails, making important behind-the-scenes decisions, picking up little pieces of fuzz from the floor that Tyler seems to be so attracted to these days, watering the garden, building tents and forts with sheets, chairs and couch cushions, send out a few tweets, maybe a facebook status update…

So I look up at the clock…5:25.

What?!?  How’d that happen?!

Thankfully, I had some diced grilled chicken in the freezer, some cooked turkey bacon in the freezer, along with a box of frozen spinach.  And in the time that it took to cook the pasta, I had the chicken, bacon and spinach thawed, warmed and ready to toss with the pasta.  I even had a second to grab some fresh basil, oregano and thyme from the garden…just enough to give the additional umph to the pasta!

So what’s missing from this here florentine pasta…a cream sauce! I went for the lower cal (and easier) drizzle of olive oil.   And I’m glad I did!

Loved the light-ness of the dish, the flavor boost from the garden herbs, and the smokiness of the grilled chicken. Now, enjoy!

Ingredients

1 lb. pasta noodles, such as mostacchioli, rotini, medium shells ($.92)
2 cups grilled, diced chicken ($1.50)
4 slices turkey bacon, chopped ($.25) Used $1.50 coupon with sale price
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes ($.16)
1 box frozen spinach ($.50) $1 sale plus coupon
Fresh basil, oregano, thyme from the garden
2 Tbsp olive oil ($.20)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Cook pasta according to package instructions.

2. Cook bacon and chicken, if necessary.

3. Cook the spinach according to package instructions.

4. Wash and chop basil, oregano and thyme from the garden.

5. Toss all the ingredients together with the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

6. Serve Chicken and Bacon Florentine (without the cheese) Pasta.

Need more than this one-dish meal? Add a garden salad.

Got a plethora of tomatoes from the garden? Use those instead of canned.

Want a creamier pasta? Thin some sour cream with some milk and replace that with the olive oil.

Cost $3.53

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Ingredients

2 lbs drumsticks ($2.03) $.99/lb sale
1/4 cup dijon mustard ($.25)
1 tsp cider or white vinegar ($.01)
1/4 cup honey ($.50)
1 large yellow squash ($.50) Farmer’s market
1 Tbsp olive oil ($.10)
Salt and pepper to taste
Rolls from the freezer ($1.19) Manager’s Special!

Directions

1. Set drumsticks into a dish for marinating.

2. Prepare the honey mustard dressing.

Add the dijon mustard and vinegar to a small bowl.  Pour in the honey.

And whisk until well blended.

Brush the honey mustard marinade onto the chicken drumsticks and let sit for at least 30 minutes.  Grill the marinated drumsticks on all sides for a few minutes, or until cooked through.

Note: This marinade would work wonderfully with chicken thighs, split breasts, and boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

3. Steam saute the yellow squash.

4. Warm the rolls. Serve with butter and jam if desired.

5. Serve Grilled Honey Mustard Chicken with Steam Sauteed Squash and bread.

Cost $4.58

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While foraging yesterday, I found some Smokehouse Maple grill seasoning hanging out amongst the other spices in the spice cabinet. Hmmm….let’s try this with some chicken. And I just so happened to have picked up a few packages of chicken at the store this morning.

This could not have been an easier chicken to make. It went something like this…

Sprinkle.

Grill.

Eat.

Seriously Simple. And it was oh-so-tasty! The chicken had a smokey, sweet, and savory flavor to it…but it wasn’t too sweet nor too smokey. It was perfect!

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts ($2.42) I grilled some extras too!
Smokehouse Maple spices (free) Match coupon with $1 sale price

Salad from the garden
Homemade Dressing ($.25)
Sweet potatoes ($1.29)

Directions

1. Bake the sweet potatoes.

2. Sprinkle the seasonings onto both sides of the chicken.  Then grill (until cooked through).

It really was that simple. And so much flavor for not really doing much other than sprinkling on the seasonings!

2. Meanwhile, prepare salad with greens from the garden.

3. Serve the Smokehouse Maple Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Salad.

Cost $3.96

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I have been itching to make some lettuce wraps ever since getting my lettuce transplants from the store earlier this year.  I’ve been waiting for the leaves to grow larger enough to actually wrap…and that time is now.

When I learned about Chris Lilly and his Grilled Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Spicy Mango Marinade recipe from KC Masterpiece, I was inspired.  I made my own twist on the recipe to keep it close to $5…and love the way it turned out!!!

Ingredients

1.5 lb. boneless skinless chicken thighs ($2.98)
about 3/4 cups Spicy Mango Marinade from KC Masterpiece ($.50)
2 mangoes, diced ($1) On sale for $.50 each lately…how to select and cut a mango
1 celery stalk ($.10)
2 garlic cloves ($.10)
1 Tbsp Spicy Mango Marinade ($.05)
Lettuce leaves from the garden
Optional: Use tortillas instead of lettuce wraps
1 bag Steamers frozen peas ($.67) Recent sale and coupon match

Directions

1.Marinate the chicken thighs in the Spicy Mango Marinade for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

“Transport your taste buds to the tropics with a new, spicy mango marinade sure to make any meal pop. A delicious blend of ripe mangos, select spices and a hint of cayenne pepper, the marinade adds a flavorful kick to grilled chicken, pork or shrimp.” – From KC Masterpiece’s Spicy Mango Marinade

2. While the chicken is marinating, cut the mango and chop the celery.  Crush the garlic and add it into the mix. Season with some salt and pepper.

3. After the chicken thighs have marinated, grill them until they are cooked through. Then slice and dice them…and add them to the mango mixture.  Toss and add into lettuce leaves or tortillas.

4. Cook the Steamers peas as directed on package.

5. Serve Mango Chicken Lettuce Wraps with peas.

Cost $5.40

I did receive the bottle of KC Masterpiece’s Spicy Mango Marinade free.  More information can be found on the site’s disclosure policy.

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I loved the Grilled Salsa Chicken so much.  I had to try something similar with marinara and fresh Italian herbs.

It’s a toss up.

They are both just so yum-ilicious!

Ingredients

1 package chicken thighs ($2.26) Manager’s Special
Fresh basil, oregano, thyme (from the garden)
1 jar favorite marinara or spaghetti sauce ($.99) Coupon and sale
Salt and pepper
1 box whole wheat rotini pasta ($1)
(Parmesan cheese…Steve had some on his pasta, the rest of us did not.) ($.05)
2 large broccoli heads, cut into florets ($.74) On sale last week!

Directions

1. Chop the herbs.

2. Stuff the herbs under the skin on the chicken thighs.

3. Spoon in some sauce (just like with the salsa in the Grilled Salsa Chicken.) Season with salt and pepper.

4. Grill until cooked through.

5. Cook pasta as directed on box. Serve with remaining marinara sauce and Parmesan cheese (optional).

6. Steam broccoli florets.

7. Serve Grilled Marinara Chicken with Pasta and Broccoli.

Cost $5.04

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