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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Looking for something to grill this weekend…look no further!!!

I’ve been making all sorts of burgers this summer.  As part of my quest to grill more. (‘Cause Girls Grill Too, you know!)

And this might just be my new favorite. I *think* I enjoyed it better that a Guac-Topped Burger. I *think*.

Here’s the deal. Make your favorite burger, and while it’s grilling, saute some onions with a “condiment sauce.” Give the “condiment sauce” some zing.

Your taste buds will thank you.

Ingredients

Favorite burger or cheese burger
Garden Tomato

1 onion, sliced into circles
1 tsp vinegar
3 Tbsp ketchup
2 Tbsp mustard
Hot sauce

Directions

1. Make your burger as you like it. Slice up that garden tomato. (Check out my big boy below!)

2. To make the Spicy Onions: Add the sliced onions to a skillet and begin to cook over medium-low heat.  In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the vinegar, ketchup and mustard. Add to the onions. Then add 1, or 2, or 9, drops of Tabasco or other smoking hot sauce. Zing!

3. Serve Burgers with Spicy Onions on top! Double Zing!!

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To-may-toes, To-mah-toes…

It’s what we’re talking about this week on Grow. Eat. $ave! Stuffed Tomatoes to be exact…

Got an over abundance of tomatoes?!? Looking for a cool, light and refreshing side…or even a main dish dinner?!? Well, stuffed tomatoes are THE way to go!

Stuffed Tomatoes with Spicy Avocado Salad

4 large tomatoes
1 avocado, diced
About 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeno, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut a cone around the stem bud, cutting out the center portion of the tomato.  Scoop out the seeds. (So it won’t be so “runny” when you fork into it.)

In a mixing bowl, toss together the avocado, onion, jalapeno, crushed garlic, ground cumin and lemon juice.  Season with a little salt and pepper.

Stuffed the Spicy Avocado Salad into the Tomatoes.

Grilled Stuffed Orange Tomatoes with Black Olives and Provencal Goat Cheese

4 orange tomatoes
1 15 oz. can sliced black olives
1/2 cup goat cheese, provencal flavor

Cut a cone around the stem bud, cutting out the center portion of the tomato.  Scoop out the seeds.

In a mixing bowl, toss the black olive slices and the goat cheese and stuff into the awaiting tomatoes.

Place the stuffed tomatoes on a hot grill and grill for about 5-8 minutes, or until goat cheese gets oozy…and the tomato skin begins to wrinkle.

Devour.

Are you drooling yet?!?

More Stuffing Ideas

• Tuna Salad
• Savory Chicken Salad
• Corn and Black Bean Salsa
• Guacamole

Do you have a favorite filling for Stuffed Tomatoes?!

What’s your favorite way to use up the overabundance of tomatoes from your garden or from your trip to the farmer’s market?!

Link up those MATER recipes…

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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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I made these the other night…I made an extra trip to the store to get the ingredients needed for this morning’s news segment…and spotted some $.99 whole mushrooms.  I see them often for $.99 in the mark down basket in the produce section. I found more this morning…sliced this time. I don’t typically buy extra food when I’m getting food for news segments, but I couldn’t pass these up!

(Gonna have to change the menu plan to incorporate some of the marked down goodies I found this morning!)

This is simple.

• Stew beef.
• Whole mushrooms.
• Green peppers.
• Steak seasoning.

That’s it!

Simple…but oh, so yummy!

Ingredients

About 1 lb. stew beef ($2.48) Manager’s Special
1 box whole mushrooms ($.99) Manager’s Special
2 green peppers, seeded and cut into 1 inch pieces ($.60) Part of the loot from the farmer’s market
Steak seasoning (free) Used $1 coupon with $1 sale price
1 large yellow squash ($.50) From the farmer’s market the other week
1 cup rice ($.20)

Directions

1. Wash and dry the mushrooms.

2. Cut the green peppers.

3. Skewer the meat, mushrooms and peppers. Sprinkle with steak seasoning. (Or marinate with a favorite beef marinade.) Grill for a few minutes on each side, or until beef is cooked to your liking.

4. Steam-saute the yellow squash.

5. Cook the rice as directed while the kebabs are chilling on the grill.

6. Serve Beef and Mushroom Kebabs over Rice with Steam Sauteed Yellow Squash.

Cost $4.77

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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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Green Tomatoes.

Always make me think of the grocery store parking lot scene from Fried Green Tomatoes…when Kathy Bates goes ballistic on the fiery young girls…’member that scene?!

So that totally almost happened to me in the grocery store parking lot.  Except, not really.

I was pulling out of a prime time parking space (front and center!) when 2 cars moved into position for my space.  The space is certainly the most coveted space in the lot.

Both cars whipped their blinkers on at the same time. Both cars moved in tight as I maneuvered out of the spot. Both cards inched closer forward, as I inched backwards.

As I move forward and out of the lot, I could just picture that scene…the smaller zippier car whipped into the space, while the minivan just didn’t make the move fast enough.  I had visions of the minivan pulling a Kathy Bates move. I could almost hear the choice words flying in the parking lot, and the glares as both parties encountered each other on the cereal aisle.

While nothing actually happened, I could still feel the tension. (Active imagination I must have!)

We were talking about green tomatoes, weren’t we!?  I picked two up a few weeks ago at the farmer’s market…and rather than fry it up, I decided to grill it into tangy perfection!!!

Ingredients

2 green tomatoes, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Slice.

Season with salt and pepper. Grill about 3 to 4 minutes, per side.

Enjoy on a burger, with a steak, or as is.

Cost $1.50

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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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On the 4th of July, I had a bag of red potatoes and needed to make a “dairy-free” red potato for those of us who are not having dairy products these days, as well as a dairy-filled something or other.  I made the Grilled Red Potatoes for the guys and me, and this for Steve and my MIL.  It’s a grilled spin-off of the Roasted Red Potato Salad that I made this winter.

Ingredients

About 2 lb. red potatoes, quartered ($1.50)
2 Tbsp olive oil ($.20)
1 garlic clove, crushed ($.05)
2 rosemary sprigs (free from the garden)
Salt and pepper
About 1/2 cup sour cream ($.25)

Mix-In Ideas: Other Garden Herbs, Chives or Green Onions, Bacon Crumbles, What else?!?

Directions

1. Wash the potatoes and rosemary and pat dry.

2. Add the olive oil and crush garlic to a mixing bowl.

3. Add chopped rosemary and some salt and pepper.

4. Add in the quartered red potatoes and toss the potatoes with the oil and rosemary.

5. Place a few spoonfuls on a piece of foil.

6. Wrap the potatoes into packets.

7. Grill the potato packets for about 10-15 minutes, or until they look like this.

8. Transfer the potatoes to the mixing bowl and mash gently.  Stir in the sour cream, and any other mix-ins.

9. Serve Grilled Red Potato Salad warm or cold.

Makes 4-6 side dish portions.

Cost $2

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For our 4th of July party, my MIL said she would be bring steaks. (Yes, please.)

Steaks rarely fit into the $5 Dinners budget, so I was ecstatic that she would be bringing some to grill.  I thought I’d grill some red potatoes to go with the steaks…but I was concerned with how long it would take to grill them.  I poked around online and discovered a method that would work for me.  And the timing was perfect too!

First, marinate the steaks with whatever marinade, rub or seasoning that you like. Let sit for at least 30 minutes.

Then, boil the red potatoes whole.  This takes about 25-30 minutes…just the same amount of time that the steak needs to marinate.

See where I’m going with this.

After the potatoes have cooked through while boiling, set them out onto a kitchen towel and let them sit for 10-15 minutes.

Fire up the grill and let it get toasty warm. We want to hear a sizzle when we put down the steaks and the potatoes.

After the potatoes have cooled down some, take the kitchen towel and put it over the potato and gently press down, cracking the skin…but not so hard that the potato falls out!  Place in a pyrex dish.  Brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Grill the pressed red potatoes (alongside the steaks) for 5-6 minutes per side.

Serve with grilled steak!

Make 2-3 per person.

Ingredients

12 red potatoes ($1.99)
1-2 Tbsp olive oil ($.10)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Read above.

Cost $2.19

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