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 this meal involves a little vegetable chopping.

Okay, Fine. A LOT of chopping.

But it is worth every second. I promise.

We all loved this…including the boys.

Ingredients

1 green pepper (I used some from the freezer…$.33)
1 medium eggplant ($1.50)
1 medium yellow squash ($.75)
1 medium zucchini ($.75)
About 2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes (from the garden)

Fresh herbs from the garden – basil, oregano, and thyme
About 2 Tbsp olive oil ($.20)
Salt and pepper

Directions

First chop the eggplant and season with some salt. Place in a strainer or colander in the sink and let the juices out while you chop everything else.  When you are ready to throw it all together, rinse off the salt/juices and pat dry.

Then chop every else into 1/2 or so size pieces. Chop the herbs.  Toss everything into a large bowl with the olive oil and season with some salt and pepper.

Spread it out onto a single-ish layer on a cookie sheet and roast at 400 for 35-45 minutes, stirring once.

Roasty. Toasty.

Serve as is, over bread or over pasta.

**Note: I had the leftover ratatouille cold over cold leftover noodles.  Perhaps the best lunch I’ve had all summer!

Cost $3.53

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I’ve had this hankering for olives lately. While I haven’t set out to eat an entire jar of green olives, I have no doubt that I could do it…as long as I had a huge glass of water and something sweet nearby.

As I was perusing the cupboards when making my meal plan over the weekend, my eye fell on the olive jar ($.49 from Walgreens). And as I started to tear into it and eat every last green olive, I wandered off…  It was as if I was standing under an olive tree in a grove overlooking the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean.  It was very Hollywood-esque.

And as I snapped back to the reality of a baby who recently discovered toilet water (and his mother, that would be me, who cannot for the life of her remember where she stowed the toilet locks from the last baby who discovered toilet water, and is too cheap to go out and by new ones, so she just keeps all the bathroom doors shut now) and a little boy begging for water and a snack, it hit me…I need to try these with the mini-meatballs that are in the freezer.

(Writes Mediterranean Meatballs on weekly meal planner.)

In the end, I thought the green olives were a lovely addition to the sauce.

And now for the means to this end.

Ingredients

1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes ($.16) Sale, store promo, coupon
1 6 oz can tomato paste ($.19) Used $.75/1 Muir Glen coupon
1/2 jar green olives, plus some juice ($.25) Walgreens sale and coupon
1-2 Tbsp olive oil ($.10)
About 2/3 lb ground beef made into mini-meatballs (Sorry I don’t have a recipe posted. Yet. Just make your favorite meatball mix and make the meatballs really small…less than 1/2 inch in diameter) ($2)
4 garlic cloves, crushed ($.20)
Salt and pepper
Spaghetti noodles (about 3/4 lb for our family) ($.75)

1 zucchini ($.75)
Salt and pepper

Directions

In a mixing bowl, add the crushed tomatoes and the tomato paste.

Pour about 1/3 of a tomato paste cans worth of the olive juice in with tomatoes.

Also add 1 tomato paste cans worth of water in with the tomatoes.

Gently whisk. As to not splatter. (Not that I splattered any anywhere.)

Take about half a jars worth of olives (about 1 cup) and slice a few times through.

Send the olives for a little swim in the tomato tub.

In a large skillet, heat some olive oil.

Toss in the mini-meatballs after the oil is hot.

Ttttsssssssssssssssssssssssss…………..

Brown the meatballs on each side.

Then dump in the olive-tomato sauce.

Season with salt and pepper and add some crushed garlic.  Stir it all in.

Wave good bye to the meatballs.

Cover and let cook for 10-15 minutes. Serve over spaghetti noodles.

Make spaghetti noddles as directed on package.

(For gluten-free meal, use rice noodles in place of wheat pasta noodles…and corn meal in place of bread crumbs in the meatballs.)

Steam zucchini slices in a stovetop steamer for 4-5 minutes, or in a glass baking dish covered with plastic wrap in the microwave for 5-6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve Mediterranean Mini-Meatballs over Spaghetti with Steamed Zucchini.

Cost $4.40

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I had firsts.

Then seconds.

Then thirds.

And *maybe* fourths.

(Perhaps it’s the half marathon training and the fact that my body is just CRAVING calories! Not only am I still full-time nursing, I’ve decided to train for the San Antonio Rock n Roll Half Marathon that will take place in November.  I think I’m burning close to 3,000 calories per day. Hence *maybe* the fourth serving of this delicious quinoa salad.)

(But truth be told, I’d likely have eaten 4 bowls of this if I was not nursing and not training for this half marathon.)

Shall we move on to the ingredients?!

Ingredients

1 1/2  cup white quinoa ($1.25 ) Red would be fine too
2 cups chopped apples ($.75) From the manager’s special apples…and again, a *child who shall remain nameless* ate several before I could get them mixed in
1 cup chopped walnuts ($1)
1 cup raisins or dried cranberries ($.50)
2 cups cooked and shredded chicken ($1.50)

Dressing
1/4 cup maple syrup (free from Amazon using Swagbucks)
1/4 cup apple juice ($.05)
1/4 cup cider vinegar ($.05)
1/4 cup mayonaisse ($.20)

Salt and pepper to taste

Green beans, steamed (from the garden)

Directions

1.  Cook the quinoa in 2 parts water: 1 part quinoa ratio.  Bring water to a boil, then add quinoa and reduce heat and cover. Cook for about 15-20 minutes, or until little ring separates from the grain.

2. Chop apples, walnuts and shred the cooked chicken. (I used some chicken from what I cooked in the slow cooker after my grocery shopping trip the other day.)

3. Prepare dressing.  Whisk all dressing ingredients in a mixing bowl.

4. Toss together the cooked quiona, chopped apples, walnuts, raisins and shredded chicken.  Pour dressing over the top.  Season with a little salt and pepper.

5. Wash, trim and steam the green beans for a few minutes, or until bright green.

6. Serve Chicken and Quinoa Waldorf Salad with Creamy Maple Vinaigrette and Steamed Green Beans.

Cost $4.30

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Introducing Alea…you’ll be seeing more of her!

Last year when I saw pictures of Erin’s eggplant flowers, I resolved to grow them in my own garden. Not for the fruit, mind you, but for the flowers. I have never grown eggplant before because my husband has always professed that it is the one vegetable that he did not like. He insisted that they taste like rubber tires and had brainwashed convinced my children that eggplant was inedible.

This spring, when visiting a local garden center, I saw some eggplant seedlings. Without doing any research, I impulsively picked the healthiest looking plant from the bunch and brought it home. All I wanted was a couple of pretty purple flowers and perhaps a few eggplants that I would cook up for my lunch at the end of the season.

As luck would have it, I bought a Hansel Eggplant which is a profuse producer. I also happen to have the perfect conditions for growing eggplant: lots of sun, moist, well drained soil, and manure rich compost. I have not captured any great flower pictures, but I now have over 20 eggplants on my bush.

As much as I like eggplant, I knew that I could not eat all that this bush is producing and decided I needed to make converts of my children and perhaps even my husband! I can get my kids to eat anything that includes pizza in the name, so I began my campaign with Eggplant Pizza Bites.

Ingredients:

3  8-10 inch fingerling eggplants, cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup pizza sauce or leftover spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
basil
garlic powder
oregano

Directions:

1. Although Hansel Eggplants are not supposed to be bitter, I followed Erin’s steps to draw the bitter juices out of the eggplant.

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

3. Brush both sides of the eggplant slices with olive oil. Place the slices on a baking sheet and baked until browned and almost tender, approximately 4 minutes each side.

4. Spoon pizza sauce onto each eggplant slice. Top with cheese and sprinkle each slice with dried basil, garlic powder, and dried oregano. Bake until the cheese melts, approximately 4 minutes.

My husband and kids made quick work of the pizza bites. Three eggplants down, seventeen to go!

(Erin here. We are so making these with the eggplant that just budded out in the garden!  I’m even gonna splurge on some dairy-free cheese to make them!  Thanks Alea…amazing!)

Do you have any child-friendly eggplant recipes? Do share your favorites!!!

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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Alrighty friends…I’m a little stressed!  It’s only Monday of Back to School Week and my tail is getting kicked already! (Mind you, school doesn’t start until Wednesday!)  Not only is it back to school with new routines, I’m hostessing a church event, AND I have to get my cookbook edits returned BY Thursday.

Needless to say, we’ll be lucky if we eat this week! Jesting.

I had every intention of sharing my Summer Garden Ratatouille recipe tonight, but in an effort to maintain my sanity and keep myself out of the asylum… I leave you with this recipe from Rebecca.

Ingredients

2 c. chopped cooked chicken – Great way to use up the shredded chicken from batch cooking!
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, cubed
1/2 cup of canned diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. onion powder
8 (6 in) flour tortillas
1 lg. can green enchilada sauce

Directions

Stir chicken, cream cheese, tomatoes, and seasonings in a saucepan over low heat until cream cheese is melted.

Spoon 1/3 c. chicken mixture down center of each tortilla; roll up. Place seam side down, in a lightly greased 12×8 baking dish.

Pour enchilada sauce over all, cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 20 min. or until heated through.

__________________________________________________

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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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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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