Good Monday afternoon friends!  You all are in for a treat this fine Monday.  You’re getting a double bonus on recipes today! This one, plus another tonight for the $5 Dinner Challenge!

I was working on dinner over the weekend when Steve pops into the kitchen with a few handfuls of itty bitty tomatoes.

Huh?

I thought the garden was “done.”  I haven’t officially closed it down, but I thought it was finished producing!

I gladly took the tomatoes. And worked them into the meal.

• Homemade Pesto, from the freezer.
• Bread rolls, marked down on special, from the freezer.

And we’ve got ourselves the makings of a Pesto Bruschetta appetizer.

Since I’m all about being resourceful, I just cut the rolls in half…and they look just like slices of French bread loaf…right?!  (You’d probably never have known had I not told you!)  These are just multigrain dinner rolls that I got on Manager’s Special and stashed in the freezer.  Perfect, for a time like this!

Spread on the pesto. Top with the topping. Eat.

H.e.a.v.e.n.l.y. Heavenly.

Pesto Bruschetta

Ingredients

• About 2 cups cherry/grape tomatoes, quartered
• 1/4 onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• Drizzle of olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 4 multigrain rolls, sliced in half
• Couple knife-fuls of Homemade Pesto

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, toss the tomatoes, onion and garlic.  Drizzle about 1 tsp of olive oil over the top and season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Lay out the sliced bread and spread a knife-ful of pesto over the bread.  Top with the tomato mixture.
3. Enjoy.
4. Devour.
5. Make another round.
6. Enjoy and devour again!

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

So I made these a few weeks ago…and I’m so sorry it took me so long to get them posted.  I used 2 of the smaller peppers from my garden, along with some of my cherry-like tomatoes.

And avocados. *swoon*

And I think these would be just as great with ground beef or ground turkey tacos.  Love the different flavor and texture that the avocado chunks brought to these tacos!

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts ($1.66)
1 heaping Tbsp homemade taco seasoning ($.05)
1 Tbsp canola or vegetable oil ($.03)
2 small green/red peppers, seeded and diced from the garden
2 avocados ($2)
Handful lettuce ($.25)
Cherry tomatoes, quartered, from the garden
Taco Shells ($.69) Sale, store promo and e-coupon

Frozen corn ($.88)

Directions

1. Cut the chicken breasts into 1/4-1/2 inch cubes.  Toss in a mixing bowl with the taco seasoning.  You could certainly use cooked and shredded chicken too.

2. In a medium skillet, saute the chicken pieces in oil with the diced peppers.

3. Cut the avocado into 1/4-1/2 inch chunks and toss with the cooked chicken and peppers.  Place into the taco shells and top with lettuce, and tomatoes.  (Optional: Add shredded cheese and/or sour cream.)

4. Cook the frozen corn as directed on the package.

5. Serve Avocado Chicken Tacos with Corn.

Cost $5.56

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***These would make a great appetizer for your July 4th BBQ!***

Just sayin’.

(OK, just had to get that out of the way.)

So for the second time, I’ve had to pick up the veggie from the market to make my meal for Grow. Eat. $ave. I remember looking through last year’s garden posts, and by this time in June 2009 my squash plants were producing a new squash every other day and I was struggling to keep up with them!

I must have planted the seeds later this year…I dunno!

Let’s talk quesadillas…in my head, quesadillas have always been a Tex-Mex thing…needed some chicken or beans, cheese, some cilantro, or salsa mixed in…served with sour cream, or guacamole.  That’s just what I thought about Quesadillas.

One of the things that I love about this little here website of mine is that it makes me think outside my cooking box…so for this week’s Grow. Eat. $ave. I thought I’d do a quesadilla with an Italian flavor.

Once I had the summer squash in hand and the idea to use it in a quesadilla, it was time to go foraging.  I started in the garden…fresh basil and curled parsley from the garden, (what should be fresh from the garden) yellow summer squash…

Then I raided the refrigerator and found a red pepper in the produce drawer in the fridge, some cheese that my mom has been using this week for her breakfasts, as well as some cherry tomatoes (that I couldn’t help snack on while I was quartering them).

Here’s what happened after that.

But first, the final results.

Y-to-the-YUM!!!

(My new favorite phrase I stole from Becky!)

Ingredients

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese ($1.25)
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese ($.25)
Handful fresh basil leaves (from the garden)
Handful fresh curled parsley (from the garden)
2 garlic cloves, crushed ($.10)
Large handful cherry tomatoes, quartered ($.75)
1 red pepper, grilled, then diced ($1)
1 large summer squash, grilled, then diced ($1)
8 soft taco size tortillas ($1)

Directions

1. Place the cheeses, the chopped basil and parsley and the crushed garlic into a large mixing bowl.

(I think these would be really good with mozzarella, but I was all out.)

2. Quarter the cherry tomatoes and toss into the mixing bowl with the cheese. Mix her up.

3. Meanwhile…fire up the grill and grill the red pepper slices and the squash slices.  Then dice.

4. Toss the diced grilled squash and diced grilled red pepper in with the cheese mixture.

5. Spoon the mixture into the the tortillas.  Fold over, or cover 1 tortilla with the mixture and top with another tortilla. However you like…in the end, it won’t matter how you use the mixture in the tortilla.  It’s really about the ooey-gooey goodness that will result from grilling the quesadilla.

6. Place the tortillas on the grill for a few minutes on each side, or until the cheese is oozing out the sides of the tortillas…as sure sign they are ready for consumption.

7. Let cool and cut grilled quesadillas into little triangles.

8. Serve Summer Squash Quesadillas as an appetizer or main meal.

Makes 24 Quesadilla triangles.

Cost $5.35 (less if you use a squash from your garden!)

Favorite Yellow Squash Recipes from Last Year’s Garden Harvest:

• Chicken Pasta Primavera
• Tomato Basil Quiche
• Summer Squash Pasta Salad

And here are the rest of the yellow squash $5 Dinners recipes!

COMING UP IN 2 WEEKS on Grow. Eat. $ave. – Lettuces and Greens

If you’d like to learn more about Square Foot Gardening, please check out the Square Foot Gardening books by Mel Bartholemew.

We’d love to check our your favorite yellow squash recipes!  Please leave a link below or in the comments!

A few notes about this lovely meal.

• These were SO GOOD, but they were super crumbly…from the beans…so I would add an egg to hold the burgers together.
• The cilantro and lettuce are from the garden.
• The bread…because I had no buns in the house. And ran out of time to make them from scratch.
• The salsa is homemade from last year’s garden. (Canned, of course.)
• The salad dressing is homemade Cilantro Lime Dressing – 1/4 cup canola oil, 3 Tbsp lime juice, 1 Tbsp fresh chopped cilantro, 1/2 tsp ground cumin, salt and pepper to taste. Used a few spoonfuls.
• The boys ate these with ketchup, not salsa. They eat ketchup with just about everything.  If this continues on into adulthood, they might need to attend a Ketchups Anonymous meeting.

And now I leave you with the burger recipe.  Including the egg that I did not use, but the recipe needs.

Ingredients

1/2 yellow onion ($.15)
2 garlic cloves ($.10)
1.4 lb ground beef ($2.07)
2 cups cooked pinto beans, mashed ($.40) Substitute 15 ounce can, drained
2 Tbsp homemade taco seasoning ($.10)
(1 egg ($.10))
Few spoonfuls homemade or store bought salsa ($.25)
8 slices bread, or 4 buns ($.60)
Lettuce from garden
Cilantro from garden
Cherry tomatoes, halved ($.75)
Cilantro Lime Dressing ($.25)

Directions

Cut an onion in half and pull off 2 garlic cloves.

Peel back the flaky onion layer.  I like to use the “root” end to hold onto while grating the onion.

Place the ground beef into a large mixing bowl.  Add the crushed garlic and grate the onion.

Add the mashed pinto beans and taco seasoning mix. (Add the egg here.) Combine and form into 6 patties.

Grill the patties, until cooked through.  Serve on buns with a spoonful or two of salsa on top.

Prepare dressing and salad.

Serve Taco Burgers, topped with salsa, with Garden Salad and Cilantro Lime Dressing.

Cost 4.77

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Post the recipe on your blog and then add the link below. Other guidelines can be found here. To make it easy for other readers to find your recipe, please leave the link that leads directly to your recipe post. Any links that lead to your homepage will be deleted. If you don’t have a blog, feel free to leave your recipe in the comments section!

Nikki told me about a recipe in the August issue of the Rachael Ray magazine…Scallops and Herbed Raw Tomato Sauce.  I took the idea of grilling the scallops, and then tossed it with a partially sauteed herb, tomato and olive oil sauce…and some pasta too!  I had some “on sale” scallops in the freezer…and tomatoes from the garden, so this fancy dish could be made for less than $5!!!

Ingredients
12 oz. bag of frozen scallops ($2.99) On sale!
1-2 tsp olive oil, to brush on scallops ($.05)
Salt/Pepper, to sprinkle on scallops
1/4 cup olive oil ($.40)
1/2 cup fresh chopped herbs – basil, mint, rosemary and parsley (from the garden)
2 cups cherry tomatoes (from the garden)
1 lb. mini penne pasta ($.50) I’ll share tomorrow about the AMAZING pasta deal I happened upon at Kroger this week!
Salt/Pepper
4 corn cobs ($.68) On sale $.17 an ear!

Directions
1. Thaw, rinse and pat dry the scallops. Place on skewers and brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill for 3-4 minutes on each side. Grilling time may vary depending on size of scallops. My scallops were really small. Larger scallops will take longer to cook through.

2. In medium saucepan, cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain and then toss with below sauce.

3. In large skillet, add 1/4 cup olive oil with fresh herbs, salt and pepper, and halved cherry tomatoes. Saute for 3-5 minutes, or until tomato skins start to peel away. Remove from heat. Note: If you don’t want to grill the scallops, then saute them first in the olive oil with the fresh herbs, then add the tomatoes.

4. Toss pasta, grilled scallops, and herbed tomato sauce.

4. Cook corn cobs in boiling water for 4-5 minutes, or in a microwavable dish covered with plastic wrap for 2-2.5 minutes per ear.

5. Serve Scallops with Herbed Tomato Pasta and Corn Cobs.

Cost $4.62  Plus, there is enough leftovers for all of us to have for lunch!

And P.S…

Last night I shared some ideas for how to get a healthy dinner on the table FAST on the Frugal Coast2Coast Blog Talk Radio Show with Jenn from Frugal Upstate and Lynnae from Being Frugal!  If you’re interested in hearing about my latest kitchen disaster and how you can be absolved of all “I can’t believe I just fed my family that meal” guilt, then head on over to listen to the podcast!

A perfectly TANGY pasta dish…we ate this until we were stuffed!  And there’s a ton of pasta leftover too!

My camera battery needed a recharge, so this iphone photo and the below vlog will have to do! I’m *hoping* to do more vlogs from here on out!

Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil ($.40)
1/2 tsp salt and pepper, each
3 large garlic cloves, crushed ($.15)
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved (from the garden)
Handful of green beans, cut in tiny pieces (from the garden)
Handful of basil (from the garden)
1 lb. angel hair pasta ($.82) On sale last week…although we only about about 1/2 of the pasta…saved the rest for lunch tomorrow!
2 split breast chickens, deboned ($2.55) Bought for $1.89/lb with $1 off coupon!
2 tsp olive oil ($.05)
Salt/Pepper
2 broccoli heads ($.79)

Directions

1. In large skillet, add 1/4 cup olive oil, salt, pepper, crushed garlic, halved cherry tomatoes, itty bitty green beans, and chopped basil. Saute over medium heat for 8-10 minutes, or until skins start to peel away from tomatoes.
2. In large saucepan, cook angel hair pasta according to package instructions, while veggies are sizzling! Drain. Add to skillet with vegetables. (I only used about half of the pasta…half filled up my largest skillet…and we were still stuffed!)
3. Cut chicken breasts portion from the bones of the split chicken breasts, and cut into 1/2 inch wide strips. Save bones and use to make stock…soup season isn’t too far off!  Saute in 2 tsp olive oil with salt and pepper for 6-8 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink in the middle. Mix in with the pasta and veggies or serve on the side.
4. Steam broccoli in stovetop steamer or in the microwave, covered with plastic wrap.
5. Serve Angel Hair with Cherry Tomatoes, Chicken with Steamed Broccoli.

Cost $4.76

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.
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Have a Frugal and Healthy Recipe to share?

Post the recipe on your blog and then add the link below. Other guidelines can be found here. To make it easy for other readers to find your recipe, please leave the link that leads directly to your recipe post. Any links that lead to your homepage will be deleted. If you don’t have a blog, feel free to leave your recipe in the comments section!

Lindsay emailed this recipe for a yummy pasta dish that uses cherry or grape tomatoes! 

I used the $3.55 Tyson split chicken breasts that I bought this morning.  I baked them with some seasonings and then cut off all the chicken…gave me 4 cups total!  Used 2 cups for this recipe and 2 cups went into the freezer! (Read more here about what to do with split chicken breasts.)  I then took the bones and made chicken broth.  Good thing it’s a cool, rainy day today…otherwise the kitchen heat might have done me in!

Ingredients
1 lb. bow tie pasta ($1) On sale this week!
1/4 cup canola oil ($.20)
2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes, cut in half (free from garden)
2 cups frozen spinach ($.63)
2 cups shredded chicken ($3.55/2) On sale plus coupon this week!
2 tbsp Italian seasoning (free) McCormicks grinders on sale for $1, used $.50 coupon doubled!
Salt, pepper, and chopped fresh parsley, to taste
Green Beans (free from the garden) Picked yet another batch this morning!

Directions
1. In medium saucepan, cook pasta noodles according to package instructions. Drain pasta.

2. In large skillet, add canola oil, cherry tomatoes, spinach, cooked shredded chicken (or diced uncooked chicken). Cook over medium high heat until chicken has cooked through. (Tomatoes should get a little mushy). Cover and turn to low. 

3. Once chicken has cooked, add drained pasta and toss with ingredients in the skillet. Let simmer on low heat for 5-10 minutes.
4. Wash and cut off green bean stems. Cut into bite size pieces. Steam in stovetop steamer or in saucepan.
5. Serve Italian Chicken and Bowtie Pasta with Green Beans.

Cost $3.60

Despite the gray and drizzly day, we decided to grill steaks anyways! I found 2 packages of steaks in the freezer that needed to be used up. And since all the veggies are coming from the garden, I could keep this meal frugal even using both packages. Each package was almost 1 lb. 2 lbs of steak is way more than we need for our family, but I asked the Hubs to grill them both so that we’d have leftovers for lunch!

While eating this meal, the Hubs said the following, “I’m so blessed to have a wife who loves to make healthy, home cooked meals.” {blush}

To which I replied, “I’m so blessed to have a husband who’ll eat whatever concoction I come up with each night!”

Enough with the gushing…

Ingredients
2 packages of steak ($4.48)
1 Tbsp steak seasoning (FREE!) Used $.50 coupon that doubled with a $1 sale price = free!
About 1 lb. of green beans (free from the garden)
30 cherry tomatoes (free from the garden)
2 bunches of parsley (free from the garden)
1/2 onion, finely chopped ($.15)
1 garlic clove, crushed ($.05)
Salt/Pepper
1 cup white rice ($.20)

Directions
1. Season steaks and let sit in the fridge for 30 minutes before grilling. Grill for 4-8 minutes on each side, or until they are done to your likeness! Cooking times will depend on heat of the grill, thickness of the steak and how rare you like to eat them!
2. In medium saucepan, cook 1 cup of in 2 1/4 cups of water. Bring to a boil, add rice and return to boil. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 20 minutes. rice according to package instructions.
3. Wash and cut stems from green beans. Cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces. Wash and cut cherry tomatoes in half or leave whole. Wash and chop parsley leaves.
4. In skillet, add 1/4 cup of water, green beans, tomatoes, parsley, chopped onion, crushed garlic and salt and pepper. Cover and let simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Serve Grilled Steak with Steamed Green Beans and Tomatoes and Rice.

Cost $4.88 With leftovers for lunch!!!

Because I spent most of the day running around with my brain in one room and my body in the other room (seriously, preparing to leave for just a few days is a MAJOR ordeal…can I get an AMEN!?!), I needed a quick one pot dinner that each of us could eat with a bowl and spoon.  Sensing my desperation here!

Ingredients
16 oz. rotini pasta ($.95)
2 chicken breasts, diced ($1.72) Used $1 off coupon when on sale a few weeks back
1 summer squash ($.67)
1 zucchini squash ($.67)
about 1 cup grape tomates ($.49) On sale for $1.48/pint last week
Handful of sugar snap peas (free from the garden)
2 Tbsp butter ($.10)
2 Tbsp flour ($.05)
2-3 cups milk ($.30)
2 tsp red wine vinegar ($.05)
Salt and pepper

Directions
1. In large saucepan, cook pasta according to package instructions.  Drain in colander.  Do NOT return to saucepan!

2. While pasta is cooking, dice the chicken breasts and cut the zucchini, squash, grape tomatoes and snap peas.

3.  Once pasta is out of the saucepan, prepare cream sauce.  Melt 2 Tbsp butter (I used a dairy-free variety).

4.  Once melted, add in 2 Tbsp flour and 1/2 tsp salt.  Use whisk to mix it into a paste.

5. Once paste has formed, quickly add in 2-3 cups of milk (I used rice milk to stay dairy-free!).  Whisk well until the pasty clumps have dissipated into the milk.  Cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, or until starts bubbling.

6. Once bubbling, the sauce is ready for a few mix-ins.

7. Add 2 tsp red wine vinegar, crushed garlic, cracked pepper, diced chicken.

8.  Add about 2-3 Tbsp water in with the chicken, so the sauce doesn’t get too thick.  Stir often while the chicken cooks through, about 4-5 minutes (depending on how thick the diced chicken pieces are!).

8. Once chicken has cooked through, mix in the cut vegetables.  Cover and let cook for 4-5 minutes, or until vegetables have steamed.

9. Mix in cooked pasta. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

10. Serve Garden Pasta Primavera in one bowl.  With one spoon!

Cost $5.02

A most delicious pasta dish!

Ingredients
1 lb. spaghetti noodles ($.97)  Use rice noodles for a gluten free meal!
1 Tbsp olive oil ($.10)
4 cloves garlic ($.15)
2 Tbsp olive oil ($.20)
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar ($.10)
1 yellow summer squash (free from the garden)
1 small zucchini ($.50) On sale for $.88/lb last week
3 stems of cherry tomatoes (free from the garden)
Handful of fresh basil leaves (free from the garden)
Handful of fresh parsley leaves (free from the garden)
3 chicken breasts ($2.03) Used $1 coupon when on sale for $1.99/lb! This same “$1 off Tyson fresh chicken” coupon was also in this week’s newspaper insert!
4 slices of French bread ($.50)
2 Tbsp margarine ($.10)
Garlic salt (free!) Used $.50 coupon, doubled, when on sale for $1
Optional: Sprinkle 1-2 Tbsp of parmesan cheese on each serving!

Directions
1. In medium saucepan, cook pasta noodles according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cool water (if you wish to serve this chilled!…although it can be served warm or cold.) Drizzle with 1-2 Tbsp olive oil once chilled.

2. Meanwhile, saute garlic in olive oil and red wine vinegar until garlic begins to golden (about 1-2 minutes).  Add a few dashes of salt and pepper too.

3.  Dice the yellow summer squash and the zucchini and saute for 2-3 minutes.

4.  Chop and add fresh basil and parsley to the skillet.  Saute with squash for 2-3 minutes.

5. Slice each cherry tomato in half.  Toss into the skillet and saute for about 1 minute….or until…

6.  Once the tomatos skin has STARTED to peel away, they will be ready!  Remove from heat immediately.

7.  Toss cooked noodles with olive oil (as mentioned in #1).  Add sauteed vegetables and toss.

8.  Chill the summer squash pasta salad for at least 2 hours in the fridge, if you wish to eat it chilled.  Toss in parmesan cheese if you wish, or add to each individual serving.

9.  Grill chicken breasts for 6-8 minutes on each side, or until no longer pink in the middle.

10. Prepare french loaf with butter and garlic salt and toast in the oven for 10 minutes, or until butter melts.

11. Serve Summer Squash Pasta with Grilled Chicken Breast and Garlic Bread.

Cost $4.65