Some of my favorite things are fresh green beans from the garden but we always grow way more than we can eat in a hurry.  Luckily I learned a great trick from my mother-in-law for saving them – I put all the extra green beans into a cotton pillowcase, unwashed directly from the garden, tie a knot in the top and store it in the freezer.  It’s super simple to just pull out a couple handfuls and wash them when I need them for a dish like this easy one skillet chicken dinner.  It’s always nice when you don’t have to dirty a bunch of dishes to make supper, and even better yet when you can put a lid on, walk away and let dinner cook itself.  This chicken comes out so tender, moist and delicious that even the kids ask for seconds so be sure to make plenty!

Ingredients

• 2 lbs boneless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 Tbsp lemon pepper seasoning
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 can chicken broth
• 2 cups green beans

Directions

Mix flour, lemon pepper seasoning and salt together on a plate. Cut each boneless, skinless chicken breast into two to three strips, dredge in the flour mixture and brown on both sides in a large skillet.

After the chicken is browned on the outside but still pink in the middle, reduce the heat and pour the can of broth into the skillet. Add fresh or frozen green beans, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

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You’re very welcome!

Oh, you’d like to hear the recipe first?

I am so happy to share this one with you. I found it a couple of years ago when I was tired of cooking the same thing all the time, yet I need recipes that are easy and fast. Taste is an added bonus because frankly one of the kids will complain no matter what it is. The first time I made the Cheesy Pork Chops I was blown away.

Just those few ingredients made something this delicious??

Yes it did. And we’ve been in love ever since.

Ingredients

• boneless pork chops (on sale from Wal-Mart 12 for $6.40)
• 10 tsp sour cream
• seasoning salt
• 2 cups shredded cheese (I like taco blend, for the little bit of added flavor)

Directions

1) line the pan with your chops and sprinkle with your favorite seasoning.

2) smother with 1 tsp sour cream per chop.

3) add enough shredded cheese to cover the top.

4) bake at 350. Adjust the cooking time to the thickness of the meat. Thin pork chops are done in 15 minutes. For an inch and a half of chop, I’d bake for 35 – 40 minutes.

Ready to eat out of the oven.

I know, right? Too easy to be delicious. Surprisingly, it’s not!

(Although did you notice that one sad naked pork chop? Yes, one child out of 5 still complains about “stuff” on her meat. That’s fine, it’s easy to just leave one alone!

Everyone’s happy! Especially mom!

Last week the boys were attacked by the 4 hour stomach bug.  It was probably really a 24 hour stomach bug…but the kids only acted like it was a 4 hour bug. Ryan called my mom, as he is quite handy with my iPhone…and he informed her in a bold, confident and cheerful voice that he was sick. She didn’t believe him.  It was almost a fluke of a stomach bug.

In an effort to ease back into regular eating, I made this partly bland-partly not-so-bland dinner for us. The boys had just the noodles, chicken and a few bites of green beans, while Steve and I had the tomato-y pasta plus the rest. Given the situation, it worked nicely.

(Sorry about the stomach bug thing…just needed to share the back story. Let’s forget about that now. And focus on the tomatoes.)

The sauteed tomatoes are the star of this meal! And they were perfect with the pasta!

Ingredients

1 lb. pasta noodles, variety doesn’t matter ($.50)
2 Tbsp olive oil ($.20)
4 garlic cloves, crushed ($.20)
1/2 onion, finely chopped ($.15)
2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved (from the garden)
(Fresh basil, chopped, would have been a lovely addition…I’m all out!)
3 chicken breasts ($2.32)
Garlic salt and Italian seasonings ($.05)
Green beans (from the garden)

Directions

1. Cook pasta according to box instructions. Before draining, reserve 1/3 cup cooking liquid.

2. In a skillet, add the olive oil, crushed garlic, chopped onion and halved tomatoes.  Let saute for 8-10 minutes, stirring every few minutes.

Or until they are old and wrinkly looking.  Once done, toss with the pasta, and the reserved pasta cooking water.

3. Grill the chicken with your favorite marinade or rub. (I just sprinkled with garlic salt and Italian seasonings just before grilling. Complemented the pasta perfectly!)

4. Steam or saute the green beans.

5. Serve Pasta with Sauteed Tomatoes and Grilled Chicken and Green Beans.

Cost $3.12

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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.

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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So for the past several weeks we have been eating green beans for what seems like breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Well, maybe not breakfast. (But chopped and baked into a frittata with some bacon…ooohhh…)

I haven’t really done anything exciting with our garden green beans. So I thought I’d share some old posts and some ideas for jazzing up these delicious garden gems.

How to Freeze Green Beans

How to Pick Green Beans – Snap as you Pick

How to Saute Green Beans

Wash and snap off the stems.  Pull out the string if necessary.  Cut into bite size pieces if you prefer. In a saucepan, add a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  Add the green beans with one of the following and saute for 4-5 minutes, or until green beans turn bright green and are still crunchy.  Remove the green beans from the pan immediately, as the heat from cooking will continue to cook them and they can get soggy. (Ew!)

• Onions – pearled, caramelized or red
• Minced or crushed garlic
• Fresh garden herbs, like rosemary and/or basil
• Bacon crumbles
• Mushroom slices
• Dijon mustard whisked with a splash of vinegar
• Lemon juice
• Parmesan cheese
• Sesame seeds and some soy sauce

What about you…do you have a favorite way to cook, eat or store green beans?!  Feel free to link up your blog posts, or leave links in the comments!

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

So the green beans are coming at a “you better pick these daily” rate at this point.  So we’re having them with either lunch or dinner everyday!  I couldn’t be happier…I think green beans are one of the best garden investments in terms of seed cost and green bean yield…you get a TON from a $1.50 packet!

The kids love the green beans too…either one or both of the boys will ask for more…and I will tell him to go out and pick some more and I will cook them!  I truly believe that one of the reasons they love “their” green beans is because they are “their” green beans.  They planted the seeds. They watched them grow. And now they get to eat them up!

So you all might already be doing this, but I just started by accident. I would snap the stem off and pull out the string, almost unconsciously, as I was looking for other beans to pick.  As soon as I noticed myself doing it, I made it a point to always snap the green bean stems off, pull out the string and drop them back into the garden!

Snap as you pick!!!

That’s my green bean trick for today…and remember…it’s all about green beans on Saturday’s Grow. Eat. $ave!

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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Twitter knows everything. It even knows what you’re having for dinner tonight. (Well, only if you ask.)

It really does. It’s never let me down.

A recent tweet of mine: “Looking for a dinner idea for tonight that involves chicken and a grill…anyone?”

And I liked Carrie‘s idea best. Teriyaki Chicken Kebabs it is!

Would someone please tell me how to spell KEBABS?!? Kabobs? Kebobs? Kababs?

(Perhaps it depends on what part of the country you’re in and the accent of your voice.)

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts ($1.75)
1/2 red pepper, seeded ($.50)
1/2 orange pepper, seeded ($.50)
1 yellow onion ($.30)
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce ($.50)
3 Tbsp soy sauce ($.15)
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar ($.10)
Salt and pepper
1 cup brown rice ($.40)
1 bag frozen green beans ($.88)

Directions

(I thought I’d change up my cooking routine and took all the ingredients outside to prepare the kebabs. Since I don’t have a countertop outside, the ground would have to do.)

Cut the peppers, onions and dice the chicken into bite size pieces.

Thread it all onto kebab skewers.

(If your little people are around, turn it into a “patterns lesson”…talk through it as you add things to the skeweres and ask them what comes next in the pattern.)

Add the teriyaki, soy, oil and some salt and pepper to the marinating dish.

Let the kid with the really dirty and sandy feet whisk the marinade.

Place the kebabs in the marinade for about an hour.  Flip after 30 minutes or so, to all the marinade to cover the chicken.

Grill the Kebabs until chicken has cooked through…about 4 minutes on each side.  Time will vary depending on heat of the grill and thickness of the chicken pieces.

Prepare the brown rice and green beans as directed on package.

Serve Teriyaki Chicken Kabobs Kababs Kebabs with Brown Rice and Green Beans.

Cost $5.08

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