This is my easy, frugal alternative to Eggplant Parmesan. I wasn’t quite so eloquent when my daughter asked what I was making for dinner. I told her I was making Eggplant Parmesan without the eggplant and without the Parmesan. she said, “it sounds like you’ve got nothing”. After she finished eating she leaned over and said, “You might want to consider naming this recipe based on what is in it, instead of what is missing”.

I included a layer of rice under the zucchini to make this vegetarian dish just a little more filling. Plus it helps sop up the extra spaghetti sauce.

Instead of breading and frying the zucchini, I add a layer of croutons. The croutons add the flavor and crunch you expect in a Parmesan dish, but it is a lot faster and easier. Since it is baked instead of fried, it is also lower in fat.

You can stretch cheese further by using a super fine grated cheese. That is only one cup of cheese in the picture above, but it looks like more because it is finely grated. Quite often when you eat Eggplant or Chicken Parmesan at a restaurant it doesn’t actually contain Parmesan cheese. My husband and kids do not like Parmesan cheese, so I rarely use it. If your family likes Parmesan cheese, then replace 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese with it.

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Ratatouille is one of the most frugal dishes in my repertoire. When my garden is in full swing the only ingredient I have to buy to make this dish is olive oil. As much as I like ratatouille, I must confess it has a couple of downsides. First, if I turn on the oven on a hot July day and only have vegetables to show for it, I will have a mutiny on my hands. Which brings me to the second problem with ratatouille: it is entirely comprised of vegetables. It takes more than a Disney movie to convince my kids to eat ratatouille.

I can get around cooking this dish in the oven by grilling the vegetables individually and then combining them to make the ratatouille:

Convincing the kids to eat it is a little trickier. Here are a few things that work for me:

Serve salad dressing on top. My daughter will eat most vegetables as long as she is allowed to put salad dressing on them. She defended her decision to add Asian dressing by saying, “Ratatouille is basically just a cooked salad”.

Serve it over rice. My oldest son doesn’t mind that ratatouille is comprised entirely of vegetables. He minds that dinner is comprised entirely of vegetables. Serving it over rice helps fill the ever-growing teenager’s hollow leg.

Top it with spaghetti sauce. My youngest child is still at the stage where he prefers his ratatouille hidden under a thick layer of spaghetti sauce.

Substitute vegetables. I made this recipe with traditional ingredients, but there was a time when my husband and kids would not eat eggplant. If members of your family will not eat one of the vegetables in the recipe, you can substitute it with potatoes. I also try to add ingredients my family likes. I found some portabella mushrooms on sale and splurged since my husband enjoys them.

This meal was a group effort, if you will.

We made this at grandma’s last week.  We don’t normally stay at grandma’s house for days at a time, but when it’s 50 degrees in your house and you have no heat or power…you have to move into grandma’s.  So we did.

I brought the beef, red onion and tomatoes from home.

I stole borrowed used some paprika from grandma’s pantry.

Steve picked up the red potatoes from the store.

And the zucchini is from grandma’s fridge.

See the group effort in this one!

Brown the beef.

Then add the red onions.

Yes…after.  You want them a little crunchy.  Not all soft.

Toss in the diced tomatoes. Undrained.

And if we’d had a red pepper, and I’d remembered to ask Steve to pick one up, I would have added them here.

Red pepper is a key ingredient for “true” Hungarian goulash.

(Yes, this is my “fake” version.)

Add the tomato paste.  Plus 1/2 cans worth of water to help the sauce form.

Sprinkle in the flour.

Then toss in a palmful (rather, two palmfuls) of paprika.

About 2 Tbsp total.

Sweetness.  Gives a lovely sweetness to the goulash.

Stir and let simmer for about 5 minutes.

Serve over mashed potatoes.

This one is for all your “Meat and Potatoes Husbands” out there!

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I sit here. Staring at the dashboard. Contemplating whether to actually write about this at all.

It’s way past zucchini season for most of us. But there are probably just a handful of you that live at the southern tip of Florida or Texas, who might still be able to get fresh zucchini for a decent price at the farmer’s market. Or better yet, have some still growing in your own garden.

So I guess this one is for all my southern friends.  For all of you who live where zucchinis are still on the vine!

Roasted Zucchini with Thyme

Ingredients

• 1 large zucchini ($1.50)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder, salt and pepper, each
• About 2 Tbsp olive oil ($.20)
• 1 Tbsp white vinegar ($.05)
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed (from the garden)
• About 2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (from the garden)

Directions

1. Slice the zucchini into 3-4 inch long slices, about 1/2 inch in diameter or smaller.
2. In a mixing bowl, add the garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Whisk in the olive oil and vinegar.  Toss with the cut zucchini strips, then toss with the fresh thyme leaves and chopped fresh parsley.
3. Place into a baking dish, or roasting pan.
4. Roast at 400 for 15-20 minutes, or until zucchinis have softened and that beautiful brown, roasting color appears on most of them.  After about 15 minutes, give the roasting zucchini a quick toss to ensure they all get roasted evenly.
5. Serve Roasted Zucchini with Thyme as side dish.
6. (We had this with a simple baked chicken, and homemade wheat rolls.)

Cost $1.75

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

This meal will satisfy the heartiest of appetites and the pickiest eaters!

Zucchini-Sausage Cornbread
Makes 4 generous servings

½ lb. breakfast sausage, browned and drained ($1.50)
1 box cornbread mix ($ .35)
1/3 cup milk ($ .11)
1 egg ($ .10)
1 large zucchini, shredded, about 1 ½ cups ($ .59)
½ cup cheddar, shredded ($ .33)

Side of Black Eyed Peas

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all ingredients together until just blended. Place in greased 8×8 casserole dish. Bake 35-45 minutes.

Serve with black-eyed peas for a Southern touch! ($ .55 for a can)

I purchased the ingredients primarily at my local Aldi and including the side dish of black-eyed peas, the total cost of this recipe was $3.53!

I guess it’s no surprise…that delicious and nutritious food doesn’t have to break the bank!

About Tristin: I am a Christian, wife, and mom who is trying her best to live a simple and fulfilling life.  I want my life to be rich–not in monetary terms–but rich in love, family, friends and laughter. Tristin blogs at Spartan Living.

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.

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

So I am just having the WORST luck with the veggies in the garden this year.  I thought for sure (just like I did with the radishes and the yellow squash) that the zucchini would be in by now…but NO…it’s taking its sweet precious time getting going!  And I just noticed yesterday that the “powdery mildew” is starting to form on some of the smaller leaves too.

But…it seems that I’m not the only one having trouble!  I talked with a local farmer at our nearby farmer’s market on Thursday about the garden’s slow growth…and he said “this is just about the worst growing season I’ve seen in all my years.”

So it’s not just me!

The good news is…the farmer’s market has zucchini for as little as $.50 per zuke!  And you might even find an amazing deal like this one too!

Last summer Amy compiled quite the list of zucchini recipes…if you are looking to try something new, I highly recommend checking her zucchini recipes list for some ideas!

And now for the pictorial…

Angel Hair with Julienned Zucchini and Garden Herbs

Ingredients

1 medium zucchini ($.50)
Couple basil, oregano and thyme leaves (from the garden)
1 large or 2 smaller garlic cloves, crushed ($.10)
1-2 Tbsp olive oil ($.10)
Salt and pepper to taste
3/4 lb. angel hair pasta ($.40) Bought on Manager’s Special for $.49/box

Optional
2 cups grilled and diced chicken ($1.50)
1/2 cup grated or shredded parmesan cheese ($.50)

..a great way to make this a one-dish dinner!

Directions

First up…Julienne the Zucchini…

The Julienne is a 2 1/2 inch long and 1/8-1/4 inch wide cut on vegetables like carrots and zucchini.  It is typically done after peeling the veggies…but as you can see, I like to include the green skin in the julienne cuts.  For the color, and the nutrients!

Chop of the head and tail of the zucchini.

Cut into about 2 1/2 inch long sections.

Cut off the green edges, creating a square…as best you can!

Cut the square into 1/8 inch wide slices.

5. Then slice those slices into 1/8 by 1/8 inch pieces. There…it’s julienned. Simple, right?!

Make similar cuts to the green skin pieces.

Pile high the julienned zucchini.

Wash and pat dry the fresh herbs.

Place the smaller herbs, like the thyme and oregano leaves, inside the larger leaves.

Roll up like a cigar and run a knife through the fresh herbs.

Peel a large garlic clove…or 2 smaller ones.

In a small or medium skillet, heat the olive oil for 2-3 minutes, then crush the garlic into the oil.

Tttttssssssssssssss…..izzle!

Saute the garlic for a little less than a minute, or until begins to brown. And make your house smell like food heaven.

Add the julienned zucchini.

And toss with the fresh herbs and sauteed garlic.  Season with a little salt and pepper.

Let saute, stirring often, for 4-6 minutes, or until begin to turn opaque and some turn brown.

While the zucchini is cooking, prepare the angel hair pasta in a saucepan.

Be sure to separate it well.  Angel hair is famous for clumping together!!! Drain pasta when finished cooking.

Toss the cooked pasta with the sauteed julienned zucchini. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve it up!

Makes 4 adult portions.

Cost $1.10-$3.10

Grow. Eat. $ave. in 2 weeks…Fresh Herbs! (Oh the possibilities!)

Link up your favorite zucchini recipes this week!!!

Vegetables on the grill, tossed with red quinoa.

Perfect!

Ingredients

1 small zucchini ($.79)
1 orange pepper ($1)
1/2 yellow pepper ($.50)
1/2 white onion ($.15)
2 garlic cloves, minced ($.10)
1 Tbsp olive oil ($.10)
Salt and pepper
1 cup quinoa ($1)
Salt and pepper
4 ears of corn ($.60) $.15 an ear…woot!

Directions

1.Chop 1 zucchini, 1 orange pepper, 1/2 yellow pepper, 1/2 onion and minced garlic and toss with 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large mixing bowl. Season with a few pinches of salt and pepper.

2. Grill in a vegetable grill basket.

3. Cook quinoa according to instructions on the package.

4. Combine cooked quinoa with grilled summer vegetables. Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add some fresh chopped parsley or basil from the garden if you have it!

5. Boil, microwave or grill the corn.

6. Serve Quinoa with Grilled Summer Vegetables and Corn Cobs.

Cost $

Note: This made the perfect amount for my family…if making for 4 adults or for more…add more quinoa to the dish to stretch it out.  There were plenty of veggies.

So after we dropped my mom off at the airport this past weekend, we made a spontaneous stop at the 2nd Street Market in Downtown Dayton.  I don’t make it up there on a regular basis, but I thought since we were nearby we’d stop in.  I asked Steve how much cash he had on him…and he handed over 18 bucks.

I set out to see how much I could get for my $18.

I couldn’t have been happier with my first find.  See that zucchini up there…it was ginormous. And it was mine…for just $1!!!!! Deal of the day!

So far so good…we pressed on and found some other deals. Poblanos for $.50, Brussel Sprouts for about $1, the eggplant for $1, popcorn for $2.50. Garbanzo beans and black beans for $6-ish.

Then the bread. I’m embarrassed to say how much I paid for that bread loaf.

I’ll let you do the math.

That zucchini needed to be “processed” and put into the freezer. I cut the zucchini roughly into thirds.  I shredded a third, diced a third and cut a third into golf ball size-ish pieces (to mix into the smoothies…Shh.  They still don’t know I sneak it in there.)

The end result. About 4 cups diced zucchini to use for soups or in recipes, 7 bags of shredded zucchini to use in this recipe.  (And chances are, I’ll make these muffins 7 times.  They. are. that. good.)

If you encounter a ginormous zucchini and you’re not sure what to do with it, Amy has quite the list of zucchini recipes that you don’t want to miss out on!