Use-it-up Chicken Noodle Soup

The girls and I all are home sick today.  They've had fevers all weekend and I started getting a sore throat last night.  I decided to make some home made chicken noodle soup using up things that I had on hand.

1 medium onion, diced - $.20
1 tbsp minced garlic - $.05
1 tbsp. Chicken Seasoning - $.05
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp onion powder - $.05
1 tbsp oregano - $.05
1 tbsp parsley flakes - $.05
about 1/2 tbsp - 1 tbsp garlic sea salt (used up what was left in the grinder) - $.10
1/2 of a really large chicken breast cut up - $1.12
6 cups of home made chicken stock from the freezer - free
1 tbsp olive oil - $.12
1 can corn - $.49
1/2 box of cavatappi pasta - $.44
About 1/2 cup of leftover brown rice - $.15

Add olive oil and onion to pan and saute.  Then add all of the ingredients except the pasta and cook until boiling.  Add pasta and heat until pasta is tender.

Total Cost - $2.87 for a large pot of Chicken Noodle Soup

It came out really good.  It's nice and thick the way Mr. R likes it so hopefully he'll eat it too since it made so much.  

The girls haven't tried it yet.  Hopefully they will like it too.

The noodles have absorbed a lot of the chicken stock so I might need to add a little more before serving it next time.  

Crock Pot Spaghetti Sauce

• 2 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes - $.95 each
• 1 6 oz. can tomato paste - $.39
• 2 14.5 oz cans Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic and Oregano - $.59 each
• 1 tbsp Italian Seasoning - $.05
• 1 tbsp Oregano - $.05
• 2 tbsp brown sugar - $.05
• 2 tbsp olive oil - $.24
• 1 medium onion - $.20
• 2 tbsp. minced garlic - $.10
• 1 lb. ground turkey - $3.00

(I also threw in about 1/3 - 1/2 of a jar of leftover store bought spaghetti sauce that was in the refrigerator so it wouldn't go to waste.)

Total Cost  $7.16

My husband likes to have meat with every meal.  This is a great recipe to stretch the meat out.

Cost wise, I don't think I saved much compared to buying the sauce in jar.  I usually buy Hunt's sauce in a car or the cheap Jar sauce at Aldi but then I add extra ingredients to them at home.

This recipe made 23 - 1/2 cup servings.

After dinner today, I have 2 bags with 3 cups each to put in the freezer for dinners later and then 1 bag with only 2 cups that will go in the freezer.  The smaller bag will be used for meatball subs, pizzas or some other meal that doesn't require a lot of sauce.

Cheesy Bacon Green Bean Casserole

I made this for Thanksgiving to take to my in-laws house.  I didn't have a recipe but figured I couldn't go wrong with cheese and bacon.  It turned out really good.

Ingredients:

4 cans green beans, drained

1 onion, diced

1 tbsp. minced garlic

2 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, divided

1 can cream of mushroom soup

5 slices thick cut bacon

In a large pan on the stove, cook the bacon.  When it's about half way cooked add the onions.  Once onions are tender and bacon is cooked, remove bacon from pan and set on a paper towel on a plate.

Add to the onions still in the pan: green beans, cream of mushroom soup, 1 cup cheddar cheese, garlic.  Stir ingredients together and continue to cook until heated through.  Once bacon is cool enough to handle, cut into small pieces or just tear the bacon into pieces with your hands.  I started off using a knife but it was just easier to use my hands.  Add bacon pieces back to the green bean casserole cooking on the stove and mix.

Use cooking spray to coat a casserole dish and dump the green bean mixture into the dish.  Cover the top of the casserole with the remaining cheese.  Put in oven at 375 degrees.  I didn't bother to preheat as I was just using the oven to brown the cheese.  

Once the cheese  is bubbly and starting to brown, remove from the oven.  I left mine in the oven for about 30 - 40 minutes.

Easy Nacho Bowls

On Friday, I made a crock pot full of Mexican Bean filling to use for a variety of dishes.  One of the things my girls really like is nachos but they have trouble eating them when I just put chips on a plate and layer all the toppings on.

So, I started making Nacho bowls and the girls love them.  I just take the bean/meat mixture and put it in a bowl and then add cheese.  Pop it in the microwave for a few seconds to melt the cheese and then add the rest of the toppings: Salsa, sour cream, etc.

The girls can dip the chips into the nacho toppings.

Awesome Honey Garlic Pork Chops, 4 ingredients

I made these in the crock pot.  I cooked them on low for 5 hours.  They would have probably been done after 3 hours but they were slightly frozen when I put them in and I was afraid they wouldn't be cooked enough.  But Mr. R LOVED them.  Here's the original recipe from sparkrecipes.com.

Here's how I made it:

• 1/3 cup honey
• 2 tbsp soy sauce (all I had)
• 1 tbsp minced garlic (I buy it in a large jar from Ollies)
• 6 - 8 thin cut pork chops

Place first three ingredients in crock pot and mix together.  Add pork chops making sure to get the honey mixture on both sides of each pork chop.  Place on low 3 - 4 hours.

Before serving, spoon extra honey mixture in bottom of crock pot over the pork chops to make sure they are all covered.

Turkey Kielbasa and Sauerkraut Dinner - Easy Meal

Forgot to take a photo - Sorry!

• 1 Turkey Kielbasa - $2.29
• 3 cans sauerkraut, partially drained - $1.47 (I like a lot of sauerkraut)
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar - $.09
• 3/4 cup applesauce - $.50 (est.  can't find receipt, I used 2 single serve applesauce cups)

Cut up kielbasa and put in a large pan on stove.  Add sauerkraut, brown sugar, and applesauce.  Stir and heat until hot.

Total Cost - $4.35

Served with instant mashed potatoes:

1 box of potatoes - $.99

1 cup of skim milk - $.17

Total - $1.16

Served 1 can green beans - $.49

Total Cost of this Dinner - $6.00, served 4 for dinner and leftovers to pack for lunch for Mr. R and I, maybe even more leftover of the sauerkraut.

One time, I had a sauerkraut craving so I dumped a whole can in a bowl, microwaved it without adding anything and ate the whole bowl.  I was a bit nauseated after that.

Black Bean Soup Recipe and Leftovers Remake

• 2 Cans Black Beans, drained and rinsed - $1.18
• 1 Cup Salsa - $.61
• 2.5 Cups Brown Rice, cooked - $.75
• 1 1/2 cups shredded chicken - $.93 (left over from my really cheap chicken deal a couple weeks ago)
• 2 Cups Chicken Broth - Free - Made with the bones from my really cheap chicken deal last month.
• 1/2 packet taco seasoning - $.17
• Sour Cream, Cheddar Cheese for topping (optional)

Add everything except the rice into the crock pot and cook on low about 4 - 5 hours.  Mix the rice in when ready to serve.

Total Cost of Recipe $4.82, made enough for dinner 1 night with plenty of leftovers for lunches.

Leftovers Remake: the rice soaked up a lot of the liquid so when I heated up the left overs, I added cheddar cheese, a little more salsa.  Then once it was done heating in the microwave, I topped it with sour cream.  It was really really good as leftovers.

Freezer Breakfast Burritos - $.50 per burrito

15 eggs - $1.88
14 flour tortillas - $1.67
2 1/4 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded - $2.08
1/2 green pepper, diced - $.50
small onion diced - $.20
2 cups frozen potatoes o'brien - $.65 (could just use frozen hash browns or fresh diced potatoes)
1/2 tbsp olive oil - $.06

Heat up a large skillet on the stove (I used a wok), add 1/2 tbsp. olive oil and potatoes o'brien, green pepper, and onion.  Cook until potatoes start to brown. Add eggs and stir.  Cook on low - medium heat, stirring every couple minutes to get the eggs cooked throughout.

Warm tortillas in the microwave so they are easier to fold.  Add 1/3 cup of egg/potato mixture in center of a tortilla.  Sprinkle cheese on top off eggs and fold the top and bottom of tortilla over the eggs.  Now fold the left and right side so all sides of the tortilla are fold in.  Continue until you run out of tortillas and eggs.

Stack breakfast burritos on a plate and let cool.  Once cool place burritos in a 1 gallon freezer bag.  I fit 8 into 1 bag.  Place in freezer.

To eat: Heat until hot in microwave or warm in the oven.

Total Cost of Recipe $7.04, or $.50 per burrito

284 Calories each

Crock Pot Sloppy Joes

I used this recipe for inspiration for Crock Pot Sloppy Joe's and then made a few changes.

Ingredients:
1 can black beans - $.59
2.23 pounds 90% lean ground beef - $8.90
1 medium onion, chopped - $.15
2 cloves garlic, minced - $.03
1 cup ketchup - $.33
1/2 bell pepper, seeded and chopped - $.50
3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp prepared mustard $.07
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp brown sugar - $.08
1 1/2 tsp chili powder - $.04

• Mix up all the ingredients except the black beans and ground beef the night before and refrigerate overnight.  I did this mainly to make it easier to throw together in the morning.
• Add ground beef, black beans, and sauce mixture to crock pot.  Cook on low setting for 7 hours.  
• Take spatula and mix everything up good so the meat gets broken up.
• Serve over hamburger buns.

I didn't calculate the lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce or white vinegar in my calculation since these are all staple items that I bought so long ago I don't even remember how much they cost.

Total Cost of Recipe - $10.69, rounded up to account for ingredients I didn't calculate price for = $10.75

Servings: 17 - 1/3 cup servings = $.63 per serving.  1/3 cup would work for regular size hamburger buns.  I served mine on one of those big onion buns and used 2 - 1/3 cup servings but it was really too much, I had to eat it with a fork.

154 Calories per 1/3 cup serving.

Served with a salad on the side.

Crock Pot Lasagna with Lasagna Sheets

It turned out pretty good.  Forgot to take a picture, I was really hungry.  I think the noodles work better in the oven.  The crock pot probably cooked them too long so it was a little on the too soft side.  But Mr. R and the girls still liked it. And it made for a cheap dinner since I don't put meat in my lasagna.  Normally I mix an egg in with the cottage cheese and I skipped that step too and no one could tell the difference.  Here's how I made it:

1 box Aldi Lasagna Sheets - $.99
1 1/2 cans Hunt's Spaghetti Sauce - $1.32
2/3 bag of mozzarella cheese - $2.33
1 container low fat cottage cheese - $2.29
about 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese - $.50
Italian Seasoning - about 1 tbsp (I never actually measure.)

Mix cottage cheese, Italian seasoning and Parmesan cheese together.  Spray baking dish with cooking spray.  Add a some spaghetti sauce to the bottom of the pan to coat it.  Then layer lasagna noodles, cottage cheese mixture, mozzarella cheese and spaghetti sauce.  I try to get 3 or 4 layers.

Total Cost $7.43, Servings 8 = $.93 per serving

Served with salad for Mr. R and me and carrots with ranch for the girls.

Smoked Turkey Puffs Recipe

This is the first recipe that I have tried out of my 1001 Short, Easy, Inexpensive Recipes book that I got for Christmas.  It was ok.  Pretty much just like a egg casserole only with smoked turkey instead of ham or sausage.  I've been trying to use up the smoked turkey I had in the freezer so I thought I'd give it a try. Original Recipe in purple, the rest are all my changes.

12 eggs - $1.50
1 lb. smoked Turkey, chopped (I used about 2 1/2 cups) - $2.50
1 1/2 cups finely shredded cheddar (I use 1 cup sharp cheddar and 4 slices of sharp cheddar that needed used up) - $1.50
2 Cups Milk - $.31
Dash Worcestershire sauce (used 1 tsp.)
Freshly ground pepper (didn't use)
About 1/2 cup spinach (not in original recipe but I had some to use up) - $.50

I just through everything in the crock pot, mixed it up and cooked it until the eggs were cooked through.  I would have liked to try it the original way and baked them in the oven in a muffin pan but I wanted it to be done when I got home from work so I just used the crock pot.

Made 7 - 3/4 cup servings at $.90 per serving.  Total Cost = $6.31

I served this with toast and salad.

Original Recipe - Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Divide turkey into 6 sprayed bowls or egg cups.  Divide cheese into each bowl.  

In a blender, add eggs, milk, Worcestershire sauce and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.  Blend until frothy.  Pour egg mixture into cups over cheese.  Cups will be quite full.  Bake for 30-35 minutes until eggs are brown and puffed. Serves 4 - 6.

Spicy Smoked Turkey Soup

I used this recipe from all recipes.  I've learned I'm not a huge fan of smoked turkey.  I bought a giant one marked down at Aldi and have been trying to use up the meat.  I love the giant smoked turkey legs at amusement parks but a whole smoked turkey was a bit too much of a good thing.  I thought this soup was ok. Mr. R liked it.  I followed the recipe pretty close but added extra cumin, chili powder, garlic powder and onion powder.  Mr. R likes his soups really flavorful. I also added mushrooms and instead of 3 cups of turkey, I only used about 2 cups.

I still have a couple more bags of smoked turkey.  I think I'll use it in a stuffing casserole.  It seems to be the best way I have found to use it and it covers up some of the strong smoked flavor.

Use-It-Up Macaroni and Cheese - A 1 Pot Meal

I had thawed some ham that was in the freezer and decided to use it to make mac and cheese.  As I was looking through the fridge, I found some more stuff that needed to be used up.  This is what I came up with for dinner:

6 ounces ham (from the freezer from a ham a made last month)
6 ounces diced chicken (a lingering chicken breast that was in the fridge)
3 celery ribs, diced
2 small red peppers, diced
1/2 onion, diced (from freezer)
approx. 1/3 cup diced mushrooms
1/4 bag of frozen broccoli
3 cups low-fat shredded sharp cheddar
1 can cream of mushroom soup
3 tbsp. butter
1/4 cup milk
2 cups medium pasta shells
1/2 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp. onion powder
1 tbsp. garlic powder
a pinch of salt

Boiled water to cook pasta and frozen broccoli.  Cooked until pasta was done.  Drained water.  Added the rest of the ingredients and stirred.  Put lid on pot and cooked on low, stirring every couple minutes, until the vegetables were at the texture I like them at.  Just a little crisp but not too crunchy.

All of this was cooked in 1 pot so it didn't make too much of a mess and a lot of little lingering bits were used up.  So far Big R and I are the only ones who ate it and she said she liked it.  Any recipe that includes this many vegetables and gets the kid seal of approval is a winner in my book!

Turkey Egg Salad - Recipe

A week or two ago, I made a 5 lb turkey breast in the crock pot.  I bought it on sale for $1.49 per pound.  It had enough meat for dinner one day and leftovers for 2 of us the next day.  Plus I froze to bags of diced meat for later and I made chicken stock out of the skin and bones.  I had set one of the frozen bags of meat in the refrigerator to thaw for dinner on Friday but Mr. R wanted to make chicken wraps.  So I decided to make turkey salad for sandwiches.  I looked up some recipes for inspiration and this is what I came up with.


6 1/2 ounces turkey - estimate 75 cents
8 tbsp. light miracle whip -  estimate 55 cents
2 boiled eggs, chopped up - 22 cents
2 tsp mustard - 2 cents
1 tbps lemon juice - 4 cents
2 celery ribs, diced - 14 cents

I mixed everything together in the same bowl that I planned on storing it in.  It should be enough to make 4 nice sized sandwiches.

I had to estimate some of the costs like the Miracle Whip since Mr. R bought it and didn't save the receipt. 

Total Cost - $1.72 or 43 cents per serving

4 weight watchers points plus per serving

Strawberry Pancake Recipe

I didn't take a picture because these really just looked like pancakes, but they were yummy.  This is the recipe I found for inspiration: strawberry vanilla pancakes.  The picture they show looks a lot better than mine, though.  Here's how I made them.

1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup wheat flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
Just under 1/4 cup vanilla extract (I didn't have enough for a full 1/4 cup)
2 cups blended frozen strawberries with 1/4 cup milk mixed in to help them blend (I left them a little chunky so there are bits and pieces of strawberries in some of the pancakes.)

I mixed everything together in a large bowl except the strawberries.  I mixed those in last.  Then cooked on the stove until brown.

The strawberry flavor wasn't too strong and when i make these again, I will add another 1/8 cup of packed brown sugar.  We topped these with light syrup and the pancakes themselves could have been a little sweeter.  Other than that I thought these were good.  This made about 25 pancakes.  We had some for dinner, some will be for breakfasts this week and I will freeze some for later.

Ham and Veggie Mac and Cheese

I haven't posted a recipe in a while.  This one turned out really good and used up a lot of what we had on hand.

1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/4 cups elbow macaroni
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
3 cheese slices (ran out of shredded cheddar and wanted to make sure it was nice and cheesy)
3 cups diced ham (leftover from a whole ham cooked yesterday)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon garlic salt
Miscellaneous Veggies - 1/2 cup frozen diced green peppers, 1 medium onion chopped up, 1/2 bag frozen broccoli, 1/4 cup cauliflower
1 can corn, drained

Heat oil in a pan on the stove.  Saute onion till tender.  While onion is cooking, add macaroni to boiling pot of water and cook until done.

Add the rest of the vegetables into the pan with the onion and stir.  Cook until vegetables are all heated through.  Add cheese, cream of mushroom soup, butter and garlic salt.  Continue to stir occasionally and cook until cheese and butter is melted.

Made 8 1-cup servings.  Would be great with a salad and side of garlic bread. Although, I served it by itself.  Between dinner and packing it in Mr. R's lunch for tonight, it's already gone.

This recipe would be very versatile: instead of ham, try left over chicken, any type of veggies would do or different types of pasta.

It wasn't exactly low fat though, 8 weight watchers points plus per 1 cups serving. I should have figured that out before I ate 2 servings.

1001 Short, Easy, Inexpensive Recipes

My husband bought me this book for Christmas.  I'm excited to try some of the recipes.  I  don't usually buy cook books because I can find so many recipes online.  Plus it seems like a lot of time the recipes in cookbooks are too involved or too expensive for this full time working momma.

So I'm really excited to start trying the recipes in this cook book.  I'll definitely be sharing the good ones as I work my way through the book.

Oh and this was one of my surprise gifts.  Mr. R and I usually give each other a list of items we want for Christmas and just pick up a few surprises. Our gifts for each other are normal needed items like work shoes, pajamas, new pots and pans, etc.  So it always makes me happy when Mr. R. finds something that is perfect for me that he picked out by himself.

Stroganoff-ish

I'm not really sure what makes real stroganoff.  But the recipe I made for dinner tonight reminded me of it.

1 pound ground chicken - 2.89
1 onion, chopped - 20 cents
About 1/2 bag of egg noodles $1.00
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup - 59 cents
3/4 cup light sour cream - 38 cents
1 tsp parsley flakes - 2 cents
2 tsp garlic salt - 4 cents
2 tsp onion powder - 4 cents
1 can peas, drained 49 cents

On the stove, cook ground chicken and onion until meat is cooked through. While the meat is cooking add the garlic salt, onion powder and parsley flakes. In another pan, boil water and cook egg noodles.

Add cream of mushroom soup, sour cream , peas and cooked egg noodles to the chicken.  Mix everything together and let it continue to cook on the stove until it is heated through.

This came out really good.  Mr. R had 2 servings and I packed it for his lunch. Plus there's some left for my lunch tomorrow.  I served it with yet another salad.

Total Cost: $5.65
6 servings: 94 cents per serving

Crowd Pleasing Chicken

I found this recipe on Crock-a-doodle-do.  But of course I made some changes to use what I had on hand.  This is how I made it and it was Excellent.  No complaints and there were no leftovers.

1 can chicken breast, drained and shredded
1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup green pepper, chopped
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
3/4 of empty can (from above) water
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup sharp cheddar
1 tbsp onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic salt
8 oz. pasta (I used a mixture of egg noodles and rigatoni to use up what I had on hand.)

Spray inside of crock pot dish with cooking spray.  Add first 10 ingredients and mix well.  Cook on low for 4 hours.

Cook pasta as directed on package.  Add to crock pot, stir well, then serve.

I'm too lazy right now to try to figure out the cost of this recipe and a lot of the stuff I had on hand.  But it was really good and definitely a recipe that I'll be making again.

Banana French Toast

I don't know why I bother with a meal plan, I never stick to it.  Somehow I ended up with three loaves of bread.  I don't even remember buying them all but they were in my cupboard so I decided to make French toast.  And I had some bananas that needed used up too.  So here's what I made:

French Toast Batter:
6 eggs
1/3 cup skim milk
2 bananas
1 tbsp. vanilla

Mash up bananas in a large bowl and add the rest of the ingredients.  Use an electric mixer to get everything mixed up really good and break down the bananas some more.  A blender would probably work better, but I didn't think of that. 

With cooking spray or butter, coat a skillet.  Dip bread in batter and cook on low-medium heat until lightly browned.

I had more pieces than I care to admit for dinner.  Big Ripples had gymnastics so she had an early dinner.  After gymnastics she ate 3 pieces of French toast!

The best pieces of toast were the ones that were dipped toward the end of the batter where little bits and pieces of banana had been left.  They'd stick to the bread and gave the French toast even more banana flavor.

This made 14 pieces of French toast.