You know how you have those pivotal moments in life? Moments that you remember with astonishing clarity? In my life, I have a few of those moments. One of them was all about Cornbread Salad. I remember where I was, the table, my plate… I remember it all. That Cornbread Salad changed my life. From hence forth, I was a Cornbread Salad connoisseur.
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10 Portable Meals On-the-Go to Save Time and Money
In the Spring of 2014 we officially became a soccer family. And you know what time spring soccer games for 9 year old girls happen? If you guessed dinnertime, you are right! As a mom, and a frugal mom at that, I quickly realized that if we were going to avoid the Taco Bell Drive-Thru, I was going to have to think ahead and get some portable meals going.
Seriously, it adds up going through the drive-thru. Don’t deceive yourself thinking that you are buying something from the dollar menu. Each and every dollar adds up. You get in debt dollar by dollar, and you also get out of debt dollar by dollar. You can go buy a pack of tortillas, and a can of beans for a couple of dollars. And even though you can buy these foods pre-made, if you use these convenience foods to make burritos, it is WAY cheaper than buying a bean burrito at a fast food restaurant. You could make about 10 burritos for the cost it takes you to buy 2 or 3 in the drive-thru. [Read more…]
20 Frugal Real-Food Chicken Dinner Recipes
Post by Contributing Author, Jessica Smartt from Smartter Each Day
Do you like chicken but don’t want to break the bank? Read on for some yummy AND FRUGAL real-food chicken dinner recipes!
Y’all, there are some things I don’t mind spending money on. Every five years, I have an absolute breakdown and go spend some major birthday money on clothes that fit the body I actually have at that point. Also, date nights…Even if our budget gets very tight, we will scrimp and save to spend time together – eating, most likely. Because date nights together are that important.
But I will tell you something I do NOT like to splurge on.
It’s chicken, y’all. Whenever I see meals calling for prosciutto, and two and a half large chicken breasts PER PERSON, stuffed with some rare French cheese and umpteen fresh herbs…I click that ol’ browser shut as fast as I can. I’m sure it’s delicious, but I cannot afford to serve every member of my family three pounds of chicken in one sitting! No way. [Read more…]
How to Cook a Whole Chicken in a Pressure Cooker {video}
Whoop! I told you in the pressure cooker post that I wanted to do three more videos where I showed you exactly how to use each cooker. And behold! I got one done! I hate stuff hanging over my head…so – one down, two more to go!
In this video I show you how to cook a whole chicken in a pressure cooker. I’m using a 6 quart Fissler pressure cooker on a Duxtop Induction Burner.
I used this general recipe from Food.com for a Pressure Cooker Whole Chicken. The only difference is that I only browned it on the breast side for 7 minutes and flipped it over THEN put the lid on – instead of browning it on all sides. Also, I let my pressure fall naturally instead of doing the quick-release method. [Read more…]
How to Get Three Meals from One Chicken
A long while back, when I conquered my fear of cooking a whole, naked chicken in the crock pot (Crock Pot Baked Chicken), I felt like the world opened up to me! Behold! All those glorious Pinterest recipes calling for 2 cups cooked chicken would no longer add 20 minutes on to making a meal! A whole neeeeeeeeeeew worlddddddddddddddddddd! Come with me on my magic carpet.
So, today we’re talking chicken – and how you can make three meals from one chicken. That’s right – ONE whole chicken to make three meals. First off, let’s clear the air: I’m only feeding 2 adults and 4 small children people. So, if you’re feeding more than that, you might only be able to get two meals.
Honestly, we don’t eat a lot of meat. I I try to make sure vegetables and healthy whole grains are a bigger part of our diet than meat…mainly because I’m stinking’ cheap frugal. And high quality meat can get expensive! [Read more…]
100 Days of Meal Plans – Whole Foods Style (for FREE)
So, I have this thing I like do to do in my spare time…it’s called – planning meals. Yeah, okay. Stop your laughing. Some people knit. Some people sew. Some people play sports. I read cookbooks and dream up meal plans. I’m a wild and crazy girl.
You already know how much I love Plan to Eat. But what you don’t know is that planning meals is one of the highlights of my week. I also enjoy making beds, ironing clothes, and de-boogering my children. Gosh…I AM a weirdo.
But something I’ve learned is that not everyone enjoys de-boogering their children with a Nose Frida – and not everyone enjoys making their bed daily – and some people don’t even own an iron (THE HORROR!). And the most crazy thing of all is….some of you hate making meal plans! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Cue the freaky scary movie music! What is wrong with you people!? [Read more…]
Postpartum Freezer Meals List
My friend Erinn from Embracing Everything asked for a list of the freezer meals that I used after this pregnancy, so I thought it might be helpful to a few other people as well. Why kill two birds with one stone when there are eggs in your bush that you shouldn’t count?
I started too late preparing for Eli Benjamin. I felt like doo-doo for most of the pregnancy, so I blame it on that. In all honesty, you should start prepping freezer meals in the middle of your second trimester. Most meals and foods will be fine for 6 months in the freezer. Even starting late, I managed to get quite a bit put away. I used a lot of meal components this time so I would be able to throw a meal together quickly instead of making a vast amount of fully cooked meals.
Also, 4 weeks before my due date, I made a HUGE shopping trip and stocked up on everything I might need: snacks, condiments, nuts, butter, etc. After my babies are born, I don’t get out much…I usually take a 2 month hiatus from shopping and gallivanting around the countryside. My mom went with me on this trip and I literally filled the car up with supplies and groceries. [Read more…]
Crock Pot Cheesy Sausage Rotini
This isn’t my normal crock pot style of recipe. Most of the time you’ll find me using recipes that cook at least 4 hours and most of the time mine run about 8 hours. Honestly, I want my food to cook for 8 hours so I’ll have 8 hours to do stuff – 8 hours to go away. 8 hours to clean. 8 hours to be free from dinner. 8 hours so I’m less likely to burn it to a bloody pulp. But this is one of those pasta recipes that is a little different.
You’ll find this particular dish is done in only 2-3 hours. So, what on earth is the point? You could easily make this in a pot on your stovetop and be done in 30 minutes. Why would you want to pull out your crock, dirty it up, and be done in only 2 hours? [Read more…]
Crock Pot Maple Bacon Wrapped Chicken
I’ve been known to say that you can make dirt taste good by adding bacon. I stand by that statement. Bacon is like ketchup, but BETTER. If you want your kids to eat something, add bacon or ketchup. Or sometimes even both. Do you know that my brother in law puts ketchup on everything? E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. Of course, we can’t really stand by his culinary genius, because he also wraps his Pop Tarts in cheese. So, he doesn’t count.
But yes, I am a bacon lover. Hardly a day goes by that we don’t have bacon in SOMETHING. Last night on Pinterest I saw someone wrapping their Cinnamon Rolls in bacon. Now that, my friends, is culinary genius. Chocolate Bacon. Bacon Bacon. Candied Bacon. The world has gone crazy over bacon. And I hate to say this…but I liked bacon before liking bacon was the cool thing to do. Of course, I was frugal before frugal was cool too – I hope eventually that OCD will also be cool and then I’ll really fit in. [Read more…]
Build Your Own Chicken Salad
There are about as many Chicken Salad variations as there are episodes of Law and Order…approximately 1.5 million. You’ve got traditional Chicken Salad, Chicken Pasta Salad, Mexican Chicken Salad, Oriental Chicken Salad, Kitchen Sink Chicken Salad, Sweet Chicken Salad, Savory Chicken Salad, Hot Chicken Salad, and on and on and on.
But really, with the right ratios you can make your own chicken salad based on what you like or what you currently have about to die in the refrigerator. So today I’m going to give you a basic formula that you can use to make any chicken salad that floats your boat. [Read more…]
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