I shared yesterday our menu for the month. Remember that it is our no spend month so these meals are cheap and easy. Some of them are free for us because they are things that are made out of what we always have on hand in our food storage.
Tuna Melts: These are super easy and cheap and surprisingly one of Louis' favorites.
Bread
Canned Tuna
BBQ sauce
Sliced cheese
Preheat oven to 350. On a baking sheet place however many pieces of bread you're using. Drain tuna and mix with BBQ sauce. You can also use mayonnaise, but we prefer BBQ sauce. Spread mixture over bread and top with cheese. Place in oven for 8-10 minutes.
Parmesan Fries: This was the first time we made these are they're soooo good! And potatoes are cheap! We're having a lot of potatoes this month.
3-4 large potatoes, sliced into wedges
4 Tbsp olive oil (we ran out of olive oil so we used canola oil, turned out fine)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 C shredded Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease a large baking sheet and set aside. Place potato wedges in a large Ziploc bag. Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat. Pour salt, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning into bag, close, and shake bag to spread the seasonings around. Place potato wedges on prepared baking sheet in a single layer with skin side down. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 30-40 minutes.
Best Ever Bread sticks: I can't even count how many times I've made these, they're delicious!
1 1/2 C warm water
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp yeast
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp softened butter
4-5 C flour
Topping:
3 Tbsp melted butter
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
Place warm water, sugar, and yeast into the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment and let stand for 10 minutes. It will be thick and frothy. Mix briefly, then add salt, butter, and gradually add 2 C flour mixing on low. Slowly add the remaining 2 C of flour, more if necessary until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Mix on low for 5 minutes to knead the dough.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise about 1 hour.
Lightly sprinkle work surface and your hands with flour and scoop the dough onto the counter. Roll out dough and cut dough into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a bread stick shape and place on parchment paper lined baking sheet. Cover again and allow to rise for 20-30 minutes in a warm place.
Preheat oven to 400. I usually do this while the bread sticks are rising and place the baking sheet on the stove to help them raise faster. When ready place bread sticks in oven for 7 minutes. While it's cooking prepare topping. Melt butter and mix in the salt and garlic powder. Remove bread sticks from oven and brush with butter mixture. Return to oven for another 7 minutes and when finished brush with butter mixture again.
Meatballs
32 oz bag frozen fully cooked meatballs
18 oz jar grape jelly
18 oz bottle BBQ sauce
Combine jelly and BBQ sauce in crock pot, add meatballs and give a good stir to coat with sauce. Cook on high for 3 hours. I usually make rice to go along with this.
Chicken Taco Soup: The only annoying thing about this recipe is you have to open so many cans.
4 chicken breasts (can be frozen)
1 can black beans, drained
1 can pinto beans, drained (I use kidney beans sometimes)
1 can diced tomatoes drained
1 can sweet corn, drained
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can green enchilada sauce
1 can chicken broth
1 packet taco seasoning
Spray crock pot with cooking spray. Place chicken in crock pot and dump the rest of the ingredients on top, give it a stir. Cook on low heat 7-8 hours or high high for 4-5 hours. Serve with shredded cheese and chips. I also like to add in cooked rice after it's cooked to thicken it up a bit.
Wingers Sticky Fingers: This is amazing and delicious and best of all easy and quick!
1 pkg frozen breaded chicken strips (I get the Kroger brand)
6 Tbsp Frank's hot sauce
4 Tbsp water
1/2 C brown sugar
Prepare chicken strips as directed on the back of the package. While it's baking prepare the sauce. Heat hot sauce, water, and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Dip each piece of chicken into the sauce and place on a platter. Serve with ranch dressing and mashed potatoes.
Bread Stick Bun Chicken Parmesan Sandwiches: Olive Garden copy cat recipe. Some of you may remember seeing a picture of this not too long ago.
Bread stick recipe from above
Frozen breaded chicken strips
Spaghetti sauce
Sliced provolone or mozzarella cheese
Use the bread stick recipe from above, but only cut dough into 6 pieces to make larger bread sticks. Bake chicken as directed, then assemble your sandwich! To assemble, cut open bread sticks. Place one of two pieces of chicken on each bread stick bun. Top with some spaghetti sauce and finish with a slice of cheese.
Pizza Dough: I don't know exactly what kind of pizza I'm going to make, so I'm just sharing my pizza dough recipe. It's super simple and quick.
2 1/2 tsp yeast
1 C warm water
2 1/2 C flour
2 tsp honey
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
Spread:
2 Tbsp olive oil
3/4 tsp Italian seasoning
In a large bowl, combine water and yeast and stir until the yeast is dissolved. Add in flour, honey, salt, and olive oil. Use a wooden spoon to combine. Once the ingredients are well combined with the spoon, use your hands to knead the dough for a few minutes (I've also done this in my kitchen aid mixer and it worked great and was even easier! Even with out the mixer though it's so easy!) Form the dough into a ball, and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 450 and spray 16 inch pizza pan with cooking spray. Roll the dough out on the pan and roll the edges to form a crust. Mix the spread together and brush over dough. Place in oven for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and add sauce, cheese, and toppings. Return to oven for 12-15 minutes or until the crust is browned and the cheese is melted.
Garlic Parmesan Pasta: This is a one pot meal and something I usually have all of the ingredients for so it's one of our free meals!
1 Tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 C chicken broth
1 C milk, or more, as needed
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
8 ounces uncooked fettuccine
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 C Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp parsley
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, milk, butter, and fettuccine; season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until pasta is cooked through, about 18-20 minutes. Stir in Parmesan. If the mixture is too thick, add more milk.
Spanish Spaghetti: One of my Mom's classic meals
1 lb ground beef
Italian seasoning
3 C spaghetti, uncooked, broken into thirds
2 cans tomato soup
shredded cheese
Cook and drain ground beef, stir in Italian seasoning. Cook spaghetti according to package directions, drain and return to pot. Preheat oven to 350. Stir in ground beef and tomato soup with spaghetti. Pour mixture into a 9X13 baking pan and top with shredded cheese. Bake for 20 minutes.
BBQ Chicken
4-6 chicken breasts (can be frozen)
1 bottle BBQ sauce
1/4 C vinegar
1/4 C brown sugar
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
Mix BBQ sauce with all ingredients under it. Place chicken in crock pot and pour sauce over it. cook on low for 4-6 hours. You can eat it as is, but I always shred the chicken and serve on rolls, or with rice, or with mashed potatoes.
BBQ Chicken Pizza: You may notice that I have this pizza just a few days after the BBQ chicken. It's because I plan on using the leftover chicken for this! But here's how to do it when you don't have leftover BBQ chicken. Also I use the pizza dough recipe from above. Just do this after the first 8 minutes of baking!
2 cooked chicken breasts, diced
6 Tbsp BBQ sauce (I never measure, just dump some on your chicken)
shredded cheese
1/2 C mayonnaise
2 Tbsp ranch dressing
While pizza dough is baking mix together mayonnaise and ranch dressing, and mix together the chicken and BBQ sauce. Spread mayonnaise mixture over the dough then sprinkle BBQ chicken over sauce. Top with cheese! Return pizza to oven to finish cooking 12-15 minutes.
Kneaders French Toast
2 loaves of bread (
here's the recipe I use)
9 eggs
3/4 C milk
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar
sliced strawberries
cool whip
Caramel syrup
1 C brown sugar
1 C heavy cream
1 C light Karo syrup
1 tsp vanilla
Slice the bread into large slices. Preheat a large griddle to 325. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, cinnamon, vanilla, and brown sugar. Pour mixture into a shallow dish. Using a large fork, dip each side of the bread into the mixture, then cook on griddle until both sides of the bread are browned. For the syrup, combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir and heat until the sugar is dissolved. Serve french toast with caramel syrup, sliced strawberries, cool whip.
Macaroni and Cheese: I've only made this once, but it was good
1 1/2 C whole milk
1 to 1 3/4 C water
8 ounces small elbow macaroni
1/2 tsp salt
pepper, to taste
1 C shredded cheddar cheese
In a medium pot over medium high heat, combine milk, 1 C water, macaroni, salt, and pepper. Bring to a low simmer, stirring frequently to prevent macaroni from clumping and the milk from boiling over. Once the mixture simmers, reduce heat to low (it should still be simmering) and stir continuously until the pasta is done. The macaroni will absorb the liquid while cooking, stir in more water as needed. When pasta is and sauce is creamy, remove from from stove and stir in cheese until smooth and melted.
And there you have it guys! I didn't include every single recipe, but here is most of them!
