Rich Chocolate Pecan Pie
- 1 1/2 cups pecans
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Spread the pecan pieces and the chocolate chips evenly on the bottom of the pie shell.
In a mixing bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients together. Pour the filling over the pecans. Bake until the filling sets, 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 30 minutes before slicing.
Kielbasa over Pasta w/ Fake Vodka Sauce
A spicy twist on plain-jane pasta. Vodka sauce is typically a creamy tomato sauce with about a cup of vodka added. The vodka gives depth to the acidity of the tomato sauce. This recipe is based on a cream sauce without vodka, but uses red pepper flakes to add the missing flavor depth.
- 1 pound kielbasa
- 8 ounces uncooked pasta (I use Linguine Fini)
- 8 ounces baby bella (or whichever are on sale) mushrooms
- 1 large red pepper
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (divided)
- 1 jar pasta sauce
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil (to cook the pasta in).
Meanwhile, slice the kielbasa into bite-size pieces and saute in skillet until well-browned on all sides. Remove stems from mushrooms and quarter; seed and slice the red bell pepper. Add olive oil, 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper, mushrooms and red bell pepper. Saute until mushrooms and peppers are tender.
Cook pasta according to package instructions.
Add pasta sauce, sour cream and remaining crushed red pepper to skillet and bring to a simmer, stirring well. Drain pasta; serve with kielbasa and sauce mixture.
See, that was easy!
$5 Dinner: Chicken Piccata
Chicken Piccata for under $5 per serving? Yeah… seriously.
The Chicken Piccata itself is $1.79 per serving. With alfredo pasta, green beans, and a roll, this entire meal is still only $2.60 per serving. For about $.75 more, you could add a salad too (a bag of salad mix and a bottle of dressing — no extra veggies or croutons). Obviously you couldn’t do it this cheap with chicken regularly priced at $6.49/lb as it is here, but the whole point of this exercise is to show you just how cheap you can feed the family if you take the time to cook what’s on sale and avoid the non-sale stuff.
This recipe serves 6 because we take leftovers for lunch at work, but you can easily scale this down to 4. Prices are for the entire quantity used in the recipe.
- 3 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, butterflied and then cut in half ($2.98) $1.69/lb super sale!!
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- All-purpose flour, for dredging
- 9 tablespoons unsalted butter ($.70) I bought this box on sale for $2.50
- 7 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil ($1.27) $11.99/bottle regular price
- 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice ($1.29)
- 1 cup chicken stock (FREE) I made it the last time I cooked chicken and froze it
- 3oz jar brined capers, rinsed ($1.49)
- 2/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped ($1.99)
- 4oz can sliced mushrooms ($.99)
Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour and shake off excess.
In a large skillet over medium high heat, melt 4 tablespoons of butter with 4 tablespoons olive oil. When butter and oil start to sizzle, add 3 pieces of chicken and cook for 3 minutes. When chicken is browned, flip and cook other side for 3 minutes. Remove and transfer to plate. Melt 3 more tablespoons butter and add another 3 tablespoons olive oil. When butter and oil start to sizzle, add the other 3 pieces of chicken and brown both sides in same manner. Remove pan from heat and add chicken to the plate.
Into the pan add the lemon juice, stock, mushrooms and capers. Return to stove and bring to boil, scraping up brown bits from the pan for extra flavor. Check for seasoning. Return all the chicken to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove chicken to platter. Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter to sauce and whisk vigorously. Pour sauce over chicken and garnish with parsley.
Side Dishes:
- 1/2 box pasta ($.50) On sale 10/$10
- 1 jar alfredo sauce ($1.50) On sale 2/$3
- 2 cans green beans ($1.98)
- 6 brown and serve rolls ($.89)
Note: No, I didn’t even try to figure up the costs for the flour, salt and pepper. The quantities used are so small that it would probably be $.05 or less for the entire recipe.
Thanksgiving for a Tiny Crowd
f you’re reading this, you’re either a regular visitor of my blog or Google sent you here to learn how to cook a turkey. You’re in the right place — read on.
The local grocery stores were having huge sales on leftover turkey. Food Lion was selling turkey breasts for 75% off, so I picked up two thinking that I’d make one for dinner tonight since we didn’t bring any leftovers home from Delaware, and freeze the other. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that it would be cool to see if I could whip up a complete Mini Thanksgiving with just the turkey and the other stuff that I have in my house right now in 3 hours or less.
What’s on the menu?
- Turkey
- Gravy
- Mashed Potatoes
- Saurkraut
- Sausage Stuffing
- Green Bean Casserole
- Rolls
All of the basic favorites are there — but can I do it in 3 hours? We’ll see. (Complete ingredient list at bottom of this post!)
4:15pm: Preheat oven to 500°F (yes, you read that right). Unwrap the turkey breast (approx 6lbs) and give it a quick rinse. Place it breast-side up on a rack in my roasting pan. Sprinkle salt and pepper in the cavity and stuff with two stalks of chopped celery, 6 baby carrots and 1 apple (sliced and cored). Create a pocket under the skin on top of each breast and stuff with 3 tbsp of butter. Rub the rest of the butter over the top of the skin. Add 1 1/2 cups of water to the bottom of the pan and put it in the oven on the bottom rack for 30 minutes. Make sure you turn on the vent hood fan and turn off the fire alarms, because this baby is going to create some smoke. The turkey will cook this way for 30 minutes and then you will reduce the heat.
4:40pm: The turkey is in the oven. Fill a large pot with water, three celery stalks, a handful of baby carrots and one peeled onion cut in half. Bring to a boil and simmer until turkey comes out of the oven. Crumble and fry some sausage — if you use links be sure to remove the casings first. While the sausage is frying, finely chop 1 large onion and 2 stalks of celery (including the leaves). When the sausage is well browned, add the onion and celery. Saute until onion and celery are soft. While everything is sauteing, cut 10 slices of bread into cubes and gently melt 1 stick of butter in the microwave.
5:10pm: Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Place 1/2 of bread cubes into a pyrex dish and top with sausage/celery/onion, then the remaining bread cubes. Pour butter over top. Sprinkle with parsley and sage and mix well. Set aside. Empty two drained cans of green beans, 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 3/4 cup milk and 1 cup shredded cheese into a pyrex dish. Mix well and set aside.
5:30pm: Relax.
6:00pm: Check on the turkey — you did remember to turn the oven down, didn’t you? Turkey should be done at approximately 7pm based on weight. Boil a pot of water; slice and cook the potatoes.
6:30pm: Preheat the toaster oven to 375° for the rolls. Turn off the burner under the veggie stock and strain out the veggies. Drain the potatoes. Add butter and sour cream, then mash.
6:40pm: Put the stuffing and green beans in the oven, on the center rack. Take the turkey out of the oven. Let it rest with a tent of foil over it. Put the rolls in the toaster oven. Turn on the burner under the sauerkraut and heat it up. Put some of the fat from the turkey pan in a small saucepan and mix with an equal amount of Wondra flour to make a smooth roux (a paste of fat and flour). Add the remaining stuff from the bottom of the turkey pan while stirring constantly. Add veggie stock if you need it to thin out the gravy.
7:00pm: Remove rolls from the toaster oven. Remove green beans and stuffing from the oven. Turn off the sauerkraut. Carve the turkey and enjoy!
So there you have it, a simple Thanksgiving Dinner for six in less than 3 hours.
Ingredients
- Turkey
- Celery
- Carrots
- 3 large onions
- 1 apple
- 3 sticks butter
- salt and pepper
- 10 slices of bread (fresh is fine)
- 1 pound sausage of any type
- flour (Wondra works best)
- Parsley
- Sage
- 2 cans green beans
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 cup shredded cheese
- French’s fried onions
- 1 can Saurkraut
- Potatoes
- Sour cream
- Frozen yeast rolls
