Quick Chicken Cordon Bleu

At the beginning of last month, my friend Candi, at Eat Well Utah posted a recipe for chicken cordon bleu made in a skillet. 

This is one of my family's favorite meals and so I put it on my list of recipes to add to my Meal Plan. 

With some leftover Thanksgiving ham and a can of chicken, I used my trusty SoS Mix and made this meal in under 20 minutes. Really, all it took was the time for the pasta to boil. I did everything else while that was happening. 

I modified an old Food $ense recipe from the free Soup or Sauces Cookbook.

Although it is a casserole recipe, I mixed everything up in the big pot that I boiled the noodles in and served it right out of that. You can make it a casserole if you want, or just serve it as a pasta dish as I did. 

Ingredients:
3 cups curly noodles
7 cups water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup SOS Mix
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup milk
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup onions, chopped
1/4 cup green pepper, chopped
1 cup diced ham
1 cup cooked chicken
1/2 cup swiss cheese, grated
 salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp fine bread crumbs

Directions

Boil noodles in 7 cups water with salt. Drain. 

In a small bowl, whisk the SOS Mix, water and milk together until well blended. Set aside. 

In a skillet, heat the olive oil. Stir in chopped onions, peppers and diced

meat. Cook for 5 minutes. 

Add the SOS Mix and water/milk mixture.

Heat through. Remove from heat. Stir in grated cheese, noodles, salt

and pepper.

Spoon into a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Sprinkle bread

crumbs on top. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until heated through.

Cafe Rio Salad on a Sweet Potato

I love when those happy kitchen experiments turn into something wonderful and you think - We should have been doing this all along.

I like to make a big batch of Pulled Pork, Cilantro Lime Rice and Spicy Black Beans  and some Cilantro Ranch and then we'll eat it a few different ways during the week. We'll have the traditional loaded salad and then make burritos later in the week. 

But this time, Joseph and were home along working for our usual Friday lunch and I got up to warm up the leftovers and finish the last of our salad fixin's  - except were were completely out of lettuce. Not a green leaf in sight. So, Plan B, except we were all out of tortillas. 

At this point, I have been looking forward to these flavors all morning and I was hungry. Lunch was supposed to be a quick warm-up and I had work to do, I didn't want to stand in the kitchen and make a whole meal from the beginning. 

So I had a little spark of an idea, I thought I remember seeing someone making "bowl" recipes on top of baked sweet potatoes. 

Joseph loves sweet potatoes and so I thought I would be the perfect time to try it - and the flavors would probably go really well together. 

So I put the sweet potatoes in to cook, you can use the microwave, the oven, I used the insta-pot here, because potatoes are the only thing I have figured out how to make in it so far. 

Then while they were cooking, I started warming everything else up. When I had all my topping ready, I opened the sweet potato and filled it full with our leftover salad ingredients. 

I was so pleased with how this turned out and Joseph was over the moon about it. I also discovered that eating it this way cuts down on the cost, since I can use sweet potato more and less of the pork. 

The flavors mix together perfectly and it is absolutely delicious. I am anxious to see what other rice bowls and salads that I can add to sweet potatoes to make "new" dishes. 

Cooking once and eating twice is an important part of how I make my time / budget in the kitchen work and this is going to be a great way to stretch those ingredients one meal further. 

Southwest Steak Bowls

Whew! That was a close one.  I almost let this week slip by without posting a recipe for a rice bowl. 

I just can't get over how easy and flavorful and inexpensive they are. We have started portioning the leftovers into containers and Joseph and Jarren have been taking them for lunch.  

Plus I get to look like I am making this amazing food, and really I am just standing in my kitchen thinking, "what else can I put on this" With that thought in mind, here are some additional things you might want to consider adding to yours. 

• Olives
• Sliced Tomatoes or Pico de gallo 
• Any type of beans - perhaps kidney?
• Caramelized onion
• Onions and peppers - like in fajitas (or a whole fajita bowl... YUMMY!) 
• Cilantro
• Fresh or pickled jalapenos
• Cheese
• Experiment with your rice, try brown rice, or flavor your rice with lime & cilantro or chili powder

This "recipe" essentially takes any of the ingredients that cost more and cutting the portions very small and then bulking up the meal with as many veggies and other healthy low cost items (like beans)

I used 5.99$ worth of steak in this recipe and I made 6 bowls. 

Ingredients:

For the Steak
¾ - 1 lb. flank or skirt steak
1½ Tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp salt
1 medium lime

For the Rice
1½ cups uncooked brown rice
3 cups chicken broth

Toppings

1 can black beans ( But I used ones that I made myself. Here's the Recipe) 
corn kernels
sour cream
your favorite salsa
Avocado (We used pre-made guacamole that I found on a screaming deal)
green onions

or see your list above...

Instructions:

To make the steak marinade, mince the garlic and combine it in a bowl with the olive oil, cumin, salt, and the juice from half of the lime. Add the marinade and steak to a zip top bag, make sure the steak is coated in the marinade, and refrigerate it for about 30 minutes while the rice cooks.

Cook the rice according to the package instructions, but substitute chicken broth for the water.
While the rice is cooking and steak is marinating, gather your toppings. Slice your olives or avocado, cut your tomato, make your pico, thaw your corn and drain your beans.

To cook the steak, heat a large skillet over medium-high until very hot. Add the steak and cook for 3-5 minutes on one side, or until deeply golden brown. Flip and cook in the same manner on the second side. Transfer the steak to a cutting board and allow it to rest for five minutes.

Once the steak has rested for a few minutes, slice it thinly against the grain (look for the lines in the meat and cut across them).

To build the bowls, lay down one cup of rice, your desired amount of beans, corn, and salsa, a few slices of steak, a bit of guacamole, and a dollop of sour cream.

BBQ Beef Sliders with Grape Jelly Sauce

I am going to confess to you, I killed a pot roast the other day. It was so dead and it was so sad. The poor dry little thing. I made gravy to try and cover it up and serve it, and my sweet kids pushed it around on the plate, but it sat in the fridge as sad leftovers that kept getting looked over and looked over and frankly, were just waiting to die.

You know I can't let that happen. It was a challenge sitting there in my fridge - go ahead... make me something delicious. I knew I had to do it.  And now that I have confessed to you that this whole idea came from a failure, I am going to brag to you  that these turned out AWESOME!

They got me TWO full mouth hugs at the dinner table that sounded like... 'Momm... theeessse are sooooo aethomee"  Which means, Yah! I did it.  We got mad skills you guys. You and me, we are not going to be beaten by dry pot roast - Oh No!  We are making saucy sliders that our family not only devours, but comes home from school / work the next day and gobbles up until they are gone.  Pot Roast Gone!

So this is the recipe for BBQ sauce grape jelly sauce that everybody makes with the meatballs.  And I thought, hey! meatballs are cooked, and pot roast is already cooked...  Hmmm..... 

So I made the sauce ( with the homemade Chili Sauce -- and homemade grape jelly  ** You Guys! WHO AM I?!) 

And I put it all in the crock-pot to warm up. So just 2 1/2 - 3 hours.  I picked up rolls at the store, and I cut slices of cheese into 4 pieces and topped it with a pickle.  Can you believe it was that easy. 

Grape Jelly BBQ Sauce

Ingredients:

12 ounce Chili Sauce -- This is the recipe that I linked to, doubled. 

32 ounces jar grape jelly

1 pinch cayenne pepper (optional)

Pot Roast or Meatballs. 

24 Slider Rolls

8 slices of cheddar cheese cut into quarters

24 pickle slices

Instructions:

Combine your sauce ingredients in the crock pot and whisk them together. Then all your already cooked meat. I added a leftover pot roast that I had cut and shredded. Lots of people make this recipe with pre-cooked meatballs.

Let your meat heat up and marinade in the sauce for 2 1/2 to 3 hours until heated through.

Then put onto slider rolls and top with cheese and pickle slice!

Frugal Family Fancy Burrito Bowl

I love making "Bowl" meals. Lots of restaurants now carry them and they are so easy to prepare. You just assemble everything into a bowl and call it fancy.  Who doesn't love that!

This bowl is simply rice, (which was leftover) a can a refried beans, a package of "southwest" corn from the freezer (that included black beans and peppers, a little bit of shredded cheese and some salsa. 

If you had more ingredients on hand, you could sure add them. These would be great with olives, avocado, sour cream, pico de gallo, sauteed peppers and onions - you could pretty much add whatever sounded good to you. 

We needed a quick, simple dinner and I had rice leftover in the fridge, so this is what we ended up it. And it was really super good and cost just pennies. 

Ingredients:

4 cups cooked rice

1 can refried beans

1 package frozen corn and bean mix

2 cups shredded cheese

2 cups salsa

Instructions:

I heat all the ingredients separately in the microwave.  Once I have the rice, beans and corn all heated up, I assemble each bowl and then top with cheese and salsa.   Done! 

Pizza Bagels perfect for freezing

I don't know if you could be a kid growing up in the 90's and not think that Bagel Bites were the ultimate in freezer food. I can still sing the commercial by heart, and it has been in my head all weekend. It's painful, thankfully, making these, is absolutely not, in any way.  I had almost 30 of them made in under 30 minutes. And that includes cooking time and making the sauce. 

Ingredients:

2 packages of bagels (6 count each)

1 lb brick mozzarella cheese - shredded

Homemade Pizza Sauce -  Here is the link to the recipe. 

Ingredients

1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce 

1/2 teaspoon dried basil or  oregano

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt 

1/8 teaspoon black pepper 

 pinch of sugar (optional) 

Directions

Mix the tomato sauce, basil, garlic salt, and pepper in a small bowl.

Pizza Toppings of your choice - We went with just pepperoni here. 

Instructions:

Spread a tablespoon of pizza sauce on each bagel half.

Arrange pepperoni then sprinkle with cheese.

Place bagel pizzas on a baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees for 5-10 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

To Freeze:

Wrap each bagel in a small sheet of freezer paper, and then wrap again tightly in a layer of plastic wrap. 

I store all my individually wrapped bagels together in a large freezer bag that I labeled. I don't label each one. 

To ReHeat:

Bake pizza bagels at 375 for 10-12 minutes until the cheese melts in a preheated oven or toaster oven.

Frozen pizza bagels aren't going to take much longer to heat than fresh made, unfrozen bagels. There is no need to thaw unless you want to.

The microwave leaves the bagels more flexible and much softer, but we are all going to do it. So... 

45 seconds to a minute in the microwave and then let sit for another minute. If you had a lot of sauce of them, it can be hot. 

Classic Bread Pudding with Vanilla Cream Sauce

Oh how I love bread pudding. I don't know what it is about putting together such humble simple ingredients, but the end result is simply magical to me. 

I told my kids it was baked french toast, and they loved it. I am not a big fan of pudding and I was afraid that calling it that would not only mislead them about what to expect, but maybe just turn them off.  I really really don't like pudding. 

But I do Love this, and since I called it baked french toast, we ate it for a late Saturday breakfast. I had a little giggle to myself that I was getting dessert for breakfast. I had a little giggle about all if it really. I was using the last of the Thanksgiving rolls (which had sadly gone really stale) and it tickles me pink to use up food that otherwise would have been thrown away and have it turn into something delicious. It makes me feel ridiculously clever. 

Ingredients:

Bread Pudding:

3 eggs, beaten 

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1/4 cup butter, melted 

3 cups milk

10 slices cut into cubes (I used a dozen rolls)

1 cup raisins (nobody was eating this if I put raisins in it)

Vanilla Sauce:

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 pinch ground cinnamon 

1 egg 

2 tablespoons butter, melted 

1 1/4 cups milk

1 pinch salt 

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 2-quart baking dish.

In a mixing bowl, whisk 3 eggs, white sugar, 2 tablespoons of light brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/4 cup of butter, and 3 cups of milk together. 

Then gently stir in the bread cubes and raisins. Lightly spoon the mixture into the prepared baking dish. You don't want to get too squishy with it. Mashing the bread will only make mush. 

Bake in the preheated oven until browned and set in the middle, 50 to 55 minutes; cover the dish with foil after 30 minutes to prevent excessive browning. 

Let the pudding stand for 10 minutes before serving.

For vanilla sauce, whisk 1/2 cup of light brown sugar, the flour, a pinch of cinnamon, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of melted butter, 1 1/4 cups of milk,and salt together in a heavy saucepan until smooth. 

Heat over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and the sauce coats the back of a spoon, 10 to 12 minutes. 

Stir in the vanilla extract. Pour sauce over warm bread pudding, or serve on the side in a bowl.

Thai Coconut Curry Butternut Squash Soup

I could eat this soup every single day of my life. I get so excited when I make it, and I made a ton, so that I can have it for lunch the next day .... (and the next and the next). 

It keeps getting better and better in the fridge as the flavors meld together and I love adding the fresh ingredients to it, so it never feels like leftovers. 

I always feel so fancy eating it too, isn't it gorgeous?! 

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon canola oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small yellow onion, diced

1 teaspoon ginger, freshly grated

1½ tablespoons Thai red curry paste

2 cups chicken or vegetable broth

4 cups butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1" cubes

1 (15-ounce) can coconut milk

Toppings:

Juice of ½ lime

½ teaspoon Sriracha, optional

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

⅓ cup cilantro, chopped, to garnish

⅓ cup unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts, chopped, to garnish

Naan, to serve

Instructions:

Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add in the garlic and onion, and saute until soft and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add in the ginger and curry paste and stir to combine with the onion and garlic. Cook for 3 more minutes, stirring often.

Add in the raw butternut squash cubes and slowly pour in the broth, stirring to combine. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for 20 minutes, or until butternut squash is tender. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes.

Pour the soup into a blender in batches and blend until smooth. Pour the blended soup back into the soup pot over medium heat and warm through, stirring occasionally.

Before serving, remove from heat and mix in the coconut milk (saving a few tablespoons to garnish), lime juice, salt, pepper, and Sriracha (if using). Mix well. 

Pour into bowls and drizzle the remaining coconut milk on top. Swirl the coconut milk with your spoon or a toothpick. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and chopped peanuts. 

Serve warm with Naan bread.

Greek Tzatziki Chicken Salad

I just love a good creamy chicken salad packed with lots of veggies.  This Greek one is really good because it uses Greek Yogurt for the sauce base - and not just as a substitute for mayonnaise.

In true chicken salad style, this is better the second day, if you can resist it that long and not just eat it straight out of the bowl.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup plain 2% reduced-fat Greek yogurt
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill
3/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cucumber, seeded and shredded
1 garlic clove, minced
2 cups shredded skinless, boneless chicken breast (Cooked!) Mine was a Deli Chicken

Bread, Crackers, Whole Grain Wrap, Pita Chips, Lettuce Leaves for wrapping - Imagine! 

Instructions:


Combine first 8 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add chicken; toss to coat.

Serving ideas, see ingredients above.

Stale Bread? Consider Croutons!

We had some leftover whole wheat bagels that were obviously not going to get eaten, and a whole pan of dinner rolls that were leftover from a family party. They were languishing in the bread corner of the counter - and I feared the next second I would look over the bread mold was going to have started growing.  So when I remembered that this video had put published - Ezra and I decided it was crouton time!

This is a FANTASTIC think to make with your kids. Ripping or cutting bread is a great job, you really Can't over-season them.  And they are really pretty darn magical when they come out of the oven. If you haven't had a home made crouton, you are missing some kind of wonderful.

The 5 Second Grocery Money Saving Tip

I don't know too many people who can afford to not watch their grocery budget. Every little bit helps, and if money isn't tight at your house - I am sure you can find lots of things you would rather spend your money on than groceries. 

The average American family ends up throwing away 25% of the foods and drinks they buy. That is 1/4 of your whole grocery budget.  For the a typical family of four, they might as well fling $150 straight in the garbage every month!

If they could reduce their grocery waste by just half, that same family of four could chop around $75 a month off their grocery bill. (No coupons required!) That isn't even suggesting that you have no grocery waste, but that you just cut the things that we are wasting in half.  That is a really huge amount, Isn't it!?

Here’s an easy way to do exactly that.

When you put your leftovers away after dinner, do your best to store them in a clear container, so it’s easy to see what’s in there and to avoid discovering some putrid mystery food shoved to the back of the fridge weeks later.

Perhaps make a shelf, just for "ready to eat" leftovers. So when you open the fridge to find something to eat, that can be the first place that you look. You can help your family to look on that shelf or in those specific containers when they are finding something to eat. 

(If you have them available to you - Mason jars are a great way to do this on a budget.)

Then, before you put the container away, take 5 seconds to grab a sticky note and write today’s date on the top. If you don't have sticky notes, use a washable marker and write on the container. 

It helps cut down on those fun conversations that go something like, “Honey, do you remember when we had this spaghetti?”

“Um I don’t know, does it stink?”

“Hmm...I can’t tell, you smell it.” (You, smell it .... No! You smell it...... ) 

“Um...better toss it,” as you see visions of all the members of your family doubled over with food poisoning fluttering through your brain.

So instead of THAT, try this trick to start saving immediately. 

You’ll be much more likely to use up leftovers in time, without the guessing game, or the waste.

Doing those simple little things to save your grocery budget doesn’t have to be complicated or cause you to spend tons of extra time shopping around or standing in the kitchen.

I am learning the greatest results can come from the smallest of shifts in habits. It’s these small changes that help you save money on groceries consistently, month after month, even when you’re super busy.

How I Handle Leftovers

Whether you are in love with leftovers because you are a busy mom, or because you are environmentally conscious - if you are a penny saver or an earth saver - leftovers are the best!

What is nicer than a home-cooked meal that you didn't have to cook?

I didn't used to like leftovers at all, this has been a huge change in my thinking since starting Food $ense and begging to change my ideas and habits. 

We are starting a new little system that Joseph thought up one day when he was watching child after child open and close and open the fridge and then complain that there was nothing to eat. 

We have lots of notepads on the fridge that we keep track of things on - Menu Planning, Grocery Lists, assigned chores - all sorts of things. 

We are now trying to keep a list of the things that are in the fridge that are just waiting to be eaten!

Despite feeling crunched for time, Please Please take care to treat your food in a way that protects you family from foodborne illness.

There’s much more to the safe handling of leftovers than most people realize, and following a few simple tips can save you—and your loved ones—from illness.

Put leftovers in shallow containers to cool quickly
The center of that big pot of chili you stick in the fridge isn’t going to cool down within 2 hours, and that warm spot in the middle can allow bacteria to grow. The smaller the portion size, the faster it will cool in the refrigerator. And when you go to heat it up in the microwave, it will heat much more quickly and evenly too. [USDA recommends packing leftovers so that they are less than 2 inches deep.]

Putting leftovers into smaller containers or into individual serving containers means that there is less heating / cooling / reheating cycles and therefore less danger.

Refrigerate within 2 hours
Bacteria grow rapidly at warm temperatures, and after just a few hours can reach levels that can cause illness. Refrigeration slows the growth of bacteria.  The recommended temperature for your fridge is 40 °F or below (use an appliance thermometer to see how cold it is).

Foods should be refrigerated within 2 hours of preparation. Even though it may seem energy efficient to let foods cool down on the counter before sticking them in the fridge, there can be a risk if they are left out too long.

Reheat thoroughly
The microwave is just another way to heat food. The microwaves bounce around and literally “excite” the food. However, the microwaves may not hit every part of the food evenly. In foods with multiple ingredients (like a casserole) some ingredients may get more “heated” than others.

It’s really important that all parts of reheated food reach 165 °F before they are eaten. There are a few ways to ensure this happens:

• Stir the food in the middle of heating;
• Let the food sit for a few minutes after it finishes in the microwave to ensure the food cooks evenly. During this “standing time,” the cold parts of the food will absorb some heat from the hotter portions. Many microwave meals recommend this, so pay attention to microwave instructions.
• After the “standing time,” check the food with a food thermometer.

Information from Handle Leftovers with Care at Food Safety.gov