$0.98 per Serving Dinner

Ingredients:
Deluxe Mac & Cheese dinner mix
1 lb or so chopped chicken
3/4 bag of mixed vegetables
1 cup salsa
Oregano
Chili Powder



Sauté the chicken in a hot skillet. (Meanwhile, bring water to boil in a pot so you can cook the pasta and vegetables.)



Sometime during the process, add about a tablespoon chili powder and about a teaspoon or so of oregano. Whatever looks good to you. I'm a huge fan of eyeballing things.



Once the water is boiling add the pasta.



Add the vegetables right in the water with the pasta.



While the water is boiling and the chicken is finishing its cooking, make a cocktail. This time it's vodka with Crystal Light Tangerine Strawberry. Delicious!



Once the pasta is done, drain it. Add the drained pasta to the cooked chicken.



Squeeze out the cheese packet into the chicken, pasta, and vegetables. Mmmm...cheezzzzzz...



Now, add about a cup of salsa (type is not really important; you could use fresh even) and stir everything together so it's all incorporated.



Serve! I made some biscuits to go along with the dish.



Mac & Cheese: $1.25
Vegetables: $0.89 for the bag
Chicken: $1.75 (they were "trimmings")
Salsa: $1.00
Herbs - I don't count these in the cost since I already have them.

Total: $4.89 divided by 5 in our family = $0.98 each person!

White Turkey Chili

This is a great thing to do with Thanksgiving turkey leftovers. Since I made a turkey a couple of weeks ago I had turkey leftovers in...August! No matter, this was still a great dish to make and I can definitely see it becoming a regular turkey leftover dish.



White Turkey Chili

Ingredients:
* Olive oil
* 2 medium onions, chopped
* 4 cloves garlic, chopped
* 2 4 oz cans chopped green chiles
* 4 cups chopped cooked turkey
* 2 t. ground cumin
* 1 1/2 t. dried oregano, crumbled
* 1/4 t. cayenne or crushed red pepper (or to taste)
* 3 16 oz cans, great northern beans, undrained
* 5 cups chicken broth (I used homemade turkey broth)
* 1 cup grated Mexican cheese



Sauté the onions in olive oil until they are soft and translucent.



Add the garlic.



Now, add the spices.



Following the spices, add the green chiles (no need to drain).



Put your chopped turkey into the pot next and let everything warm up.



Now, add the beans. There's no need to drain them if they look all right. These organic beans were wonderful.



In goes the homemade turkey broth. Yum!



Stir everything together, bring to a boil, and then let simmer for about 2 hours or so uncovered.



After the 2 hours is up, add a cup of grated cheese.



Serve with cornbread (or whatever you want).



This was amazing! The kids all loved it. Everyone except for the toddler had seconds (she had seconds of cornbread). But she did love the chili and kept making happy "yummy nummy" noises!

Smoked Sausage Casserole

Smoked Sausage (not Kielbasa, but you can use that) Casserole

Begin with a pound of smoked sausage and two onions, everything sliced thinly.



Drain a 24 oz. jar of sauerkraut.



You will also need 1/4 cup of brown sugar.



Put the onions and the sausage in a skillet to cook. I added about a tablespoon of oil.



Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Layer the bottom of a casserole dish with half of the sauerkraut.



The sausages and the onions are now softened.



Put half of the sausage/onion mixture on top of the sauerkraut.



Sprinkle with half of the brown sugar.



Repeat the layering and then cook, covered, in the oven for one hour.



If this isn't comfort food, I don't know what is! I'll definitely have to put this into regular rotation. 4/5 of the family loved it.

Photos

Why is it when I use html to insert photos from, say, Photobucket, the right edge is cut off? I find myself trying to accommodate for this in my photography but that's really lame.

ETA: I fixed it by changing the template! Yay!

Crab Lasagna Roll-Ups, Version 1

Ingredients:
12 Lasagna noodles, cooked and cooled
Alfredo sauce (you can use jarred or use your own)
2 4 oz. cans of crab (Trader Joe's is really the best, or use fresh)
Thyme
Italian Seasoning
Salt and pepper
Parmesan
2 eggs
16 oz. small curd cottage cheese



First, (not pictured) drain the crab and sort through the meat to make sure there aren't any pieces of shell or other foreign objects.

Next, put the cottage cheese into a mixing bowl.



Add the two eggs.



Sprinkle in 1/4 cup or parmesan. I used the canned stuff but you can also use freshly grated.



Now add one tablespoon of Italian seasoning.



Next comes 1/2 teaspoon of thyme...



...and follow that with about 1/4 teaspoon (give or take) of garlic powder.



Add salt and pepper.



Then mix it all up until everything is incorporated.



Add the picked through crab.



Now stir that up until the crab is mixed in thoroughly.



Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Lay out a noodle, put about 1/4 cup of the crab mixture on the noodle, and roll it up. Lay it seam-side down in the pan.



Keep going until you have a panful. You could probably make more to fit into this pan but I already had noodles cooked (I had frozen them) so I wasn't going to cook any more tonight.



If you have excess crab mixture you can sprinkle it on top.



Now, pour the alfredo sauce onto the roll-ups, making sure to coat the tops of each one.



They look good, don't they? Too bad they have to cook...



Cover the pan with foil and make sure not to cut yourself! I did (my pinkie) and I was going to show you the photo but thought better of it. Anyway, put them into a 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes.



Serve with a caesar salad and a roll or bread.



This was pretty good. I think next time I'll incorporate either provolone or mozzarella cheese into the mixture. I think it needed to be more gooey. The Italian seasoning was a tad bit too much so using a scant tablespoon would probably be a good idea. I liked the alfredo sauce with it; it made it rich and delicious!