Garlic Chicken with Rice Casserole

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Breasts (3.00)

1 tbs minced garlic (.05)

2 tbs vegetable oil (.03)

2 tbs butter (.05)

1 cup of rice (.20)

1 can cream of mushroom (.50)

1 can cream of chicken (.50)

1 small can of peas (.37)

Directions:

1. In skillet, heat oil, butter and garlic. Add chicken. Cook chicken on both sides until the juices run clear (or you cut one open and there is no pink)--this takes about 10 mins on each side.

2. While you are doing this, cook your rice. 1 cup of rice, 2 cups of water on stovetop until rice soaks water up.

3. Take chicken out and set aside.

4. Rinse your skillet (but only with water, you want some leftover traces of the mixture for flavoring) and place the rice, the cream of chicken and mushroom soup and the peas in. Let it sit for 5 mins on medium heat.

5. Throw the rice over the chicken and you're ready to serve!

Total cost of meal: $4.70

Oven Fried Chicken

This is a super simple recipe that yields great results! I pair it with some baked new potatoes and it is delicious.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mayo (.40)

1/2 cup milk (.20)

1 egg (.10)

1 cup bread crumbs (.05)

4-6 chicken legs (1.40)

4 new potatoes (cubed) (.85)

2 tbs olive oil (.05)

2 tbs garlic salt (.02)--I really do figure out about how much it'll cost per tablespoon!

2 tbs pepper (.02)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350.

1. Cut up your potatoes and place them in a baking dish, cover with olive oil, garlic salt and pepper. Set aside.

2. Mix mayo and milk. Whisk egg in a separate bowl and put aside.

3. Dip chicken into mayo/milk mixture, dip it into the egg and then run it through the bread crumbs.

4. Stick your chicken and your potatoes in the oven for an hour.

Total cost of meal: $3.09

'Tater Fried Chicken and Butternut Fries

This was a very tasty, very easy meal that I was able to use a seasonal veggie for. I'm always looking for new ways to use vegetables because my husband is not a huge veggie fan, so anything I can do to them to spruce them up and make them appealing to him is welcome! He ate these puppies up, too. You're going to want a little bit of extra prep time for the fries because butternut squash is a pretty tough one to cut open. It took me about 25 minutes to get the fries ready, so just be prepared.

Ingredients:

4 chicken legs (2.40)

1 Butternut Squash (1.13)

1 pack of instant mashed potatoes (.54)

4 tbs butter (.20)

2 tbs olive oil (.10)

1 tbs seasoned salt (.05)

Step 1: Cut up your butternut squash into preferred fry shape (peel the outside, first). The easiest shape to cut a butternut squash into circles but I'm a little crazy and like to have a good shoestring shape.

Step 2: Put the fries into a bag, add your olive oil and some seasoning and shake it up. Put them onto a cookie sheet and into the oven at 375 degrees for an hour.
Step 3: Melt your butter, dip each leg into the butter and then run them through the instant potato mix. (I know, my pictures are backwards)

Step 4: Stick them in a baking dish and put them in the oven at 375 degrees for an hour.
And you're ready to serve! Ours got packed up and taken to work so that my husband could enjoy dinner with us. It was very yummy!

Total cost of meal: $4.42

Chicken In Red Sauce

Didn't really have a clever name for this one. What you see is what you get, I guess.

Ingredients:

1 8oz can of diced tomatoes (.57)

1 4oz can of tomato sauce (.25)

1 tbs Italian seasoning (.10)

1 tbs of garlic salt (.05)

1 tbs of olive oil (.10)

4 chicken thighs (1.60)

1/2 package of angel hair pasta (.75)

2 ears of corn (1.00)

1/4 cup of cheese (.45)

**Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

**This recipe takes about an hr so this is not the meal to make when you're starving.

Step 1: Mix diced tomatoes, olive oil, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning and garlic salt together in a small mixing bowl. Place chicken in a baking dish and cover with sauce.

Step 2: Place in the oven and set your timer for 50 minutes. When it hits 50 minutes, pull chicken out, cover with cheese and put it back in the oven for 10 mins. While this is cooking, throw your corn into some boiling water for 30 minutes and cook your pasta according to box directions.

Step 3: Take it out and you're ready to serve!
Enjoy!
Total cost of meal: $4.77

Cheddar Cheese Chicken Casserole

I found a recipe similar to this one when I was in a "let's find out how many meals I can make with what's leftover in my pantry before going to the grocery store again" mood. I made the recipe work for what we had left and we LOVED it and it's now on our regular rotation.

(The pictures for this sweet number seemed to have disappeared from my computer but the recipe is just too good not to share, if I do recover the pictures, I'll post them ASAP)

Ingredients:

Cheddar Cheese Soup (1.19)

1 Cup Cheddar Cheese (.94)

2 Chicken Breasts (1.50)

1 Can of Green Beans (.57)

5 Slices of Turkey Bacon (.30)

Ritz Crackers or Bread Crumbs to top (.40)

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Step 1:

Fry your bacon to desired crispiness.

Step 2:

Take bacon out, let it cool. Drain your green beans and toss them into the same pan you fried the bacon in. Let the beans fry for a couple of minutes to soak in the bacon flavor. Crumble bacon when it has cooled.

Step 3:

In your cooking dish, spread the green beans on the bottom. Throw your bacon crumbles onto the beans.

Step 4:

Arrange your chicken on top of the beans, pour can of soup onto the chicken, cover that with your cheddar cheese and top it off with the ritz or the bread crumbs.

Step 5:

Stick it in the oven for an hour and then enjoy!

Total cost of meal: $4.90

Southwest Chicken Salad

This is a salad that even those who aren't "salad people" (ahem..my husband) will enjoy. :)

Ingredients:

1/2 head of lettuce (.78)

1/2 lb of chicken tenders (.97)

1/2 of a cucumber (.35)

1/2 lb of grape tomatoes (1.74)

1/2 bag of taco seasoning (.25)

1/2 cup of cheddar cheese (.24)

1/2 cup of ranch dressing (.30)

Step 1:

Tear your lettuce and place it in a bowl (note in advance: you may want to do this salad in a bowl with a top. I like to be able to shake it all up at the end to spread the dressing more evenly).
Step 2:

Put your chicken strips, tomatoes and cucumbers in with the lettuce.
Step 3:

Get out your 1/2 cup of dressing.
Step 4:

Pour the taco seasoning into it.
Step 5:

Mix the two really well.
Step 6:

Pour the new dressing over your salad, top it with cheese then shake it up.
And you're ready to serve!
Total cost of meal: $4.63