A few weeks ago, over at classic campbell, it was mentioned that finding vegetarian menu items helps crunch a weekly food budget. We are still tweaking our food budget, since it and our vehicles' gas budget are the two places we can really pinch pennies month to month, I've been putting CCs thought into action more and more frequently.
I threw this recipe together, inspired by a few things that frequently end up "dying" (as it's called in the food service world (I do sometimes miss the days of waitressing...)) in our fridge.
1/2 a 16 oz. jar of roasted red peppers
1/2 a 16 oz. jar of banana or yellow wax peppers (chopped if they're not already)
1/2 26 oz. jar of red pasta sauce (I buy the $.99 can that's at the bottom of the shelf, usually Hunts brand)
1 can black beans
feta cheese
1 (of the smaller) package(s) mozerella
a pizza crust (use whatever you prefer. I've used a homemade pie crust flattened out to fit all the toppings. I've also purchased refrigerated crust, Boboli, a whole wheat crust, and more recently, Joseph's Lavash Bread)
Top the "crust" logically -- red sauce, feta, rr peppers, yellow peppers, black beans, mozerella is my technique :)
Bake at 350 until the mozerella is golden tipped/bubbly
I love this pizza with a side of spinach salad with evoo and balsamic.
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
two birds
Okay, not quite two birds. But two meals, at the very least.
A few weeks ago a good friend shared an idea: roast a whole chicken in the crock pot. Awesome. I thought I was saving money by buying two whole chickens and cutting them up myself. But I certainly wasn't saving time.
Here's how it goes:
Rinse a whole chicken, place it in the crockpot with one cup of water. Add roasting veggies, i.e. onions, garlic, carrots, celery, then salt & pepper. Four hours later (if you go with the 10 hour setting and wait 8-10 hours, your chicken will turn out even more tender), you've got yourself a yummy fully-cooked chicken AND chicken stock (with a longer cook time, the stock will be richer also).
I do have my own twist: add split peas! Ooo. Of course, this means using 5 cups of water instead of 1 and a bit more sal y pimienta. (The split peas are a bit more gooey, which I don't love, on the 8 hour setting.) After deboning, you've got two cooked chicken breasts (with the tenders, this is dinner for two and lunch the next day) and a bunch of dark meat (great for tortilla soup, or I may freeze it to use at a later date), and the split pea soup.
So three of the things on the dinner menu this week:
Roasted white meat chicken & mac & cheese (see directions below)
Tortilla soup (see below!)
Split pea soup & salad
Homemade mac & cheese:
1 tablespoon of butter
1 teaspoon of flour
1/2 cup milk
1 cup of cheddar (or whatever kind of cheese you prefer)
1 teaspoon cornstarch
Sprinkle the cornstarch on the cheddar (it keeps it from getting stringy) and mix it as evenly as you can.
Melt the butter, mix in the flour evenly, toast it if you can.
Slowly whisk in the milk until it's evenly mixed with the butter/flour mix.
Melt the cheese/cornstarch in with the milk. Whisk, whisk, whisk until it's even.
Toss cheese sauce in with 1/4 box cooked pasta, salt & pepper to taste.
Tortilla soup: If you need a quick dinner or need one last thing to add to your menu, this is perfect. Just remember the 5 ingredients.
Dark meat from the roasted chicken
1 can kidney beans (or whatever your fave are)
1 can rotel
1 can creamed corn
1 can cream of chicken
All ingredients into a large pot, heat to boiling, serve with rice & a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cheese.
A few weeks ago a good friend shared an idea: roast a whole chicken in the crock pot. Awesome. I thought I was saving money by buying two whole chickens and cutting them up myself. But I certainly wasn't saving time.
Here's how it goes:
Rinse a whole chicken, place it in the crockpot with one cup of water. Add roasting veggies, i.e. onions, garlic, carrots, celery, then salt & pepper. Four hours later (if you go with the 10 hour setting and wait 8-10 hours, your chicken will turn out even more tender), you've got yourself a yummy fully-cooked chicken AND chicken stock (with a longer cook time, the stock will be richer also).
I do have my own twist: add split peas! Ooo. Of course, this means using 5 cups of water instead of 1 and a bit more sal y pimienta. (The split peas are a bit more gooey, which I don't love, on the 8 hour setting.) After deboning, you've got two cooked chicken breasts (with the tenders, this is dinner for two and lunch the next day) and a bunch of dark meat (great for tortilla soup, or I may freeze it to use at a later date), and the split pea soup.
So three of the things on the dinner menu this week:
Roasted white meat chicken & mac & cheese (see directions below)
Tortilla soup (see below!)
Split pea soup & salad
Homemade mac & cheese:
1 tablespoon of butter
1 teaspoon of flour
1/2 cup milk
1 cup of cheddar (or whatever kind of cheese you prefer)
1 teaspoon cornstarch
Sprinkle the cornstarch on the cheddar (it keeps it from getting stringy) and mix it as evenly as you can.
Melt the butter, mix in the flour evenly, toast it if you can.
Slowly whisk in the milk until it's evenly mixed with the butter/flour mix.
Melt the cheese/cornstarch in with the milk. Whisk, whisk, whisk until it's even.
Toss cheese sauce in with 1/4 box cooked pasta, salt & pepper to taste.
Tortilla soup: If you need a quick dinner or need one last thing to add to your menu, this is perfect. Just remember the 5 ingredients.
Dark meat from the roasted chicken
1 can kidney beans (or whatever your fave are)
1 can rotel
1 can creamed corn
1 can cream of chicken
All ingredients into a large pot, heat to boiling, serve with rice & a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cheese.
chocolate chip pumpkin muffins
Part of this whole blogging-with-purpose experiment includes posting my favorite recipes. This is the first of the latest.
3 cups flour (the whiter the flour, the gooier the muffin :))
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves (I don't use this)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
1 16-ounce can pumpkin (this calls for the little one, I use the big one -- 32 oz?)
1 cup salad oil (I just use whatever veggie oil I have...)
It calls for raisins and walnuts, but I OBVIOUSLY went with the whole bag of chocolate chips!
Preheat oven at 350. Grease muffin pans (I use a mini muffin pan).
I mix each ingredient in a bowl, one at a time, spoon it into the pan and bake until they're golden brown. It can be tough to judge bc they're going to be super moist, so prick them like you would a pan of brownies. Consume with caution, they're quite addicting!
3 cups flour (the whiter the flour, the gooier the muffin :))
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves (I don't use this)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
1 16-ounce can pumpkin (this calls for the little one, I use the big one -- 32 oz?)
1 cup salad oil (I just use whatever veggie oil I have...)
It calls for raisins and walnuts, but I OBVIOUSLY went with the whole bag of chocolate chips!
Preheat oven at 350. Grease muffin pans (I use a mini muffin pan).
I mix each ingredient in a bowl, one at a time, spoon it into the pan and bake until they're golden brown. It can be tough to judge bc they're going to be super moist, so prick them like you would a pan of brownies. Consume with caution, they're quite addicting!
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