Dinner With This Week's Deals: Grandma's Cabbage Rolls

Since my mother is visiting this week, I decided to put her to work a little bit, and had her help me make one of our favorite meals.  It's a pretty easy recipe to make, it is just messy and time consuming, so I never attempt it unless I have a helper around.

I'm going to share my grandmother's delicious cabbage roll recipe with you today, and since I got both ground meat and cabbage on sale this week, it was a very inexpensive meal to make.

Ingredients:
1 cup raw rice
1 lb. ground beef
3/4 cup green onions  (we were out so we substituted some bell pepper.  Hope it's good!)
3/4 cup chopping onion
3 cloves garlic  (we used minced)
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 tsp. Red Pepper
2 1/2 tsp. Salt
1 8oz can tomato Sauce
1 Large Cabbage

Directions:
--Boil cabbage in a pot of hot water just until the outer leaves begin to get limp (don't let them get too mushy).

--Remove cabbage from water and let cool.  (Save some of the water it was boiled in to cover the rolls).

--In a large bowl, combine meat, rice, seasonings, and half of the tomato sauce.

--Remove leaves carefully from cabbage, trying not to tear them.

--Place 1 tablespoon of mixture in the center of the cabbage leaf (adjust amount per size of leaf).

--Roll up the meat in the center of the leaf, and place the rolls into a pot.  (I place some of the outer cabbage leaves that normally tear onto the bottom of the pot before placing the rolls in so that the bottom rolls do not stick).

--Add 1 cup of the original liquid back to the pot.  Pour the other half of the tomato sauce on top.  Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 1/2 hours.  (I find that if you add more liquid to the pot, the cooking time decreases.  I like to add some beef broth in lieu of some of the liquid/water.  I carefully cut open one of the top ones to check that the rice is fully cooked).

My camera is not cooperating to get a picture of them fully cooked. =(


The Cost:
I doubled the recipe since we have an extra mouth to feed this week, and my husband will have some lunches to take to school this week.

Prices are based on this weeks sale prices/prices I paid for items with coupons.

2 cups rice = about a whole 1 lb. bag that I paid $0.19 for at Kroger
2 lbs. ground beef @ $1.00/lb at El Rio Grande = $2
1 large onion @ 8lbs for $1 at El Rio Grande = $0.13 if the onion was a whole lb.
minced garlic (already on hand)
seasoning (already on hand)
2 cans tomato Sauce @ $0.25 when purchased =  $0.50
2 large cabbages @ 3 lbs for $1 at El Rio Grande =  $1.60 total from my receipt (boiled down the rest for a side for my husband).

Total:  $4.42

This would probably feed all 5 of us (myself, my husband, my mother, and both girls--5 and 2) dinner at least twice, so I could divide that total in half =  $2.21 per meal.  That is just $0.44 per person per meal (assuming it doesn't stretch even farther than that!).

I love doing these calculations!  Reminds me exactly why we need to be eating at home. =)

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Dinner...er..Breakfast With This Week's Deals

I'm not gonna lie...it's been a crazy hectic week for us.  When things are hectic, I like to find the easiest dinner options, and often that means breakfast for dinner.  My girls love eggs.  My husband hates eggs.  My husband is working.  We had eggs. =)

Now I'm not going to tell you a recipe of how to make an egg. It's an egg!  I'm going to tell you about a trick I learned from my grandmother *years* ago.  Actually I had forgotten all about her doing this until just recently when my oldest daughter asked me what my favorite thing to eat was when I was a little girl.  I got to thinking and somehow this came to the surface.  I made it one time, and now this is the only way they want to eat eggs.

It's the simplest thing ever!  She just called it egg on bread, because, well that is exactly what it is.

Step one:  Fry an egg (leave the yolk runny).
Step two:  Place the egg on top of a slice of bread (not toast, just bread).

Salt and pepper if you like (I do!).

Then, you slice it all up and mix it together.  When the yolk soaks into the bread it turns into ooey gooey deliciousness. =)

I'm not going to attempt a cost breakdown for this "recipe" because prices for bread and eggs vary largely from place to place and from brand to brand.  This is a very easy and inexpensive meal, though and even factoring in the strawberries, I know it cost me under $2.

What is your favorite way to eat eggs?

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Using Up Leftover Rotisserie Chicken

The other night, we thawed out a whole chicken from the freezer (the whole bird cost under $4).  My husband injected it with a bottle of Lawry's Lemon-Pepper Marinade  (I don't remember exact price but I know it wasn't over $1).  With that meal we had a box of Suddenly Salad ($0.49) and a pack of frozen corn ($0.88).  That's an entire meal to feed a family of 4 for just $6.37.

But, we didn't even finish all of that chicken.  There was a lot of meat left over.  I pulled the rest of the meat from the bones, and I boiled the bones down to make a stock.  I froze two butter dishes full of that, to be used in later recipes/soups.

Chicken Bones About To Be Boiled

Then I had the chicken meat...I really didn't know what to do with it, and I really was not feeling like eating anything that I already had recipes for, so I began digging around in my pantry (yes, I did organize it!--will share that soon.) and my fridge and I grabbed a box of Skinner Quick Cook Pasta (FREE), a bag of frozen mixed vegetables ($0.88), and a Philadelphia Cooking cream ($1.49 after coupons?), and also about half a cup of that chicken stock.

I boiled the noodles, microwaved the veggies, and heated up the chicken in the broth and cooking cream.  Then I mixed it all together in the pasta pot.

It came out to be a pretty tasty lunch, and there is plenty left over for dinner as well.

For an extra $2.37, I was able to stretch the leftovers from the first meal into 2 more (plus savings on future meals when I use the homemade stock--which tastes much better than store bought!).

For a grand total of $8.74 my family ate/will eat three separate meals.  That is an average of $2.91/meal, or just $0.73 per person.

I *really* need to keep this in mind!  We've had FAR too much fast food this month...and yes I realize the month just started.  We even went out to Cici's the other night after a long, long day when my husband was working.  Of course, I used a BOGO coupon and we ordered water, but that still cost nearly $7 just for three of us for one meal!

I did all these calculations mostly for my own benefit, but I wanted to share them just to put things in perspective.  My husband is always floored when I add up how much full meals for the whole family actually cost us because he often just spent more than that on just him at the Taco Bell drive thru!

I'm not saying that grabbing food out is a bad thing.  Sometimes we all need a break, and sometimes it is completely necessary.  In fact, we will have to grab lunch out again tomorrow after church because we will be heading to visit some family instead of going home.

I just know for us, it can be a money draining habit when things get hectic, so I have to try extra hard to keep that from happening.  I am working very hard to get back into the habit of menu planning and being organized before school begins and my daughter starts Kindergarten.  My husband will be back to teaching as well, on top of his second part time job he just started, so I will need to be better prepared!

I would love to know your tips for staying on top of things when time is short!

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Dinner From This Weeks Deals: Pork.....Stir Fry??

Tonight my husband is working, and I don't usually attempt coming up with new meals while he is away, but since my freezer is empty, I kind of had no choice.  That, and I've had both a pancake dinner and an egg dinner already this week. ;)

Plus, I had a pack of pork chops thawed in the fridge that really needed to be cooked.  I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with them, but they weren't very neatly chopped, so I decided to cut them up in chunks and cook them that way.  I wasn't exactly sure where I was going with it, but I had something Asian-y in mind.

I had quite a few distractions while I was slicing up raw pork.  My just barely 2 year old (her birthday was Tuesday) is quiet (typo, or wishful thinking??) quite the mischievous and opportunistic one.  She can always tell when I cannot stop what I'm doing to stop what she's doing, so she takes full advantage of that.  Luckily, I have a 5 year old...("Ugh, your sister has the mustard!  Now's she's running off with the chili powder.  Can you get that yogurt from her and close the refrigerator?....you get the idea).

Once I was finally able to get the meat into the pot, I seasoned it up and began looking around for things to add to it.  I found half a bottle of Kikkoman stir fry sauce in my refrigerator, so I dumped that into the pot.  I thought I had some frozen broccoli, but I didn't.  I did find some baby carrots and a bell pepper that was about to go bad in the crisper, so I added those to the pot as well.

I made some rice to toss it over, and I think it came out pretty tasty!

Here is the cost break down:

1 lb pork (lowest price this week $0.99/lb at El Rancho)   =$0.99

1/2 bottle of stir fry sauce (paid about $1 for it)                = $0.50

1/2 bag of baby carrots ($0.69/bag at Aldi this week)      = $0.35

1 bell pepper (Fiesta and Tom Thumb have them 2/ $1)  = $0.50

2 cups rice  ( 1/2 of the 1lb bag that I paid $0.19 for)    =$0.10

Total:   $2.44

What's the tastiest meal you've ever tossed together at the last minute?

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Dinner From This Weeks Deal: Creamy Rainbow Pasta and Garlic Chicken

Friday, I started a new feature called Dinner With This Weeks Deals.  Well I had so much chicken, that I was able to try out yet another recipe this week, and it was delicious so I thought I would share it with you guys also.

I used this recipe from The Happy 'Lil Homemaker.

Here are the ingredients:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed
3 cloves of garlic, minced
8 ounces, softened cream cheese
8 ounces shredded mozzarella
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 Tablespoons butter
1 box Rainbow corkscrew pasta

Here are the directions:

In a large skillet, melt butter. Add butter, garlic, and basil. sprinkle in your cubed chicken. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and let simmer. Cook pasta according to directions. In a large saucepan, bring broth to a boil. Reduce heat, and slowly mix in cream cheese. Once cream cheese mixture is smooth (It will look runny at this stage), add in your cheese. Stir constantly until cheese is completely melted. Reduce heat to low, and cover. Drain pasta and add to fully cooked chicken. Toss chicken and pasta. Add cream cheese sauce, mixing well. Cover and let simmer for 5 minutes. Sprinkle extra shredded cheese on top and serve.

I did things a little bit differently, because my chicken was already cooked.  Instead of cooking the basil (I used fresh off my plant) and garlic with the chicken, I added them in with the sauce.  I also tossed in some leftover peas from last night in the end, just to have some veggies. ;)

This was delicious!  My girls ate it with no complaints, and my husband loved it!

Here is the breakdown of what it cost me, based on this weeks meat prices:

1lb chicken @  $0.99/lb = $0.99

Garlic (I used a spoon of minced from a jar)  

8oz Cream Cheese  (I had one in my freezer I had gotten FREE with coupons)

8 oz Shredded Mozzarella =$0.99 (I found these at the 99cents only store, but they are imitation cheese)

1 cup chicken broth  (I had a carton in the pantry, 1/4 of it = $0.30ish)

Basil--picked a few leaves from my plant=FREE

Seasonings (had on hand)

Butter (left out because my chicken was pre-cooked)

Pasta-1 bag of Wacky Mac that I *think* was FREE with coupon.

Peas, half a bag leftover from last night's dinner  = $0.48

Grand Total for this meal:  $2.76  (I estimate around $7 without sales/coupons, which still isn't too bad to feed a family of 4!)

I've really been trying to keep things in perspective by thinking about how little food that amount could purchase at a restaurant or fast food chain.  It's pretty astonishing to think about!

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New Feature: Dinner From This Weeks Deals

A few weeks ago, I began posting about the various meat and produce sales at the stores in our area.  My hope was that it would help us to decide where to shop in a given week and not feel like we had to run to every store and grab every deal with such high gas prices.

Now I want to begin sharing a recipe with you using one of meats (and hopefully a few more items) that are on sale for that week.  I am going to *try* to make this be a weekly feature, but I actually cannot take credit for the one I am posting tonight.  My husband came up with it and cooked it all himself.  Also, I did not even purchase the meat this week.  I had a huge bag of it in my freezer from the last time it was on sale.

So, here is the complicated little story of how this dinner came to be:

Yesterday morning, I spent some time stalking one of my new favorite blogs The Happy 'Lil Homemaker.  She has a TON of great recipes, and I was seriously wanting needing some new recipes, so I picked a few chicken recipes I wanted to try.  I thawed out this huge bag of boneless skinless chicken breast that had been taking up space in my freezer.  Seriously there was 7-8 lbs of it in the bag.  Then I went shopping at Albertson's this morning and totally forgot that every single one of the recipes I had chosen needed some form of shredded cheese and I was completely and utterly cheeseless. =(

I had asked my dear husband to slice the chicken up into small chunks so that we could at least get it cooked and ready to add to the meals, and then I would try to come up with something because I really was not feeling like running back out to the store to get cheese.  Well, the aspiring chef in him took over and he came up with this awesome dinner idea using things we had in the pantry.  

Here is what we ate (the aspiring chef in him also insisted on garnishing it with some fresh basil from our plant):

Here is what he did:

First, he took some of the chicken -about 1-1 1/2lb- and dredged it in seasoning (salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, italion seasoning--don't ask me how much.  We never measure such things around here..LOL)  Then he tossed it in some Italian Breadcrumbs and fried it down in a little Olive oil in a skillet.

For the sauce, we had one can of Hunt's spaghetti sauce in the pantry, and to that he added a can of tomato sauce, paste, and some fire roasted tomatoes, and I'm sure he seasoned it up a bit more himself.

The roll is actually some of those Grands biscuits from my Albertson's trip this morning.  He split them in half, spread on some garlic butter he whipped up, and put them back together, and spread more on top.  They were good!

Then we made half a pack of Ronzoni thin spaghetti I had gotten free at Kroger a while back, and a bag of frozen corn.

Now just for fun, a little bit of math (because I'm a nerd like that):

A couple of stores had Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts for $0.99 this week (they were also $1.79 at Albertson's, and more than I was willing to pay elsewhere).  I am going to make two columns, one for lowest/coupon prices, and one for average sale prices without coupons (which is still going to be WAY cheaper than you think!)

1 1/2 lb chicken @ $0.99/lb  =  $1.49  or  @ $1.79  = $2.69

1/2 Pack Pasta  with coupons = FREE or  @  $1.00  =  $0.50

Spaghetti Sauce with coupons = $0.50 or     on sale   =  $1.50

Tomato Paste (store brand)     =  $0.33                    =  $0.33

Tomato Sauce (store brand)    =  $0.25                    =  $0.25

Roasted Tomatoes(guessing)   =  $0.50                    =  $1.00

Biscuits                                   =  $0.49                    =  $1.00

Frozen Corn (Aldi)                  = $0.95                     = $1.00

                                                  $4.51          or           $8.27

This meal fed 4 people (kids are 5 and not quite 2) with a little leftover.  It could have easily fed a family of 5, or it would be a nice lunch for my husband if he had to work tomorrow.

I did my calculations assuming you would have bread crumbs, a bit of olive oil, and some butter and seasonings on hand.  You will notice that I included only sale prices and not shelf prices.  That's because those are just too high!  Period.  I don't even want to think about it. ;)

I hope this will give you a little encouragement to shop the sales and plan your meals from that.  Next time I hope to include a few more sale items in the recipes, and I guess I will be heading back to the store for my cheese. =/

Have a great weekend!

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