Wednesday Dinner

Tonight I made Curried Coconut Chicken and served it with white rice. This is the second time I've made this dish and the family loved it just as much as the first time - maybe more. My only changes to the recipe are that I cut the chicken to 1 lb. and only used about 3/4 can of coconut milk (used 1/2 cup in my now-famous Banana Tres Leches Cake.)

Even if you're unfamiliar with the flavors of Indian food (as my family is), I highly recommend this dish. The Kid practically jumped for joy when I mentioned what I was cooking tonight. It's THAT good.

Totals:

$2 - chicken (purchased BOGO at Harris Teeter)
$1.29 - coconut milk
.80 - canned tomatoes
.50 - onion, rice

$4.59 for dinner for 3 (with leftovers for another serving)

Tuesday Dinner

As is my habit, I threw a lot of extra meats on the grill last night to serve for the rest of the week. Tonight we had bratwurst on buns with sauerkraut, au gratin potatoes, and sliced tomatoes from the garden. The bratwurst and buns were part of this weeks Harris Teeter meal deal - package of brats, package of buns, can of baked beans, and 1 lb deli potato salad for $5.99. I have no idea how to portion out the cost for tonight's meal since we didn't serve the potato salad & beans (it also seems like a completely obsessive thing to calculate), but I estimate tonight's dinner cost about $5.

Monday Dinner

I broke out the grill tonight for what may be the last time this summer. Awhile back, I splurged on a boneless marinated lamb shoulder and decided it was finally time to cook it. (This particular roast was originally $14 and change but I got it for about $7 after meat markdown + coupon.) So I grilled it to medium-rare, sliced it thin and served it with yellow cherry tomatoes from my garden (these need no embellishment) and my Fake-Out Lemon Broccoli Risotto.

Totals:

$7 - lamb
$1.25 - broccoli
$2 - other risotto ingredients
free - cherry tomatoes

$10.25 for dinner for 3 (with lamb and risotto left over)

NOTE: The wine department can be a great source for coupons, and they are often for unbranded items that never have coupons (fresh meat, produce, gourmet cheeses, etc). For this lamb roast, I used a coupon for $4 off any fresh meat that came off a wine bottle.

Sunday Dinner

The Kid and I were out of town visiting friends Friday & Saturday and didn't return until late this afternoon. I had purchased a Tyson Fajita kit awhile back (from WalMart, with coupon) for just this sort of night when I'm tired and uninspired. It turned out pretty good - better than many frozen "bag to skillet" meals, with the bonus of being portioned to serve 3, not 2. On the side I served a can of Glory Foods "Sensibly Seasoned" pinto beans, whole grain tortilla chips and a brand of guacamole that's sold vacumn-packed in the produce section. All of these were free or nearly free after super-double or triple coupons at Harris Teeter. All in all, a very nice (and inexpensive) dinner for a "I'm too tired to cook" night.

Totals:

$4.39 - fajita kit
.15 - pinto beans
free - guacamole
.10 - tortilla chips

$4.64 for dinner for 3

Thursday Dinner

Tonight was sort of a "garden dinner." We had sliced tomatoes, the last of the pole beans, collards (from a can, not from the garden), and homemade mac & cheese.

Totals:

$3.50 - ingredients for mac & cheese
$1 - collards
free - tomatoes
free - beans

$4.50 for dinner for 3, with leftovers for several more meals

Wednesday Dinner

I had another short-on-ideas night tonight. (Everything I could think of - that needed no extra ingredients to buy - was based on either beef or rice. I'm currently a bit tired of both.) So I made our old standby - breakfast for dinner. With all the deals I've gotten lately with sales, triple coupons, etc., it was incredibly cheap. I made bacon, egg & cheese biscuits and hash browns, with fresh fruit (watermelon from the garden) on the side. Yum! As a bonus, The Kid made extra breakfast sandwiches with the leftovers, which are now ready for microwaving before school.

Totals:

.75 - bacon (1/2 package, purchased when HT had buy 2, get 3 free deal)
.33 - Grands biscuits (sale + triple coupon)
.40 - eggs
.50 - cheese
.40 - Simply Potatoes hash browns (BOGO sale + super double coupons)
Free - watermelon from garden

Totals: $2.38 for dinner for 3 (plus 2 leftover sandwiches for breakfast)

Tuesday Dinner

Tonight was a new-to-us recipe - I made Korean-style braised short ribs in the crock pot. I served them with rice and they were delicious - very easy, too. I came across a fantastic price on marked down short ribs not long ago. After a quick conversation with the butcher on how to best cook them, I browsed through lots of short-rib crockpot recipes. I took what I thought were the best elements from several Korean-style recipes, and this is what I came up with:

Dredge 2 - 3 lbs. beef short ribs in flour seasoned with salt & pepper, and brown on all sides in a little oil. (Do about 3 - 4 ribs at a time to keep from overcrowding pan.) Place ribs in crock pot. Pour over 1 can pineapple chunks (reserve juice) and 1 sliced onion. For braising liquid, mix together reserved pineapple juice, about 1 cup soy sauce, about 1/4 cup each brown and white sugar, 1 tsp. minced garlic, and 2 tsp. sesame oil. Pour over ribs and cook on high setting for about 5 hours, or until meat is tender. Skim as much fat as you can from the surface. Serve with rice.

NOTE # 1: All the recipes I found called for ginger. I thought I had some, but couldn't find it when I went to look. Recipe was delicious without it, but I definitely would have used it if I could.

NOTE # 2: Cooking on low for 8 - 10 hours would have worked just as well, I just didn't have time to cook that long.

NOTE # 3: If you can make this an entire day ahead of time, even better. The fat will rise to the surface and harden, then you can just peel it off. (Which is what I intend to do with leftovers tomorrow.)


Totals:

$4.02 - short ribs
$1.09 - pineapple
.20 - rice
.50 - onion, soy sauce, sugar

$5.81 for dinner for 4 (sister joined us), with plenty of beef left over