Saturday & Sunday Dinner

It was so wet and nasty yesterday (and unfortunately, I had to be out and about in it for much of the day). Hot soup and sandwiches was the perfect dinner to warm us up, with minimal effort. Harris Teeter has their pre-packaged deli meats and cheeses on sale this week buy 2, get 3 free. They also have Progresso soup b2g3, plus there are several coupons floating around out there. The combination of sale + coupon brought it to about $1/can. Large croissants are BOGO at Lowes Foods this week, bringing them to $1.90/4.

This meal came to $1.65 per person for 1 sandwich (croissant, 2 slices roast beef, 1 slice cheese), and 1 cup (1/2 can) of soup.

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Sunday dinner was unconventional. I realized that I had all the ingredients in the house to make one of my favorite party dishes - Buffalo Chicken Dip. So I made that and let everybody snack - The Kid will get pizza at youth group tonight, and there's plenty of assorted odds & ends in the fridge if anyone gets hungry later.

This isn't an exact-measurement kind of recipe - just "wing it." (Ha. Wing it. Buffalo Chicken Dip. I'm such a wit.)

Buffalo Chicken Dip

2 8 oz. packages cream cheese
1 cup ranch dressing
1 cup cooked shredded chicken breast
3/4 cup Frank's Hot Sauce or other hot sauce of your choice
1/2 - 3/4 cup shredded cheddar, monterey jack, or blend
2 - 3 T. blue cheese crumbles - optional

Combine cream cheese and ranch dressing, mix well and spread into 8" baking pan. Combine shredded chicken and hot sauce, spread ove chicken. Sprinkle with shredded cheddar, and blue cheese (if using). Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Serve with crackers, chips, and vegetable dippers.

NOTE 1: Today I used Sweet Sue chicken breast in a foil pouch. It worked very well although I had to "mash" with a fork to break up large chunks. In the past I've used canned chicken breast (2 small cans or 1 large), and I've also poached and shredded fresh chicken breast (2). It all works fine, so just use whatever is most convenient for you.

NOTE 2: For a party I serve this with celery sticks, baby carrots, and broccoli florets, plus either Triscuits or Frito Scoops. Today we had celery sticks, baby carrots and saltine crackers because that's what was on hand. Still awesome.

Totals for the dip look like this:

.75 - chicken breast in pouch (after triple coupons)
$1 - cream cheese (after super double coupons)
free - ranch dressing (after sale + triple coupon)
.50 - shredded cheese (1/2 package purchased B2G3)
.50 - blue cheese

$2.75 for about large pan (served 3 for dinner w/ dippers)