Sunday Dinner

Tonight was a night for comfort food; baked potatoes stuffed with ham, broccoli and cheese. Stuffed potatoes (with a variety of fillings) are also one of my go-to dinners for busy nights because it's a meal that doesn't require much planning or effort on my part.

I just baked potatoes, sprinkled on a little Mrs. Dash, then filled with Green Giant Broccoli in White Cheddar sauce, diced ham, and more shredded cheese. It doesn't get much simpler than that, and it's delicious on a cool night.

Totals:
.60 - potatoes (10 lb/$3 at Lowes Foods)
.67 - diced ham (3 lb Hormel canned ham/$3.99 at Lowes Foods - used about 1/2 lb)
$1 - 2 boxes broccoli in cheese sauce (.50/ea after BOGO sale + double coupon at HT)
.25 - shredded cheese

$2.52 for dinner for 3

Weekend dinners: Friday night we ate out with friends. A celebration Saturday afternoon left everyone still pretty full at dinner time, so we just picked at leftovers.

Wednesday Dinner

Tonight's dinner was also about using up leftovers - in this case, the rest of the Tequila-Lime turkey tenderloin that I cooked last week. I didn't want it again "plain," so I knew I'd have to find a way to use it as an ingredient in something else. I fiddled around in the kitchen and came up with a soup recipe so good I'd make it on its own merits, leftovers or no. It was rich and spicy and tasted like it had simmered all day - but it took me less than 30 minutes to put on the table.

I topped each bowl with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of Texas Toast Southwest Tortilla Strips - these are sold next to the croutons and I bought them because they were only about .40 after tripled coupon. (I would have preferred them if they'd been made from flour tortillas. Since they were made from corn tortillas, they were really just Doritos in thin strips. I wouldn't buy again unless they were free or almost free after coupon.) I also made cheese quesadillas (just cheddar/jack blend grilled between flour tortillas) to round out the meal.

Southwest Turkey-Corn Chowder

3 T. butter or margarine
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp. minced garlic
3 T. flour
32 oz. chicken broth
1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles, drained (Ro-Tel)
1 14 oz. can corn, drained
leftover diced, cooked turkey tenderloin (about 1 cup meat)

In large saucepan or soup pot, saute onions in butter over medium-high heat until soft and lightly browned. Add garlic and saute another minute. Add flour and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, for 3 - 4 minutes. Add chicken broth and stir with a wisk to break up lumps. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat, add tomatoes, corn and turkey and heat through. Serve in bowls topped with sour cream and crushed tortilla chips (optional).

Totals:

free - turkey tenderloin (accounted for the first night it was cooked)
$1.33 - 32 oz. carton chicken broth
.33 - corn (HT 3/$1 the other week)
.50 - Ro-tel tomatoes w/ green chiles (purchased on sale + coupon)
$1.50 - cheese & tortillas for quesadillas

$3.66 for dinner for 3 (with more soup leftover for lunches)

Monday Dinner

No dinner post last night - I was too sick to cook so it was every man for himself.

I'm still too sick to cook tonight but I managed anyway. I made all my favorite comfort foods and looked forward to eating dinner all afternoon. Then I couldn't taste a darn thing because of this stupid cold/flu. Oh well, I'm sure it was delicious.

We had smoked sausage (grilled last week), individual potato gratins, and butter-crumb cabbage. For the gratins, I use a bag of Simply Potatoes Homestyle Slices (purchased BOGO + double coupon), so I have to increase all the other ingredients to accommodate 12 muffin-cups worth instead of 8. This isn't an exact-measurement sort of recipe, though, so it's very simple. For the butter-crumb cabbage, I use a lot more than 1/2 cup crumbs called for. I crush up 1/2 a bag of Texas Toast Garlic Butter croutons, so it probably comes out to more like 1 cup.

Totals:

.50 - smoked sausage (BOGO + double coupon)
.40 - Simply Potatoes
$1 - cheese & cream for potatoes
.40 - 1/2 large head cabbage
.25 - croutons (double coupons)
.25 - butter

$2.80 for dinner for 3, with 1 serving sausage and several servings cabbage & potatoes left over

Saturday Dinner

I'm still sick (head cold) and still not up for cooking, but I really wanted something warm and rich and comforting for dinner tonight, so I solicited some help from my family to make Mexican Rice. Mainly I sat at the kitchen table and "directed traffic" - chop that, add this, stir, etc.

Mexican Rice

1 lb. ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
3 slices bacon, diced
1.5 cups uncooked rice
1 14oz. can diced tomatoes
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 packet taco seasoning mix
2 cups chicken broth or water (I used chicken broth)
shredded cheese (I used cheddar/jack blend)

Brown ground turkey in large nonstick skillet; remove and drain. In same skillet, saute diced bacon with onion until bacon is cooked. Add turkey back to the pan along with remaining ingredients except cheese. Stir well. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 - 25 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. Add a little more chicken broth or water if it starts to get too dry. Top with shredded cheese and replace cover for a minute or two until cheese melts. This dish feeds 6 - 8 generously.

Options: I had both leftover corn and leftover black beans in the fridge -about 1 cup of each - so I threw them in.

My head is too fuzzy to do all the calculations, but I estimate this dish cost about $4 based on $1.29 chub of turkey, bacon & cheese bought on sale, taco seasoning free after triple coupons, etc. But even if you paid full price for every ingredient, this would still be a pretty economical dish to make given how many people it feeds.