Mexican Chicken Cassarole

Ingrdents:  the quantities depend on how many you are serving.   It is meant to go with pasta, but I cooked it without pasta and it was fine.

Layer :
Cooked chicken :   I shredded a chicken breast that I cooked from frozen in the insta pot for 15 minutes on poultry.

A can of mild diced green chillies, drained

Mexican. Blend cheese

1 can of diced tomatoes with Mexican seasoning, drained.  

Finish with a cheese layer.

Bake at 350 until it is warmed through and cheese is melted...about 30 minutes.

You could serve it inside or on top of a tortilla or mix it with pasta before baking.

Alone, it is low fat and low carb.

Chicken wings in the insta pot.

Chicken Wings in the Insta Pot

1. Chicken wings 
2. 2T butter 
3. 1 cup bbq sauce of choice
4. Seasoning of choice:  Monterey steak seasoning 
5. Hot pepper sauce if desired.  

• Cut chicken wings in to a drum and the body of the wing.  
• Sprinkle with Monterey steak seasoning or seasoning of your choice. 
• Place on rack in the insta pot.  You don’t want the wings to touch water. 
• Add 1-1/2 cups water. 
• Place lid on pot , put lever on seal, and process on manual for 5 minutes.   
• Quick release after 10 minutes past its cycle ( L10) 
• Meanwhile, put bbq sauce in a microwave safe bowl and melt 2 T butter in the sauce. Add hot pepper sauce if desired. 
• When wings are out of the insta pot, place them on a broiler pan and brush with sauce.  
• Broil 5 minutes on 500 degrees 
• Turn the wings over and brush them with more sauce.   
• Broil 5 minute longer.   
• Test for doneness.   

Chicken Enchaladas

I watch u tube videos in the morning.   It gives me ideas and I always learn something.   Someone was making enchaladas from leftover meat.  That reminded me of Chicken Enchaladas.

Chicken Enchaladas 

1 chicken breast -cooked an shredded 

1/2 cup cheese - Mexican blend 

Flour tortillas 

Enchaladas sauce 

Make 2 cups of ‘white sauce” using chicken stock instead of milk.   

Add 1/2 cup of sour cream 

Add 1 can of diced green chilies, drained 

Enchaladas 

Pour sauce to cover a 8x8 square pan 

Mix shredded chicken, Mexican blend cheese, and a little sauce to combine. 

Place mixture on the lower 1/3 oof the tortilla and roll up.   

Place in prepared pan. And continue to fill the pan.  

Pour the rest of the sauce over the tortillas . 

Top with cheese 

Bake at 375 until heated through and cheese has melted.   About 30 minutes.   

Easy Peasy

Groceries on the cheap is based on finding groceries at the RBP and buyungnenough to last you until you find another RBP on the things you use on a regular basis.  Being adaptable to good food that you find really reasonable helps too. I am on a mission to find the best , simplistic, recipes I can that use inexpensive ingredients and are still not fat, sugar, salt, or hydroginated oil laden.   Efficient scratch cooking is key to avoiding bad ingredients and saving money.

Baking hard cooked eggs is efficient and makes for perfect eggs every time.  Dehydrating eggs when they are cheap is a way to stretch your food  dollar and have cheap eggs when they reach 2.00 a dozen.    French toast is a way to stretch eggs and cinnamon bread.  

Mix beaten eggs, some milk , and a tsp of vanilla.   Cook on a grill or in a frying pan until brown. Flip and cook the other side,   Serve with syrup and berries in season.  

Best ever Pizza crust

Its an empty food processer....the start of pizza crust 

Recipe on line

Gather ingredients : flour, salt, yeast, water, oil 

Add dry ingredients to food processer; add oil to warm water.   Pour 

Water through feed tube while processer is running.   

Done

Pour out onto floured counter. Knead lslightly with enough  flour to make the dough not stickey

Put into plastic bag if you are pre making.   

When ready to make pizza, take out of fridge to warm up and flatten on floured board either with hands or rolling pin.   

Filll pizza and bake at 450 until crust is crispy on 

bottom and cheese is melted.   

Meal Plans for week of JAN 8

Meal plans are a necessary part of groceries on the cheap.   They keep you grounded.   They satisfy the question. “What’s for dinner”.    They take a few minutes, and make your dinner hour a lot less hectic.   Most families have a list of ten or so meals that they cook on a regular basis.   The family likes them and it makes life easy.   We like to try new recipes every now and then, but basicly we tend to go for Tex mex and italian or the basic Meat, potatoes, veggie we grew up with.   Nothing wrong with the basics of a balanced meal.

• Soup:   Baked potato cheese soup ; rolls 
• Pizza
• Pork roast, mashed potatoes, green beans 
• Spaghetti with meatballs , salad 
• Pork sliders, veggie tray 
• Homemade chicken nuggets, oven fries, veggie tray 
• Breakfast for dinner.  

Notes  :   Having soup any day that you know that it is going to be heticor that people will be coming and going at different times is a good thing.   Soup in a slow cooker can be dished up at will.   Add a piece of freshly made bread and you have a meal.   

Pizza is always a welcome dish here.   Its cheap and everyone likes it.   Cheese was .99 a 8 ounce bag Saturday at Kroger.  (QFC and Fred Meyers here ) .  That’s two dollar a pound.   You can freeze cheese that has been grated.   Add a little tomato and  a pizza crust for .17 and dinner is cheap.   

Pork Roast is from a pork loin purchased for .99 a lb.   It is morphed into sliders later in the week.   That does necessitate me making rolls.  I am on a mission to find a good , easy roll recipe.   Sometimes it takes a while, but once you find the perfect recipe for your family, it makes life so easy, it well worth the experience.   Considering that the cooking of the roast meal is a piece of cake, the rolls aren't a big deal. 

Chicken nuggets take a breading of nuts, parm cheese, and bread crumbs.   Never buy bread crumbs. You are paying tsometimes upwards of two dollars and fifty cents a lb for someone elses dry bread.   Its just stupid to throw your bread heels away and purchase someone elses dry bread.   

Oven fries take a few minutes, but are well worth the time.   I have been known to buy frozen fries, in a pinch, winco is the best price on those.   The large bag isn’t a bargain.   The smaller ones most of the time are the same price per pound.   The fries aren’t perfectly , evenly, sized.  They all cook at the same time.   The ‘tater tots” are all the same size , just a bit thinner than the real thing.  

Breakfast for Dinner is a staple here.  Everyone cooks something, its a family affair.   Even the granddaughter can butter bread.     She has been known to make waffles now too with some supervision.   Eggs were .99 here this week with limits.   Sometimes chopped veggies can do double duty with pizza and Omlettes.    

Balancing some meals that are really easy with a few that take some time is a way to make good meals attainable.   Its like balancing a cheap meal or two with some that are more expensive.  It makes it feel like you aren’t on a disaster budget.   No one likes beans seven days a week.   LOL

Pizza

Looking through a cookbook I got for Christmas , I had an epiphany.   This recipe was not for a pizza.   What struck me was the selection of ingredients.   Some combinations of ingredients just sound good and can be adapted to other recipes.  


Pizza Dough —the blog as a recipe for easy food proesser,  no kneed pizza dough.   It takes just a few minutes.  Pizza can be one of the cheapest dinners and is a favorite of many children.   That’s a winning situation in my opinion.    A cheese pizza is about a dollar if you get your ingredients at the RBP.  

Top with :
Olive oil
Parmesean cheese ( or Romano or another hard cheese can be used)
Grated  white cheddar cheese
Thinly sliced Roma tomatoes, seeded.
Salt, pepper
Italian seasoning.

Roma tomatoes are usually less expensive than other tomatoes and because they are more ‘meaty” and have less seeds, they are a better buy.  


Bake as directed for the pizza crust/.