Chicken parm sliders

Chicken parm sliders...better, cheaper, faster.   All recipes will be a variation of another recipe made better:  because it is less caloric or has less fat etc.  cheaper :  because less expensive ingredients are used or a variation of ingredients , faster beacause they are made more efficiently.  


Serves  4 people, with 2 sliders each

1 package of hogie rolls.  **
1 large or 2 small chicken breasts, cooked and cut thin.
3/4 cup of mozzarella cheese (shreds )
1/2 cup or amount needed of pizza sauce.

1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2T parmesean cheese
1/8 tsp parsley and/or basil

Cut four hogie rolls in half crosswise to make approximate squares.
Place roll bottoms in a greased baking sheet or pan.
Place cheese over roll bottoms.
Bake at 375 until the cheese has melted.  3-5 minutes

Layer rolls with
Brushed sauce (use pastry brush)
Chicken slices,
More sauce
Cheese.  
Place tops of rolls on bottoms.  

Stir spices and cheese into melted butter .

Brush tops of sliders with melted butter sauce

Bake in oven 20-25 minutes.   Or until tops are browned and cheese is melted , sliders are heated through.  

**. Dinner rolls are the preferred bread, but they are twice as expensive as cutting a hoagie roll in half. (1.99).  It would be cheaper if you made dinner rolls from scratch.   There should be two rolls left over for another meal.  

Using chicken sliced thin is cheaper and better carb wise than using a ready made chicken tender.  Chicken can be cooked from frozen or not in the insta pot.  It might taste good if it was dipped in the butter sauce.  

Using part of a pizza sauce jar is more economical because there is no waste.   The remaining sauce can be frozen for a future pizza.

Using shredded mozzarella is cheaper and less work because it will melt faster and it is already in your stock because of making pizzas.  

Meal plans

Meal Plans.

Having a plan just makes the meal time easier.   It takes away the stress of the "What's for dinner " questions and saves the blank stare at the fridge syndrome.   LOL.

They don't have to be assigned a particular day, just have a plan.  

• pizza
• Breakfast for dinner
• Sausage and bean soup 
• Nachos 
• Homemade chicken nuggets and oven fries , veggie sticks 
• Chicken parm sliders. 
• Tuna surprise 

Chicken thighs with root veggies

Chicken thighs are one of those things that youneithr like or you dont like .    It used to be that they were cheaper, but i am not seeing that now.  

• Three medium potatoes. Washed and cut into about one inch pieces. (Probably eighths) 
• 1 large  pepper or a combination of peppers if you have them. 
• 2 carrots, quartered.  
• 1 bunch of radishes washed and halved.   
• 1 T olive oil or enough to lightly coat veggies.   
• 4 chicken thighs.   (Boneless are good too) 

1. Cook thighs in the insta pot or separate from a cooked whole chicken.   Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with rosemary and thyme.  
2. Place cut veggies on sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil.   Add salt and pepper.   

Bake at 425 degrees 25 minutes or until veggies are almost soft.   Add cooked chicken and cook an additional 15 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked and the chicken is heated through.   The heat will crisp up the chicken and the vegetables should be tender.   

Check the doneness periodically because all ovens are different.   Yours may cook faster.   

Note:  1 have also made this with rope sausage, cut into portions.    

I think chicken breasts would work too.   

Toasted cheese sandwiches

A right of childhood .

A secret of chefs is to use grated cheese.

8 slices wheat bread
Butter
Grated cheese of choice

Lay bread out on board or counter.
Put grated cheese, or thin cheese slices on one slice of bread for each sandwich.
Place top slice of bread on the loaded slice.
Butter the top of the sandwich.  
Place butter side down on grill and cook until brown.   Meantime, butter the top of the sandwiches in the pan.

Note : my husband uses melted butter. That is an option.

Another option:

Split a loaf of french bread.   Homemade or not.......
Butter both sides.  Sprinkle with grated parm and steak seasoning OR grated parm and parsley.
Broil until slightly browned.  

Tomato soup recipe is on www.janegrocerysavy.blogspot.com

Fastest Vegetable Soup EVER!

This is my own recipe.   Its fast, it's economical and its healthy .   Better, Cheaper, Faster.  
No bad fat, scratch and tasty.  


4 cups assorted beans of choice (cooked)

1 cup total of  chopped or diced  carrots, celery, onion and peppers , sauté in olive oil.  
2 cans, undrained of diced tomatoes ( Safeways has tomatoes in BPA free cans )
1 quart of stock :   Tomato, chicken, or vegetable
1 tsp EACH of garlic powder, italian seasoning, parsley.

1. 1 cup of dried beans makes 3-1/2 cups beans .   Place a heaping cup of dried assorted beans of choice that have been picked and rinsed in insta pot.   Cover with water up to your second knuckle.  Place the lid on the pot and put the lever to seal.   Push the bean button.  
2. While the beans are processing cut the vegetables.  This is where prep work on your prep day helps.   Using a food processer helps too.  
3. Walk away and have a cup to tea......or make bread to go with the soup.   
4. When beans are done, release the pressure and drain the beans.   
5. Return the pot to the pressure cooker and put a couple of teaspoons of olive oil in it and the vegetables and set in sauté mode.   When vegetables are crisp tender, turn off the pot .
6. Add remaining ingredients and the beans back to the pot.   
7. Put on a regular lid or the pressure cooker lid NOT on seal. And program the pot to slow-cook 6-8 hours.   

Alternative if you dont have a insta pot.  

Sauté vegetables in a small skillet until crisp tender. 

Use 2 cans of beans instead of raw beans.   

Dump everything in a slow cooker and program for 6-8 hours on low.    

This is faster but not as low sodium.   

Quiche aka Impossible Pie

One of our families favorite it impossible pie.   It is a Betty Crocker recipe.  It is also mostly protein and veggie somqetimes., its quick and very low carb.

We fried and de fatted a pound of sausage purchased for 2.50.

Our version of 'Quiche'.

3/4 pound of sausage fried an de fatted.
1 cup shredded cheese.
1 cup milk,
2 eggs
1/2 cup bisquick

Grease a deep dish pie plate or 11X 7 baking dish.
Spread the sausage in the bottom of dish
Sprinkle with grated cheese (we use Mexican blend)
In a blender mix the eggs milk and bisquick.
When thorally blended pour over ingredients in pan.
Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

I like it with salsa or sour cream.
I served a fruit cup with it.

Note :  almost the entire dish is protein and dairy.   1/2 cup of bisquick is spread between four servings that makes for a low carbohydrate meal.

Its fast.  It has less carbs than a tradional quiche because there is only one crust that is low in carbs.
Cheaper because I used 3/4 of a pound of sausage 1.56; cheese.58; milk .13; eggs .13, total 2.40.

Blast from the past : Cheeseburger Macaroni

I developed this recipe years ago.   A lot of years ago.   The total cost of 4 servings corn 4 adults was 3.47 for six,  prorate to 2.31 for four.     It was sooo long ago that hamburger was 1,66 at qfc.   LOL

1 pound hamburger , cooked and de fatted
1 stalk celery, chopped fine
1 slice red pepper
1/2 tsp EACH of garlic and onion powder
1 can diced tomatoes
2 T tomato paste
1 cup grated Mexican blend cheese
1/2 pound macaroni   cooked

Brown celery and pepper in a large skillet with a little olive oil.
Add cooked , hamburger
Add garlic and onion powder, tomatoes and tomato paste.
Simmer about 15 minutes

Meanwhile cook macaroni and drain.   Reserve some water in case
you have to add to the skillet to make it the right consistency.

Add macaroni to the skillet.  Top with cheese and cover for a few minutes until the cheese melts.

Costs then and now - just for fun .  

Hamburger 1.66 now 3.28
Celery .33 lb now 1.00
Red pepper .50 now 1.00
Diced tomatoes .59 now .50
Tomato sauce .33  now .50
Grated cheese was 2.00 a lb now 2.35
Macaroni .69. Now .59 to a dollar .  

Total cost now is 5.05 prorate four servings to 3.37
An increase of about 45 percent.  

First created 8/09

I added artisan bread with parmesean cheese and parsley butter and a green salad .
1/2 a loaf was fifty cents,   Sometimes you can get a loaf for ,88 of french bread at Winco.
The cost of a loaf of french bread is about 30 cents.  
Green salad is still a dollar a bag if on sale, but usually it's closer to three dollars a bag I priced tomatoes at a dollar.  They are still a dollar on sale this time of year and homemade dressing at a quarter.    The extras were cost at about a dollar for the bread and 60 for the salad.   The bread could be less if you made bread, but the salad could be remarkably more.