Meal Planning :: Dinner Menu for Jan 12-25, 2014

The menu for the next two weeks.

1. Tacos (baked like always)

2. Pot Roast (will actually be sausage since chuck roast was too expensive)

3. Fried Rice

4. Thai Peanut Noodles

5. Creamy Garlic Pasta

6. BBQ Chicken Pizza

7. Chicken Salad

8. Chicken Parmesan Casserole*

9. Kitchen Sink Soup*

10. Green Chile Enchiladas

11. One Pot Pasta*

12. Tomato Soup

13. Out

14. Out

* new to me recipe, will be blogged

I never make them in order. Bought all my groceries this morning for $80! (At Winco, as usual)

It's normally $75 but I got a few treats today because I was hungry (always a bad plan). 

Cheap Eats :: Creamy Baked Pasta with Spinach

This is my husband's absolute, outright favorite dinner ever. He begs for it all year and he gets it...well, he gets it about once a year. It's his special birthday dinner, but this year he was working on his birthday so we didn't get around to making it until now.
He was so excited and he and Lucy gobbled it up like it was going out of style!
This is a meatless dish and could easily be made vegan with some substitutions. Not mention...it's pretty danged cheap:

Creamy Baked Pasta with Spinach

Ingredients
8oz penne pasta (or any other pasta)
1 (24-28oz) can of spaghetti sauce
8oz softened cream cheese
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
5-10 oz chopped frozen spinach (thawed and squeezed dry)
*I used 5 oz because I like less
dash of nutmeg
pinch of salt & pepper
1 cup mozzarella cheese (shredded)

 Directions (Pre-heat to 350F)
1. Cook Pasta according to directions/drain
2. Whisk cream cheese and milk until smooth
 3. Add spinach and parmesan to cream cheese
4. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg

5. Mix pasta with spaghetti sauce
6. Layer 1/2 the pasta in the bottom of baking dish
7. spread cream cheese mixture over pasta layer
8. Top with remaining pasta
9. Add mozzerella cheese to top

10. Cover with foil or lid and bake @ 350F for 30 mins
11. Remove cover and bake an additional 10-15 mins until cheese browns at the edges

 

Cheap Eats :: Garbage Cookies

The holidays came and went and my family thought we were done with sweets, but nooooo. We needed more cookies in out lives apparently and inspiration struck on Pinterest, as usual.

I've had shredded coconut sitting in my cupboard for a few months, I bought it for a chicken recipe, but never got around to making it. So this recipe was right up my alley because I had all the ingredients on hand.

The original poster mentioned that you could add in almost anything, so I threw in some leftover peanut butter and chocolate chips I had laying around.

These were soo good. They were gobbled up almost immediately and the photos here are from the second batch in 3 days. I dare you not to love them!

Garbage Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Butter, Softened
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Egg
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 1/2 Cups Flaked Coconut
1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips
1/2 Cup Peanut Butter Chips
Pinch of Salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 Degrees.

1. Cream together the butter, sugars, egg and vanilla.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda,
baking powder and salt.
3. Slowly incorporate flour mixture in with the creamed
butter and sugar.

4. When well mixed, add the flaked coconut and chips.
5. Once that is combined, drop onto parchment lined
baking sheets and bake for about 8-12 minutes
or until browned.
6. Let cool and serve.

Printable Recipe Card Below

I'm Back!!

Hi guys! I am waking from the dead to blog about cheap eats once again.

Where have I been? 
Last Fall I had a health issue that made eating a whole new issue. My gallbladder went kaput and I was put on an essentially fat free diet. As exciting as that sounds, chicken and rice every night didn't seem blog worthy at the time. Not to mention that I just felt bad and I couldn't focus on much else.
Just before Thanksgiving I had my gallbladder removed and spent the holidays enjoying my family and the foods I wasn't able to eat during the episodes. Now that things have settled down again, I am feeling bloggy once again!

Things I did on my break that I'll tell you about soon...

• Homemade Laundry Soap
• Homemade Dishwasher Detergent
• Homemade Freezer Breakfast Burritos
• Garbage Cookies

and more...

I can't wait to share more recipes and money saving tips with you!