Beef stew with sweet potato and squash

 

Ingredients:

1 tbsp Becel vegan margarine

2 Large carrots, peeled and sliced

1 stalk celery, diced

1 tsp kosher salt

4 turns of pepper grinder

1lb beef stir fry strips or beef stew meat

1 cup President's Choice frozen diced butternut squash

1 cup President's Choice frozen sweet potato chunks

2 tsp Fody Chicken Soup base

2 cups water

1 tsp oregano

For thickening:

3 tbsp corn starch

1/2 cup water

Instructions:

1) Heat Instant pot by using the Sauté function.

2) Melt margarine and brown beef for 1 to 2 minutes (do not cook through).

3) Turn off Instant pot and add 1/2 cup water and scrape bottom of pot to make sure nothing is stuck.

4) Add remaining ingredients, except corn starch and 1/2 cup water, to the pot and stir well.

5) Secure lid and Pressure cook on high pressure for 15 minutes with a 5 minute natural release. Release remaining pressure manually.

6) Combine 3 tbsp corn starch with 1/2 cup water. Press Sauté and stir in cornstarch mixture. Simmer until thickened.

Saucy sweet chicken drumsticks in the Crockpot

These were really good and since I mixed together a couple of different recipes and experimented with cooking time I wanted to make sure to note how to make these again.

Ingredients:

3lbs chicken drumsticks (about 8-10 drumsticks)

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Seasoning

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp paprika

6 grinds of peppermill

Sauce

1/2 cup Ketchup

2 tbsp Maple syrup

1 tbsp Vinegar

1/2 tbsp Soy sauce

Directions:

1) Place chicken drumsticks into crockpot (I used a 6 quart oval crockpot) and pour oil over them, turning them over to make sure oil is distributed.

2) Sprinkle seasoning ingredients over chicken.

3) Mix sauce ingredients together and pour over chicken, tossing chicken in the sauce.

4) Cook on High for 4 hours.

5) Serve with rice or your choice of sides

Chicken pot pie rice

I threw this together tonight with what we had in our kitchen. Next time I might add in some carrots as well but it turned out well.

 Ingredients:

2 large chicken breasts
1 cup water
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp Fody Chicken soup mix
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen green beans
2 tbsp gluten free flour blend (I used Bob's Redmill 1 to 1 flour mix)
Served with white rice (1 cup white rice, 2 cups water)

Instructions:

1) Start by cooking rice on stove per package instructions.

2) In the Instant pot add 1 cup water and chicken soup mix, place chicken breasts topped with poultry seasoning and salt.

3) Pressure cook on high for 15 minutes, natural release for 5 minutes and then quick release.

4) Remove chicken, dice and return to pot. 

5) Press sauté. Add vegetables and stir in flour blend.

6) Sauté until vegetables are heated through and sauce is thickened.

7) Serve over rice.

Budget Dinners - Week 1 - First 5 days

This week I decided to make a plan instead of just randomly hoping things will work out with dinner. This started with evaluating my pantry and fridge to see what items I already had. This is what I started with: 

- chicken soup mix/ broth, soy sauce, frozen green beans, frozen corn, frozen mixed vegetables, frozen broccoli, vinegar, brown sugar, salt - kosher and table, pepper, ketchup, maple syrup, a selection of spices, corn starch, and vegan margarine. After a quick grocery shop, these are the meals I was able to come up with. My costs are broken down at the bottom of this blog post.

Saturday - Instant Pot Chicken and Mashed Potatoes:

This one uses 2 large chicken breasts, 4 carrots (peeled), 1 1/2lbs of potatoes (peeled and chopped), 1 tbsp Kosher salt, 1/2 tsp thyme, pepper to your taste, 1 1/2 cups of water, 3 tbsp of cornstarch to 3 tbsp of water and 4 tbsp of vegan margarine for the potatoes (I leave the milk out personally). It cooks in the Instant pot for 15 minutes high pressure and 5 minute natural release. Find the recipe here if you want to try it -  https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/instant-pot-chicken-and-mashed-potatoes/

Sunday - Oven-Baked Meatloaf with mixed veggies and rice:

 This uses 1lb of ground beef, 1 egg, 1/2 cup of ketchup, 1 tbsp of brown sugar, 1/2 tsp of salt and I used about 4 to 6 grinds of fresh pepper. Mix it all together, put it in a 2.5 quart casserole dish. Cover and bake at 375F for 45 minutes, removing the lid for the last 15 minutes of cooking. Serve with mixed veggies and rice or your choice of sides.

Monday - Maple Soy Chicken with Rice

 This dish is made with 2 tbsp of maple syrup, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, 1/2 cup of water,  2 chicken breasts, 1 cup of rice (rinsed), 1 cup of water and 1 tsp of chicken bouillon, and 2 cups of frozen broccoli rinsed (to defrost enough to cut) and chopped and cornstarch to make a slurry. This is a pot in a pot recipe for Instant pot. You could also make your rice on the side though. This is a modification of this recipe because I didn't have the ingredients this called for - https://projectmealplan.com/instant-pot-honey-garlic-chicken-meal-prep/#tasty-recipes-6631

Tuesday - Ground beef and Potato Hash

I forgot to take a picture of this one but no modifications were really made to this recipe except I left out the eggs, Worcestershire sauce and garlic and I weighed my potatoes at 1lb instead of using 3 medium potatoes. Find the recipe here - https://busycooks.com/ground-beef-potato-hash/#wprm-recipe-container-32319

Wednesday - Chicken with Red Kidney beans (aka Cowboy stew)

The final dinner meal of this grocery budget, this meal uses 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 chicken breasts, 1/2 tsp salt, 4 spins of the pepper grinder, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp chili powder or mild taco seasoning, 1 can of kidney beans (15oz), 1 cup of white rice, 3 cups of broth (divided - I cooked 1 cup in with the rice and added 2 cups at the end),  and one 16oz can of diced tomatoes. I modified this for instant pot and used chicken breasts instead of thighs. I fried the chicken 3 minutes on each side in the oil using the sauté function, pressed cancel and set the chicken aside and added 1/2 cup of the broth to get the stuck bits off the bottom of the pot. Then I rinsed my rice and put that in with the other 1/2 cup of broth, and the spices and then set the chicken back in and added the diced tomatoes and kidney beans. I pressure cooked this for 10 minutes with a 5 minute natural release and then removed the chicken from the pot, cut it up and added it back in with 2 more cups of broth, stirred, made sure it was warmed through and served. Find the original recipe here - https://thebeanbites.com/chicken-red-kidney-beans-cowboy-stew/#mv-creation-77-jtr

Considering the ingredients I already had (listed at the top), this is a breakdown of the costs for these meals - I shopped at Walmart this time.

Package of 4 chicken breasts $12.94

Lean ground beef value tray 3lbs $16.94

Parboiled rice 2kg bag $4.87

Kidney beans jar $1.97

10lb bag white potatoes $3.94

3lb bag carrots $1.58

28oz Can diced tomatoes $2.88

18 pkg eggs $6.98

Total cost: $52.10

More Shepherd's Pie - Turkey oven version

This is one of those scenarios when I was too hungry, the food was too good, and I of course did not get a photo. This was actually fairly pretty though and looked kind of like this drawing above. So you'll have to imagine it. I took 2 different recipes and took parts from each of them and came up with my own version of Turkey Shepherd's pie. So for your enjoyment. . .(and mine so I remember what I put in it some other time. . .)

Turkey Shepherd's pie

Ingredients:

Filling:

1 tbsp Becel Vegan Margarine

1 cup Chopped carrots

1 cup Broccoli chopped (I used frozen and rinsed with warm water before cooking to remove ice)

1 lb ground turkey (I used Maple Leaf Prime with Rosemary)

1/4 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp thyme

1 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp Fody Chicken stock powder

1 cup water

Topping:

2 lbs of potatoes (peeled and chopped)

4 tbsp Becel Vegan Margarine

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 400F

2. Make mashed potatoes:

Option A:  In my case I put the peeled and chopped potatoes into my Instant pot and pressure cooked with 1 cup of water for 15 minutes and quick released afterwards. No need to drain water just mash them and add 4 tbsp of margarine.

Option B: You can also put the potatoes in a pot, add enough water to cover them, bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium and cook for about 20 minutes. Then drain water and mash, adding 4 tbsp of margarine.

3. While the mashed potatoes are cooking, melt the margarine in a large frying pan at medium high heat. 

4. Add the carrots and broccoli and cook until softened and lightly browned.

5. Add a spritz of olive oil to the mixture.

6. Then add oregano, thyme and ground turkey to the mixture and cook until turkey is no longer pink and is cooked through.

7.  Combine cornstarch, water and Fody chicken stock powder and pour over mixture. Stir until thickened.

8. Spread mixed evenly into a 9 x 13" baking dish.

9. Top evenly with mashed potatoes.

10. Bake at 400F for 25 minutes.

Italian Chicken and Rice Bake

It's clearly been a while since I last used this recipe blog but I thought I should share what I made for dinner tonight. . .

Years ago I had enjoyed a recipe from Campbells for something similar but with an inability to use cream soups any longer due to additional allergies, I pretty much shelved the recipe as something we'd never get to eat again.

Tonight I decided to make a lot of adjustments. . .and it was tasty! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Italian Chicken and Rice Bake:

Ingredients:

2 tsp chicken soup mix (I used Fody)

2 cups water

2 tbsp margarine, melted (I used Becel Vegan)

1 cup long grain white rice

1/2 tsp oregano leaves

1/2 tsp basil leaves

1/2 tsp ground sage

1 zucchini (about 1 cup worth)

14oz diced tomatoes, drained

4 chicken legs back attached

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 400F

2) Mix chicken soup mix, water, margarine, rice, and spices together in 9x13 casserole dish.

3) Spread evenly with zucchini and diced tomatoes.

4) Top with chicken.
5) Cover with tin foil and bake at 400F for 55 minutes. Remove cover and bake for 5 minutes.

6) Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

This recipe served our family of 4 and we had a bit of the rice and veggies left over to eat later. In our case tonight's chicken cost $10.22, zucchini was $1.45 and we already had everything else. This brings our total to $11.67 or $2.92 per person.

 

 

 

Instant Pot Ground Beef and Noodles (Gluten free, Low fodmap)

Ingredients:

1 lb of ground beef

3 cups of broth (I used Fody Vegetable bouillon) 

2 cups frozen vegetables (I used 1 cup green beans, 1 cup corn)

8 oz Pasta (I used Tinkyada spirals)

1) Use the saute function to fry the ground beef.

2) When ground beef is cooked through, add 1/2 cup broth. Scrape the bottom of the pan to make sure there are no stuck on bits.

3) Turn off Saute function.

4) Add pasta.

5) Pour in remaining broth. Make sure the pasta is covered with broth by poking it down gently. Do not stir.

6) Add frozen vegetables over top.

7) Pressure cook for 8 minutes.

8) Quick release pressure and stir.

9) Serve and enjoy.