ISO: ISO: Budget friendly recipes. Especially ones that will work well for lunches.

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dawn_mo

Well-known member
I screwed up the checking account and a tree landed on my car windshield.

I was lucky though, all it required was a new windshield. We are house rich, cash poor these days. No mortgage, but check to check. I am starting the Farmer's Market this weekend so that will help.

So I am looking for some good salads and entrees that are budget-friendly that I can send for lunches and be reheated for my bottomless pit son.

Thanks!

 
The creamy beefaroni and chicken tetrazzini in T&T would be great. Sorry to hear of your troubles!

 
The main thing is that no one was hurt or killed. Insurance will take care of the red wagon

but the checking account is another story.

I saw Melissa d'Arabian make a beautiful roasted whole chicken with butter and fresh herbs today, with equally beautiful roasted spuds cooked under the chicken and for under 10.00. The leftover chicken meat can be used for sandwiches, tacos, etc. While I don't watch her often, her food looks pretty good and it is all under 10.00. You might check out her site on Food Network for more ideas.

 
Our driveway is lined with Bradford Pears, which are beautiful trees;

they flower, turn green and turns colors in the autumn. We haven't been diligent about having them trimmed. It was like a hurricane that night. Needless to say, we have a lot of firewood for the winter.

 
Rec: Chicken soup without the soup

Poor Dawn! Looking at the picture, I am surprised that you only needed a new windshield.

My family loves chicken soup, I can take it or leave it. So I make this, which feeds a LOT of people, and where I can remove some soup for the soup lovers if they want. Although I have no personal experience of Chicken and Dumplings, I suspect this is a similar dish.

1 chicken (or 3-4 lbs of chicken pieces)
2 onions
2 potatoes
2 large carrots
Any other vegetables you have on hand, the more the merrier.
1 lb pasta
Water or stock (I use water, but I know many of you use stock to make chicken soup)
Bay leaf

Cut the chicken into as many pieces as you can. I separate the wing pieces, cut the thighs into two, cut the breasts into 3 or 4 pieces, cut the back into 2 pieces. You can use the neck, crop and heart, if you have them and if you like.

Put in a Large Pot. Add onions, salt and pepper to taste, and the bay leaf. Cover the chicken with water or stock, going at least an inch over the chicken. (If you are using chayote or pumpkin, put them in with the chicken now, diced.) Cover, bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

While the chicken is simmering, peel and dice the potatoes and peel and slice the carrots. Prepare your other vegetables. Green beans, summer squash, fresh ripe beans are all delicious, whatever you can find. Cooked dried beans also, if you have them left over.

After 30 minutes, add the vegetables and the pasta, and add salt to taste. Make sure that everything is barely covered with liquid. Replace the cover, bring back to the boil, simmer for 15 minutes. Stir to make sure all the pasta gets its turn in the liquid. Cook for another 15 minutes. Check that all the vegetables are cooked. There will probably be some soup available at this point. I serve my portion with a slotted spoon as I don't like mine wet. Any liquid left in the pots will be absorbed by the pasta as it cools. This reheats beautifully, and I like it cold as well. Serves at least 8.

 
We have these in our lawn area in front of the house. I did not realize one needed to trim them.

Ours are growing nicely, perfect shape. I was curious so did a bit of research on them at Dave's Garden. It seems they throw out suckers all over the ground (which ours are doing) and you will have a forest of them in your yard if you do not pull them up. Also, after they get over ten years old, they split, that must be what happened with your tree. It took my husband a long time this year to pull those suckers out of our lawn. The nursery says you can spray them to stop them from doing it....but who wants to bother spraying huge trees. Yikes.
We also have another type of pear tree growing along the street, it is a fruitless tree, as well and it columnar shaped. It gets some sort of blight every year.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/191/

 
Here is my menu so far. Nothing gourmet at all, but pretty inexpensive.

Thanks for all of your imput!

I will also make some oatmeal cookies, a cake of some sort, pudding, jello, Carole;s English Muffin Bread. I have some frozen tillapia in the freezer, bacon, a small pork roast and probably some mystery meat. I bought a 5 pound bag of potatoes which can be used in so many ways. My family loves soup and if I serve it with fresh bread, there will not be a complaint even though it is hot outside. Some muffins might be nice for the weekends. Sorry to drag this on, but I am sort of making mental notes for myself to look back on. I might buy another pack of chicken quarters for grilling next week, but I will wait until I am done with what I have.


TO FREEZE
breakfast burritos
bean and cheese burritos
chicken burritos
twice-baked potato halves

MAKE AND KEEP IN FRIDGE
tuna pasta salad
broccoli salad
Cathy Z's Spicy Noodles

Wednesday
Roast Chicken quarters w/stuffing
Baked Potatoes
Mixed vegetables
(Mexican Chicken Soup with leftover chicken, along with creamy chicken
enchiladas)

Thursday
Goulash aka Beefaroni
Green Salad
Garlic Bread

Friday
Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
Refried Beans
Rice

Saturday
Pizza
Salad

Sunday
Roast Beef
Mashed Potatoes
Cooked Carrots
Green Salad

Monday
Beef Barley Soup (made from leftover roast beef)
Fresh-baked Bread
Salad

 
Can you tell me more about the frozen burritos? What's in your breakfast burrito? And

I'm assuming they go from freezer to microwave? How long do you microwave them for? I've been meaning to do this for a while now and have never tried.

Looks like a great menu! I'd be happy with all that. Beef is super expensive here. I cook a lot of pork these days because it's much cheaper than beef. You?

 
They can be just beautiful, but all the article says is true--

plus they are not long lived trees--30 or so years. And they do split. We have ice storms and it plays havoc with our streets that are lined with them.

 
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