Mini Turkey Pies

This is adapted from another one of Rachel Ray's ideas. It's a great use of your leftover turkey, stuffing & cranberry sauce. It's also one of five meals coming from one turkey!

I took one pie crust and cut into four pieces.

Layered my leftovers.

Folded the crust over and used egg wash (I know, I was a little messy:) Then baked at 350 for about 12 minutes (check the pie crust box). These are a BIG hit in my family.

Posted on $5 Dinner Challenge and Foody Friday

Rachel Ray's Warm Chicken Piccata Spinach Salad

This one is from Rachel Ray's Express Lane Meals (pg 51) which is one cookbook of my growing collection that I keep going back to for good, fast, easy meals.

I substituted onions for shallots and chopped frozen spinach for fresh to cut costs and I omitted the lemon juice because I didn't have any lemons, but the white wine and capers added plenty of flavor. Tip - you can get cooking wine for a much smaller price in the international isle in some stores. I get it at my local Shoprite.

What's in it...
- 3 boneless chicken breasts (great way to stretch chicken by chopping it and adding it into something)
- salt & pepper
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- rolls
- rice
- butter
- one medium onion chopped
- 3 small spoonfuls of chopped garlic (from the jar, don't tell anyone:)
- 3 tablespoons capers
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 2 boxes of frozen chopped spinach

First I browned the chicken in Olive Oil, when it was done I removed it and let it sit till the end, when I chopped it and added it in.

Sauteed the onions, garlic and capers in olive oil and 1 TBSP butter, then added white wine and let reduce.

Added the spinach and then the chicken.

Served it up two ways, my boys ate it with rolls and my daughter and I had it over rice, cause that's the kind of girls we are.

This was a nice, healthy, and affordable meal. My kids ate it surprisingly well even with the spinach factor. The boys seem to eat anything better when they can make it a sandwich.

Rachel Ray's "Moo Shu Noodles"

Another one of Rachel's (recipe here) and it was a big family hit. I cut some corners to save some pennies on this one. All the veggies were bought from produce junction and I used button mushrooms instead of shiitake and thin cut pork chops with the bone in instead of boneless (they were cheaper and I got them on manager's special).

The fettuccine was Shoprite's brand, I didn't use egg ones because I couldn't find them.

shredded ginger and scallions

Instead of using hoisin and soy sauce I just used up the rest of my Soyaki from Trader Joes and added a little bit of soy sauce (I don't like things too sweet).

After I browned the meat I sauteed the ginger and scallions and then added the mushrooms, finally the nappa cabbage.

Another note - I've started using bouillon or "better than bouillion" instead of the stock in the box to save money. I've also been looking for the low sodium ones.

The vegetables made a lot of juice so I took some out and whisked in flour to thicken the sauce.

The finished product.

This fed my family of five and had three individual meals leftover for lunches. I find that when I put them away in individual meals the leftover actually get eaten and I can also freeze them for later (who needs Lean Cuisine on Stoufer's:).

Pretzel Crusted Chicken

I had made this a while ago and forgot to post but I just ran across the picture. Anyway, this is one of my absolute favorites (my family's too) so I had to share.

Original recipe is from Rachel Ray but I just ad lib now. Really simple.

Chicken tenderloins (buy frozen, they're so much more affordable) dipped in egg, then ground pretzels (I use the food processor) and a second round of egg and pretzel (keep your cost down and buy the no name store brand pretzel, no one will tell the difference), then simply fry till done.

They're topped with a mustard cheese sauce. Easy route, just melt some shredded cheddar and mix in spicy brown mustard, longer route, but still easy, make a rue with butter and flower, add some chicken broth and milk and then add cheese and mustard.

Then top with chopped dill pickles. To me you can't get any better than that!

BTW - the side is Trader Joe's frozen marinated and grilled eggplant and zucchini.

Winter White Lasagna (from Rachel Ray's new book)

I used Trader Joe's spicy Italian chicken sausage

White sauce, this was really good but I'll make double next time.

Loading up on those no-boil lasagna noodles (also at Trader Joe's), which I love but they seem to take more sauce.

So good. No this was not a flat belly diet meal, actually made it before and forgot to post, however I did add flax seeds (you can see some peeking out) so there's a MUFA

For my no cheese eaters I just swapped the white sauce for marinara and they loved it.

Recipe pg 236

Dinner Size - Texas Chili Cheese Fries

This was a meal that everyone gobbled up! With ground turkey, beans and some veggies on the side, it's not too unhealthy as long as you monitor how much you eat, which was hard on this one:)

Fries seasoned and coated with Olive Oil ready to go in the oven.

Chili brewing away. You could really use any chili recipe for this or keep it easy and go canned.

Finished plate. Really should have had more veggies on that plate, but I'm learning in that department. You'll see some more veggies in future posts, look out for some Flat Belly Diet meals. Actually, top your chili fries with avocados and have proper portions and this one could be a Flat Belly Diet Meal!

Get the recipe for this on the Rachel Ray site. The only thing I adapted was I added some black beans into the chili.

2 Meals for a little Steal

I got these two recipes from Rachel Ray's Meals for a Steal only I didn't find them to be quite a steal, but since it was Christmas week I went for it:) It was very helpful to have just a tiny bit of prep for the second night though.

I made Braised (Chuck) Roast Beef the first night and Beef and Barley Stoup the second night. (Click to see recipes)

Half the veggies (sauteed with pancetta) and the meat were saved for the second meal.

I love this pick right from the oven, the meat which was marinated in red wine and bay leaves gets added to the veggies along with the red wine which added such a nice flavor.

"Smashed" red potatoes with butter, plain yogurt (instead of sour cream) and chives.

I didn't puree the veggies for gravy to keep some substance and also cause I didn't feel like cleaning the blender:)


Night Two -

Sauteed crimini mushrooms in Olive oil and butter, then added the leftover veggies and barley.

Added beef stock and simmered, adding the leftover meat towards the end.

Served with grilled cheese and the kids liked it!

Looking to Save money?

For all of you looking to save money on groceries here's a link to Rachel Ray's Meals for a Steal, check it out, I'll be adding quite a few to my next meal plan.

Birthday Pizza Night

For my hubby's B-day dinner he requested pizza. So I made several options:)

Up top is your basic peppers and onions. Used a store bought crust, store bought tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella and sliced peppers and onions. Not too fancy.

I used Rachel Ray's "Spanakopizza" recipe and put in on a store bought whole wheat crust. I was really excited about it but not very thrilled with the finished product.

The sauce was roasted red pepper and kalamata olives pureed in the food processor, then I topped it with sauteed red onions and garlic, put some mozzarella and feta on top and baked it. After baking it gets topped with arugula, diced tomatoes and pepperocini. If I added more olives to the sauce, more feta in the cheese mix and more pepperocini I might have liked more.

Here's my hubby's heart attack pizza with a touch of veggies to make you feel better about eating it.

Again store brought crust. For the sauce I pureed fire roasted diced tomatoes (cause it's what was in the cabinet), garlic, and basil and then simmered to absorb the flavors. It was topped with a very small amount of shredded mozzarella, bacon, ham, sausage, peppers, and onions. This was definitely the favorite.

Smoky Black Bean and Rice Stoup

As you may tell from the word "stoup" this is a Rachel Recipe from her Express Lane Meal cookbook (link below). I changed it a bit so I'll give you my adapted ingredient list (not tons different)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- one pack of Turkey Bacon (baked it in the oven)
- Bay leaf
- 2 celery ribs
- 1 onion
- 4 garlic gloves (but I use a jar so I estimate this one)
- 1 cup frozen corn kernel (I didn't feel like putting it back so I used the whole bag:)
- 2 15-ounce cans of black beans
- ground coriander (I'm not putting spice measurements cause I just use what I want)
- chili powder
- ground cumin (my favorite spice)
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons hot sauce
- 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
- 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 quart low sodium chicken stock
- 1 cup brown rice (I recommend sticking to the cup because I added more which soaked up the broth so I added more stock and it just kept soaking it up, however since it was so thick I used the leftover to make rice and beans with sausage!)

Veggies went in first, then the corn and black beans (half a can of black beans were smashed to thicken it). then spices, stock sauce and rice. Pretty easy.

I chopped up some avocados (topped with lime juice), onions and fresh tomatoes for a topping along with some shredded cheese.

I served it with biscuits, but for some reason they didn't make the picture:)

Rachels Ray's "Meals for a Steal"

Today on Rachel Ray, she gave us two more "Meals for a Steal" Recipes - New England Pasta Bake and Chicken Chickpea Curry Bowls, both for around $10 for 6 people. Pretty good. They both look like dishes I'd like to try.

To make them a little healthier (it may put the price up but not much, the health benefits are worth it) I would recommend using whole grain or whole wheat pasta for the Pasta Bake and brown rice for the Curry Bowls. Plus she recommended dropping the price in the Curry bowls by making them vegetarian, omitting the chicken and using two cans of chick peas.

Rachel Ray's - Chorizo Stuffed Bread Bites

I adapted this recipe a bit from "Rachel Ray 2, 4, 6, 8," (link below)

I can't find dried chorizo around me but this was fresh or uncooked (whatever you would call it) from Aldi's (I also saw that Trader Joes has vegetarian chorizo that I want to try next).

So I started by browning the chorizo and then added the chopped onions and also chopped poblano peppers since I had them from my garden, along with the roasted red peppers.

Real simple - used prepackaged crescent rolls - added a bit of the chorizo, topped with shredded mozzarella, rolled and baked.

I wound up with some leftover chorizo mixture, but no problem I used it the next day to make an egg casserole (click to see).

This is one of the neater looking ones:)

Baking in the oven. Mmmm, can't you just smell it?

Finished product with a side of Fried Green Tomatoes to use up those garden tomatoes.

Tomatoes were just coated in buttermilk and a cornmeal flower mixture and then fried. Real simple.

More Savings with Rachel Ray - Four Meals on a Budget

On Yesterday's show Rachel Ray did a segment on "Meals on a Budget" (click link to view and get recipes).

She demonstrated four recipes, the most expensive being $21.14 (for 6-8 servings) the others only around $9-10! Good job Rachel.

She made Spanish Chicken and Rice, Chicken Wing Broth and Noodle Soup, London Broil with Smothered Onions and Crispy Smashed Potatoes (which also had a side of broccoli) and Potato Kielbasa Bake.

They all looked good, but the one I'm definately trying is the potato kielbasa bake. Hopefully soon, and I'll post the results:)

"Meal for a Steal" on Rachel Ray

Told you I'd keep you updated on Rachel Ray's saving tips.

She added a new segment called "Meal for a Steal" and today the recipe was "Birds Nests with Chicken and Broccoli" with a total cost of ingredients being $7.14.

I'd say that's quite a steal. I wish I could eat broccoli (we don't mix well since child #2) but my kids eat broccoli so even better.

Saving with Rachel Ray - Tuna Casserole

Told you I'd keep you updated on the rumors that Rachel Ray would put an emphasis on saving this season. I was doubly impressed with her recipe today that was easy, healthy (I see she's now using whole wheat pasta) and very affordable (even more so with a few tweeks:).

Today She made Tuna Casserole with some pantry staples. Check it out here.

Save with Rachel Ray?

OK so her first show (airs weekday mornings on ABC) she did give one savings tip.

They did a bit with her shopping at the Farmer's (or Green) Market and she explained how you can get things (in season) for great prices that would be jacked up in the grocery store because it would be considered a delicacy. She was referring to a certain type of eggplant at that point.

This is true and a good tip and being that she shopped at the Farmer's Market for her veggies and herbs I guess her meal wasn't that high priced, although pistachios aren't too cheap (she used herbs and pistachios to make a pesto that she put over pasta and fresh cut tomatoes).

Learn to Save with Rachel Ray?

Ok, so for those of you looking to save on those grocery bills, which is like everyone (unless you are very blessed and in that case good for you:) supposedly Rachels Ray's new season will focus on saving and giving back, you can read more about here .

Though I love Rachel Ray's recipes (very easy and full of flavor) I haven't found them to be too cheap and have learned to adapt them to fit my budget, or rather the budget that I never seem to stick to but keep trying! So I'll be interested to see how this new season (starting today) plays out and will be hoping for some good tips.

Tip - Hey Turkey - Go Ground

Make your turkey go further by buying it ground. You can get it for around $4 or a whole lot cheaper at discount stores (go Aldis!) and you can even get it cheap in Target's freezer section.

Get the protein rich, healthy and lowfat meat for family favorites like meatballs, hamburgers, or even those easy helper meals. Just don't tell them it's turkey, and don't tell my husband that I use it:) Just kidding, I tell him, after he's eaten it and says he likes it. Something about men and red meat.

We tried Rachels Ray's (no, everything I make is not Rachel Ray, I just happen to like her recipes and they're easy) "Great Goulash," and it went over pretty well. Had to make my picky eat the peppers but he did good.
- Health tips - use whole wheat or whole grain macaronis (Barilla has a protein brand for extra protein) and use low-fat or fat-free sour cream.
- Easy tip - buy chopped garlic in a jar, it's easier, your hands won't smell and it lasts longer. Also - you can use dried parsley and dill, just add it earlier.

Great Vegetarian Recipes to try!

Rachel Ray's Veg-Head Three Bean Chili which I'll be making tonight. It was a hit in the past so hopefully they still like it tonight.



Also - Check the International isle in your local grocery store and look for falafel mix. There's one in my store (have to check the brand) that all you do is add water, make it into patties or balls, and fry it (use Olive Oil to be healthier, it's also cheaper in the international isle). We make it into patties and serve it on pita with avocado spread (just mashed avacados and lime juice).