Showing posts with label affordable. Show all posts
Showing posts with label affordable. Show all posts

Thursday, July 2, 2009

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.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Chicken Chili Mac in the crockpot

Hey all! Proud to say I'm now at 21 weeks, cooking again, working out and feeling good!

Last week we found out that baby #4 is a boy. He's following two boys and a girl and big sis was really hoping and praying for a girl but she is begrudgingly coping.

Anywho - thought I'd start off with something easy, tasty and cheap:)

Here's my Chicken Chili Mac...

This crockpot meal was so simple, I started it before taking my kids to the swim club, and all I had to do was add the macaroni when we came home and then eat! My kids gobbled it up after a long day of swimming (and then my youngest conked out about 15 minutes later).

What's in it?
- two chopped green peppers
- one onion
- one tomato (I would have added more but it was all I had today, diced tomatoes would have been really good too)
- two cans of chili beans
- three chicken breasts
- chili powder, cumin, cilantro and salt to taste
- water (enough to cover the ingredients)
- 1 pound macaroni
- shredded cheese (your choice) for a topping

Everything but the macaroni went into the crockpot early in the day.

When I got home I removed and shredded the chicken, added the macaroni and let it cook till tender, then I put the chicken back and it was ready to serve.

I'm thinking I'll use the leftovers for some Baked Chicken Chili Mac and Cheese. Mmmmmm