Chicken Taco Mexican Casserole

I am not a fan of spicy things. At all. But this is perfect! I did make a few alterations, because I did not have any black beans on hand. I am trying to use up things I have in my pantry etc.

Here is the Recipe I used from All Recipes. I changed the servings to 4 b/c there is just two of us as well.

But here's what I did:

1 can of Rotel Mexican - lime and cilantro ( eliminates the need for all the other individual ingredients!) mom gave me this as well <3
2 chicken breasts, boiled and shredded- it was enough chicken for us two
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream ( borrowed from my mom since I had none
1/2 packet of taco seasoning i had from Wildtree Organics ( I had gotten the kit and its been sitting there so i figured why not use it!)
2 cups of crushed chips- i used what i had on hand which was a 98 cent bag of walmart  round tortilla chips. I put half IN with the mix and then the other half i put on top and mixed when done.
1 cup of block cheese shredded finely

I followed the baking directions but i did not layer it- i mixed all together and baked for 30 minutes then added the chips ( 1 cup remaining) afterwords

You could pair this with some rice as well. I really loved how it came out and it was perfect!

xoxo
Steph

Tuna Casserole

I am a fan of tuna. Yep I am. Most are not. But its cheap. It is good protein. It fills me up.

I use the box mix because its cheap. I got the box of Tuna Helper on sale. It calls for 2 cans of tuna. Use three for a larger group or ONE for 2 people.  Tuna is cheap. Its a good thing to stretch though! Cheaper than hamburger and chicken. I also add in a can of veggies to my tuna casserole to make it go further. Two is fine of course but if you are feeding a larger group and need it to stretch OR you need to have leftovers then make it stretch the easiest way without adding pasta!

So lets recap what you need:

1 box of tuna helper ( or the generic) i paid around 75 cents for mine
3 cans of tuna- i got mine 3 for 1.00 on sale ( or 1 for just two people )
1 can of mixed veggies ( you can use whatever you want) i paid around 60 cents for mine
Milk
Water

Now, on the back of the box it says to use x amount of milk and x amount of water... I fudge a little and only use a cup a 1/4 of milk and i replace the rest with extra water. Milk is NOT cheap.... Also it says to add butter... I don't do that either. To me it is fine without it. All you are doing is adding extra calories.

Cook as normal and done! I add in the veggies AFTER it cooks. The heat will "cook" them as it sits and thickens a little. It literally doubles the meal for us with just one can of veggies. And we get our veggies in too lol

I added mashed potatoes to our dinner- 4 small potatoes made THIS MUCH for just us 2. I dont use butter in mine- i use one - two tablespoons sour cream and about 1 tablespoon milk. I also do not salt anything- I let whoever is eating it salt their own. I am not a fan over salting food. You don't taste the food just the salt. I also use sea salt instead of regular table salt. ( this is a larger container then you can tell from the picture)

Potatoes i got were 98 cents for the 5 lb bag so relatively cheap for the 4 potatoes i used maybe 30 cents?

So total for 2 people with dinner AND leftovers for the next day-  2.00 ish. Pretty awesome little dinner on the cheap

Easy Chicken Spaghetti

If you are looking for a pretty easy ( and cost efficient) recipe then this is it. We are trying ot eat more chicken around here ( OK I am but still he can eat it too!) and also something that makes enough for some leftovers the next day.

There are just two of us but sometimes we both are so hungry that we eat .... a lot..... lol.  So this can be for one dinner for two very hungry people or dinner for a family of four LOL

Here's the scoop:

1 box of thin spaghetti
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 bell pepper ( you can add more)
1 pouch of velveeta original cheese sauce (  or you can use 1 1/2 cups of grated cheese)
2 chicken breasts cooked  - 1.00

Everything I got was on sale- 1.00 for the spaghetti, soup was given to me, bell pepper was .50 cents and the one pouch came in a pack of three and was 3.29 per 3 pack so  around 1. 10 for that- total for this was 3.60 ( if you have to purchase the soup add in that cost) Also the chicken i just estimated as I purchased a bag of frozen chicken breasts.

You cook the spaghetti for 10 minutes ( don't over cook because you are going to also bake)
You cook the chicken- I used only 2 chicken breasts thawed and then cooked in a skillet with some garlic oil because there are just two of us. If you have a larger family or like more chicken then add it :)

Add the chicken and spaghetti to a casserole dish that you can put in the oven- mix in the rest of the ingredients. I do NOT add water to my cream of mushroom soup or it would be very very runny! I also just cut the bell pepper up into small pieces like i do with regular spaghetti. Some saute it before hand. You can also add in a can of drained tomatoes or chopped fresh ones, garlic, online etc. Whatever you want!

Cook at 250 degrees for an hour and a half. I covered it with my casserole dish top but some say to leave it uncovered. If you are using the grated cheese that might work better. Or you can cook it for 1 hour and uncover for the last half hour.

Super good!

xoxo
Stephanie

Bacon Taco Bake

Bacon + Mexican = HECK YES

OK so as a lot of my readers know, ( you know the 5 of you that religiously read this thing thank you thank you thank you) I am trying HARD to keep my budget in check out of necessity this year.

So far i have not gone but about 50 - 100 bucks out of my budget for the year. This is only groceries. Does not include health and beauty ( paper products, razors etc) cat food or cat litter, dog food etc. However, I have done very well on that part too, but this is mainly food.

I started January 1st its now July 1st- i have spent between 350-400 bucks on food this year. A little over my budget but still good. Im proud.

However, I am trying to use up things around the house , as once we are out of our hole financially, I want to start eating more non processed and non canned things. So im using it up NOW.

Enter Bacon Taco Bake.

I had some turkey bacon. It needed to be used. I had 1 pie shell that needed to be used. 1 can of beans. Some ground turkey. Soooo  the baby was born.

Recipe:
1 pie shell
( if you really wanna cut down on carbs/calories opt to not use this or you can always use tortillas as the bottom and sides)

Turkey bacon ( as much as you want i used what i had)

1/2 can refried beans

1 package ground turkey

1 package Chili O seasoning ( or taco seasoning)

1 can diced tomatoes

And any other things you might like ( i used taco sauce and cheese)


Directions- place pie shell in pie pan
Cook ground turkey with tomatoes and seasonings till DONE
Cook turkey bacon

Layer bacon on bottom , then beans, then meat mixture, taco sauce and cheese- repeat :) ending with cheese.
Bake for 450 ( whats on the package of the pie shell) for 12-15 min depending on your oven, and voila!

<3 me some bacon 

Mish mash soup

I wanted to make chicken noodle soup. I had no chicken thawed.

I had a can of chicken breast that i use on salads.

I had a little thing of chicken homestyle stock

I had some chicken cubes

I mish mashed those all with water and veggies and bam- chicken soup with some thin spaghetti noodles.

 Seriously- its good

 Veggies- i used baby carrots and boiled them for a few and then added some frozen peas. I then added a can of mixed veggies no salt added. And some water. I put in my chicken stuffs up there and let it simmer for a bit. Then added some garlic, onion and some bell pepper. oh and some chopped celery.

Simmer about an hour.

Add your noodles right at the end. Make sure you have enough liquid as the noodles will absorb the liquid.

So gooooood.

So cheap.

 My work is done!

Amazing Velveeta Copy Recipe

I am so going to be trying this recipe!!!

Here's the blog link

Have you ever done this????

I enjoy making copycat recipes for pennies. I have done a lot over time and I have books on stuff like this. But Im excited to try this so i can use it for homemade mac and cheese, as well as dips for my homemade pretzels!!!

If you have any AWESOME copycat recipes please share in the comments!

Rub those pennies!

Blarg.

I have been horrible about updating on here. Ive had so much going on. And sickness has invaded my life. This weather has really screwed me up and over.

So im going to make this short and sweet.

As of March 10 2014- I have NOT spent over 50.00 a month on my food budget for the house.

In fact, so far this month i have only spent 25.00 and only because it was a good sale.

However, I will note that we did order pizza out to celebrate one night. And we have had some fast food here lately. But with the money we didnt spend last month we carried it over to this month. Not great for two reasons- one my diet and 2 my budget. But we are back on track. Every person is human and has off days ( or weeks)

I have had to turn our heat off. Which is not idea. But our electric bills have been through the roof! So we are hoping mother nature decides to kick winter on its hiney and bring in the spring. We had it turned down to 68 but just last week turned it off. Trying to cut corners as much as we can. We can layer on more than we can take off. (ill be wishing for cooler weather in a few months im sure)

Our 3 year anniversary is coming up in a month. However, we do believe he will ( hopefully) be gone to ALS (military) by then. It would be the best anniv. present ever. So pray!!!

We finally sent that cable box back to the cable company :) So bye bye DirecTV for good. Now if we could just find cheaper internet service!

FYI- I am working towards paying off all our old debt ( credit cards that are in default, loans, current debt) by the end of 2014. So this might be a very slim year for us in so many ways. I actually have told hubby that while he's gone for 2 months ( since they will be feeding him) that I will be eating a lot of soup and rice and salad to cut back on our budget even more. Hoping not having to pay for gas for 2 months will also help us out.

If you are out there struggling- remember- someone else is there for you. Im here if you ever wanna talk.

xoxo
Steph