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

Freezer Meals - Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Spent the better part of the mid morning working on 2 chicken dishes.

Which with this brings me up to 38 dinners. I have done spaghetti, soups, lasagna, and working on the pizza. Im going for 60 total.

Here's my recipes. I followed exactly. There is just two of us so these doubled for me and sometimes tripled b/c we dont eat a lot anymore and really watch our portions and pair them with a side to make things last.

Chicken Casserole

( I used 4 throw away containers for these to portion them out. they are 97 cents at Walmart for 2)

4 Cooked and Shredded Chicken Breasts
5 Cups cooked rice
2 cans cream of chicken soup- however I made my own cream of mushroom soup
1 cup chicken broth ( i used it from boiling my chicken)
2 bags of frozen peas and carrots
3 cups cheese
3 cups sauteed onions ( i omitted this as it was used in my cream of mushroom soup)

Combine everything except the cheese and put into pans. Top with cheese.
on the lid write 350 for 10 minutes

Here's what mine looked like

Then i covered with foil wrote the above and date and what it was


My second chicken dish- Baked Cheesy chicken pasta

6 tbsp butter - I instead used just 1 tablespoon of wildtree butter flavored grapeseed oil
salt/pepper
1 box pasta
2 chicken breasts halved ( i shredded mine)
1/2 c flour
garlic ( i used minced)
6 cups milk- i used 4 cups
1 can mushrooms
6 ounces parm
1 1/2 cup cheese

Boil the pasta.
Cook your chicken ( i had boiled it previously)
I used canned mushrooms and put them in the pan and cooked them a bit, then added the flour and garlic and whisked continuously while adding milk slowly. Make sure you do this otherwise you will have clumps of flour (ewww) you will wisk til it gets thick and smooth. It took awhile for me.

Take that, the cheese, the pasta and the chicken and mix together.

Divide into dishes and on your lid/foil write 400 degrees for one hour covered w/ foil.

Soooo good. I had to try it :)

Super easy recipes.

Freezer Meals Part 2

Im working on Pizza today!

Pizza crusts are super easy to make. In fact, this is my go to recipe HERE

I make up 5 at a time. I buy my flour in bulk at Sam's Club. Its pretty cheap and I store it in those large painters buckets. You can buy them at Wal-Mart. Great seal and keeps it neat. I hate keeping the flour in the bag it tends to attract flour moths' and other bugs in your cabinet.

I start with this base recipe, then make my dough. Then if i am not going to use it, i roll it out onto my pans, par bake it for 3 min at 500 degrees. Then cover it with plastic wrap after cooled, and foil, and put it in my freezer flat to freeze.

Once I take them out- bake 350 for 12-15 min depending on your oven temps. And what you are putting on top.

I am making the following. And im going to go ahead and bake my ingredients onto the crust when I par bake. So all I have to do is take out and bake and im done.

- Cheeseburger Pizza
- Chicken Pizza
- Spaghetti Pizza
- Veggie Pizza
 - Mac and Cheese Pizza
- BBQ chicken Pizza
- Pasta Pizza

Yes i know some of those arent the.... healthiest of options and its a lot of carbs but sometimes you just have to have a good yummy pizza. The dough alone is about 102 calories per serving ( 8 servings) so just take that and add in your ingredients. Remember, when you add fresh ingredients and make it yourself you can control the calories. You can easily have 2 pieces of each pizza and stay within your calorie range.

The good thing is that once you make the basic dough, you can do whatever you want with it :)

Easy Lasagana for Your Freezer

When you think of lasagna, if you are anything like me, you think of these huge platters.

We only have 2 people. I hate wasting food.

So I decided to make 4 small ones for us using the fewest amount of ingredients and fewest amount of $$$.

Keep in mind these are for 2 people. We pair this with a salad and/or bread. I am trying to limit my calories and actually eating a regular SERVING.

So I bought these containers- this is 4 regular meals w/ one piece each for a leftover meal. Especially if you pair it with a piece of garlic bread and a small salad

So here's the breakdown of what i used

2 boxes noodles ( I got these for about 50 cents a box when they were on sale for .99 cents on base and i used a coupon
Spaghetti sauce- I cheated and used cans b/c I needed more than I could make for cheap. And i was tired. So thats 2.00
Ricotta the most expensive item- came out to almost 6 bucks for 2 of the small tubs
Parm cheese- i had this on hand
Shredded cheese on top- i bought the large 5 lb bag for 8.00 but this is for multiple meals

I actually paid nothing for everything but the boxes of noodles b/c I used a gift card to walmart.

All you do is follow the instructions on the box to cook your noodles.

Then i layered everything but i was VERY sparing on the fillings. You are layering so no need to put half your filling on one layer! If you run out just use more sauce, or find something else to use to layer. There is no wrong or right way to do this. Ive even used veggies, regular cheese ( yes sliced cheese ) before. Just have fun with it.

Layer everything ending with sauce on top then top with cheese. This made me 4 of these. Im covering in plastic wrap, then with foil.

Write on a freezer tag or the foil- uncover, remove plastic, cover with foil 350 for 35 min

Voila!

Of course if you have coupons use them. Use sales. The containers i bought for 98 cents for 2. I dont keep a lot of pans on hand to use. And these make my life a lot easier in the end with the freezer meals.

Next up- Cheese pizza w/ homemade crusts!

xoxo
Steph