Dollar General Challenge Day 3, Chicken Kiev

This recipe is heavy with ingredients that I consider pantry items.  Hopefully they are for you too.
If you're missing ingredients, do the best with what you've got.  Change up the spices, use cracker crumbs or even instant mashed potatoes in place of the bread crumbs.  Cooking doesn't have to be so exact and you may just create something even better by experimenting.

Country Style Chicken Kiev

No, my chicken isn't burned, that's parsley 😃

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Bread Crumbs Pantry item, no bread crumbs? Toast bread and run through processor.
1 tsp dried basil Pantry item
1 tsp dried oregano Pantry item
1/2 tsp garlic salt Pantry item
1/4 tsp salt Pantry item
2/3 Cup butter, melted Pantry item
1 lb Chicken Breast, if large butterfly cut them open to have four portions $3.00
1/4 Cup water free, or chicken broth, white wine or apple juice
1 Tbsp dried parsley Pantry item

Serve with Instant flavored rice $1.00
and your choice of canned vegetables .50
Total $4.50

Directions:
Heat oven to 375*
Combine bread crumbs,basil, oregano, and salts.
Divide melted butter, reserving 1/3 cup for later.
Dip chicken in remaining 1/3 cup butter, then dredge in bread crumb mixture.
Place chicken in 9" square baking dish.
Bake for 50 minutes or until chicken is fork tender.
Meanwhile add water or your preferred liquid to the reserved butter and add parsley.
Make rice according to package directions.
When chicken is golden brown, pour butter sauce over chicken. 
Continue to bake and additional 3-5 minutes until sauce is heated through.
This is a good time to warm up your veggies.

Enjoy!

Day 2 Buffalo Ranch Chicken Pasta Bake

Yes, this is a repeat recipe from my 30 day Eat at Home Challenge, but I've said it before and I'll say it again it is a family favorite and is always very well received.

photo from previous prep, tonight did not have the green onion on top

I originally found this recipe on facebook which lead me here https://insidebrucrewlife.com/buffalo-chicken-pasta-bake/  I have adapted the original recipe to suit my challenge.

Buffalo Chicken Pasta Bake
Serves 6

Combining buffalo chicken, cheese, and pasta in one casserole creates a meal that everyone will love. This Buffalo Chicken Pasta Bake is delicious and can be on the table in 30 minutes.

PREP TIME10 minutes
COOK TIME20 minutes
TOTAL TIME30 minutes

Ingredients
8 ounces - 2 cups uncooked, penne pasta 1.40 (you'll have half the box leftover for next time)
1 - 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened 2.95 (definitely cheaper at a super market)
3/4 cup ranch dressing 1.25
1/3 cup hot sauce 1.00
1 10oz can chicken 2.00 (when not budgeting I prefer to use two cans, a twin pack is 3.75)
2 cups shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese 2.85

Serve with

Canned Peas or Green Beans .50

Dinner total 11.95

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 

Spray a 8-inch casserole dish with nonstick spray.
Cook the pasta noodles, according to the package directions.
Stir together the cream cheese, ranch, and hot sauce until creamy.
Add the chicken, 1/2 cup cheese, and cooked pasta noodles to the cream cheese mixture and stir to combine. 

Spoon into the prepared dish.
Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top of the pasta. 

Bake for 20 minutes, or until cheese on top is melted.
Remove and serve immediately with hot sauce, and ranch drizzles.

$50/5 Dinners Dollar General Challenge

I've said before that I live in a small town as do many of you.  Decent grocery shopping is nearly 100 mile round trip.  I do the bulk of my shopping when I make the trek to "town".  Our small town got a Dollar General fairly recently and it has been such a blessing to have some place to shop to fill in the gaps between trips to town.

This week I'm setting out to make dinners Monday through Friday, shopping at only Dollar General and staying under $50 for the week.  I've shopped sale items and used coupons.  If the $50 budget permits I will also throw in a dessert of some sort for the week.

Now, this is not necessarily the most economic way to feed your family as a lot of these items would still be less expensive bought someplace like Walmart or Winco.  But if your between trips and still want to feed your family on the cheap maybe a few of these recipes may work for you.

All recipes should yield at least four servings.
The budget breakdown will be operating with the assumption that you have basic pantry items such as spices, oils, eggs and milk already on hand.

Without further ado, here's day one.

Frosted Meatloaf

1 10.75oz can Cream of Mushroom Soup .65
2 lbs Ground Beef 8.00
1/2 Cup Breadcrumbs Pantry item, I actually used quick oats because it's what I had on hand
1 Egg, slightly beaten Pantry item but $1.50/dozen if you need to purchase
1 tsp, Onion Powder Pantry item
1 tsp, Salt Pantry item
1/3 Cup Water Pantry item
2 4.1 oz Pkgs Instant Mashed Potatoes 2.00
4 Cups Water

Serve with
1 Can Green Beans .50
Dinner Total $11.15

Directions:
-Mix 1/2 cup soup, beef, breadcrumbs, egg, onion powder, and salt.  Shape into a 8x4 inch loaf and place in a shallow baking pan or on broiling pan to catch drippings.
-Bake at 375* for 1 hour.
-Prepare mashed potatoes according to package directions as baking time is nearing completion.
-After meatloaf has been in the oven for an hour, remove from oven and reserve drippings.
-Frost meatloaf with prepared mashed potatoes. There will be potatoes leftover to serve on the side. I sprinkled with cheese but did not include that cost as recipe did not call for it and I already had it on hand. Shredded cheese at Dollar General is $2.65.
-Return to oven for an additional 15 minutes.
-In a saucepan mix remaining soup, 1/3 cup water, and 2-3 Tbsp of meatloaf drippings. Heat, stirring occasionally.  Once hot and combined, keep warm.
-Heat green beans.

Serve meatloaf sliced and topped with soup sauce.  Mashed potatoes and green beans on the side.

Today this happened, plan for the unexpected

I go through phases.........frequently.  Mostly its chaos but occasionally I catch a glimpse of the woman, wife and mother I aspire to be.  Most of you have figured out by now that my life lacks planning, hence the blog title.

But I plan for the unexpected, I plan ahead knowing most nights I won't feel like cooking by the time supper time comes around. I won't feel like cooking when I could be outside enjoying a summer evening with my family.  I won't feel like cooking when the work days get long.  I plan ahead by having simple, quick and easy items in the freezer.

On a whim I checked out the "hot sheet" at Smart Food Service (Cash n' Carry) and found that they had precooked meatballs, Angus hamburger patties and precooked chicken breast all on sale.  I stocked up and scored enough meat to feed my family 26 meals.

The price for these protein sources worked out to $2.71 per meal or less than a dollar per serving.

The hamburgers are always nice to have on hand, especially since my hubby is comfortable just throwing them on the grill when he steps in to make dinner.

The meatballs I saw with the obvious pasta but also as meatball subs or wraps.

The precooked chicken breast will be great on salads, wraps or fajitas.

Now, this didn't all fit in my freezer, so this purchase forced me to implement some further planning.
Any of you that follow me on facebook know I'm a huge fan of Passionate Penny Pincher and Eat At Home.  Last week they did a challenge where they prepared 25 crockpot meals to go in the freezer, to later utilize throughout the summer.  They made five recipes a day for five days.  Again, I was short on freezer space so I had no plans to participate in this challenge but that didn't stop me from printing out all the recipes and I'm so glad I did.

To make room for my summer time splendor I picked five of the slow cooker recipes and pulled all the protein from the freezers. For the first time in  a long time I had a plan for an entire week of suppers.

I pulled chicken tenders, chicken breast, pork chops, elk roast and kielbasa.   Bam! Supper's planned and guess what?  It's even defrosted 😉 Crockpot meals are great for me because I always feel more ambitious in the morning, so that's a great time to go ahead and make supper.

keep on keepin' on, Chicken Tenders with Cilantro Lime Rice

I thought for sure when it came time for supper tonight daughter and hubby would want to eat out.  I walked through the door and they both said, "What's for dinner?"

I did not have anything planned so I went to the shelf and found some Cilantro Lime Rice-a-Roni.  In the freezer I had flash frozen chicken tenders that come complete with directions for cooking from frozen right on the back of the package.

It wasn't quick but it was easy and it came together without forethought.

I topped it with a Jalapeno Lime Sauce, Yum!

 If you haven't tried this brand of sauces yet you should, so far all we've tried have been awesome!

Salted Caramel Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

For years now we have made S'mores on camping trips and in the back yard.  We've made many, many variations of the campfire confection.

I've never been a big fan of the candy bar method, I don't really like that much chocolate and it never seems to be ooey gooey enough.

We've subbed in chocolate frosting, peanut butter, and Nutella.

We've skipped the chocolate all together and opted to use cookies instead of graham crackers.

On that note, here's the latest deliciousness.

I was inspired by a recipe I found at https://tornadoughalli.com/salted-caramel-banana-chocolate-chip-cookies/

The original recipe didn't call for any egg which I thought was odd but I moved forward with it.  The finished cookies were delicious, they bake up very thin and chewy.  I'm going to try them again soon and include an egg to see if they end up a little cakier.

Salted Caramel Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yields: 36 Cookies

                                                        Hubby made a perfect S'more
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Butter, softened
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 Bananas, mashed
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Cups Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 Tbsp Cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 Cup Chocolate Chips
3/4 Cup Sea Salted Caramel Baking Chips
Coarse Sea Salt

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375*
2. Beat butter and sugars until smooth.
3. Add banana and vanilla and continue to beat until combined.
4. In another bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch and salt.
5. Add your dry ingredients to your wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
6. Fold in baking chips.
7. On a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet, use a cookie scoop or rounded tablespoon to add your cookie dough, spacing two inches apart.
8. Sprinkle coarse sea salt on top of each cookie if desired.
9. Bake 10 minutes until golden brown.
10. Remove from oven and let cool on pan for about 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

I think I also want to try combining peanut butter baking chips instead of the caramel because I love banana and peanut butter together.