Caesar Chicken Pasta Salad

March 14th, 2007

Caesar Chicken Pasta SaladThis dish was included in the Iron Chef Moms Challenge. Please visit today’s post to get the scoop on the contest. Don’t forget to visit Meredith’s entry too!

Caesar Chicken Pasta Salad

1 pound chicken (about three small breasts)

½ pound penne pasta (This ingredient is available this week at Aldi. If it isn’t at your store, you can substitute with elbow macaroni)

1 romaine heart, chopped

½ pint cherry or grape tomatoes

1/3 cup Caesar dressing

A sprinkle of Parmesan cheese on top

Bake chicken breasts as directed on package on a cookie sheet. While the chicken is baking, chop the romaine heart and halve the tomatoes. Cook pasta until al dente, as directed on package. Drain and rinse pasta with cold water. Dice the cooked chicken and put this in a bowl. Toss in pasta, tomatoes, lettuce, and the dressing. Mix until all the ingredients are incorporated. This can be served with a little sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

Amy’s Notes- Because I wanted plenty of food for leftovers, I actually cooked the entire box of pasta and kept all the other ingredients the same. This stretched the dish further and we have enough for four more lunches. Additional dressing can be added to leftovers to keep pasta from tasting dried out. Basically, for forty more cents you can feed another four people! That makes this a great dish to entertain with!

Posted in Aldi, Main Dishes | 3 Comments »

Iron Chef Moms Challenge: Day Two- Parmesan Chicken Drumsticks

March 13th, 2007
Today’s Featured Cookbook: The Complete Tightwad Gazette– it is full of cheap & thrifty recipes that a frugal cook just can’t do without!

Pantry Items of the Day (according to Martha): Here are the canned and bottled items you need for a well-stocked pantry. Italian plum tomatoes, tomato paste, green & black olives, olive paste, anchovies, anchovy paste, capers, chickpeas, black beans, hot sauce, mustards, Italian oil-packed tuna, low-sodium chicken broth, canned fruits, chutneys, fruit jam. Heed expiration dates; otherwise, most canned and bottled goods, such as preserves, pickles, and relishes can be kept unopened, for up to one year. Once opened, glass bottles should be refrigerated; transfer unused canned goods to airtight containers and refrigerate for three or four days. This is especially important for canned acidic foods such as tomatoes or pineapples; once the interior of the can is exposed to air, the acidity is likely to cause rust. If you do see rust on an opened can of food, the can & food should be discarded.
Welcome to day two of the Iron Chef Moms Challenge. Please be sure to visit Meredith’s blog where she will be sharing ways that you can stay within your budget just by utilizing the sales flier. Yesterday she shared tips for cooking with loss leaders and the fabulous Southern-style birthday dinner she was able to make out of ingredients she purchased on sale. Her total beat me by $1.65! Great job, Meredith!
Meredith has already posted her day two results, as she has thrown a dinner together in the slow cooker (I love those kind of recipes!) using cabbage that she found on sale at her local supermarket. Her daily total came to $4.55 or $1.13 per person. I am excited to say that my total today was $3.14 or $.79 per person, which seemed more reflective of Meredith’s total yesterday. This puts me at $1.41 ahead today, but still $.24 behind, overall.
I have a little confession to make that might surprise you…I actually have never in my life cooked chicken drumsticks so last night’s dinner was a bit of an experiment in our house. If I purchase chicken, I tend to go for the white meat because it is the healthiest option. Unfortunately, it is also the most expensive option so I have been trying other cuts of meat to keep our expenses down.

When I happened upon these two recipes, I was very excited to try something a little different. When I put it together, I realized it will be a perfect meal for us to take on our next picnic and it was a cinch to put together.

Here is a one little tip for today that I would like to share. This might be common knowledge, but it is a little trick that I use when I am cooking chicken with a coating or breading on the outside. I take a jelly roll pan and then rest our cooling rack on top of that and spray it lightly with cooking spray. I then bread the meat and rest it on top of the cooling rack. The reason I do this is because I absolutely hate it when you have a nice crisp side on one side and then a soggy mess on the flip-side. By using the cooling rack, I am able to get the heat to circulate on the bottoms, which help keep that crispy coating on all the sides of the meat.
Although the chicken was divine, I have to admit that I was most surprised by the simple side dish and how tasty it actually turned out to be. Potatoes prepared in the microwave? Covered in only a tablespoon of butter? Could Cooking Light Magazine have been mistaken when putting this dish together? I was wrong though- the amount of butter and the swiftness of the microwave made for some very tasty taters. My husband, who will only eat the fry variety of these, actually gobbled them up and asked if we could have them again.
Best of all, you just can’t beat the price tag on the meal itself!

Parmesan Chicken

4 drumsticks (the Aldi’s bag contains five drumsticks, but there will still be plenty of coating)
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese (in the dairy section, not in the shaker)
1 egg
1/4 cup breadcrumbs (I make my own and store them in the freezer)

In a shallow bowl, mix together cheese and breadcrumbs. In a separate bowl, beat egg until lemon colored. Dip chicken in egg, coating well. Roll in cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 45-60 minutes.

Amy’s Notes: I removed the skin on the chicken drumsticks. Simply slip your fingers under the skin and pull to remove. I then proceeded with the coating. My drumsticks took 50 minutes to bake.

Microwave Taters

1.5 pounds potatoes- red or Russet. 1.5 pounds of potatoes equals about four cups of diced potatoes
1 tablespoon butter
Any seasoning of your choice- I used a teaspoon of Italian seasoning & salt and pepper

In a shallow baking dish, place a tablespoon of butter in the dish and microwave for fifteen seconds (or until the butter is melted). Dice the potatoes and put them on top of the butter. Top the potatoes with any seasonings of your choice. With a spoon, lightly toss the potatoes until they are all coated in the butter. Pop the bowl in the microwave and microwave for fifteen minutes. Every five minutes, just give them a little stir to make sure all of the potatoes get heated evenly.

Cost Breakdown:

Chicken Drumsticks- $1.89
¾ cup Parmesan Cheese- $1.89 for the container, $.95 is amount used
1 egg- $.89 for a dozen, $.07 for one egg
1.5 pounds potatoes- $1.49 for 10#, $.23

Total Cost To Feed Four- $3.14
Cost Per Person- $.79

Note: This recipe will be added to “the Aldi Queen” and all ingredients listed will be added to my weekly menu planner. My planners are posted every Friday so you can get a week’s worth of ideas and a grocery list in one stop!

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Posted in Food & Recipes | 14 Comments »

Microwave Taters

March 13th, 2007

Microwave Taters

Yields Four Servings


1.5 pounds potatoes- red or Russet. 1.5 pounds of potatoes equals about four cups of diced potatoes
1 tablespoon butter

Any seasoning of your choice- I used a teaspoon of Italian seasoning & salt and pepper

In a shallow baking dish, place a tablespoon of butter in the dish and microwave for fifteen seconds (or until the butter is melted). Dice the potatoes and put them on top of the butter. Top the potatoes with any seasonings of your choice. With a spoon, lightly toss the potatoes until they are all coated in the butter. Pop the bowl in the microwave and microwave for fifteen minutes. Every five minutes, just give them a little stir to make sure all of the potatoes get heated evenly.

Posted in Sides | 6 Comments »

Parmesan Chicken Drumsticks

March 13th, 2007

Parmesan Chicken Drumsticks

Note- Serve this dish with a side of Microwave Taters. These two dishes were featured today in day two of the Iron Chef Moms Challenge. To view today’s results, be sure to visit the entry!

Parmesan Chicken
Yields Four Servings

4 drumsticks (the Aldi’s bag contains five drumsticks, but there will still be plenty of coating)
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese (in the dairy section, not in the shaker)
1 egg
1/4 cup breadcrumbs (I make my own and store them in the freezer)

In a shallow bowl, mix together cheese and breadcrumbs. In a separate bowl, beat egg until lemon colored. Dip chicken in egg, coating well. Roll in cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 45-60 minutes.

Amy’s Notes: I removed the skin on the chicken drumsticks. Simply slip your fingers under the skin and pull to remove. I then proceeded with the coating. My drumsticks took 50 minutes to bake.

Posted in Aldi, Main Dishes | No Comments »

Iron Chef Moms Challenge: Day One- Chicken Broccoli Lo Mein

March 12th, 2007

Today’s Featured Cookbook: Cheap, Fast, Good by Beverly Mills & Alicia Ross

Pantry Items of the Day (according to Martha): Here are the basic baking staples you need for a well-stocked pantry. Pure vanilla extract and other extracts, vanilla beans, baking soda, baking powder, unsweetened and semisweet dark chocolate, Dutch- process cocoa powder, unflavored gelatin, dry yeast, cornstarch- store ingredients in airtight containers, away from heat and light sources. Extracts will last several years; leavenings lose their potency after about one year, and should be discarded on their expiration dates.

I had anticipated on spending a bit more time in my cookbooks this weekend, but my daughter & I both came down with a nasty strep infection and my time has been spent trying to sleep it off and care for Emily.

Despite the setback, I am excited to begin sharing with you some of the meals that our family enjoys, utilizing ingredients purchased from Aldi. I hope that this week’s menu plan provides you some new ideas for your dinner hour, as well as providing you a very budget-friendly dinner.

One of my favorite take-out foods is Chinese food. I love a good Chicken Lo Mein and was so excited when I happened upon this excellent recipe to make this dish at home. With some of my own modifications, I was able to make this dish with ingredients purchased at our local Aldi.

This dish is a hit with our entire family, even the broccoli & mushroom haters in the bunch. This dish just has something for everyone in the family. Because it is a pasta dish, the chicken and vegetables are easily stretched, keeping you well under budget.

To be honest, we do not normally serve a side with this dish, but we were to include a side with this dish so I will add a side of applesauce for the kids.

I love to double the recipe to eat it for lunch or a yummy late night snack!

Please check Meredith’s blog for her breakdown and meal plan for the evening. It sounds like she has something very yummy going in her kitchen. I think I would like to eat over there!

Chicken Broccoli Lo Mein
Adapted from Cheap, Fast, Good!

8 ounces thin spaghetti (if linguine is available, I prefer this over the spaghetti)
2/3 pound skinless, boneless chicken (3 chicken breasts, dethawed overnnight)
1 cup fresh button mushrooms
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 bag frozen broccoli pieces
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon ketchup

Cook pasta as directed. Clean & chop mushrooms. Heat oil. Cut chicken in bite size pieces. When all the chicken is cut, add it to the skillet. Add mushrooms and broccoli to the skillet. Cook for five to six minutes or until mushrooms have released their liquid and chicken is cooked through. Add soy sauce, vinegar, and ketchup. Stir to combine. Add cooked pasta and serve immediately.

Serve with ramekins of applesauce.

Cost Breakdown:

8 ounces thin spaghetti- .25
2/3# chicken breasts (approximately 1/4 of a bag)- $1.75
1 cup fresh mushrooms- .79
1 bag frozen broccoli- .79
1 jar applesauce- .69
(Other ingredients listed are considered staple items according to Iron Chef Mom guidelines)

Total Cost To Feed Four: $4.27
Cost Per Person: $1.07

Note: This recipe will be added to “the Aldi Queen” and all ingredients listed will be added to my weekly menu planner. My planners are posted every Friday so you can get a week’s worth of ideas and a grocery list in one stop!

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Posted in Food & Recipes | 18 Comments »

Chicken Broccoli Lo Mein

March 12th, 2007

Chicken Broccoli Lo MeinNote: This dish was included in the Iron Chef Moms Challenge. Please visit today’s post to get the scoop on the contest. Don’t forget to visit Meredith’s entry too!

Chicken Broccoli Lo Mein
Yields Four Servings

8 ounces thin spaghetti (if linguine is available, I prefer this over the spaghetti)
2/3 pound skinless, boneless chicken (3 chicken breasts, dethawed overnnight)
1 cup fresh button mushrooms
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 bag frozen broccoli pieces
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon ketchup

Cook pasta as directed. Clean & chop mushrooms. Heat oil. Cut chicken in bite size pieces. When all the chicken is cut, add it to the skillet. Add mushrooms and broccoli to the skillet. Cook for five to six minutes or until mushrooms have released their liquid and chicken is cooked through. Add soy sauce, vinegar, and ketchup. Stir to combine. Add cooked pasta and serve immediately.

Serve with ramekins of applesauce.

Posted in Aldi, Main Dishes | 4 Comments »

Freebie Friday: March 9, 2007

March 9th, 2007

Cue the Rocky theme music…Have you heard about the big competition coming up? I have already started lifting weights and practicing my mad knife skills to compete against Meredith in a little money-saving challenge. Meredith and I will be facing off in a fight for our lives (or, um..whatever!) to see who can save the most money- someone who shops the sales fliers or someone who just does their shopping at Aldi Supermarket.

I have to admit, I am getting a teensy bit nervous after reading a half dozen blogs this morning talking about it. Meredith is one smart cookie and she knows how to make her dollars scream for mercy. She is going to be tough competition so I am going to have to really be working hard this weekend to try and come up with some brilliant menu plans. My husband suggested carrots for dinner one night and a piece of bread the next night. He thought this would be the best way to keep the budget on track. This displays what type of family we are..we aim to win!

For the full scoop on the contest, please visit this entry or visit Meredith’s entry for her take on the contest.

In all seriousness, I am looking forward to sharing some of the ways we save on my new blog, “the Aldi Queen.” Be sure to check there for this week’s planner and grocery list!

Now on with the freebies for the week…

Get a free Sausage McGriddle from McDonalds if they have a Society for the Morning Impaired in your area. (Note- if you live in Michiana, they do not have a group currently, but you can submit an email address should they start a group).

Request a free sample of Honey Bunches of Oats cereal. Please allow six to eight weeks for delivery of this freebie.

Wal-Mart is giving away a free sample of Garnier Nutritioniste. Please allow up to four weeks for delivery and a limit of one sample per household.

If you have a TiVo DVR, you can register with Amazon Unbox and get $15 in videos free. This offer expires on April 30th. This offer is not available for Direct TV subscribers.

Sign up to receive a free one year subscription to Blender Magazine. I am pretty excited about this freebie because this is a magazine that my husband & I both enjoy!

Sign up to receive a free sample pack of shampoo, conditioner, & detangling shine spray from Sunsilk. Please allow six to eight weeks for these samples.

Wal-Mart is giving away free samples of the new Almay HydraColor Lipstick. Please allow up to four weeks for the delivery and there is a limit of one sample per household.

Sign up to receive a free magazine subscription to, “Living the Country Life.”

Sign up to receive a sample of the Reynolds Slow Cooker Liners. Click on the free sample link in the yellow box to sign up for this freebie.

Don’t forget that there are free coffee days coming up! March 15th is free coffee day at Starbucks (between 10-12) . Dunkin Donuts will be having a free iced coffee day on March 21st (offer is good for 24 hours- I miss my Dunkin Donuts!)

Billy Graham is offering another free Christian book. I hope you didn’t miss last month’s which was an awesome book by Beth Moore (one of my favorite Christian ladies!) This book is, “Lessons I Learned in the Dark: Steps to Walking by Faith, Not by Sight,” by Jennifer Rothschild. This is an actual book, not a pamphlet! You will need to confirm the request, so be sure to check your email for the confirmation letter to click through.

If you live in Florida, you can get a free 145 load box of Surf Laundry Detergent. Use the following code: STR553659A to receive this freebie.

Register to receive a “Complaint Free World” bracelet. This is sponsored through Christ Church Unity and they will provide an envelope, if you would like to make a donation to their cause.

Rita’s Ice is giving away a free regular Italian ice on March 21st, to celebrate the first day of spring.

iTunes is offering free children’s downloads. There are six Sesame Street Videos that range from 17-42 minutes each. A Is for Asthma, Music Works Wonders, Lead Away, Happy, Healthy, Ready for School
Talk, Listen, Connect, & You Can Ask.There is also 1 for the older kids from Nickelodeon. A show called El Tigre-Sole of a Hero / Night of the Living Guacamole.

LibriVox provides free audiobooks, read by volunteers and available for free to download.

Complete the quick questionnaire and receive a coupon for a free bag of 5 pounds of Natural Choice Dog food or 4 pounds of Natural Choice Complete Cat Food. This offer expires on March 31, 2008. Please allow three to six weeks for delivery of the coupon.

Order a free magnetic frame that has temperature guidelines on it for food safety.

Request a free sample of Petite Cuisine Gourmet Cat Food. Please allow seven to ten days for delivery.

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Posted in Freebies | 18 Comments »

Repost: Iron Chef Moms Challenge

March 9th, 2007

ironchef.jpg

Meredith, over at Like Merchant Ships, emailed me to tell me how much she has enjoyed my new blog. For her though, Aldi Supermarket is a bit of a hike and she believes that she can do just as well by buying the loss leaders at her local grocery stores and planning her menu around the sale options. She decided to offer up a friendly challenge and see who could save the most money, an Aldi Shopper or a Sales Shopper. I told her I was up for the challenge and am excited to see how well we both can do.
The game will begin this Monday and I will be posting my meals each day, but include a daily total for the day versus the weekly totals that I normally do. I will also include some tips for shopping on that particular day, as part of the challenge. Meredith will also be doing the same thing on her blog and I will include a link to her entry too.

Here are the rules of the game:

I will purchase everything from Aldi Supermarket.

Meredith will be doing a freestyle menu with no coupons and only using the grocery sales current from that week. She will not be using any items from her stockpile, only items purchased that week.

A daily breakdown will be given each day. The breakdown will include the menu, recipe, and cost breakdown.

The menu will serve four people. In larger recipes, we will be adjusting the cost to estimate a four person meal, or split the cost if one meal actually will be used in two different ways.

The menu will include a main dish and sides. Desserts and drinks will not be included in this challenge.

Staple ingredients under a ½ cup are “negligible,” for example in the case of flour, sugar, salt or pepper. Otherwise, these will be figured in as price per ounce and multiplied by the number of ounces used.

There will be a wrap-up at the end of the week and you, as readers, can feel free to critique our strategies, or offer up some of your own strategies.

Just for the record, I do want to say that this is just a fun and friendly competition. The idea behind it is not to see who will do better than the other, but more to share techniques for two different ways to shop. Both of these options do not require any coupon cutting and will show you ways that you can plan affordable meals for your family using two other types of techniques.

We are both very excited to be doing this contest and our families are excited to be eating so well this week.

Thanks to Meredith for posing such a great challenge! I hope that it will be as much fun for you as it is for us!

Posted in Announcements | No Comments »

Meal Planner & Grocery List for 03.09.07

March 9th, 2007

Meals:

Pizza Hut Style Pizza, Cheesy Bread, & Homemade Sauce

Chicken BBQ Sandwiches with Shoestring Oven Fries

Chicken BBQ Pizza with a Garden Salad

Italian Turkey Burgers & Italian Spiced Fries

Scalloped Potatoes with Ham, Garden Salad, & Biscuits

Creamy Chicken Burritos with Tortilla Chips & Cream Cheese Salsa Dip

Pete’s Scratch Pancakes with Warmed Maple Syrup

Snack:

Chocolate Cupcakes With Peanut Butter Frosting

Shopping List:

BAKERY

1 package of buns

BAKING

brown sugar
2- flour
baking cocoa
baking powder
baking soda
vegetable oil
vanilla extract
chocolate chips
powdered sugar
sugar
olive oil
cornmeal
garlic

CANNED FOOD

salsa
pinto beans
2- cream of chicken soups
spaghetti sauce (any meatless variety)
parmesan cheese
tomato paste

CHEESE

2- cream cheese (only need one, unless you intend to make the dip that was suggested with the creamy chicken burritos)
Large package (4 cups) cheddar cheese

CONDIMENTS & OIL

maple syrup
ketchup
worcestershire sauce
soy sauce
vinegar
peanut butter

DAIRY

tortillas
milk
eggs
butter/margarine
tube of biscuits

MEAT

1 bag of chicken breasts (frozen)
1 pound ground turkey (frozen)
1 turkey ham (near the sandwich meat)

SPICES & SEASONINGS (NOT Guaranteed to be at Aldi, but you can check)

garlic powder
oregano
salt
pepper
thyme
cinnamon
onion powder
yeast

APPROXIMATE COST for meal planner: $53 (this will include everything you need for baking and will also leave you leftovers for lunches & such)

Posted in Grocery Lists, Meal Plans | No Comments »

IHOP Night: Pete’s Scratch Pancakes

March 9th, 2007

Pete’s Scratch Pancakes
Courtesy of Recipezaar.com
Yields Six Servings

2 cups flour
1 3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Mix together dry ingredients. Combine eggs & melted butter and then slowly stir in the flour to the milk, eggs, & butter. Let set for at least ten minutes while heating the pan.

Serve with warmed syrup.

Posted in Aldi, Breakfast | No Comments »

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