I happen to be a huge fan of Panera, but can no longer really justify the expense. Which has been a huge bummer, I really loved their Apple Fuji salad.  Well, after I had a looooooong pity party, I sat down and started trying to come up with a copycat recipe. This is not exactly like Panera’s Apple Fuji salad, but it’s close, in the same flavor family; tart , sweet, crunchy. You can modify it to make it more like Panera’s, which I may opt to do sometime.

Also, doesn’t this salad look gorgeous? It looks like Fall, doesn’t it? I love how the pic turned out.

I’ve made this salad a few times now and each time I use a slightly different mix of flavors; change up the cheese, different kind of apple, different nuts etc… So this is really versatile, you can use what you have on hand and what costs the least.

Ingredients

-Lettuce

-Apples–Use Mcintosh for a tart snap or Gala for a sweet mild flavor.

-Cheese–I like a mix of orange cheddar and white sharp cheddar, but a smoked cheese would be good too as would bleu cheese or gorgonzola or Gouda.

-Dried cranberries

-Nuts–slivered almonds, pecans, walnuts, they all work in this salad

For the Dressing

-1/3 cup sugar

-3 tbsp cider vinegar

-3tbsp apple cider

-1/3 cup mayonaise

Instructions

1.Wash lettuce and set aside to drain.

2.Cut up apples.

3.Cube cheese.

4.Combine lettuce, apples, cheese, cranberries and nuts in a large mixing bowl.

5.Whisk salad dressing ingredients together and serve.

Tags: apples, cheddar, cranberry, fall salad, panera, panera apple fuji salad
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I recently had these as an appetizer at a restaurant; they were lovely, warm and filling, the kind of food that makes cold weather  feel cozy.  So I set about trying to recreate the recipe. I found a version of this on Allrecipes, but it was a super busy recipe that involved steaming the peppers and doing all sorts of extra busy work, which who has time for that?

So not only did I want to recreate the recipe, I wanted to keep it simple and I think I’ve done that.

Because Italian sausage can get expensive, I use zucchini as a meat extender to give us all more bang for our buck. Since the sausage is so heavily spiced, no one will notice the zucchini which makes it easier to sneak in veggies for your picky eaters.

Ingredients

-Sweet peppers OR Hot Hungarian peppers if you want some heat. You’ll want at least 4 which, when cut, will yield 8 servings. For leftovers increase the quantity to 6 peppers.

-1 package sweet or hot Italian sausage (usually contains 5 links) or 1.5lbs ground sausage without casing

-Diced onion

-Minced garlic

-1 egg

-1/4 cup Parmsean cheese

-1 cup grated zucchini

-Spaghetti sauce (1 jar if you’re only using 4 peppers, 2 jars if using more.)

-Shredded mozzarella

Instructions

1.       Slice and clean the peppers. Try to get them sliced so that they’ll comfortably hold meat—sometimes that can be tricky depending on pepper shape. If using Hungarian Hot peppers, please wear gloves to keep the oil off your skin. I don’t find these peppers to be hot for eating, but they sure do burn my eyes and skin.

2.       Place peppers in casserole dish.

3.       Grate the zucchini and set aside.

4.       Remove casing from sausages and set aside.

5.       In a large mixing bowl, beat your egg and then add; onion, garlic, parmesan cheese, zucchini and sausage. Mix well.

6.       Place sausage mix inside peppers. If you run out of peppers and still have meat, just make meatballs and put them next to the peppers.

7.       Top the peppers with spaghetti sauce.

8.       Bake at 350F for 50-60 minutes.

9.       Top with cheese for the last 5 minutes of cooking.
Serve hot from the oven and enjoy the melded flavors of peppers, tomatoes, and sausage.

Tags: hungarian hot peppers, italian sausage, stuffed peppers, zucchini
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I recently purchased the cookbook Simply Salads by Jennifer Chandler looking for salad inspiration and boy, did I find it! This snazzy little cookbook will make anyone drool …over salad!

Here’s my version of her  Mandarin Orange Slaw. This coleslaw has a nice sweet ‘n’ sour flavor note that is perfect for Fall with its own contrast of lightly warm days alternated by cooler-than-we- would-like nights. (I heart food metaphors.)

Note that that all recipes in Simply Salads use pre-packaged sliced and diced lettuce and cabbage. You don’t have to do that as it can be more expensive, but…In the case of coleslaw, unless you have a serious food processor, it’s probably a good idea to buy the pre-shredded cabbage. I did not and it was a little chunkier than I would’ve liked.

Also, this recipe is not necessarily cheap, however, I did have all the ingredients on hand except for the cabbage. So a well-stocked pantry made this recipe pretty inexpensive. For instance, mandarin oranges ARE super expensive unless you buy them in bulk at a club store like Sam’s or Costco–I figure mine cost about $1 which is not bad.

Ingredients

-1 bag shredded red cabbage

-½ cup sliced green onions

-1 cup carrots, shaved or finely julienned

-½ cup dried cranberries

-1 cup Mandarin orange slices

-2 tbsps crushed almonds

Instructions

Chop and combine ingredients in a large bowl.

Dressing

-¼ cup brown sugar

-¼ cup red wine vinegar

-2 tbsp Mandarin orange juice

-½ cup vegetable oil

Instructions

Combine dressing ingredients and mix. Pour over coleslaw. You can serve this immediately, but it’s better if you can let it marinate in the fridge for an hour or so.

Tags: Coleslaw recipes, red cabbage, simply salads
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Unemployed? Frustrated by rising food prices? Don’t worry! You and your family can still eat well. Here are some cheap meals menu ideas that will reduce the food budget. However, the most important thing isn’t the food you make, it’s the menu planning you do before you even spend a dime.

Please do not neglect menu planning if money is tight. Our Menu Planning 101 post is a good place to start.

1. Eggs are cheap and delicious.  About $2.50 for 18 eggs is not too bad. Add in a $2.50 bag of potatoes for hashbrowns, some cheese (save more money by shredding it yourself) and you have the fixings of a delicious, filling breakfast for the week. (Tip: Bake the potatoes, refrigerate, and then fry ‘em up as you need them all week long.)

When you’re sick of eggs, combine them with flour and sugar to make muffins.

2.Soup is also a good way to stretch the food budget. Buy a small whole chicken and boil in water with some onion and carrots to make the broth–this should all cost less than $7.  Remove the chicken, save the breasts for another meal, put the deboned dark meat in the pot and add some rice.

The chicken breasts can be shredded for chicken salad (just add mayo and serve on bread) or make great chicken enchiladas (tortillas, cheese, beans, can of enchilada sauce).

3.Super cheap dried beans with just 1lb of meat make for an excellent chili. The recipe on this site makes a lot so consider freezing half of it for another time.

Per #2, bean soup would be a yummy, filling lunch for just pennies per serving.

4. Use cheaper cuts of meat. Chicken thighs and drumsticks are pretty inexpensive, but make delicious meals.  We’re actually working on a few recipes using cheaper cuts that will be posted soon-ish.

5.Skip cereal and eat oatmeal instead. Not only is oatmeal better for you,it’s cheaper and comes in large containers. Big, off brand containers can sometimes be found for under $3 and would last more than a week.

6.Do it yourself. If money is tight, it’s time to grate your own cheese and to stop buying bagged lettuce–the fresh, unprocessed lettuce is about 50% cheaper. Start a small garden too. Stop paying someone else to do the work–do what you can at home and grow your own. Every little bit saves you money.

7.Switch to frozen fruits and veggies. They are usually quite a bit cheaper than fresh and much better than their canned counterparts.

Notice how these tips do not rely on highly processed foods full of refined sugars! This is healthy food on the cheap, the whole point of this blog; good food, cheap meals.

This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursdays.

Tags: cheap meals, meal planning, menu planning, reduce the food budget
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These muffins will keep your toddler regular without any fuss. Plus they are super healthy. I use these in combination with the Gluten Free Peanut Butter cookies to treat toddler poop withholding.

This recipe is also reduced sugar.

Banana Flax Muffins

Ingredients

-1/2 cup butter

-1/2 cup sugar

-1 cup mashed bananas

-1 cup dried fruit such as raisins or chopped prunes

-1 tbsp vanilla

-1 egg

-1 cup flour (whole wheat is fine as is white)

-1/2 cup ground flax meal (again, this is available at grocery stores, but usually cheaper on Amazon.com.)

-1/4 tsp. salt

-1 tbsp Cinnamon

-1 tsp. baking soda

Instructions

1.Cream sugar and butter.

2.Add egg, mashed bananas, and vanilla.

3.Mix in dry ingredients.

4.Fill muffin tins and bake for 20-30 minutes at 350F.  Makes 12 muffins.

I give our toddler one every morning for breakfast. Then she gets one peanut butter flax cookie as a snack. Plus some regular prunes. If I keep up with the baking, this food schedule keeps her regular.

Tags: muffins, toddler constipation, toddler poop withholding
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Here is a great recipe that will keep any toddler regular. If you are struggling with a stubborn toddler who just won’t poop, this is the solution you’ve been looking for.

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies (with a secret ingredient to combat constipation in toddlers)

Between the peanuts and the flax, these cookies will get things moving and your toddler will have NO idea the real purpose behind this delicious cookie.

Ingredients
-1 cup natural peanut butter (I nuked it a bit to make it runny)
-1/2 cup sugar or sweetener (I reduced this to 1/4 cup)
-1/2 cup ground flax meal (can be found in grocery stores but is usually cheaper at Amazon.com. Note:If you don’t have flax handy, just use 1/4 cup of flour. Peanuts often have a laxative effect on their own.)
-1 egg
-1 tbsp vanilla
-1 tsp baking soda
-1/4 cup sugar for coating cookies prior to baking

Optional add ins like chocolate chips.

Instructions

-Blend the peanut butter, egg vanilla and sugar.

-Add the flax meal and baking soda and chocolate.

-Mix the ingredients–you might need to use your hands.

-Form into small balls (about the size of a big marble).

-Roll in sugar.

-Bake 10 min at 350F. Not a second longer or they’ll burn. Also, let them sit for a few minutes before moving, they can be fragile until they ‘set.’

-Makes about 16 small cookies. I dole them out one at a time.

Tags: gluten free cookies, toddler constipation
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Who doesn’t love a good meatball? Spaghetti and meatballs is classic comfort food, but many people find meatballs to be too much work. This recipe will take you about 20 minutes to put together –no frying, no roasting in the oven, just fix it, toss it in the slow cooker and forget about it.  In a few hours you’ll have some of the best meatballs and red sauce you’ve ever eaten.  The slow cooker caramelizes the sugars in the tomato sauce giving it excellent flavor and the meatballs are tender and flavorful. This recipe is not to be missed–you have got to try this!

Ingredients

-1.5 lb of ground meat (I like ground turkey) @ $1.50 (on sale)

-1/2 to 3/4 cup Parmesean Cheese @$0.75 (bought in bulk)

-1 egg @$10. (bought in bulk)

Dash of red pepper flakes @$0.10

1 tbsp garlic powder @$0.25

1 tbsp onion powder or actual diced onion @$0.10 (bought in bulk)

2 18oz to 24oz jars of spaghetti sauce @$2.00 (on sale)

Your choice of pasta @$1.00

Note: I don’t use bread crumbs. You don’t really need them, but if you feel weird skipping the bread crumbs, feel free to add some in, or to substitute bread crumbs for the parmesan cheese. Just FYI leaving out the bread crumbs makes these low carb meatballs.

Cooking Instructions

1.Mix the meat, parmesean cheese, spices and egg thoroughly.

2.Pour 1 jar of sauce in bottom of slow cooker.

3.Form balls–about the size of a ping pong ball–and gently place in slow cooker.

4.Top with the second jar of spaghetti sauce.

5.Cook on low for 7 to 8 hours. I like to check it and give it a stir about 5 hours in.

Prep Time: 20 minutes of prep, 7 to 8 hours of actual cooking. Oh, plus 20 minutes for pasta.

Serves: Depends on how you divvy up the meatballs. I usually get 12 meatballs from this recipe. 3 meatballs a piece would serve 4. 2 meatballs a piece would serve 6.

Leftovers: I usually have extra sauce which can easily be used to top a pizza. Or you can saute some veggies in olive oil, onion and garlic and add the sauce to make a veggie marinara later in the week. If there are extra meatballs, think about a meatball sub with toasted garlic bread.

Total Cost: $5.80 (buying some things in bulk and shopping the sales really pushed the price point down.)

Tags: cheap meals, crockpot meatballs, low carb meatballs, meatballs, slow cooker meatballs, spaghetti and meatballs
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I am cooking up a storm over here. I like to do batch cooking whenever possible because, while I like to cook, I don’t necessarily want to do it every day. Besides, running a family sometimes means I don’t have time to cook daily.

Typically on Sunday, I make our meal for the day, the husband’s lunches for work, and something to carry us into Monday.

My husband’s lunches have been very simple lately. Partly because he has a picky palate that eschews leftovers. For the last few months I’ve just been making some frozen mushroom ravioli or cheese tortellini. A bag costs $3.69 and will last for 3 days. I add some fresh fruit and I’m pretty much done with lunch for him. The fourth lunch of the week will be a leftover and the husband eats out on Fridays.

If you think about it, the frozen pasta is a higher end lunch than sandwiches and cheaper too. Lunchmeat is so expensive, it’s not worth it. In our area, you can easily spend $7 a pound. Add in the cost of bread and condiments and you’re looking at a $4-$5 per sandwich while I’m only spending….let’s see

-Pasta $3.69

-Sauce $1.89

-Cheese $1.00

Total: $6.58 for three days which is just $2.19 a day for lunch. Add in fresh fruit and it goes up to maybe $2.80.

Interesting how sandwiches aren’t cheap any more, isn’t it? I hadn’t thought about it before.

Okay, so moving on, what else did I make today?

Crockpot spaghetti meatballs. Love this recipe and as far as I know/can remember, it’s my own variation. No frying. No complicated anything. Just make the meatballs, drop ‘em in the crock pot, cover with sauce and cook. 7 hours later, you’ll have perfect meatballs in a great slow roasted sauce. The left over sauce (there’s always leftover sauce with this recipe) will be given a second life on pizza night.

I also made my own version of  ‘Shepherd’s Pie’–mashed cauliflower in cheese sauce  and ground turkey. I haven’t made it before so I’m not sure if it’s any good, but it smells great in the oven.

At the moment, I’m taking a break from the kitchen to post here, but later I’ll go back in and try a new flax muffin recipe to which I’ll add some frozen berries.

What’s cooking on your end?

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One of the key refrains heard over and over again is that, in order to save money on food, we should be buying food in bulk. Volume discounts are great, but not always practical. Here are 5 foods that are not a great idea for bulk food storage.

1.Brown sugar.  Brown sugar is hard to store without ending up with a crystalline brick. Unless you use enough to go through quite a lot of brown sugar in a month (or less), I don’ t think brown sugar makes for a great bulk food buy. Regular white granulated sugar is a better option for bulk storage.

2. Flour. No question about it, bulk flour is cheaper, but only if you have the freezer space for it. Flour should be ‘frozen’ for 3 days to kill any bugs or bug eggs present*.The problem with this is that bulk flour comes in large packages. Unless you have a chest freezer, it’s hard to properly process and store flour in bulk quantities. You’re better off sticking with five pound bags that will fit in the fridge freezer.

3. Meat. This one is controversial, but most of us have no business buying meat in bulk. Why? Because we throw it in our freezer and it sits there until we excavate it two years later, when it’s completely encased in freezer burn. There’s no point in stockpiling meat if you aren’t already in the habit of rotating stock in and out of the freezer. If you’re just now starting to meal plan and stockpile food, don’t build up the freezer stash until you’ve got a workable meal plan going.

4.Bacon. I love bacon and it pains me to share this fact, but did you know bacon is only good for a month in the freezer? Apparently the fat content means it doesn’t freeze very well and it can actually go bad even in the deep freeze.

5.Ingredients you’ve never eaten before but which are now on your menu plan so you are sure you’ll eat a year’s supply in the next 12 months. Stop. Don’t go there. Only buy bulk items that you know you will eat. Otherwise you end up wasting money and food. New spices are a good example.  Never made chicken curry before? Then please do not buy a lifetime supply of curry powder–you will not be happy. For one, you’re not likely to finish the spice before it goes bad and two, you’re banking on unproven recipes that you may not even like. Don’t do it!  Buy small quantities until you are sure a new ingredient is going to be a staple.

Investing in a chest freezer, mastering menu planning, and learning about bulk food storage can eliminate all but  the bacon off this list. However, until you have that basic knowledge, be careful about bulk food storage.

*I failed to freeze my flour once and ended up hatching quite a few bugs. It was kind of gross and I now have to not think too hard about bug eggs while eating baked goods.

Tags: brown sugar, bulk food storage, bulk foods, chest freezer, flour, menu planning
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This is a quick easy meal that you can just toss into the crockpot in the morning. It also is a great recipe for cheap cuts of steak such as round steak or london broil because the slow cooker ensures tender meat. In our area, round steak is a cheap cut that often goes on sale ‘buy one, get one’ so I stock up then which reduces my costs greatly for this recipe.

Ingredients

2 lbs Round steak sliced against the grain into strips and extra fat removed @$2.50
1 tbsp Garlic powder @$0.30
1 tbsp Onion powder @$0.30
1 small chopped onion @$0.25
3 tbsp Soy sauce @$0.30
1 can chicken or beef stock, whatever you have on hand
1 can diced tomatoes @$0.75 ( we buy this in bulk at a cost savings)
1 can diced tomatoes with green peppers @$1.00
Cornstarch as needed to thicken the sauce
Rice @$1.00

Optional Ingredients: Fresh green pepper if you are big on peppers. We are not so the one can of diced tomatoes with green peppers is more than enough for us. Mushrooms would also be a nice addition, however, we don’t like them at our house.

Time: Prep: 30 minutes. Cooking time: 6-8 hours

Serves: 4 and really not much more than that.

Cost: Around $5.90

Instructions

1. If you have time, quickly sear round steak in a hot pan with the onion, powdered garlic and powdered onion. Otherwise, everything can go right into the crockpot.

2.Transfer steak to slow cooker. Add in soy sauce, tomatoes and stock. Set to cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

3.Thicken sauce with cornstarch if necessary at the end of cooking time (sometimes this recipe cooks down and thickens on its own just fine) and test meat for tenderness. If it’s tough, cook a little longer. If it never becomes tender, you may not have cut across the grain properly when slicing the meat.

4.Make Minute Rice in the microwave or long grain wild rice, whatever you have on hand and like. (Some cooks add the rice to the slow cooker, but not everyone in our home eats rice so we make it separately.)

5.Serve on top of a bed of rice.

Tags: green pepper steak, slow cooker green pepper steak
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