Crispy Broiled Chicken Thighs and Rosemary Rice Recipe

Chicken thighs can be very economical alternatives to other meats, often costing less than $1 per pound.  For those that prefer dark meat, the flavor of the thigh is preferable to white meat because it is richer and more moist.   That flavor is actually fat.  This recipe could be altered to remove the skin, which lowers the overall fat content.  Broiling should cook a lot of the fat off as well. Also, by de-boning the thighs, you also make them more appetizing to those that don't like to mess with taking the meat off of the bone.

Ingredients
4 chicken thighs
1 cup of rice
2 stalks of celery
1/2 cup of baby carrots
1/2 cup of fresh green beans
1 medium onion
Salt, Pepper, and Seasoned salt
Rosemary

Directions

1. Slice the onion in half then put it in a large pot on the stove with about two cups of water.  Start the heat at medium.

2. While the water begins to heat begin de-boning your chicken thighs.  Place the thigh bones in the pot and bring the heat up to get the water to a boil. Once the water has boiled lower the heat to simmer the liquid.  Place the chicken thighs on a piece of foil.

3. Cut the celery into sections one inch long.  Add the celery and carrots to the pot.

4. Season the pot of vegetables and chicken bones with salt, pepper, rosemary, and seasoned salt.

5. Season the chicken with salt, pepper, and seasoned salt.

6.  After the chicken bones have cooked in the pot for 15 minutes remove them from the pot and discard.  Pour one cup of rice into the pot and add a 1 to 1 1/2 cups of water.  Bring the heat to high briefly to get the water boiling.  Then reduce the temperature later.

7. Move the oven rack to about 7 inches from the broiler. Preheat the broiler at high.  Place the chicken one inch apart on the foil lined baking pan or on a broiler pan.

8.  Broil the chicken for 10 minutes.  Check the chicken to determine if it is cooking too fast.  If the top is brown or black, you may want to move the oven rack down several inches.  Cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Tips: Frequently stir your rice and add water if it is getting dry too quickly and place the chicken with even thickness on the broiler pan for even cooking.

What is the cost per serving?
Each chicken thigh is about three ounces of meat.  Including the weight of the skin and bone, four chicken thighs should weigh about one pound and at $0.99 per pound, the cost of the chicken is $0.99.  A bunch of celery costs about $1.49 and has at least 8 stalks.  So, the celery should cost you about 19 cents.  A bag of baby carrots could about $1.  A 1/2 cup of carrots should cost about 20 cents.  A cup of rice would cost about 8 cents.  One medium onion might cost 50 cents.  And the green beans could be purchased on sale, leading to a price of about 20 cents for this 1/2 cup.  The cost of the spices would be about a nickel.  The total price of this meal would be about $2.21 and has four servings.  The cost per serving is 55 cents.


How do you de-bone a chicken thigh?  
De-boning the thigh eliminates a mess at the dinner table and can actually eliminate waste.  Someone that turns their nose up to meat on the bone may eat the entire thigh rather than picking small pieces off of the bone.  Follow the instructions in this video and you should have no trouble.  Use a sharp knife to make the job easier.

Instant Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Oatmeal Mix

Make some instant oatmeal mix to save money off of the packets that you may buy for a quick breakfast this winter.

Ingredients

8 cups of Quick Oats
2 cups of brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 tablespoon nutmeg (optional)

Makes 20 servings of 1/2 cup each.  Simply pour into a bowl and microwave with water or milk.



Instructions

1. Find a plastic container that will hold at least two quarts.  Make sure the inside is washed and dried to prevent spoilage.

2. Measure 8 cups of oats and 2 cups of brown sugar and mix thoroughly.  Break up clumps of the brown sugar.  Mix in the spices and salt.  If the container has a top that seals, this can be accomplished in the container itself by shaking.

3. When you are ready to serve, measure portions with a 1/2 cup measuring cup.  Heat in the microwave for one minute after adding water or milk.

Cost Per Serving

Each cup of brown sugar costs about 44 cents, bringing the total to 88 cents.  Quick oats cost about $3.18 for 48 ounces.  This recipe calls for about 30 ounces of oats when measured to 8 cups.  This brings the total cost of Oats to $2.27. The total cost of the spices is about 20 cents.  This whole mixture cost $3.35 and makes 20 servings. Thus, the cost per serving is 17 cents.

Calories per Serving

Each 1 cup of oats is 300 calories and there are 8 cups in the mix.  This is 2400 calories total.  Two cups of brown sugar are 1658 calories.  The mixture totals 4,058 calories for 20 servings.  Each serving is 203 calories for 1/2 cup measured.

Video: Easy Alfredo Sauce Recipe ( Fettuccine Alfredo ) - Better and Cheaper than store bought

Easy Alfredo Sauce Recipe ( Fettuccine Alfredo ) - Better and Cheaper than store bought by WatchJimmyCook This is a how-to video for my delicious homemade fettuccine alfredo sauce. I add mushrooms and olives for richness, but you can leave them out if you prefer a more standard Alfredo sauce. This recipe is so good, and only costs LESS THAN $1 per serving. The recipe makes about 8 servings. If you like the video or any of my other videos, please subscribe or like my video(s).

Noodles are a staple food in many cultures because they are high in carbohydrates and calories, yet very economical.  They are also very versatile, as you can add many different toppings and sauces to them.  Live frugally by making noodles a staple of your diet.

Tricia's Slow Cooker Old Bay Rotisserie Chicken - $5 Dinners

From $5 Dinners Blog..... ------------------------------------------------------------ Tricia’s Slow Cooker Old Bay Rotisserie Chicken So many times I turn to the slow cooker for feeding my family. And often I try to put a new spin on a family favorite recipe just to make it stretch a little further for those hungry teens. Recently I paired two different slow cooker recipes. The result was delicious! My friend Phyllis, at Household Ways, inspired my Slow Cooker Old Bay Chicken recipe. I made a new variation of that using a favorite rotisserie chicken recipe and Old Bay seasoning spices.  The rotisserie recipe calls for seasoning with seasoned salt. I simply substituted Old Bay seasoning and just a sprinkle of garlic salt. You just can’t beat easy, frugal, delicious – and being able to feed a crowd! Plus, there just may be a few leftovers you can use another night. Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. Slow Cooker Old Bay Rotisserie Chicken Adapted from Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken by Hillbilly Housewife Yield – 6-8 servings Preparation Time – 10-15 minutes Cooking Time – 6 hours Ingredients 1 whole fryer chicken 5-6 foil balls Old Bay seasoning garlic salt Directions Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Shake Old Bay seasoning all over chicken until it is covered. Add a few shakes of garlic salt. Place foil balls in slow cooker. This serves are your ‘grill.’ Place chicken in slow cooker. Cook on high for six (6) hours. Visit $5 Dinners

 

Video: The Frugal Gourmet -P2- Pasta Buffet - Jeff Smith Cooking HD

Pasta is a very inexpensive food. Each pound of dried pasta can be purchased for around $1 and makes about eight servings.            The Frugal Gourmet -P2- Pasta Buffet - Jeff Smith Cooking HD by lvlagnetoTwo The Frugal Gourmet, aired by WTTW Chicago, was one of many cooking shows that I watched in the mid 80's. I recall thinking that Jeff Smith was pretty hilarious when I was a kid. Check out this classic clip. ©2012 YouTube, LLC 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066

Simple French Toast Bake Recipe

This is a recipe and instructions for making a simple French Toast Bake.  It's tasty, nutritious, and affordable.

Ingredients

12 slices of white bread
6 eggs
1 1/4 cups of milk
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg (optional)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Mix the liquid ingredients, sugar, and the spices.  Pour mixture over the white bread. Place in the oven and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes.

Cost per Serving
This recipe will use about 66 cents worth of bread, 60 cents worth of eggs, and 24 cents of milk.  The sugar and brown sugar will cost 21 cents and 15 cents respectively.  The spices will vary in price, but in general will amount to no more than 20 cents.  So, the total cost is $2.06.  Each of the 12 servings costs 17 cents.

Calories per Serving
Each slice of bread is about 70 calories, 840 total,  and each egg is about 70 calories, 420 total.  The sugar is about 435 calories. 1 and 1/4 cups of 2% milk is about 152 calories.  This brings the calorie total to 1847 calories.  There are about 12 servings in the batch, each at 154 calories.

Video: The Frugal Gourmet -P1- The Classic Omelet - Jeff Smith Cooking HD

Eggs are one of the cheapest forms of protein. Each egg can cost as little as ten cents.            The Frugal Gourmet -P1- The Classic Omelet - Jeff Smith Cooking HD by lvlagnetoTwo The Frugal Gourmet, aired by WTTW Chicago, was one of many cooking shows that I watched in the mid 80's. I recall thinking that Jeff Smith was pretty hilarious when I was a kid. Check out this classic clip.

Try making an omelet with tender apples folded into the center.  Next, the frugal gourmet makes a french potato and garlic omelet.

Pumpkin Banana Bread Recipe with Cost Per Serving

Ingredients 

Original recipe makes 1 - 9x5 inch loaf

 2 cups all-purpose flour
 1 teaspoon baking soda
 1/4 teaspoon salt
 1/2 cup butter
 3/4 cup brown sugar
 1/4 cup sugar
 2 eggs, beaten
 3/4 cup mashed overripe bananas
 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt.

In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar with a mixer or whisk.  Add in the eggs one at a time, puree pumpkin, and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana and pumpkin mixture into flour mixture; mix until moistened. Pour the finished batter into greased loaf pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 55 to 65 minutes.  A toothpick should come clean when inserted and removed from the loaf.  Let the bread cool for at least ten minutes in pan.

Cost per Serving
For this recipe, we're going to assume that the pumpkin and banana were free because this is essentially a way to use bananas that are about to turn rotten and old fall pumpkins that would just be thrown away.  The store brand of flour costs $1.87 for 5 pounds.  We'll round up to $2.  Since there are 3 1/3 cups per pound, this recipe calls for 24 cents worth of flour at this price.  Sugar costs about $2.50 for 4 pounds and there are about 2 cups of sugar per pound. So, 1/4 cup of sugar will cost about $0.16.  Two eggs cost about 10 cents each.  One stick of butter costs about 30 cents.  The brown sugar amounts to 33 cents and the salt and baking soda come in at a penny each.  The total cost for the recipe is $1.15 per loaf.  This recipe makes about 8 hearty slices, which puts the cost per serving at 14 cents.
 .

Simple Pound Cake Recipe with Cost Per Serving

Living frugally means making food from scratch.  Here is a simple pound cake recipe that can be enhanced with lots of toppings.

Ingredients
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cups canola oil
1 tsp. each: vanilla extract, almond extract and lemon flavoring
5 large eggs
Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and pour into greased and floured bread pan.  Be sure to use a rubber spatula to pull all the batter into the pan. Bake at 350°F for about 50 to 60 minutes.

Cost per Serving
16 ounces of almond extract can be purchased for $18.99 on a popular website.  There are about 6 teaspoons per ounce.  This means that the price per one teaspoon of almond extract is about 20 cents.  32 ounces of imitation vanilla extract cost about $8.90 on the same website. The cost per teaspoon of vanilla extract is about 5 cents. Lemon extract prices at about $1 per ounce.  So, a teaspoon of lemon extract is about 17 cents. Sugar costs about $2.50 for 4 pounds and there are about 2 cups of sugar per pound.  So, two cups of sugar will cost about $1.25.  The store brand of flour costs $1.87 for 5 pounds.  We'll round up to $2.  Since there are 3 1/3 cups per pound, this recipe calls for 24 cents worth of flour at this price.  Canola oil costs about $2.58 for 48 ounces.  So, a half cup of oil costs about 22 cents.  A dozen eggs costs about $1.20.  So, five eggs cost about 50 cents.  The total price of this pound cake totals $2.63.  With about ten servings, the cost per serving is 26 cents.

Pound cake is an old fashioned and simple dessert staple that can be enhanced with fresh berries, chocolate, ice cream, or even jams and jellies. By itself, it is very economical.

BBQ Chicken Topped Potatoes - $5 Dinners

BBQ Chicken Topped Potatoes I’ve been on a potato kick lately. Big, big potato kick. Totally pregnancy related. But still, a big kick. I think it’s the butter. I generally eat a low-fat diet and I sense that when baby needs to grow and needs some fat, I crave potatoes. Because my body knows that I will slather butter all over them and get some good fat into the potato. (Amazing, I think, how the body knows what it needs!) I could eat them just like this…loaded up with butter, pepper and a little garlic salt. But since I have these dudes to feed, I thought I’d throw some BBQ chicken (and cheese onto Steve’s) on top. (Boy’s are dairy-free…still. Last time I tested, we got reactions ) So…this is an inexpensive one (potatoes are SO cheap right now!) for all those “meat and potato” mouths you have to feed! Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. BBQ Chicken Topped Potatoes Yield – 4 servings Preparation Time – 15 minutes Cooking Time – 60 minutes Ingredients 4 to 6 baking potatoes (depending on how hungry the crowd is!) ($1.50-$2.25) 1 lb. chicken breasts or thighs (I used thighs, because I think they shred better!) ($1.99) Salt and pepper About 1 cup BBQ sauce (free- $.50) Butter, salt and pepper for potatoes ($.50) Shredded Cheese for topping ($1) 1 lb. baby carrots ($.99) Recent sale at Sprout’s! Directions Bake the potatoes in the oven for an hour. Or in the slow cooker. Meanwhile, add the chicken with about 1/2 cup of water and the BBQ sauce to a Dutch oven or saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat for 20 minutes, or until chicken is soft and tender. Remove from heat, let cool slightly, then shred the chicken with 2 forks. Once the potatoes are done, add butter and salt and pepper, mix and mash. Top with the shredded chicken and then cheese. Serve BBQ Chicken Potatoes with side of veggies or fruit. Cost $5.98 – $7 (I tagged this as dairy free, in addition to gluten-free. Use dairy-free margarine and omit cheese. Check BBQ sauce to be sure it’s gluten free.) Visit $5 Dollar Dinners

Pumpkin Cookies Recipe With Price Per Serving

Ingredients

2 cups of puree pumpkin
2 cups of flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup oil
1/2 cup oats
1 teaspoon vanilla, all spice, cinnamin
1/4 cup raisins
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg

These pumpkin cookies are easy to make.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the egg, sugar, brown sugar, and oil in one medium bowl.  Mix the dry ingredients in another large bowl.  Put the mixtures together in the large bowl and stir in the pumpkin puree.   Drop the cookies onto a cookie sheet and bake for 12 to 13 minutes.

How much does it cost per serving?

The flour costs about 25 cents. The pumpkin is free. The sugar will cost about 24 cents and the brown sugar costs about 33 cents. The price of the oil is about 33 cents.  Oats cost about 30 cents.  The rest of the ingredients add up to about 50 cents.  The total is about $1.95 for 12 servings.  Each serving costs about 16 cents.

Other Pumpkin Cookie Recipes

Turn Your Halloween Pumpkin into Actual Food

Bake Your Pumpkin

This is the first step in utilizing your old pumpkin for breads, cookies, and pies.  Once the pumpkin pieces have been baked in a 350 degree oven for about an hour, they can be easily pureed into a mush that can be used in any pumpkin recipe.  Place the pumpkin pieces into a glass baking dish or onto a cookie sheet.  Layer the bottom of the pan with water to ensure the pieces don't burn.

Once the pumpkin has cooked, remove it from the oven set it aside for a few minutes to cool.  Once cooled, you can slice off the skin.  You should be able to puree the pulp of the pumpkin with a sharp knife.

One large pumpkin should create a very large amount of puree.  Here you can see about 12 cups of puree from one pumpkin.

How much should you use in a recipe?

Lots of recipes call for 15 oz cans.  There are 8 ounces in a cup. So, two cups of puree is about 16 ounces. Use a little less than 2 cups of puree to substitute for the 15 ounce can.  If your puree seems a little "wet", then subtract a little more puree.

Make Food From Scratch

A very effective way of saving money on your grocery bill is to cook much of your food from scratch. Do you enjoy macaroni and cheese? Price it at the grocery store. The more processed the food is the more expensive it is. A box of dry ingredients that is supposed to feed four can cost over a dollar. A single serving of gooey mess that is supposed to be heated in the microwave costs even more. On the other hand, if you buy a bag of macaroni and a box of processed cheese food, it costs a bit more at the outset, but you have enough ingredients to serve macaroni and cheese to a dozen people a couple of times or 6 really big eaters. You don't have to prepare it all at once. Keep the macaroni dry and the cheese in the refrigerator. Both will be good for a month.