Stretching the Almighty Dollar

photo courtesy of Food Network

One thing I promised this month was sharing some recipes that I use when I am "reusing" food - because we don't like leftovers. Here is my first attempt so please let me know if you like the format.

And why don't we start with chicken - easy, delicious, and most everyone likes it. Here we go...

Meal Idea 1:
Roasted chicken, green salad, and roasted potatoes, onion and red pepper medley

Roasted chicken:
Purchased Split Chicken Breasts for $3.98 and used Tyson coupon for $1.00 off = $2.98. Four breasts were in the pack.

Cover chicken breasts with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast all four breasts in an oven at 350 for 30-45 minutes.

Green salad - go ahead and prepare all the lettuce, but unless you need it, don't make all into a salad (can use this for other things later).

Cut onions, potatoes, and red peppers into equal sizes. Use a large skillet, heat a tablespoon of olive oil, and throw all veggies in skillet. Saute and brown vegetables. Can cover if needed (sometimes helps the potatoes cook faster). When the potatoes are fork tender it is ready.


photo courtesy of Food Network

Meal idea 2:
BBQ Chicken Sandwiches with baked fries

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches: Take left over chicken and shred in pieces (I normally use one to two breasts for the above meal). Place shredded chicken in Crock Pot, pour favorite BBQ sauce over the chicken, saturating it. Cover and cook on low all day. Spoon onto bun for sandwiches.

Baked Fries: Take raw potatoes that you didn't use for your veggie medley, cut into fries - these could be thin, thick, however you like them (I figure one potatoe per person). Cover with a little olive oil in a bowl (don't saturate), sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spray a baking sheet and spread the cut potatoes on the sheet. Cook in the oven for 30-45 minutes at 415 degrees until brown.

Tip: With four breasts I can usually get three to four meals out of them. Depending on how many you are feeding you may be able to take some of the shredded chicken from the above recipe and freeze it for future use. Also, if I have BBQ chicken left over I also freeze that for a future meal.

Enjoy! If you try this, let me know how you and your family like it! :)