Copycat Olive Garden Minestrone Soup

Copycat Olive Garden Minestrone Soup
By Todd Wilbur, Recipe #77585
Recipezaar

Serves 8
3 T. olive oil
1 cup minced white onion (about 1 small onion)
1/2 cup chopped zucchini
1/2 cup frozen cut italian green beans
1/4 cup minced celery (about 1/2 stalk)
4 teaspoons minced garlic (about 4 cloves)
4 cups vegetable broth (do not use chicken broth)
2 (15 oz.) cans red kidney beans, drainged ( I don't use this)
2 (15 oz.) cans samll white beans or great northern beans, drained (I only use one can)
1 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup carrot, julienned or shredded
2 Tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
3 cups hot water
4 cups fresh baby spinach
1/2 cup small shell pasta

Heat 3 T. olive oil over medium heat in a large soup pot. Saute onion, celery, garlic, green beans, and zucchini in the oil for 5 min. or until onions begin to turn translucent. Add the rest of the ingredients except the spinach and pasta, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the spinach and pasta and continue to simmer for 20 minutes longer.

Butternut Squash soup

Butternut Squash Soup
Roast the dices of Butternut Squash at 400 degrees F. for 20-30 minutes
After roasting the squash, put some of the squash into the blender with some chicken broth or vegetable broth and puree being careful not to explode or implode the contents. Don't ask me why I know that this can happen. Luckily it didn't hit the ceiling and the dogs aproved of the flavor as they were licking it off of the floor. Sometimes if you take the plastic handle thingy out of the top and put a thick thickness of paper toweling on top while you whir, it helps. When I made this, I sauteed some diced shallots and ginger first in olive oil and then added it to the mixture to puree. Or add some ground ginger. Be careful with the ginger, I added a small amount, and the heat was intense, it was fine for me, but the flavor intensified the next day also. Puree with broth until desired thickness. Add salt and pepper to taste unless you salt and peppered the squash when you roasted it.

For added richness, add some cream, if you want, although I think that I am a purest when it comes to butternut squash soup. I am quite happy with the uncreamed version.

Eat and enjoy. My family said, "EW, squash soup!" So I got to eat it all by myself and was very happy with my predicament.

Menu with what's on sale for the week of Feb. 24-Mar. 2

Some smokin deals this week on oranges at Sprouts, chuck roast at Safeway and peanut butter at Albertson's. I was going to have an inspiring paragraph heading into the budget menus but I am finding the past two Sundays, my head and mind are fried by the time I sit down to type this up. Maybe it will get better but I doubt it. I do my best and clearest thinking in the shower, and the keyboard might get too wet if I tried that.

$77.21

Breakfast
1-Eggs, bacon, hash browns, orange juice. Save some bacon for the Pasta Primavera
2-Oatmeal
3-Yogurt, toast
4-Oatmeal, orange juice
5-Yogurt, toast
6-Oatmeal, orange juice
7-Yogurt, toast

Lunch
1-Fruit and cottage cheese, pudding cup
2-PB&J sandwich, orange
3-Tuna sandwich, apple, pudding cup
4-PB&J sandwich, carrots, strawberries
5-Bologna sandwich, orange
6-PB&J sandwich, apple
7-Hot dog, orange

Dinner
1-Chicken Caesar Salad sandwich. So I'm thinking...you could halve a french bread loaf, put grilled or fried chicken breasts or strips of chicken on the bread, some caesar dressing and shreds or leaves of iceberg on top, put the other bread half on top and then slice into sandwiches. And I saw this on a blog or site somewhere but now I can't remember where.

2-Cheddar corn chowder (Jane Maynard version), french bread. See http://thisweekfordinner.com/2010/02/24/corn-chowder/ I didn't allow for the celery in the grocery budget

3-Beef Pot Roast, carrots, Rice A Roni

4-Pork chops, baked potato with sour cream, green beans (canned)

5-Pasta Primavera, salad. Sautee diced bacon first and let cook, then add some diced onion, chopped fresh asparagus, mushrooms, add cooked pasta and cream, and herbs and powdered garlic to taste, cook until thickened slightly.

6-Leftovers

7-Ground beef/cheese quesadillas

Grocery List:
Albertsons
Boneless skinless chicken breast, $1.67 lb, buy 3 lbs. at $5.01
Skippy peanut butter, 10/$10, buy 1
Albertsons concord grape jelly, 10/$10, buy 1
Sunny D orange drink, 10/$10, buy 2
Albertson eggs, 10/$10, buy 1
Albertsons butter, 8 oz., 10/$10, buy 1
TJ Farms hash browns, 10/$10, buy 1
Bar S bologna, 10/$10
French bread, 10/$10, buy 2
Calidad tortillas, 10/$10, buy 1

Bashas
Iceberg lettuce, 2/$1, buy 1
Bashas milk, .99 for 1/2 gallon, first 2, buy 2
Farmland pork chops, .99 lb., packages are aproximately $4
5# bag russet potatoes, .79
Food Club cheese, 3/$5, buy 3
Tyson bacon, 2.88
Hunt's snack pack pudding cups, .99, buy 2

Fresh & Easy
Fresh & Easy ground beef, $1.49 lb., with purchase of 2 lbs. or more, $2.98
NOTE: If you don't want to go to Fresh and Easy, then get a lb. of chuck roast at Safeway ground into hamburger

Fry's
Fry's canned vegetables, 2/$1, buy 2 corn and 1 green bean, $1.50
Rice A Roni, $1
Kroger cottage cheese, $1
Kroger sour cream, $1
Kroger yogurt, 3/$1, buy 12 at $4.00
Bar S jumbo meat franks, 10/$10
mushrooms, $1
Kroger mini peeled carrots, $1
Fry's canned fruit, 4/$5, buy 2 cans
Mission flour tortillas, $1
chicken of the Sea light tuna, 2/$1, buy 1 at .50
Kroger Value bread, .88, buy 4
Heavy cream or half and half, I allowed for $4.00 worth. You'll need it for the chowder and the primavera, however you could supplement some in the chowder with a little whole milk
Asparagus, $1.00 lb.
Fry's hot dog buns, allowed for $1.50
2 cans chicken broth, allowed for .99 each, buy 2

Safeway
Rancher's Reserve 7-bone chuck pot roast, $1.47 lb, buy 3 lbs. at $4.41
Strawberries, 16 oz., $1.88

Sprouts
Large navel oranges, .19 lb., they are big, aproximately a little under a lb. each. 12 oranges at $2.28
large roma tomatoes, .67 lb.
yellow onions, .39 lb., buy a lb. worth
Green onions, radishes, .39 each, buy one of each
Braeburn organic apples, .67 lbs. at $3.35
Oatmeal, .79 lb., buy 2 lbs. at $1.58

Items not on the list:
spices, bay leaves
flour
mayonnaise

Other great deals:
Chicken of the sea salmon, 10/$10-albertsons
chicken parmesan sausage, $2.99 lb.-sprouts NOTE: put this in the primavera if you want to spend an additional $2.99
Green cabbage .39 lb.-Sprouts
Fry's canned beans, 2/$1-Fry's
Fry's canned tomatoes, 2/$1-Fry's
Kellogg's cereal, 4/$10, get 2 free gallons of Fry's milk-Fry's
Milk, $2.19 gallon-Fry's

White Chicken Chili

Canned beans are cheap this week.

White Chicken Chili

4 cans of white beans, drained
2 cans of white corn, drained
3 C. chicken broth
2 cans diced green chilis
2 chicken bouillon cubes
2 medium onions, chopped
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon oregano
1 Tablespoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne
4 C. cooked chicken breast
One 24 oz. sour cream

Combine broth and cubes. Add all spices. Simmer broth for a few minutes. Add green chilis, corn, chicken, beans and onions. Cook 15 minutes. Add sour cream and stir for about 5 minutes.

Potato Soup

I made potato soup the other night for dinner. This method is great because you can make this soup as figure friendly or rich and fattening as you'd like. The potatoes are cooked in vegetable broth to impart flavor and then pureed in the blender to thicken the soup to a thick and satifying comfort food. But you don't have to add any milk or cream or extra fat to it if you don't want to. Here is how I do it.

Potato Soup

Russet potatoes, I used aprox. 8 or nine medium sized, some were smallish, potatoes. Peel and wash
one shallot, minced fine. I love shallot, but use onion if you don't have shallots
half of an onion, diced or minced fine
2 cans of vegetable broth, or use chicken broth or a little beef broth with water
milk
cream
salt and pepper

for toppers:
shredded cheddar
sliced green onions
bacon crumbles
sour cream

Put the onion in a pot with a little oil and cook until transparent. Dice the potatoes, put in the pot with the onion and cover with enough veg broth to cover the potatoes. Add water to cover potatoes if you need to. Cook until potatoes are tender. Being extremely careful, put hot potatoes in the blender a ladle or two at a time. You might even want to make all dogs and children exit the kitchen if you are even a little bit nervous about this. It's easy but a little intimidating if you've never done it before. Take the middle thingy out of the top of the blender and cover with a kitchen towel while holding it with one hand and blend until smooth. Pour into the pot, keep adding more potatoes and liquid and add milk to blend. Do until you have desired smoothness or chunkiness. Add some heavy cream if you'd like additional richness. Heat until hot. Season. Taste and readjust the seasoning. Serve with toppers.

Menu with what's on sale for the week of Oct. 14-Oct. 20

I made and canned applesauce on Wednesday. I now have a greater appreciation for how many apples go into a jar of applesauce and why the stores charge what they do for applesauce. I peeled and peeled and peeled a boatload (maybe 16 or 17 lbs.) of apples on Wednesday and ended up with 7 pints of finished product. 7 PINTS! Of course, the two teenagers coming in and eating applesauce before I canned it didn't help but that's why I'm making it anyway. I used the little gala apples from Fry's sale last week, so that may have been why I had to peel so many per jar. Funny how when you feel you're preparing enough for 5 months of applesauce eating and then you find out it's 7 pints. My next canning projects are more applesauce, sliced apples for baking, and mincemeat pie filling. And maybe some beef chunks this week. Is it healthy to be this obsessed with canning? I feel like I'm having my own Julie Powell (Julia project)experience as I'm working my way through the Ball Blue Book guide to preserving.



Bashas Pasta meal deal is a good one this week. What I did menu wise was take the ground beef and use it for a meat loaf and then do the spaghetti vegetarian with the salad and bread. You buy the ground beef and use coupons found in Wednesday's ad for free salad, free baguette, free pasta and free sauce. Any leftover ground beef not used in the meatloaf can be used in the spaghetti sauce or the quesadillas on meal idea #5. I had originally wanted to put down a Broccoli cheese soup and corn muffins for meal idea #5 but it wasn't as cost effective. See Jane Maynard's blog "This week for dinner" to check it out. Broccoli and Cheese Soup http://thisweekfordinner.com/2009/10/15/broccoli-cheese-soup/ It sure looks good.

And as always, you can make this more inexpensive by taking off some fruit or juices. Or take off the tortilla chips. Also, if you use coupons you can get four Campbell's Chunky soups for $3.00 instead of three.

Some of the deals for Safeway will need to be gotten on Saturday or Sunday.

Here we go:


$66.90

Breakfast
1-Oatmeal, strawberries
2-Oatmeal, juice
3-Corn griddle cakes, recipe on Jiffy corn muffin mix
4-Oatmeal, juice
5-Oatmeal, pear slices
6-Oatmeal, juice
7-Eggs, toast, juice

Lunch
1-PB&J sandwich, pudding cup, Capri Sun drink
2-PB&J sandwich, orange, brownie
3-Meatloaf sandwich, apple, Capri Sun drink
4-PB&J sandwich, cookie, apple, Capri Sun drink
5-Chicken salad sandwich, pudding cup, Capri Sun drink
6-Chunky Soup, Pop
7-Mac & Cheese, Pop


Dinner
1-Meat loaf, mashed or baked potatoes, canned vegetable

2-Baked or fried chicken, zucchini/mushroom/onion saute, Rice A Roni. Bake both chickens, use one for dinner. Take the meat off of the other one and stash in the freezer for dinner idea #7. Might have enough for two dinners out of the extra chicken.

3-Spaghetti/sauce, salad, Baguette

4-Potato sausage cheese Frittata or Sausage cheese Frittata, sliced tomatoes, steamed asparagus, corn muffins. See http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1622436 for Potato sausage cheese Frittata or http://find.myrecipes.com/food/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1168075 for Sausage cheese Frittata.

5-Guacamole and tortilla chips, Cheese Quesadillas (can add any leftover ground beef or chicken to it), steamed broccoli seasoned with butter and garlic salt.

6-Leftovers

7-Chicken Pot Pie, canned peaches. See Ina Garten's recipe http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chicken-pot-pie-recipe/index.html

If you want to use the pie crust recipe that I use, see the side under recipes for a previous post for pie crust.

Dessert Ideas:

Peanut butter cookies

Brownies
Apple crisp, if you buy more apples

Grocery List:

Albertson's:

Sargento shredded cheese, 5/$5, buy 3

Broccoli crowns, 5/$5, buy 2 lbs.

Pears, 5 lbs./$5, buy 1 lb.

Bashas

Pasta Meal Deal

Ground beef, buy 3 lb. package for $7.99 (73%)

Use coupon, get free baguette

Use coupon, get free Dole salad

Use coupon, get free Food Club pasta

Use coupon, get free Fool Club pasta sauce

Slicing tomatoes, .69

Russet potatoes, .69 for a 5 lb. bag

Fry's

Rice A Roni, .88, buy one

Campbell's Chunky Soup, .99, buy 3, four if you have a coupon

Fry's canned peaches or fruit cocktail, .83, buy one

Fry's canned vegetables, .50, buy one

Fry's chicken broth, .49, buy 2 for $1.47

Jiffy corn Muffin mix, .39, buy 2

Kroger Peanut butter, .99

Fry's flour, $1.57

Kroger Value, jelly, allow for $1.47

Whole frying chicken, .49 lb., buy two at aprox. $1.47 each, for $2.94

White mushrooms, $1

Hunt's snack pack pudding, .88, buy 2

Fry's lg. eggs, 18 count, $1.98

Kroger Value bread, .88, buy 3

Carrots, allowed for $1.00

Flour tortillas, allowed for $2.99

Sprouts

Apples, .77 lb., buy 2 lbs.

Zucchini or yellow squash, .99 lb.

Yellow onions, 2 lbs./$1, buy 2 lbs.

Oats, quick, rolled or steel cut, 2 lbs./$1, buy 4 lbs.

Hass Avocados, 3/$1, buy 3

Safeway

Saturday and Sunday Sale

Kraft Mac & Cheese, 3/$1, buy 2

Safeway soda pop, 3/$1, buy 2

Doritos brand regular corn tortilla chips, $1.49

Regular Safeway sales

Asparagus, .99 lb.

Banquet sausage, .99, buy 1

Betty Crocker traditional brownie mix, .79

Lucerne milk, $1.37, buy 2 (some people think that Lucerne brand milk tastes different, if you don't care for it Fry's has milk for $2.19/gallon)

Navel oranges, .99 lb., buy 2 lbs.

Buy 5 Deal

1-Capri Sun Drinks, $1.49

2-Capri Sun Drinks, $1.49

3-Juicy Juice, $1.49

4-Mott's apple juice, .88

5-Mott's apple juice, .88

Other great deals:

Green bell pepper, .49 each-Bashas

Oscar Mayer deli shaved lunch meat, 2/$5-Safeway

Lettuce, .99 each-Safeway

Cheerios, $1.67-Safeway

Roma tomatoes, .99 lb.-Sprouts

Green Bell peppers, 2/$1-sprouts

Ground beef, 93%, $1.67 lb.-Albertsons

Fresh green cabbage, 3 lbs., .99-Albertsons

Fry's Mac & Cheese, .44 each-Fry's

Fry's canned beans, 59-Fry's

Fry's veg. oil, $1.99-Fry's

Assorted fall squash, $1 lb.-Fry's

Fry's milk, $2.19-Fry's

Items not on grocery list:

butter

sugar

brown sugar

vanilla

garlic salt

salsa or taco sauce

Mayo

ketchup

lemon juice

Menu for what's on sale for Sept. 9-Sept. 16

So late in the sales week, but better late than never. Remember that you have until Monday night, Sept. 14th to enter in the Fry's $20 GC giveaway. See my post way down there, under the "Announcing.." headliner.

Here we go...$69.12 this week

Breakfast
1-Cold cereal, sliced peaches
2-Hard boiled eggs, toast
3-Cold cereal
4-French toast, cantaloupe slices
5-Cold cereal
6-Cold cereal
7-Eggs, toast

Lunch
1-Tuna sandwich, cookie
2-cottage cheese/canned fruit salad, celery sticks
3-Pork sandwich, apple wedges (keep some apple for the Spinach Salad for dinner idea #3)
4-Egg salad sandwich, tortilla chips, cookie
5-Tuna sandwich, strawberries
6-Chicken Noodle or tomato soup, leftover corn muffins
7-Macaroni and Cheese, Soda

Dinner
1-Macaroni and cheese, canned vegetable of your choice

2-Pork roast, canned vegetable of your choice, bread dressing, see http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Celery-Stuffing/Detail.aspx for recipe for bread dressing. Cut the pork loin into 3 pieces (or more?). One for the roast, one for the strips for stir fry and one to freeze for next week or the week after. Leftover roasted pork can be used for sandwiches. I did not put an onion down on the grocery list for the bread dressing, so if you need onion in this dish, add it to your grocery list.

3-Spinach Salad, french bread. See recipe below for Spinach Salad.

4-Pork stir fry with Ramen noodles. Use pork strips, broccoli and mushrooms for stir fry.

5-Taco Soup, corn muffins. Tortilla chips, sour cream and avocados for toppers. See recipe below for the Taco Soup

6-Bacon and tomato sandwiches. Add $1.28 to the week's food budget and buy some Kroger Value french fries to go with it if desired. Peach Raspberry Crisp for dessert. See side bar to take you to the entry that has the link for the recipe.

7-Spaghetti, sauce, garlic bread

Spinach Salad (Beth C., who gave it to Ginna B., who gave it to me)

Fresh spinach, washed
shredded or thinly sliced cabbage or some cole slaw mix
sliced strawberries
diced apple
Brianna's brand poppy seed dressing
(halved grapes, but the budget did not allow for grapes this time)
(Toasted amaranth and cooked quinoa are also added as are sugared cashews but I did not allow for them in the budget this time. Also adding cooked chicken or pork is good.)



Taco Soup (Kathy G., who gave it to Margie M., who gave it to me)

1 lb. of ground beef or ground turkey
1 small to medium onion, diced
1 can of corn with liquid (15 oz.)
1 can of black beans or pinto beans, with liquid (15 oz.)
1 can of diced tomatoes (28 oz.), or two smaller cans (15 oz.)
2 cans of tomato sauce (8 oz. each)
1 C. of water
1 package of taco seasoning

Brown ground beef. Drain grease. Sautee onion or cook in a bowl with a small amount of olive oil in it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Combine everything in a pot, heat until hot. Serve with toppers.

Toppers:
Shredded cheddar or Monterrey jack cheese
jalapenos, pickled or fresh
sour cream
sliced olives
sliced or diced avocado
sliced green onion
tortilla chips or corn tortilla strips fried in oil and salted. Or you can bake them.

(serves 4-6)

Now for the Grocery List:
Albertson's
Calidad tortilla chips, .99
Albertson's french bread, .99, buy 2
Hunt's diced tomatoes, .99
Jiffy corn muffin mix, 2/.79, buy 2
Bunch spinach, .69, buy 2

Bashas'
Boneless pork loin, $1.27 lb., aprox. $11 for one (cut into 3 pieces. Use one for a roast, one for pork stir fry and freeze one piece for next week or the next week)
Utah peaches, .79, buy 5 lbs, aprox., at $3.95
Strawberries, $1, buy 2
Bashas' large eggs, .88, buy 2
Del Monte vegetables, .69, buy 3
Lawry's taco seasoning, 2/$1, buy 1
S&W black beans, .75
Shamrock Farms sour cream, $1.39 (use a coupon and pay .39 for this)
Celery, .79
Broccoli, .99
Dole mushrooms, .88
Brianna's poppy seed dressing, I've allowed for $4.70 for this
Del Monte fruit, .75
Hamburger, $2.49 lb., $3.50 per package, aproximately
Cabbage, I've allowed for $1 for this
Large tomatoes, $1.99 lb.

Fry's
Fry's milk, $1.39, buy 2 (you can also buy the milk at the same price at Albertson's)
Driscolls raspberries, $1, buy 1
Gala apples, .77 lb., buy 2 lbs.
Campbell's chicken noodle or tomato soup, .49, buy 3
Maruchan Ramen noodles, .10, buy 2
Bumble Bee chunk light tuna, .47, buy 2
Fry's chicken broth, .50, buy 2
Fry's tomato sauce, .15, buy 2
Fry's macaroni and cheese, .29, buy 3
Big K soda, .47, buy 1
Kroger Value cereal, .99, buy 3 (or you can buy the Malt O Meal cereal at Albertson's for .99 each)
Kroger Value cookies, $1.19, buy 1
Bar S bacon, $1.99
Kroger cottage cheese, $1.18
Kroger Value bread, .88, buy 4 loaves
Fry's spaghetti, .88
Kroger Value spaghetti sauce, $1.19

Sprouts
Chilean Hass avocados, .49
Cantaloupe, .99

Items not on the grocery list:
oats
sugar
flour
butter
herbs and spices
onion

Other great deals this week:
Gala apples, .69 lb.-Safeway
Lucerne milk, $1.39-Safeway
Fresh and Easy shredded cheese, $1.99-Fresh and Easy
Yoplait yogurt, .40-Bashas'
Macayo diced green chilis, 2/$1-Bashas'
Malt O Meal cereal, .99-Albertson's
Albertson's milk-$1.39-Albertson's
Land o Frost Deli Shaved lunchmeat, $2.50-Albertson's
Albertson's sour cream, .99-albertson's
Kroger Value sugar, $1.69-Fry's
Kroger sour cream, $1.19-Fry's

The Utah peaches at Bashas. My friend was telling me that her friend takes the sliced, peeled peaches and puts them in a ziplock baggie. Then she puts that in a pie plate and freezes it so that it forms to the pan form. She then takes out the pan once the peaches are frozen and stacks them. Then when she wants peach pie, she takes out a bag of pie form peaches and plops them into a pie crust.

Menu for what's on sale Sep. 2-Sep. 8

Remember to enter the $20 Fry's GC contest by putting your name and email in the comment section of the "Announcing..." post below!!!!!!

This week:

$69.09

A good week to stock up on meat. My friend Mindy over at the $50 Stockpile blog (see my sidebar) has some good ideas for how to use $50 for meals this week.

Breakfast

1-French toast, bacon (reserving bacon for baked beans)

2-Breakfast tacos (eggs, sausage crumbles wrapped in a flour tortilla)

3-Cinnamon toast, cantaloupe chunks

4-French toast

5-Egg biscuit

6-Cinnamon toast

7-Breakfast tacos

Lunch

1-PB&J sandwich, celery sticks

2-PB&J sandwich, goldfish crackers

3-Bagels, cream cheese, carrots

4-PB&J sandwich, cantaloupe chunks

5-PB&J sandwich, watermelon chunks

6-Grilled cheese sandwich, leftover potato salad

7-Grilled cheese sandwich, potato chips

Dinner

1-Potato Cream Cheese Soup. Find recipe at http://www.recipezaar.com/Paneras-Cream-Cheese-Potato-Soup-150863

2-Hamburgers or meatloaf, green salad

3-Hot dogs, baked beans. The recipe for the baked beans on Pioneer Woman Cooks is below. I allowed for a half recipe for the beans. Otherwise it serves 18. So if you want to make the full recipe and use some for labor day, that would work. I allowed for 3 fifteen ounce cans of Pork & Beans in the grocery list.

4-Labor Day Menu. Spareribs, Potato Salad, Celery and carrots, Potato chips and dip, watermelon. If enough eggs will be left for the rest of the week, make some deviled eggs. Cheesecake pie for dessert. Cheesecake pie recipe below. If you have leftover cream cheese from bagels this week, a good dip can be made creaming the cheese, adding some milk to make creamier and some garlic salt to taste.

5-Leftovers.

6-Southwestern Chicken Caesar salad. A couple of options here. A recipe http://www.recipezaar.com/southwestern-chicken-caesar-salad-wchipotle-dressing-380694 or make your own dressing by adding a couple of dashes of green tabasco to bottled caesar dressing. You could try the red kind if that's all you have. Or let's go crazy and even say to try a small amount of taco seasoning. Try just a little in a small amount of dressing first to see if you'll like it. Or buy the Caesar salad kits on sale at Fry's this week. Making your own would be more cost effective though. If you choose to use the recipe, use one cob of corn for this salad, if you decide to buy some black beans for it, you will have to allow for extra in the food budget.

7-Grilled chicken sandwiches and corn on the cob. Here's what my hubby does. He bakes the chicken breasts in the oven at 350 or lower temp(I'll have to ask him now which it is) until they are almost done. Still inedible though. He then slices the breasts in half, so that you now have double the amount of chicken breasts, but thinner, and easier to eat as a sandwich. A really good $ stretcher idea for BBQ's and parties. He then puts BBQ sauce on them and BBQ's until they are done, not very long. Ice cream for dessert. If you want to use the leg quarters instead for this night, then cook the meat, take off the bone, and use as BBQ chicken sandwiches.

Quick Southern-Style Baked Beans

recipe by Pam Anderson
serves up to 18
as posted by the Pioneer Woman Cooks

8 slices bacon, halved
1 medium onion, small dice
1/2 medium green pepper, small dice
3 large cans(28 oz. each), Pork and Beans (or 6 small cans)
3/4 C. BBQ sauce
1/2 C. brown sugar
1/4 C. distilled or cider vinegar
2 tsp. dry mustard or 2 T. Dijon mustard

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Fry bacon in large, deep saute pan skillet until bacon has partially cooked and has released about 1/4 C. drippings. Remove bacon from pan and drain on paper towels. Add onions and peppers to drippings in pan and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add beans and remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer(If skillet is not large enough, add beans and heat to a simmer then transfer to a large bowl and stir in remaining ingredients. Pour flavored beans into a greased 13-by 9-inch (or similar size) overproof pan. Top with bacon, then bake until beans are bubbly and sauce is the consistency of pancake syrup, about 2 hours. Let stand to slightly thicken.

You may want to halve this recipe and only use 3 small cans of P&B's. Adjust the other ingredients.

Spareribs

3 lbs. spareribs
2 T. butter
1 Onion, medium, diced
1 clove garlic or comparable amount of garlic powder
1 C. celery, chopped
3/4 C. water
1 C. ketchup
2 T. vinegar
2 T. lemon juice
2 T. worcestershire sauce
2 T. brown sugar
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Melt butter; add onion, and cook until translucent, add remaining ingredients and cook 20 minutes. Enough sauce for 3 lbs. of meat. Simmer spareribs in sauce for 3-4 hours. (my mom always cut them into separate ribs or chunks of 2-3 ribs before cooking in the sauce.)



Cheesecake Pie (Angela N.)

2 bricks cream cheese, room temperature
2/3 C. heavy cream
2/3 C. powdered sugar
1 grahm cracker or shortbread or oreo pie crust

Mix cheese, cream (or less milk if you don't want to buy cream, start with 1/4 C.), powdered sugar, with an electric mixer until creamy. Pour into a cracker crust, refridgerate four hours. Serve with canned pie filling or fruit jam. Strawberry or Raspberry freezer jam is an excellent topping for this.

Albertson's

Albertson's is quadrupling coupon values this week

Cantaloupe, .99, buy 1. You may want to buy the cantaloupe at Sprouts for the same price.

Van Camp's Pork and beans, 2/$1, buy 3 cans. Food City has them for .25 if you have one close to you.

Bashas'

80% ground beef, $1.38 lb., 4 lbs. or more, aprox. $5.52

Bashas hot dog or hamburger buns, .88, buy 2 hamburger, 1 hot dog buns

Food Club cheese singles, .99

Food Club slice bacon, $1.99, buy 1. Fry's has Kroger Value bacon every day for $1.77

Bar S meat franks, .28 with shocker! coupon from the Wed. ad, with additional $20 purchase

Blue Bunny ice cream, $1.48 with shocker! coupon from the Wed. ad and additional $20 purchase

Kraft mayonnaise or Miracle whip, $1.98 with shocker! coupon from the Wed. ad and additional $20 purchase

Russet potatoes, .99 for a 10 lb. bag, buy 1

Whole seedless watermelon, $1.99

They have Pork and Beans here for .75 if you don't want to run to Food City or Albertson's

Eggs, I've allowed for $1.49 per doz., I forgot to check real prices last night, buy 3 dozen.

Green bell pepper, .99, buy 1

Yellow onion, $1 lb., buy 2

Fry's

Pork spareribs, .97 lb., one rack was a little over 4 lbs., or $4.23. I know they're cheaper at Bashas' this week. I couldn't find a pack to price and you have to buy a twin pack. I figured that this might be cheaper in the long run but if you have extra $, buy spareribs at Bashas'.

Boneless/skinless chicken breast, Kroger Value brand, $1.67 lb., aprox. $3.92. You can go with leg quarters at Bashas' for $3.80 for a 10# bag. Your choice. (Just turn meal idea #7 into BBQ chicken sandwiches instead of grilled chicken sandwiches.)

Lay's potato chips, $1.47

Kroger shredded cheese, .97, buy 1 for the top to the soup or for the breakfast tacos or to top with the Caesar salad. You may choose to buy another package of cheese depending on how many items you want cheese in this week.

Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, .88

Kroger cream cheese, $1.25, buy 4 packages

Kroger Value canned biscuits, .46

Kroger Value peanut butter, $1.29

Kroger dip, .97

Celery, $1

Organic mini peeled carrots, 2/$3, buy 1

Mission taco tortillas, buy one, get one free, $2.69 for 2

Grahm crackers, I've allowed for $1.99 for this. This is to make the pie shell

Fry's milk, $1.99, buy 1

Pepperideg Farms goldfish crackers, 10/$10

Kroger bagels, $1.25

Kroger Value bread, .88, buy 5 loaves. You will need 80 slices of bread minimum this week. Four loaves is 80 slices. The fifth loaf will give you security if something burns. Rollover into next week if you don't use it.

Farmer John sausage links, $1, buy 2

Fry's chicken broth, .89, buy 2

Romaine lettuce, I've allowed for $1.50 for this

Sprouts

Sweet corn, 10/$2, buy 5 ears

Large vine ripe tomatoes, .99 lb., buy 1 lb.

Other great buys this week:

chilean avocados, 2/$1, Sprouts

Green beans, .99 lb., Sprouts

Blue Bunny ice cream, $1.88, Albertson's

93% br. beef, $1.77 lb., 5 lbs. or more, Albertson's

Dole salad kits, .97, Fry's

Bar S jumbo franks, .57, Fry's

Kroger Value bacon, $1.77, Fry's

Popsicles, .88, Fry's

Broccoli or cauliflower, $1, Fry's

Hunt's pasta sauce, 4/$5, Fry's

Kroger apple juice coctail, $1.29, Fry's

Fresh pork spareribs, .88 lb., Bashas'

Boneless top sirloin, $1.99 lb., Bashas'

Cook's Ham, .99 lb., Bashas' (makes for a cheap lunch meat)

Fresh chicken leg quarters, .38 lb., in a 10 lb. bag for $3.80

Things not on the grocery list:

brown sugar

ketchup

garlic powder

worcestershire sauce

ground mustard

Dijon

tobasco

Menu for what's on sale Aug. 12-Aug. 18

I intended on getting this done on Wednesday. HA! With running to the stores to check out prices, taking the car in to have the A/C fixed, monitoring the house A/C which decides intermittantly to pop off lately, attending to children who have started school and now have a whacko schedule again and emotions flyin, feeling the need to can four pork loins, and a large package of hamburger, enjoying the rain yesterday morning, it just didn't get done before now.

So....when I first started creating budget menus, just mainly to see if I could do it, and posting them on CouponSense, I usually came in under $50 for a week's worth of meals. And I was inspired and touched by posts on the CouponSense message boards of women asking how to feed their family on $20 or $40 for a week or two weeks or until the next payday. I come nowhere close to those figures. Can it be done? Most probably. The Hillbilly Housewife says that you can. Well, she says that you can do it for $45/week. But you'll be eating alot of beans and lentils and hot rice with milk. If that's your thing or if that's what you need to do, http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/ . Actually, in checking out her website for this post, I noticed that she now has a $70/week menu. And note that I don't think that her prices on foods are all consistent with Arizona prices, but it's a good website. She is very "granola", you can learn a lot of self sufficient living from her and other fine blogs or websites out there.

The first budget meal menu I worked out was $36-something for that week(it was a great coupon shopping week). They have consistently gone up in price and I don't think that food prices have changed that drastically, but I do throw a cookie in for lunch now and again or a soda here and there whereas before the menus were bare bones, survival food. Oats for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, mostly vegetarian main dishes. And you can do it cheaper yourself if you use coupons, cut out a few things that might be unnecessary or veer towards the cheaper foods this week. This is just a guide or inspiration or a pat on the back that YOU CAN live within a food budget and not die from lack of creativity. I am not an expert at anything, this is just for fun. This week's menu is a little over $65....AGAIN. Feel free to pull anything frivolous out to make it cheaper.

$67.68

Here are the Menus for the week:

Breakfast
1-Breakfast Tacos (flour tortilla, scrambled eggs, cooked sausage. If you want cheese, you will have to spend .99 extra or pull something else from the grocery list and replace it with cheese as in trying to keep costs down, I didn't allow for cheese for this dish)

2-Cold Cereal, apple juice

3-Cold Cereal or Corn pancakes or waffles (use the recipe on the side of the Jiffy corn muffin mix for corn pancakes or waffles)

4-Cold Cereal

5-French Toast, bacon if any is left

6-Cold Cereal

7-Cold Cereal, apple juice

Lunch
1-Ham or turkey Sandwich, celery sticks

2-PB&J sandwich, pretzels, cookie (there are 32 cookies in the Kroger Value cookie package)

3-Ham or turkey sandwich, grapes

4-PB&J sandwich, pretzels, cookie

5-Ham or turkey sandwich, grapes (Serving size on the package of ham or turkey states one slice per serving with 14 servings per package)

6-Chicken Noodle soup

7-Tomato or Chicken Noodle soup, carrot sticks if any carrots are left

Dinner
1-Swiss steak, canned vegetable, jello, corn muffins. For a swiss steak recipe see http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Swiss-Steak/Detail.aspx

2-So, two options here. You can either have the leftover swiss steak and corn on the cob and french bread stick, or you can freeze the leftover Swiss Steak for dinner sometime next week and make a pot of Cheddar Corn Chowder http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/cheddar-corn-chowder-recipe/index.html (Barefoot Contessa version)
You should know that I did not put potatoes or half and half on the grocery list. Or chicken stock, but....I figure if you wanted to you could buy six extra cans of Campbell's chicken noodle soup at .50/can, strain out the noodles and chunk of chicken, yes the one chunk of chicken and that would probably work? Don't you think? You may have to add water, so maybe six cans is excessive, you'll know better than I. If you don't like guessing games, then buy some chicken stock. Serve the soup with the french bread stick. This sounds like it makes a lot of soup, you may want to halve the recipe, then again, you'll know better than me. Using milk in place of half and half would be lighter. If you choose not to buy potatoes, I think that it could still be a great soup.

3-Food Club Skillet Classics, their version of Hamburger Helper, green salad, pudding for dessert. Food club Skillet Classics offers these flavors: Stroganoff, Zesty Italian Pasta, Chili Mac, Salisbury Pasta, 3 Cheese Pasta, Beef Taco. They make 5 cups and suggest one cup servings to serve five people.

4-Grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup

5-Baked chicken, Knorr side dish, steamed carrots

6-Several options here also. Spaghetti and red sauce. Or Spaghetti and Alfredo sauce, with broccoli in it. Or...if you wanted to spend $1.79 for a package of Food Club lasagne and another .99 for a package of cheese, you could make a delicious vegetable lasagne. I would cook up half of the lasagne noodles and then layer with Alfredo sauce, some steamed broccoli and sauteed onion and continue layering, then top with cheese and bake. Kind of an italian inspired mac and cheese with broccoli thrown in.. Serve with a green salad.

7-Stuffed green peppers, four halves stuffed with a Knorr rice side dish and any leftover cooked ground beef, canned vegetable.


Here's the grocery list:

Albertson's
Whole fryer, .57 lb., aprox. 3 lbs. at $1.71
If you choose not to get the grapes at Bashas, you can get them here at .77 lb.
Corn on the cob, 6/$1, buy 6
Calidad flour tortillas, 10/$10, buy one
Brown n serve sausage or Farmland sausage at 10/$10, buy one
Kraft American singles, 2/$4, buy one
Carrots, .99 for 2 lb. bag

Bashas
Boneless Round steak, $1.37 lb., package I got was $5.86 (and enough steak to feed some third world countries. You're saving over $13 on a package this size!). Aprox. 4 lbs.
Green seedless grapes, .79 lb, package I weighed was $1.64, a tinge more than 2 lbs.
Large slicing tomatoes, .88 lb., one .36
Food Club shredded cheese, .99, buy one (if you don't make the Cheddar Corn Chowder, you can use the one bag of cheese for the breakfast Tacos, if you do make the chowder then you will need at least one other bag of cheese and if you make the Vegetable Lasagne you will need another bag. Totally confused? Me too.)
Bar S Extra lean sliced turkey or ham, $2.88. Package states 14 servings at one slice per serving. Campbell's tomato or chicken noodle soup, 20/$10, buy 6 cans
Jiffy corn muffin mix, .50, buy 2
Food Club gelatin or pudding mix, 2/$1, buy one of each
Hunt's diced tomatoes, $1, buy 2 cans
Food Club strawberry preserves or grape jelly, 2/$4, buy 1
Food Club canned vegetables, 5/$3, buy 2 cans
Food Club Skillet Classics, $1.25, buy 1
Green bell pepper, .49 ea, buy 2(use four halves)
Bashas medium eggs, $1.49, buy 1
French bread stick, $1.49, buy 1

Fry's
Milk---milk, milk, shmmmmilk. .77 for a 1/2 gallon. It's going to be cheaper for you this week at a 4 limit to pick up four 1/2 gallons of Fry's milks than it is to buy 2 gallons at $1.99 ea. Buy 4 at $3.08
Super lean gr. beef, $1.77 lb. in a 2 lb. chub at $3.54 [If you have a problem with chub meat, some people do and I am one of them, ask your butcher nicely and with a smile on your face, at Bashas to grind up some round steak into hamburger for you(Bashas)]
Knorr sides, .88, buy 4 pkgs. These have 2.5 servings in them with 1/2 cup being a serving.
Kellogg's cereals, buy four, save $4, soooooooo buy four, $1.37 each, $5.48 total
Broccoli, $1 lb., the bunch I weighed came to 1-1/2 lbs. which means, $1.50
Kroger Value cookies, $1.19, buy one. I counted out 32 cookies in one pkg. They have about four kinds to choose from
Fry's apple juice, $1.25
Yellow onion, .69 lb., the onion I weighed was a 1/2 lb., so .34 (If you make the Cheddar Corn Chowder, you may want more onions than just one.)
Kroger peanut butter, .99 (18 oz.)
Kroger Value Bacon, $1.77
Kroger Value bread, .88, buy 4 at $3.52(a loaf of KV bread has 20 slices in it counting the heals. If you make four sandwiches six times and make french toast with 8 slices, you will use 56 slices of bread. So you decide whether you get the fourth loaf of bread or not. You may need to have some toast with cereal on some mornings?)
Fry's pretzels, $1.29
Ragu Alfredo sauce or red sauce, $1.50 (Kroger Value red sauce is $1.15)
Kroger Value spaghetti, .88
Iceberg lettuce, $1
Celery, $1

Other good values this week which are not on the grocery list:
Chunk light tuna, .69-Fry's
Kroger Value animal crackers, .99-Fry's
Kroger Value vanilla wafers, $1.27-Fry's
Fry's pasta, .99-Fry's
Fry's spaghetti, 10/$10-Fry's
Fry's rice, $2.49 for 2 lbs.-Fry's
Big K soda .77-Fry's
Fry's chocolate milk, .77/1/2 gal.-Fry's (NOTE: that there is a four limit on the milk, so you can't buy four regular milks and then a choc. milk in one transaction, just be aware.)
Youplait yogurt, 10/$5-Bashas
Hillshire Farms Deli Selects, $2.88-Bashas, there's bound to be a coupon for this, knocking it down to $1.88, check your coupons
Chorizo, $1, -Albertsons

Items not on the grocery list you might already have:
Mayo, coffee, flour, sugar, condiments

See how you can save more on groceries, at http://www.couponsense.com/