Dinner on a Dime Recipes

Here are the recipes from our recent Joyful Living workshop--Dinner on a Dime! All of these meals cost $5 or less to make. If you would like to contribute more recipes to the collection email them to Jenny Grace.

Knock Your Socks Off Spaghetti

3 T olive oil
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 green bell pepper (optional), chopped fine
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 T chopped dried parsley
1 T ground beef
1 ½ t salt
½ t black pepper
2 T Italian seasoning
2- 28 oz. cans crushed tomatoes
1- 6 oz. can tomato paste

Directions: Sauté onion, bell peppers, garlic and parsley in olive oil until light brown. Add meat and seasonings: cook until brown. Add remaining ingredients and simmer one hour, stirring occasionally, serve over cooked thin spaghetti with grated cheese on top.

Asian Beef Noodles

1 lb ground beef
2 pkgs. Top Ramen noodles
½ t ground ginger
¼ chopped green onion
2 c frozen vegetables

Brown beef, rinse. Add 1 seasoning package to beef. Set aside. In same pan add 2 cups water, noodles (break noodles into large pieces), vegetables, ginger and 1 package seasoning. Cook covered 3 minutes—until vegetables and noodles are done. Add beef and heat until warm.

Chicken Chile Spaghetti

2-3 pounds whole chicken
7 oz. vermicelli pasta
1/3 c and 2 T butter
1 ½ stalks celery
5/8 clove of garlic, minced
5/8 onion, chopped
5/8 green bell pepper, chopped
1 ¼ (10 oz.) cans diced tomatoes with green chile peppers
10 oz. processed cheese, cubed
1 ¼ (4.5 oz.) cans sliced mushrooms

Place whole chicken in large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil reduce heat and simmer 40-60 minutes, until tender. Remove chicken from pot, reserving broth. Skin and bone chicken; set meat aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring chicken broth to a boil. Stir in pasta and cook 8-10 minutes, until al dente. Remove pasta from pot and set aside. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Cook celery, garlic, onion and bell pepper in butter until tender. Toss celery mixture with pasta, diced tomatoes and green chiles, cheese, sliced mushrooms and chicken meat. Place in 9x13 baking dish. Pour reserved chicken broth over to moisten. Bake in preheated oven 20 minutes until hot and bubbly.

Fried Rice

1 lb rice
1 bag frozen peas/carrots
2-4 garlic cloves
6 eggs
1 onion
Soy sauce
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil

Cook rice following directions on package or in rice cooker. Scramble eggs. Heat olive oil or butter in large skillet. Sauté onion and garlic in the olive oil. Add bag of peas and carrots. Add cooked rice. Stir in scrambled eggs. Salt and pepper to taste. Add soy sauce to taste (about 2 tablespoons).

This is the most inexpensive way to make fried rice. You can add any meat (about 1-2 cups) to make it different. I often make fried rice on a day following a meal in which I have left over meat and add that to the mix. You can use pork, chicken, beef, shrimp or ham. Also, you can adjust the recipe as needed, using more rice, eggs or meat.

Chicken Pot Pie

1 can cream potato soup
1 can cream chicken soup
1 (16 oz.) Veg-All, drained
2 c cooked chopped/diced chicken
½ c milk
½ t thyme
½ t black pepper
2 (9 inch) frozen pie crusts
1 egg, slightly beaten

Combine first 6 ingredients. Spoon into prepared pie crust. Cover with top crust; crimp edges to seal. Slit top crust and brush with egg if desired. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. Preparation time: 20 minutes. Cook time: 40 minutes. Yields 4 large servings/8 small servings.

Tomato Soup

3 cans condensed tomato soup
3 cans of milk
1 can diced tomatoes
½ onion
Whatever spices you have

Terri’s Cornbread

½ c butter, melted
2/3 c sugar
2 eggs
1 c milk
½ t baking soda
½ t salt
1 c cornmeal
¾ c flour
¼ c vanilla pudding (instant)

Mix ingredients in order listed. Stir until well blended. Pour into greased 8x8 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until center is cooked.

Ham Potato Scallop

1 package (5 oz.) scallop potatoes
2 c boiling water
2 T butter or margarine
¾ c milk
2 c cubed fully cooked ham
1 c green beans
1 c shredded cheddar cheese

In an ungreased 1 ½ qt. baking dish combine potatoes with sauce mix, boiling water and butter. Stir in milk, ham and beans. Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese and bake 5 minutes more. (4 servings)

Tuna and Rice Casserole

4 c of cooked rice
1-2 small cans of tuna
2 hardboiled eggs (optional)
¾ c grated carrots
½ c chopped celery
2-3 T chopped onion
1 can cream mushroom soup
½ c mayonnaise

Mix all the ingredients above. Put in a baking dish. Top with parmesan cheese, or French fried onion or bread crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Serves 5-6.

Ham It Up Soup

1 meaty ham bone, or smoked ham hocks
2 ½ qts of water
1 ob dried navy beans
1 med. Onion
1 c chopped carrots
1 c chopped celery
2- 8 oz. cans tomato sauce
1 t Worcestershire sauce
1 t salt
½ t garlic powder
½ t pepper

Combine all ingredients in a soup pot. Bring to a boil. Simmer, covered, for about 2 hours or more, stirring occasionally. When beans are tender, remove ham bones from soup and remove meat from bone, skin and fat. Return meat, chopped if necessary, to soup.

Make a cheap nutritious meal by adding a tossed salad, and crusty bread.

I have very good recipes for potato/cheese soup, vegetable soup and Swedish yellow pea soup.

When I buy a bone in ham I usually get a couple dinner out of it. I save all of the fat and use it to flavor baked beans. I cube the rest and make scalloped potatoes and ham, or breakfast dishes. Then I make soup from the bone! I always look for a good price for ham. This time I paid .99 for a Cook’s ham at Aldi’s It can make for some pretty cheap and tasty meals!

Chinese Cabbage Salad

1 (3 oz.) package ramen noodles, crushed
10 oz. cashew pieces (I use ½ can)
1 head cabbage
½ bunch green onions, chopped
½ c white sugar (I use ¼ c)
½ c vegetable oil
¼ c cider vinegar
1 T soy sauce
1 t sesame oil (Optional…but adds a lot of flavor)

In a preheated 350 degree oven, toast the crushed noodles and nuts until golden brown. In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, green onion, toasted ramen noodles and cashews. To prepare the dressing, whisk together the sugar, oil, vinegar and soy sauce. Pour the dressing over the salad, toss and serve.

Variation--Add peas, carrots, almonds, different types of cabbage, add packet of ramen noodle flavoring to dressing to add flavor.

Dinner on a Dime Follow Up

At our last Enrichment Workshop--Dinner on a Dime--Michelle Zebley gave a wonderful recap on a money saving workshop she and some other sisters attended. The following web address is the blog of the gal that gave the workshop. There are tons of money-saving ideas on this blog. Check it out!

http://tangibleresults4u.blogspot.com/

Other information from our Dinner on a Dime workshop will be posted soon.