$3.00 off any 3M™ Window Insulator Kit
Active Date: October 17, 2012
Expiration Date: December 31, 2012
Holiday gift labels for $3.69, today only
October 17, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
This is a Vistaprint offer that ends today. Get personalized holiday labels for just $3.69!
{recipe} 2 chickens~5 days, 5 ways, 5 meals for $50
October 17, 2012 by · 2 Comments
This post has been in the works for a while. Six years ago, when I was home on maternity leave, I saw this idea on Rachael Ray. I found it online and did it, and liked it. Then, I lost my printed copy of the recipe collection and have googled my little heart out and she doesn’t have it online anymore. So, I had to reconstruct it in my mind and put it here. It may vary from what she originally had and I’ve tried to add a more budget friendly twist to it. I have done different versions of this over the years and while it is easy and frugal, admittedly by days 4 and 5, you’re growing weary of chicken. You may want to modify it so that you can freeze portions or the meals and eat at a later date.
But, there is a demand for more budget friendly meals out there, so here you go. I also am going on the assumption that you can get whole chickens on a bogo sale. I know that Acme, Giant and Superfresh offer these sales quite often in the cooler months and I usually get two decent sized whole roasters for $10-$15. Even if I add up what I have listed here, it’s just under $40, so you have some wiggle room. Keep in mind I didn’t price things like the milk for mashed potatoes, flour for gravy and stuff like that. I’m wrote it with the assumption that you’d have these basic staples in your kitchen.
{recipe} roast chicken dinner
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
The first day of your 5 days 5 ways meal adventure. I’d try to do this on a Saturday or Sunday, or when you have more time.
Author: Lisa
Recipe type: budget friendly
Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 whole roaster chickens-$10-$15
- 5 lb bag of potatoes-$2
- milk
- butter
- flour
- salt, pepper seasonings
- side dish veggie-$1
Instructions
- Cook both chickens either in your oven or in crock pots.
- When chickens are done, get ALL the meat off of them and divide into portions for 5 meals.
- If you have a large family, you may need either 3 chickens or skip some of the meals and just do 3-4 days of meals
- Your first night’s dinner is roast chicken, mashed potatoes and a veggie for a side dish. Make gravy with the chicken juice and flour and water.
- You should have leftover mashed potatoes.
Notes
This will be your longest day in the kitchen because of the roasting time, picking all the chicken off the bone and dicing it or cubing it, and making the mashed potatoes. This is why I suggest a Saturday or Sunday, but then you will be set for the week!
{recipe} chicken shepherd’s pie
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Your second meal of the 5 days 5 ways chicken fest.
Author: Lisa
Recipe type: budget friendly
Cuisine: American/British
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- chicken off bone, broken/cut into bite-sized pieces
- mashed potatoes
- gravy from previous night
- 1 bag of frozen mixed veggies-$1
Instructions
- Microwave the frozen vegetables for 3-4 minutes as directed on package.
- Drain and mix in a bowl with the chicken and the gravy.
- Spread that mixture in a deep pie dish or 8×8 pan.
- Spread mashed potatoes over top of that.
- Cover with foil, leave space for venting.
- Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes and serve
{recipe} white chicken chili
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Day 3 meal
Author: Lisa
Recipe type: easy, budget friendly
Cuisine: Mexican/southwestern
Serves: 4-5
Ingredients
- chicken, off bone and broken/cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 can of black beans, drained-$1
- 1 can of hominy, drained, $1
- 1 packet of taco seasoning-$1
- 1 can of cream of chicken soup, $1
- 1 can of small white beans, drained, $1
- tortilla chips or shredded cheese or sour cream for topping
Instructions
- Mix all of this in a crockpot.
- Cook on low for 4-5 hours.
- At the start, it will feel like you don’t have enough liquid in the pot, but you do.
- When done, serve with a topping.
{recipe} baked chicken salad
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Day 4 of our chicken meal extravaganza.
Author: Lisa
Recipe type: easy, budget friendly
Cuisine: American
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
- 2 cups of cubed chicken
- 1 cup diced celery-$1
- 1 cup mayo-$1
- 1 cup shredded cheddar-$1
- 1 T diced garlic
- 2 T lemon juice
- ½ cup chopped nuts-almonds or walnuts-$1
- salt & pepper to taste
- crumbled potato chips-$1
- Pita or iceberg lettuce-$1
Instructions
- Mix everything together, except potato chips
- Spread in pan.
- Crumble chips and spread on top
- bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes
- serve on pita or on iceberg lettuce, like a lettuce wrap
{recipe} chicken quesadillas or BBQ chicken pizza
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Have any chicken left? Then here you go!
Author: Lisa
Recipe type: easy, budget friendly
Cuisine: American
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
- package of tortillas-$1
- bag of shredded cheddar-$3
- green onions, diced-$1
- diced chicken
- bottle of BBQ sauce-$1
- diced tomatoes-$2
- shredded iceberg lettuce-$1
Instructions
- If you have anything left of your chicken, use it to make either Quesadillas with the above ingredients or BBQ chicken pizza. Just assemble and warm in the oven.
Still time left to celebrate Halloween at Sesame Place
October 17, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
By far Sesame Place is one of our favorite places to visit. In the summer time we love the water attractions. In the fall we have a blast getting dressed up in our costumes and going to the Halloween Spooktacular. In the winter we like to get in the holiday spirit via the Very Furry Christmas.
I have three children ages 2, 5 and 7. They all were so excited to go to Sesame Place, especially since they got to wear their Halloween costumes. Their excitement began from the moment they were told that they were going to Sesame Place and lasted throughout the whole day. They have trick-or-treat stations set up throughout the park and we collected lots of treats.
Their favorite parts of the day were the character themed mazes and the Neighborhood Halloween Parade. All of the Sesame Place characters were dressed in costumes. The park offered hayrides with the characters and Halloween shows.
You can do a hay ride with the characters.
Throughout the day there were multiple opportunities to see my children’s favorite characters. My 7 year old son had a great time doing the rides. My 5 year old enjoyed the mazes the most. My 2 year old was star struck with seeing all of the characters and was dancing all day long.
My 2-year-old loves Zoe!
The Halloween Spooktacular will be going on at Sesame Place until October 28th. I highly recommend that families attend this event as there is something for all of your children to enjoy regardless of their ages.
bert and ernie
Also be on the lookout for the upcoming Very Furry Christmas!
This was a guest post by Diane B.
