Eating Healthy on the Cheap: Tacos

Taco Kits.  So easy.  So fun.  But they can make you pay more than you have to for a fun and festive Taco Night - both on the wallets and the hips.  So prep your kitchen to have Tacos on a whim any night of the week!  

How?

-  Buy a big container of Taco Seasoning at BJ's for about $6.  It will last forever.  Or MAKE YOUR OWN TACO SEASONING.  

-  Have tortillas on hand.  Tortillas are a basic staple in my house.  I make a lot of crap for my kids with them.  Wake up wraps.  Quesadillas, Tacos.  Great to have for Tacos on a whim.  They last a while.  Soft tacos are healthier than the crunchy ones.

-  Instead of browning up a full pound of ground beef, use 1/2 pound for your family of four.  Heat up a can of refried beans for your tacos to supplement the beef.  Beans are healthy and keep you full.  Lots of protein and fiber in them!  My kids love beans - they won't sit and eat a bowl of them, but if they are in tacos - they are fine.

-  If you like Taco Sauce, you can buy a jar of it for under $2.  It will last a while.  

Voila!  Healthier, easier, cheaper tacos if you have the staples on hand.  

Eating Healthy on the Cheap: Salads

Have you ever read diet or "healthy" cookbooks and sort of ask yourself, "what the HECK is THAT all about?"  Or "What would THAT be good?"  Maybe I'm a simpleton, but sometimes I feel that people try to go "over the top" to be healthy.

 For instance:

A salad.  Here is a salad with goat cheese, cranberries, walnuts, apples.  For me, this does not sound appealing at all.  But I feel like nowadays - "healthy" equals "fancy."  I'll talk to trainers, gym-goers and just overall people in general.  Sometimes I feel that people have to rain on my "trying to be healthy parade."  What do I mean?

I eat an apple.  "Oh, is it an organic apple?  You should really buy organic produce."  
Me:  "Shut up!  I'm eating a friggin apple and not a Snickers bar!"

I eat a package of instant oatmeal everyday.  "You should switch to all-natural rolled oats!  They are great.  You can buy them at bulk at Whole Foods."  
Me:  "The fact that I eat oatmeal everyday is a friggin miracle.  Don't friggin ruin it."

I eat Yoplait yogurt.  "You have to try Greek Yogurt.  So good.  Also, Yoplait is full of artificial colors and other chemicals."
Me:  "I don't care."

You have to pick the degree of healthy for you.  And there are many factors to consider.  Cost, obviously.  Amount of additives.  Convenience.  Me, I need to actually like the crap - a.k.a. Taste.  I don't care how healthy or how cheap Greek Yogurt can be - I'm not eating that crap.  It doesn't jive with me.  Healthy doesn't have to cost a ton.  It doesn't have to be all fancy.  For me, mandarin oranges, pine nuts and funky-animal cheeses in salads are for the birds....

For salads, I like to stick to the "regular" stuff:  Lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onion and carrots.  If I'm feeling wild, I'll throw some green pepper in.  You might like all the funky, fancy stuff.  But the point is, you don't have to over think or over spend to be "healthy".  Like many things in life, if you just stick to the basics, you'll be okay.

Eating Healthy on the Cheap: Lettuce

Sure.  It's super convenient.  It's just there in a bag ready to dump in a bowl.  It's pre-packaged, pre-washed salad.  Which is really just pre-packaged cut-up lettuce.  Although handy, these suckers are expensive.  Normal shelf price is about $3.69 a bag.  They'll go on sale for $3 or BOGO Free.  Sometimes they go down to $2.50 a bag.  Even on sale, you don't get a great bang for your buck.  Why?  Because in reality, it's a small bag.  Generally, they are anywhere from 5oz - 10oz.  You get about a whole pound if you go strictly iceberg.

Also - not like I'm super conscious about additives and crap in food - but these suckers are constantly testing positive for some sort of bacteria:  E. Coli, listeria, salmonella, cyclospora, cryptosporidium, giardia.  Which are indicators of poor sanitation and fecal contamination.  Ewww.  Poop on my lettuce!

So what does one do?  BUY LETTUCE IN THE FORM IT COMES OUT OF THE GARDEN!  A head of lettuce is significantly cheaper than these bagged beauties of contamination.  It might not seem like it - but when you cut up a head of lettuce (iceberg, romaine, etc.) - you do get a significant amount.  Much, much more than the bags.  And sometimes I think conveniences really "dumb us up".  These bags make us think that cutting/ripping up lettuce is a hard task.  Is it though?  Seriously.  It probably takes a minute or two (if that to cut up a head of lettuce).  Run it through some water to wash it and dry it off.  If you're like me - you add other vegetables to lettuce so you have to wash and cut those too.  I can't just eat lettuce and call it a salad.  So I have the knives and cutting board out anyways when making salad so why not just cut up the lettuce too?

Have kids?  Have them rip it up!  Rugrats LOVE to destroy things.  If you are brave enough, supervise them and have them cut it up.  Yeah, knives are dangerous - but kids need to learn how to use knives properly.  Teach the kids to wash the lettuce.  Not to just "open a bag and enjoy!"

Eating Healthy on the Cheap: Mac & Cheese

Making "homemake" Mac & Cheese can actually be pretty cheap.  Depending on what recipe you use. Sometimes, I just like to make a creamier Mac & Cheese than your orange powder stuff.  But I don't use real cheese so this probably isn't healthy.  Whatever.

Isn't it delicious looking?  

The ingredients are pretty simple:

1/2 box of elbow macaroni.  I get pasta for $1 or less a box.  So .50 cents for the pasta portion.

1 can of Campbell's Condensed Cheddar Cheese sauce.  I stock up on these when they are on sale.  I drop probably about a $1 a can with sales/coupons.   

2 tbsp. of Butter or Margarine or "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter".  Assume $3 a pound and 32 tablespoons in a pound, that's .19 cents for the two tablespoons. I try to get butter product cheaper than this and stock up.  

A splash of Half & Half or Fat-Free Half & Half.  I think I end up using about 1/4 cup (4 tbsp).  If you buy your half & half at BJ's - it's $2 for a quart or 64 tbsp.  So .13 cents for the half & half.  

You get probably about twice as much Mac & Cheese than a typical box of Kraft.  This is more similar to the "Cheesier" varieties - like with the squeeze pouch ones.  You end up dropping about $1.75 making this way instead of $2.50 on a box of the "fancy" stuff.  You get about the same amount as 2 boxes - so instead of $5, you're dropping $1.75.  

Eating Healthy on the Cheap: Chicken Stir-Fry

I've been trying to eat healthy for a while now.  And by "healthy", I don't mean Weight Watcher frozen meals.  I pick and choose what I think is healthy.  But like most people, I don't have the means to drop tons of money on "healthy" food.  So I do what I can with what I got.  I'll share some of the stuff I find to make on the cheap.

Today's pick is stir fry.  Nowadays, you can buy frozen meals that you just throw in the skillet and 20 minutes later, they are done.  That's great.  It is super convenient, but they are typically pricey and typically packed with sodium.

A bag like this (24 oz.) will run you anywhere from $4-$7.

If you're willing to do a tad bit more work, you can do the same thing with fresh ingredients and it's not that hard or costly.

Using these ingredients, I can make about the same portion (actually bigger) for around $2.  

I used .75 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken thighs.  I got these on discount for .99 cents a pound because the expiration date was the same day.  I just threw them in the freezer.  So .75 cent for the chicken.  You do not need a whole pound of chicken to feed a family of four.  1/2 lbs - 3/4 lbs is plenty. 

I used 1 14.5 oz. bag of Birds Eye vegetables.  This cost me $1 at Stop & Shop.  You can use generic stir-fry bags (i.e. Stop & Shop brand) or find coupons for these too.  I try to buy these bags at $1 - $1.25 each.  I also buy frozen vegetables at BJ's.  I got 6 lbs of corn there yesterday for $5.29.  I love frozen vegetables.  

I buy rice in 10 lbs. bag and store it.  I cook a cup for us (makes 2 cooked).  So I guess a cup would cost about 15 cents?  

Needed a splash of olive oil and seasoned with soy sauce.  You're talking pennies here for those.  

All you do is cut up the chicken in bite sized pieces.  Saute it up with some olive oil.  When it's pretty much done, you add the bag of frozen vegetables and some soy sauce.  Cover and let it simmer on low like the kits.  On another burner, you can have your rice cooking.  I just throw 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water in a pot and cover on low.  Stir on occasion and turn off when there seems to be no water left and let it sit, covered for a while.  There is really no reason to invest in a rice cooker or anything like that.  You have pots.  Use them.  

A nice, big portion of chicken stir-fry for pretty cheap.  

Homemade Corn Dogs - Simple!

A neighbor told me how she made homemade corn dogs.  I love homemade trashy food.  So I tried it.  

I just mixed a Jiffy Corn Bread mix as per the packaged directions (1 egg and 1/3 c. milk).  I added some extra milk to thin it out some.

I heated up oil and covered my little cocktail wienies in the batter.

Then I fried them.

Then my kids enjoyed them.  So easy.  So fun.  So corny!

Homemade Cereal Bars - Good on the Wallet, Happy in Kids' Mouths

My kids love these:

And these:

But at $3 a box, I'm not having that.  My kids eat through them like no tomorrow.  Even with coupons and scoring them for $2 a box - you're still talking .25 cents or .33 cents per snack.  I'm cheap.  That's too much.

So I have resorted to making my own cereal bars - and once you start doing it often, it's so easy to make these that you wonder why you ever bought the packaged crap in the first place:

A 13"X9" batch gives me 15 bars (I cut 5 x 3).  Assuming you get the cereal on sale, the whole batch costs less than $3.  You'd be paying over $9 for the same amount of bars if you went with the pre-packaged crap.  

Here's the general recipe:

1 standard bag of marshmallows (mini or regular)

1/2 stick of butter

9 cups of cereal

Melt the butter and marshmallows in a big pot.  Turn off heat and add cereal until all mixed.  Put in greased 13"x9" pan and let cool.  When working the cereal in the pan, I suggest lubing up your hands/fingers with Crisco.  It makes it much easier.  

After it cools for a while, cut them in equal squares or whatever you want.  

If you're tempted by these creatures like I am - don't worry.  Each bar only has about 180 calories and 4 grams of fat.  Not too shabby at all.  

If you're one of those "really healthy" moms - this works great with Cheerios too.  

Cheap, Pantry Dinner! (Homemade Chicken Helper)

When the going gets tough, the tough go to their cupboards.  I whipped up a meal tonight by "winging" it and it actually came out decent.  It was like homemade Chicken Helper.

Everything I used, I found in the cupboards or freezer

8 oz. of chicken breast.  Cooked and cut up in pieces.

9 oz. of DRY egg noodles

1 can of Campbell's Cream of Chicken Soup

2 1/2 cups of water

1 tsp. Onion Powder

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup frozen carrots

1. Bring Cream of Chicken, water and onion powder to a boil.  

2.  Stir in noodles, vegetables and cooked chicken.

3.  Stir often to prevent burnage.  If you think it is too dry, add some more water.

4.  Pepper it.  With some black pepper.

5.  After about 15 minutes (or when you taste the noodles and they are cooked), it is done.

6.  Serve and feel proud.  

I pretty much combined two recipes that I found online.  I made this in a pot.  It didn't take long.  The four of us ate almost the whole thing.  I will make this again.  

I hope to find a few more recipes I can utilize this week using the crap I find in my cabinets.  If I find anything good, I will post.  (Hint:  if you are Jewish, you might be in for a great treat!!!)

Create the Cupcake Cone - Very Easy

Back in the 80s, I was a child.  I missed out on the AquaNet and puffy prom dresses since I was still in elementary school.   In my 80s, growing up in Connecticut, you were only cool if you had a My Little Pony lunchbox and had your mom make Cupcake Cones for your birthday.  I didn't have neither, so I was a loser.

But now I am a Homemaker - so hear me roar all you spoiled brats of Southern Connecticut who had everything.  I am just as awesome as your mom and then some, for I have perfected the cupcake cone.  I have no idea what I will do with this skill - seeing as my children's school district has "outlawed" food for birthdays.  Yeah - kids can't bring in food for celebrations anymore.  It sucks. 

So making the cupcake cone is wicked easy.

Make your cupcakes out of the box like every good white trash mom.  Fill 24 of those suckers up.  Now, before you throw them in your oven, just throw an ice cream cone on each one.  Bake at 350 for 16-22 minutes.  Then, you have your Cupcake Cone.  This is one recipe where it pays to not over fill the cupcake tins.  I used cupcake wrappers and just pulled them off after they were done cooling.  Then I just put in store bought, canned frosting into a decorator bag and cut a hole in it.  I tried to make it look like "soft serve" and then threw some sprinkles on it.  Wicked Easy.  Kind of trashy, but that's why they are so good.  

How To Make A Sugar Cookie - the Bargain Becky Way

So I'm obsessed with making sugar cookies.  This is in no way "bargain" related.  But need a post to tag my Pinterest pictures to.

This weekend, I made these:

They aren't great or anything, but if you want some tips to make your next sugar cookies with a little pop, here are some of my tips.  The #1 secret is toothpicks.  Everything can be done with a toothpick.  

First, my icing frosting is as follows:

1 cup confectioner's sugar (I weight it to be 120 grams)

1/4 tsp. Almond Extract

2 tsp. Corn Syrup

3 tsp. milk (give or take, depending on your consistency desired)

food coloring

You'll need to make a few batches of this recipe.  I usually do one batch per color.  4 batches decorates approximately 5-6 dozen cookies.  I use Wilton disposable decorator bags.  They sell these at Michaels and I usually buy a box of 100 ($19.99) with a 50% off coupon.  I use them a lot.  You can use tips, or you can just cut a small (very small) hole in the bottom of the bag.  Depends on how precise you want your cookies.  I did these without tips.  

First, I just pipe the heart and fill it.  This recipe will "go flat" and spread.  Make sure you don't go too close to the edge.  You need toothpicks if you want to add some pop.  Here are some "tricks".  I did these all really fast to take pictures - so apologies that they aren't very good:

The "Firecracker" look:

Outline the heart and fill.

Put a dab of color in the center and pipe a ring around it.

Take a toothpick and draw out from the center.  After you're done, it should look similar to this:

And that is what I call the "firework" look.  If you want a "cleaner" look, wipe off the toothpick between "swipes".

The "Swirl" Look:

Again, do your basic cookie.

Do a swiggle of a different color.

Take a toothpick and swirl it all around.  

You don't have to be "precise with your swiggles" and you can do more than one color.

This is very easy.

The "Rippled" Look:

Do your basic shape and pipe lines on it with a different color.

Take a toothpick and make straight lines, in alternating directions.  You're done.

You can get all fancy and do many lines and different colors.  Make some lines "fatter" than others.  Whatever you want!

The "Hearts" (I'm not good at this):  

Pipe your shape and drop drops with a different color.

Take a toothpick and start from the top and run it through the drop.  You can swirl it to one direction or not.  Again, I'm not good at these.  Not sure why.  Just have to keep practicing.  

And there you have it.  Some simple ways to make your sugar cookies a little more "elegant" or whatever you want to call them.  If you aren't fond of Almond taste, you can make this icing recipe with vanilla extract.  I think it's bland with Vanilla though.  

Visit my Boards on Pinterest for all my cookie decorating.  It's pretty much all the same - just different holidays.  

"What the Heck Do I have in my Cabinets" Recipe: Brunch Cake

I had this can of Solo Strawberry filling in my cabinets since the holidays.  I thought I was going to do something with it but I never did.  It's just been bothering me up there looking at me.  

So I went to the Solo website and found a recipe for "Brunch Cake".  This actually made me nervous because there is no baking soda or baking powder listed.  But whatever - I made it according to the directions anyways and I have to say - it came out great:

It doesn't look great - but it tastes great.  It doesn't look at all like the picture on the webpage:

But again, it tastes great and I am happy.  I'll have to keep this recipe on file in case I ever get these cans at a cheap price (they're $3.29 at the store, but go on sale for $3.  Yikes!  But if I ever see them for cheaper, I'll scoop them up).    

"What the Heck Do I have in my Cabinets" Recipe: Lo Mein!

Shaw's has all the Eat Smart Slaws on sale this week for $1.00 (normally $2.19 or $2.29).  These bags are wonderful.  I love making Lo Mein with them.  This is a healthy alternative to chinese food and really easy.

Last night, I made Pork Lo Mein.  So I cooked the pork until just brown on the outside and then added my bag of California Slaw.  That cooked for about 10-12 minutes.  I used some sesame oil to keep it cooking nice.  Then I added some Hot Chili Paste (bought at Kam Man in Quincy) and Soy Sauce.  Once all the slaw is tender and cooked down some (and your meat done, obviously), add about 3 servings of cooked thin spaghetti.  Saute it up for about 2 or 3 more minutes and voila!  You have a wonderful dish.  You can also add other vegetables to your liking:  onion, mushrooms, peppers.  If you want a little pop but don't have Hot Chili Paste, you can either run out to the Kam Man or you can add a pinch full of crushed hot peppers.  You can make this with pork, chicken or steak - whatever you want!  This is such an easy and versatile meal.  And healthy!  You can also use the plain old Cole Slaw bag that's mostly cabbage but I feel healthier when I use these Eat Smart bags.  They are only $1 at Shaw's until Thursday.  These also freeze really well too.

"What the Heck Do I Have in my Cabinets" Recipe: White Trash Dip

A friend of mine shared a great recipe with me once.  We call it "White Trash Dip".  It's simple.  In a saucepan, combine a block of cream cheese with a can of Hormel Chili.  And what do you have:

Pure Awesomeness!

"What the Heck Do I have in my Cabinets" Recipe: Shepherd's Pie

Well, well, well.  In the depths of my cabinets this weekend, I found 2 packs of Chicken Gravy Mix.  I don't cook traditional chicken - so why I have this is beyond me.

I had some potatoes that desperately needed cooking too - and surprisingly, had all the other ingredients on hand.  My only substitution was that I didn't have peas & carrots - I had carrots and corn though - so carrots and corn it is.  

I used THIS RECIPE I found off Allrecipes.com so if you have Chicken Gravy Mix laying around - well there you have it.  Shepherd's Pie.

"What The Heck Do I have in my Cabinets" Recipe: Lasagna!

I'm still happily eating out of  my cabinets!  Just been a slacker about reporting it.

Last night, I found a box of lasagna noodles (the self cook kind).  I had all the ingredients on hand, except ricotta - so that was good.  Purchased ricotta at the store when I went the other night and made one mean lasagna last night.  Will be eating the leftovers tonight.  In fact, if you ever see Prince Oven Ready Lasagna Noodles on sale - they are wonderful.  Have made lasagna with them a few times and it always comes out great.

I think up this week will be some Homemade Lo-Mein with some chinese noodles I have floating around.  Yeah - I went crazy once at the Kam-Man in Quincy.  Bought like it was "my grocery" store.  Used up most of the stuff except this one pack of noodles.  I think I'm actually yearning for a Kam-Man run here soon.

"What the Heck Do I have in my Cabinets" Recipe: Chili Dog Tacos!

I have a few cans of pinto beans lurking at me in the cabinet.  It's not very hard to find something to make with pinto beans - but it is hard to find something to make with pinto beans that kids will eat.

So tonight?  CHILI DOG TACOS!

My kids love tacos these days.  They also really love hot dogs.  If this isn't a hit, I don't know what will be.

"What the Heck Do I have in my Cabinets" Recipe: Potatoes!

For some reason, I have this huge box of Potato Buds in my cabinets.  I personally really like real mashed potatoes a whole lot better - and so does the family.  But I'm determined to use up this cabinet crap. So I made some boxed potatoes.  Paired it with some really delicious pork chops I scored from Roche Bros. and some vegetables.

"What the Heck Do I have in my Cabinets" Recipe: Taco Casserole!

I took pictures of my cabinet findings for this one - but accidentally deleted them.  This one was from the website:

I made this Taco Casserole and it was EPIC!  Absolutely awesome.  The kids, the husband and I both loved it.  For the most part, I followed THIS RECIPE from Food.com.  The only things I did differently was I added some frozen corn to the beef after it was browned and I didn't use a full 2 cups of cheese - probably about 1 1/2 cups (trying to watch the hips shrink and not expand).  Oh - and I didn't cook it with the corn chips.  Just sprayed the pan then did the bean mixture and topped with beef and cheese.  I served it with soft tortillas and corn chips.  Oh and I skipped the olives because I knew my family wouldn't eat it if it contained olives.

Definitely a keeper.

"What the Heck Do I have in my Cabinets" Recipe: A Cake!

Well obviously it was snowing here yesterday - so I opened my cabinets and decided to make a cake.  Not just any cake though - a rainbow cake.

I messed up the blue layer because I forgot to level it.  This was the first time I ever attempted a 6 layer cake.  So how did I do this?

First, I found the idea on Pinterest.  Then I looked at some other resources:  Like Martha Stewart and I am Baker.

So I had 2 white cake mixes.  First, I took my 2 round cake pans and I traced and cut 6 circles out of parchment paper.  Next, I weighed the bowl I was using and it was 436 grams.  Then I prepared 1 cake mix and after, I weighed the bowl again.  It was 1344 grams.  So the cake batter was 908 grams.  I took 3 smaller bowls and zeroed each out on the scale and put 290 grams of batter in each.  Then, since I had a little extra, I added about 8 more grams of batter to each bowl (wanted to make sure all were as even as possible).

I colored the first 2 purple & blue.  I greased the sides of my 2 round pans with Crisco and put a parchment circle in each.  Then I dumped the blue & purple in each.  Bake for about 17-20 minutes.  Let cakes cool in pan for 10 minutes, then flip them onto a cooling rack.  Wash out pans and prep again for green & yellow.  You'll have to make the second box at this time and it weighs about the same, so you'll divvy that up at about 300 grams of batter per layer.  Then repeat for red and orange.

After the cake layers are very cool - then you can start frosting.  For the inside frosting - I used a recipe that I love.  Wedding Cake Icing.  I don't use the whole 8 cups (about 2 lbs.) of confectioners sugar.  Maybe 6 1/2 -7 cups.  The trick really is to just let that shortening beat for a good 10 minutes.  It's really rich and stuff.  I did 2 layers, and then stuck it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes (I am Baker says 1 hour - but I found 10-15 minutes was sufficient).  Then I did 2 more layers, and freezer again.  Then the last two layers and freezer again.  I also used some of this white frosting to do a "crumb coat" on the whole cake.

Then I used about 1 1/2 cans of chocolate frosting to frost the outside.  It was probably actually only 1 can - I had some leftovers.  I threw some in a pastry bag to pipe some flowers no the edges to just make it look a little better.  I then let it sit in the refrigerator for about 3-4 hours to set.  At dinner time, I took it out and cut it about 30 minutes later.  That was that picture up there.

Overall it was really easy to do.  My soon-to-be 6 year-old son was really impressed with it and wants something like that for his birthday - but we might venture into different color schemes.  The only really thing I wish I did differently was remember to level the blue layer.  I threw it on top of the purple and then thought "Oh crap!  I forgot to level it!"  I debated about taking it off to do, but I thought it would break so I said "Screw it".  Now I wish I made that attempt.

"What the Heck Do I have in my Cabinets" Recipe: Iced Tea!

I found a box of iced tea bags in the depths of my cabinet.  I have enough to make 10 pitchers full.  I will use this up.  Now I don't have to buy other drinks for myself for a while.  I'm a Crystal Light junkie - but for now, I will drink fresh brewed iced tea.