not goulash, yes pumpkin

Editor's note: Ok, so one of the reasons I was hesitant about this project (crazy cheap dinner, that is) is because I knew that, eventually, I would run out of recipes.  But (shock and awe!) I haven't yet made goulash.  My daughter pulled out my copy of Rachel Ray's Family cookbook, Yum-O! a few days ago, and opened it up to the garlic-filled Ghoul-ash, and asked if we could please please please make this?  I said sure, (love the pun!) but we'd wait until tonight and use my mother's recipe, not Rachel Ray's.  Just the same, I read hers and it sounds... um...very different from every other goulash ever made.  Right down to the dill and pimentos.  So I got out all the ingredients for my mother's super-delicious goulash:  

Yep, that's it.  Top-cut hamburger made from locally grown beef, probably $5 a pound in a store, so that's what I'll call it.  For me it was free.  Have I said I LOVE my hometown?   The rotini was $1 a box and I only used about 2/3 of the box.  The onions were previously calculated at 14 cents each, and the can of tomatoes was $1.49 but I ended up not using it.  Which is why I can't really call this goulash, since to me, goulash always includes diced tomatoes.



So, I started by putting on some water to boil the rotini, thawing out the burger in the microwave, and then putting it in my large skillet to cook.  I diced half the onion (other half in the fridge) and put that in with the burger.  I expected to have lots of drippings to brown the onion, but this was apparently top-TOP-cut burger, because there was none.  I mean, maybe an eighth of a teaspoon of grease from the whole pound but basically, NONE.  I didn't want it to dry out so I added 1/2 cup or so of water.  Without really knowing why, I added a bullion cube.  ???  Who knows ???    I added the rotini to the water and turned down the heat on the burger meat  to medium, and set the timer for 6 minutes (I like my pasta medium-well).  I couldn't get the idea of dill out of my head, so after some (very) quick decision-making, I sprinkled on 1/2 teaspoon of dill before any other spices.  So all that was in the pan was burger, 1 bullion cube, some water (mostly evaporated already) onion, and dill.  And at this point, it smelled delcious.  I mean, so, sooooooo good.  And I just couldn't dump tomatoes on top of that delciousness.  It would be culinary murder.  So even though I've already done beef bechamel, I did it again.  I scooped out the burger meat (and onions) and set it on a plate, added a cup of milk, another bullion cube and another half-teaspoon or so of dill, let it reach a boil, and mixed in some flour to thicken it up.  Then I put the burger and pasta in the sauce, and mixed it all up.  Mmmmmmm....

As a side, I just took 1 cup of frozen pumpkin meat, microwaved it, and added salt and pepper.  In less than 20 minutes from beginning to end, we had dinner for four.

The kids were fairly skeptical about the pumpkin meat.  My oldest said straight up that he would not eat it.  I insisted that everyone try some.  They all ate their pasta first.  In case you forgot, it was the opposite the first time I served this: everyone ate their vegetables first, because they didn't want to try this strange pasta concoction...

 And my youngest drowned his pumpkin in salt and pepper before he'd even touch it.

In the end, everyone ate what was on their plates, but they requested that I only put pumpkin in desserts from now on, and never, never cook it this way again.

But we all LOVED the non-goulash.  

Dessert was halloween candy, and the calculation here is easy:  The most expensive candy is the mini-bars, and at DG, they're 8 for $1.  So I told the kids to take 2 pieces each, and I knew that it would be at most a dollar.  My oldest actually declined dessert.  He wanted to leave the table and go build with legos.  I took 2 mini candy bars, and my other 2 kids gladly ate their brother's share.





So, our total for tonight is: $5 top-notch burger (Free for me, but I'm special) + 67 cents rotini (2/3 of a $1 box) + 7 cents onion (half of 14 cents) + $1 dessert + 23 cents (1 cup milk) + 50 cents (2 bullion cubes and 1 teaspoon of dill) + 80 cents that I would pay for 1 can of canned vegetables, even though my kids didn't like the pumpkin meat anyway...

= $8.27

So, again, sorry I didn't make the tomato-y goulash.  But this was friggin delicious.

Actually, I am not sorry at all.

Steak Diane (but not really)

Steak Diane is a French dish made with mushrooms, stir-fry steak, and seasonings.  My older sister learned this recipe as part of her high school French class, and shared it with the family.  The reason this is "not really" steak diane is because our family has since modified the recipe to suit our own tastes, most noticably removing the mushrooms.

We begin tonight with some crazy cheap steak.  Occasionally, you can find steak this cheap, and when I do, I buy tons of it and freeze it.  On the one hand, it's crazy cheap, but, on the other hand, it's not usually good for grilling.  It's a thinner cut than a "grilling steak".  It's good for stir-fry, however, or steak-and-potato soup, or something like that.  This chunk cost me 6.76, and was HUGE.  (enough to feed my whole family and one adult guest)

I diced the frozen steak and put it in a frying pan.  I added 2 beef bullion cubes (normally 1 but 2 tonight because there was soooo much meat here), some thyme (recipe calls for 1/4 tsp), basil (ditto), garlic (about 1tsp canned garlic), salt (1/2 tsp), pepper (1/2 tsp), rosemary (1/4 tsp), half of a small diced onion, and just a dash of cayenne pepper.  If you wish, you can add a small can of mushroom pieces.  I also added 1/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of butter, put the lid on, and let it slowly cook over medium-low into absolute deliciousness.

This stir-fry, like any stir-fry, can be served over rice or pasta. I like it over mashed potatoes, but was almost out of potatoes. I had exactly four of them, all puny. So I made them, but didn't bother to "mash" them, just served them boiled and cut into small chunks.

 I knew this wouldn't be enough, so I also boiled some orzo, which is a pasta that looks like rice. In the food groups, it's considered a grain. 

I put my base on my plate, put 4-5 strips of steak on top, and pour on the seasoned buttery goodness (also known as "sauce")  Another difference: actual steak diane has a thickened sauce, where the beef is removed from the pan and flour is added to the seasoned buttery goodness while it's still over the stove, mashed and stirred in to make it more like a gravy and less like, well, sauce.  I, personally, like mine dripping with butter, so that's how I serve it.

The orzo was $2 a box, but I only had half a box left, and the cost of the potatoes was negligible, say 50 cents, tops.  Dessert was ice cream cones, previously calculated here at 38 cents a cone.  Since I had a guest, there were 5 cones, making dessert $1.90.  So, $6.76 (steak) + $1 (orzo) + $0.50 (potatoes) + $1.90 (ice cream) = $10.16, so I went over my $10 limit, but fed one extra person.

 

Chicken Cacciatore

I used some leftover chicken meat from last week's Maple Glazed Chicken to make Chicken Cacciatore.

Now, Chicken Cacciatore is, basically, chicken cooked stir-fry style with stewed tomatoes and onions, served over spaghetti noodles.  The "leftover" chicken meat needed for this recipe was all taken from the wings and legs, leaving me still with one all-white breast for another day.  And a pile of bones.  And some very greasy fingers. 

To this pan (if I had to guess I'd say about a pound of dark chicken meat) I added a can of tomatoes, half an onion, and what was left of this bag of diced green peppers.  I also sprinkled on some generic "Italian Seasoning" and added a chicken bullion cube and some cayenne pepper for spice.

The can of tomatoes was $1.79 but the chicken, peppers, and onion was "using up leftovers" so the price was negligable, say, another 50 cents, tops. 

I let this steaming pile of awesome simmer for about 8 minutes, or about as long as it took to cook my spaghetti.

 You can serve chicken cacciatore over any kind of pasta.  My kids like spaghetti.  Oddly enough, my oldest said he wanted his chicken "on the side", and the others followed suit. Dessert was a 99cent chocolate cake mix with homemade peanut butter icing.

 

The spaghetti was 99 cents a box, and we only used 1/2 of a box.  So my price total is: $1.79 tomatoes, 50 cents pasta, 50 cents "extras", and $1.50 dessert.  (I added 50 cents as an estimate for the cost of the homemade PB icing on the cake).  Total is $4.29.  But a word to the wise: This recipe made WAY too much.  I gave away two servings to my neighbors even after we'd had seconds.

Bueno Sera

(Good Night)

Chicken Spinach Alfredo Pasta

My junior year in college (2002, Mansfield University of PA), the school cafeteria opened a "pasta bar".  They had a row of hot plates, big bins of cooked pasta on ice (usually more than one type), some cooked, diced chicken, pork, or beef, the three basic sauces (marinara, alfredo, and pesto) and a large variety of vegetables.  The "bar" was staffed by one or two employees who would assemble your chosen ingredients into a steaming, delicious pile of awesomeness.  I walked away from that year of college with a profound appreciation for stir-fry.  One of my favorite ensembles from these glory days was

Chicken Spinach Alfredo Pasta

Now, this doesn't exactly fit into my self-imposed ideal of a 3-course meal for under $10, but the way I see it, when you make stir-fry, you're mixing your "main course" and your "side dish" into one (yes, I must say it again) steaming, delicious pile of awesomeness.  First, prepare some

Crazy Cheap Chicken Meat

This chicken, here, I bought for $1.58/lb about four months ago.  I bought two "family size" packs.  I kept one in the original package, possibly thinking of the dinner guests that I have sooooo often.  I split the other into four small generic freezer bags (because that's how much I use at a time), and tossed them in my freezer.  Basic Math tells me that the amount of chicken I used in this recipe cost me about $2.40.  To thaw my frozen chicken, I put it in a pot of water on the stove, still in the plastic bag, over low-to-medium heat, until it was thawed enough to remove from the bag, then sliced it into stir-fry sized chunks and put it in my incredibly large skillet that I use for all of my stir-fry recipes.  I added a little water to keep the chicken moist, and allowed it to cook while I continued to assemble the meal.  (If you find your water evaporates while the chicken is still frozen, add more water.)

While the chicken was thawing in the first place, I cooked some ziti.  I like ziti because it's a noodle that's easy for the kids to eat, but unusual enough that you still feel you're preparing a restaurant-quality meal.  I also like to use penne for the same reason.  Penne is ridged, and "holds" sauce better than ziti, which is smooth.  They both look like little tubes and cost between $1 and $1.50 a box.  I'm going to guess I put roughly $0.75 worth of ziti in this dish, since I didn't use the whole box.  A good suggestion is that a handful of raw pasta is a serving, since it expands while cooking.  The side of the box always has measurements, but I try to avoid using measuring cups, since that's one more thing I have to wash when all is said and done.

Once the pasta is cooked, strain it, strain your now-cooked chicken, and just leave them in the strainer while you prepare the sauce.  I poured my sauce in my jumbo skillet, since I can heat it there and fit all the chicken and pasta in the same skillet, but I needed to rinse it first since it had some chicken fat lining the sides.  Unless you like the added fat.  Consumer's choice, there.   

I added some "extras" to this $3.29 can of cheesy Ragu roasted garlic parmesean alfredo sauce, namely: two shakes of cayenne pepper, and roughly a tablespoon of generic "italian seasoning" (I just dumped some into the palm of my hand - again, don't like doing the dishes).  I also added half of a finely diced onion and roughly 3/4 cup of bird's eye frozen spinach, which I microwaved on a plate for a minute or so until it was cooked (only 1/2 cup after cooking, spinach shrinks when it cooks) and scraped into the pan.  Don't skimp on the spinach and buy the cheap stuff.  I know from experience: the difference is usually only 50 cents to a dollar, and there is a BIG difference in quality, even in frozen.  My final addition to the sauce (and my proudest "thrifty" find in this recipe): A palmful of generic bacon bits (which you can buy from the seasonings section of Dollar General for $1 a bottle).  It may seem like an odd addition to a pasta dish, but I think putting pine nuts in/on pasta is just plain freaky, yet people continue to do this for reasons that are completely beyond my comprehension.   And anyway, nobody said YOU have to put bacon-flavor in your chicken and spinach awesomeness (but you totally should)  I am going to assume that, combined, these "extra" ingredients were about $1.50.

So, we have $2.40 (chicken) + $0.75 (pasta) + $3.29 (Ragu Alfredo) + $1.50 extras.  The "Main and Side Course Because I Can That's Why" totals $7.94.  For dessert, we have the crowd-pleaser (at least in my house) of applesauce.  I only used about 1/4 of this can ($1.38) for our dessert (with cinnamon added for taste), so our entire meal cost less than $10.  And the best part was that there was roughly 2 cups left over, which I put in the fridge for leftover night. That, and my kids ate spinach.