Archive for the ‘* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving’ Category
Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies
This recipe is from an extensive cookbook titled Favorite Recipes, compiled by the active and retired employees of Michigan Bell in 1981. These are excellent cookies, easy to make and this recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter, softened, (1 block / 2 sticks)
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1 cup oatmeal
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180° C (350° F). Line a baking sheet or two with parchment paper, for easy cleanup, or just leave the baking sheets bare and ungreased.
- In a mixing bowl, add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together then set aside.
- In another mixing bowl, add the butter and sugars. Cream together until smooth.
- Add the eggs and peanut butter. Mix together until combined and smooth.
- Add the flour mixture and mix together, then add the oatmeal and mix until combined.
- Scoop out dough and roll into balls about 1 inch diameter and place evenly on a baking sheet. Use a fork and flatten each ball in a crisscross pattern.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on the sheet for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Serve as a dessert or snack, enjoy.
Notes
Low cost.
Baked Eggs
This is a quick and only 5 ingredients recipe, and it is tasty! No serving size is given, as this is a make what you have on hand. I will list this for 10 eggs.
Equipment
- Muffin pan
Ingredients
- 10 slices deli ham, thin sliced
- 10 eggs, chicken
- 10 tablespoons whipping cream
- 5 tablespoons Cheddar cheese, shredded, or as desired
- salt and pepper, as desired
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200° C (400° F). Grease the cups in a muffin tin with butter. Place a slice of ham in each cup.
- Crack an egg into each ham slice.
- Add 1 tablespoon of cream to each egg. Sprinkle with salt and pepper as desired.
- Sprinkle a half tablespoon of the Cheddar cheese or as desired, on each egg.
- Place in the oven and bake; soft yolks: 12 minutes; medium yolks: 15 minutes; hard yolks: 18 minutes, then remove from oven and let rest for 2-3 minutes.
- Scoop out each egg with a large spoon, arrange on a serving plate.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Variant: 1. I will try this with duck eggs and will report back, they should be equally as good.
Swedish Style Meatballs with Egg Noodles
This recipe is from a Kroger brand package of Swedish style meatballs.
Ingredients
- 1 package Kroger frozen Swedish meatballs, (26 oz / 737 g bag)
- 1 package dry egg noodles, (1 lb / 454 g package)
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 can condensed cream of celery soup, Shortcut
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- black pepper, as desired
Instructions
- Heat a pot of salted water to boiling, then add the egg noodles and cook until just tender. Drain.
- Melt butter in a large sauce pan, when melted add the onion and saute until soft and translucent.
- Stir in the soup and broth and bring to a boil, stir until the soup is mixed in completely, and stir often until sauce just comes to a boil.
- Reduce heat to low and stir in the allspice and nutmeg, after the spices are mixed in, add the meatballs and stir into the sauce. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the meatballs are heated through.
- Serve meatballs and sauce over the egg noodles with a side of your choice, enjoy.
Notes
Adapted from the recipe on the Kroger brand Swedish style meatballs.
Meatball Vegetable Soup
This is a basic recipe and easily tailored to suit your taste. The idea behind this recipe is to use canned/dry items and frozen meatballs as quick meal, and is a good way to rotate through your canned goods and if you have 'commodities' in the pantry, this is a good way to use three items then add frozen meatballs. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 3 cans condensed vegetable soup, (10.5 oz / 298 g cans)
- 3 cans water
- 1 cup dry ditalini pasta, or any small bite size pasta
- 2 cans beans, rinsed, drained, (pinto, great northern, Navy are good choices)
- 250 grams cooked frozen meatballs, store bought or homemade, (8 oz)
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, Shortcut
- salt and pepper, as desired, to taste
Instructions
- To a large saucepan, add the soup and water, place on medium high heat and bring to a simmer.
- Add the pasta and stir in, reduce heat to a low simmer. There is alphabet pasta in the soup already, adding more bite size pasta bulks up the soup. Cook until the pasta is near tender.
- Add the meatballs, beans, and Italian seasoning and stir in. Taste and season with salt and pepper as desired. (I used a bag of Kroger Home-style Meatballs.)
- Continue to cook on a low simmer until the meatballs and beans are heated through and the pasta has finished cooking.
- Ladle into serving bowls, top with oyster crackers or sour cream as desired, enjoy.
Notes
This is low cost per serving, if using commodities in the US, then the only expense is the meatballs.
Shortcut: Italian Seasoning.
Variants: 1. Add a can of diced tomatoes. 2. In place of meatballs, use ground beef, pork, or chicken, browned first. 3. In place of meatballs, use canned beef, pork, or chicken.
My own creation with what I had on hand. Lee Thayer.
United States.
United States.
Ham & Beer Cheese Soup
For Christmas 2019 my Mom gave me a cookbook, specifically 'Cooking With Beer' recipe card set and that is where this recipe comes from. This sounds very good, on my to make and taste list.
Ingredients
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 1/2 cup celery, diced
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup hot water
- 1 chicken bouillon cube
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
- 3 cups cooked ham, diced
- 4 cups Cheddar cheese, shredded, (1 lb / 16 oz / 450 g)
- 1 bottle beer, your favorite, (12 oz / 330 ml)
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- popped popcorn, for serving, as desired
Instructions
- Heat a large saucepan on medium high heat and melt the butter, then add the onion and celery, saute until tender.
- In a cup or measuring cup, add the 1 cup hot water and bouillon cube or powder, set aside to dissolve to make a broth.
- To the saucepan, add milk, cream, ham, cheese, beer, and 3/4 cup of the broth. Stir constantly until the cheese is melted.
- Add the flour to the remaining 1/4 cup of broth and stir until smooth to make a slurry. Stir the slurry into the soup and stir constantly until slightly thickened.
- Ladle into serving bowls and top with popped popcorn if desired. Serve and enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Creamy Beef Gravy
This is a cheater recipe that appears in one of the meatball recipes on this site, it is so good, I wanted to list it separately and here it is. Link to the shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup beef broth
- 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup, Shortcut
- 2 tablespoons sour cream, Shortcut
- black pepper, as desired to taste
Instructions
- Add the broth to a small saucepan and heat to a boil. Turn temp to medium low.
- Whisk in the soup, and it it will thicken immediately.
- Whisk in the sour cream. Heat through.
- Serve hot over meatballs, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, egg noodles, etc. Enjoy.
Notes
Shortcuts: Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup, Sour Cream.
Taken from a meatball recipe on this site.
Baked Pork Chops
Sounds like an easy and delicious recipe, on my to cook list and real soon. This recipe is geared towards standard size, bone in pork chops. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 4 pork chops, standard size, bone in chops
- salt, as desired
- black pepper, as desired
- garlic powder, as desired
- 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup, (10.5 oz / 298 g), Shortcut
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 165° C (325° F). Lightly grease with butter or spray a 9x13 baking dish.
- Season chops on both sides with salt, pepper, and garlic powder as desired. Place chops in the baking dish.
- Spread the soup evenly over the chops.
- Cover and tightly seal with foil. Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour or until the chops are tender and just cooked through.
- Serve with sides of your choice, enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Shortcut: Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup.
Ting-a-Lings II
This is a variant of Ting-a-Lings I, which I normally make, and from what I have researched, this may be the original way to prepare them, with the cornflakes and butterscotch additions.
Ingredients
- 280 grams almond bark, (10 oz)
- 225 grams butterscotch chips, (8 oz)
- 2 cups corn flakes
- 1 1/4 cups whole almonds, roasted and salted
- 1 1/4 cups dried apricots, sliced into 4-5 pieces each
Instructions
- Setup a double boiler on medium heat, add the almond bark and the butterscotch chips. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
- While the chocolate and butterscotch is melting, measure out the corn flakes, almonds, and apricots (after you have sliced them), and place them in a large mixing bowl. Use a rubber spatula and toss them together.
- When the chocolate and butterscotch is fully melted and mixed together until smooth, remove from heat, no need to let this sit as we are not worrying about anything melting into the chocolate mixture.
- Pour the chocolate mixture into the bowl of other ingredients.
- Use the rubber spatula again and toss everything together. What works really well is using the spatula with one hand and a large spoon with the other hand. Toss until everything is coated with chocolate.
- Drop by tablespoons on the prepared baking sheets. Set the sheets aside to cool.
- When the candies are cooled and solid, remove from the parchment and place on a serving tray. Serve and enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Variants: 1. Use almond bark only, or milk chocolate chips, or semi-sweet chocolate chips, or dark chocolate chips, or any combination that equals no more than 10 oz / 280 g. 2. For the almonds, just keep that amount to 1 1/4 cups and consider using roasted peanuts, cashews, mixed nuts, or trail mix. 3. For a Christmas theme, use vanilla almond bark and lightly sprinkle each candy with red and green candy sprinkles.
Fried Egg Sandwich II
This is an excellent egg sandwich to enjoy for dinner, two variants, one with fresh bread and the other with toasted bread.
Ingredients
- 2 eggs, chicken or duck
- 2 slices bread, white, wheat,whole grain, your choice
- salt and pepper, as desired
- mayo, as desired
- butter, as needed
- 1 slice Cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Heat a small non stick pan on medium heat, many people use a dedicated pan as their 'egg pan', with 1-2 teaspoons of butter. When hot, crack in the eggs and poke the yolks to break them. Season with salt and pepper as desired.
- Fry the eggs until the bottom is set as well as the top is starting to set, then turn the eggs over. If using a small pan, you may be able to flip the eggs in round shape like the pan. Cook for another 2 minutes or until the whites are no longer runny. If using duck eggs, ensure they are cooked completely through.
- While the eggs are cooking, place the bread on a plate and spread some mayo on each slice, using as much mayo as you like.
- If using toasted bread, just toast the slices then spread mayo on each piece of toast.
- If the eggs are separate when cooked, place one fried egg on a slice of bread or toast. If the eggs cook in a circle like the pan, use the spatula to cut the circle in half, then place one half of that on a slice of bread or toast.
- Top the egg with a slice of Cheddar cheese.
- Top the cheese with another fried egg or the other half if you cut the two in half.
- Top the sandwich with the other slice of bread or toast, mayo side down. Cut the sandwich in half diagonally, serve and enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Been making fried egg sandwiches like this for years, very common method.
Fried Egg Sandwich I
This is the basic egg sandwich I grew up with, two variants, one with fresh bread and the other with toasted bread.
Ingredients
- 2 eggs, chicken or duck
- 4 slices bread, white, wheat,whole grain, your choice
- salt and pepper, as desired
- mayo, as desired
- butter, as needed
Instructions
- Heat a small non stick pan on medium heat, many people use a dedicated pan as their 'egg pan', with 1-2 teaspoons of butter. When hot, crack in the eggs and poke the yolks to break them. Season with salt and pepper as desired.
- Fry the eggs until the bottom is set as well as the top is starting to set, then turn the eggs over. If using a small pan, you may be able to flip the eggs in round shape like the pan. Cook for another 2 minutes or until the whites are no longer runny. If using duck eggs, ensure they are cooked completely through.
- While the eggs are cooking, place the bread on a plate and spread some mayo on each slice, using as much mayo as you like.
- If using toasted bread, just toast the slices then spread mayo on each piece of toast.
- If the eggs are separate when they cooked, place each fried egg on 2 of the 4 slices of bread or toast. If the eggs cook in a circle like the pan, use the spatula to cut the circle in half, then place each half on a slice of bread or toast.
- Top each egg with another slice of bread or toast, mayo side down. Cut each sandwich in half diagonally, serve and enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Been making fried egg sandwiches like this for years, very common method.
