Budget Friendly Cooking

This is a short first round knockout recipe. 

Let’s get started. 

You will need 1 can of white albacore tuna in water not oil and Hellman’s mayonnaise. Drain all the water out of the tuna and mash the tuna with a fork until all the chunks are gone. Add about one to one and half tablespoons of mayonnaise to the tuna and combined. Add some salt and pepper to taste. A lot of restaurants put a whole drum of mayonnaise and salt in the tuna that they serve. I am sure it tastes amazing, but definitely not healthy.  Let’s get back to the affordable healthy version. Take one 60 calorie flat, any brand works. Separate the flat in half and toast until golden. Remove the flat from the toaster and add the tuna to the toasted flats. Add a slice of sharp cheddar or Muenster cheese to each side and toast until the cheese is nice and melted. 

I guarantee you that you won’t feel bloated after eating this amazing tuna melt.  This Tuna melt recipe will cost you less than $2, if you have the ingredients at home. If you don’t it will cost more but you will be able to make multiple tuna melts, still cheaper and healthier then the restaurant.

Tuna Melt Ingredients

1 -Arnolds 60 Calorie Flat

2 -Slices of cheese of your choice

1 Can of albacore in water (Bumble Bee is my favorite)

2 tablespoons of Mayonnaise (I like Hellman’s)

Salt & pepper to taste.

We also use Corelle dishes. They are super durable, pretty, and family-friendly!

This is a weird dish but I promise you that you will not be disappointed.  I believe that this recipe is from Eastern Europe, back in the day because my mom made it for me and her mom made it for her. So this recipe goes way back and it’s super affordable.  You can make this dish on a tight budget and everybody will enjoy the sweet and savory flavors. Let’s get started. First, boil egg noodles or macaroni whichever you prefer until al-dente. When the pasta is done, drain it but don’t rinse it. Add about 1-½ cups of cottage cheese to the hot noodles then add about 1 cup of raisins. Add a pinch of salt and you are done. I mean you can’t get much easier than that.

Believe me, you will really love this dish and it will be an instant fan favorite when you make it.

Pasta with Cottage Cheese and Raisins Ingredients

Ingredients 

1-bag of egg noodles

1-½ cups- cottage cheese

1 cup- raisins

Salt 

We love to use these Duralex Nesting Bowls, they are so helpful!

Everybody loves chicken franchese, I mean, what’s there not to like, and it’s battered chicken in a lemon butter sauce. It’s effortless to make, and it’s a budget-friendly recipe. When I buy Chicken breast from the supermarket, I like to buy thin cuts. I promise you when you go the thin cut route, it will be more delish, and it will cut like butter. 

Lets start the prep work, so that we can make the dish with more efficiency.  Take out two medium-sized bowls. 

In the first bowl add 2 cups of flour, salt and pepper to taste.  

In the second bowl add 4 eggs, grated Parmesan cheese, lemon zest of one lemon, Tablespoon of parsley salt and pepper to taste.  Take out a large stainless steel pan and heat to medium with a tablespoon of butter and 3 tablespoons of olive oil.  Take your chicken breasts, add each breast to the flour mixture, and coat evenly. Place the chicken breast and dredge it in the egg mixture and add to the pan without dripping egg all over your counter. Cook until lightly golden brown. 

Repeat. 

After the chicken is finished, set aside in a place. Now let’s make the sauce. 

Squeeze the juice out of the lemon that you zested earlier through a mesh strainer, so it collects the pits. Bring the pan back to medium heat. Deglaze the pan with about a ½ cup to 1 cup of white wine. Then add Lemon juice and 2 cups of chicken stock. Reduce until the sauce thickens a bit, add about 3 tablespoons of butter and slowly cook until butter is fully incorporated. Add the chicken back to the sauce and cook on low heat for a few more minutes. Add fresh Italian parsley to finish, and you’re done.

Chicken Franchese Ingredients

1- package of thin-cut chicken breast
1- lemon
4 tbsp- butter

1 – Package of thin chicken breast

2 cups- flour
4- eggs
3 tbsp- olive oil
1 cup- white wine
2 cups- chicken stock
1/4 cup- parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

First thing is first, making dough is a pain in the but, and you have to knead the dough and wait for it to rise just to punch it down and let it rise again. We are busy; nobody has the time and patience to go through that hassle. If you have a good restaurant that you take out or order pizza, there is a good chance that they have good dough. Go and tell them at the counter that you want the dough. They will have no problem doing this. The dough will usually run you around $2 bucks. Okay, now you have the dough, the hard, painful part of making pizza at home is over. 

Now you need a few other ingredients. I like using fresh tomatoes, not the jar or the crushed tomatoes. Use fresh plum tomatoes. It will be worth it in the end. You will also need garlic and shallots. Rough chop 4 plum tomatoes, one whole onion, and two garlic cloves. Pull out your blender and add the 4 rough chopped plum tomatoes to the blender and puree them. In a pan, sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil until they are nice and brown. Get good color on the onion and garlic. Add the caramelized onion and garlic to the pureed tomatoes and blend until everything is incorporated. Add the tomato mixture to a saucepan and let reduce for about 5 minutes, season with salt and pepper, and set aside to a bowl. Take a sheet pan and oil the pan generously with olive oil, then a press the dough into the pan without rolling the dough with a rolling pin. I believe doing this gets rid of the air bubbles in the dough, making your pizza really dense like cardboard. I like to press the dough into the pan until it expands in size. Just keep pressing the dough with your fingers and stretching it with your hands. Now that the dough is all set in the sheet pan. Add sauce, not a lot. You don’t want your pizza to be a sloppy mess and unbalanced. Add just enough sauce throughout the pizza, usually about one cup of sauce. Then break off pieces of fresh mozzarella cheese. Not a lot. You want a balanced pizza, not a sloppy mess. Make sure to space out the cheese. Then shave some Fontina cheese on the pizza and sprinkle some Parmesan Reggiano cheese on the pizza. Sprinkle some olive oil to finish it off, and in the oven, the pizza goes. Make sure your oven is on the highest heat it goes. When the pizza is ready to come out, chop some fresh Basil and sprinkle it on the pizza. In about 5 minutes, you will have the most amazing pizza that doesn’t flop all over the place when you eat it. You will have a nice firm thin crust pizza that the whole family will love. This pizza recipe will cost a fraction of a pizza you would call and order and taste much better. 

Cheese Pizza Ingredients

1 store-bought dough

4 plum tomatoes

1 onion</span>

2 garlic cloves

Half or ball of fresh mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup of fontina cheese

¼ cup of Parmesan Reggiano cheese

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste.

Fresh Basil / optional

Let’s get started with what ingredients that you will need and how much they will cost you.

Ingredients

Chop meat beef chuck 80/20 – 8 ounces

Arnold sandwich flats – 1 flat

Sargento sharp cheddar cheese / 2 slices

Romaine Lettuce / half cup

Tomato / 1 slice

Onion / 1 slice

Prices

Chop meat beef chuck / 8oz $3.50

Arnold sandwich flat / 1 flat $.50 cents

Sargento sharp cheddar cheese/ 2 slices $.76 cents

Romaine lettuce / half cup $.15 cents

Tomato slice / 1 slice $ .24 cents

Onion/ 1 slice $.04 cents

Total cost $5.19

Recipe:

Form an 8oz beef patty and sprinkle with salt on both sides and set to the side. Heat a nonstick pan to medium heat then add the patty to the pan. Place the pan cover over the burger so it doesn’t splatter all over your stove. We want to cook an affordable burger and be clean at the same time. After about 1:30 flip the burger and put the top cover back on for about 30 seconds. Lift the cover and add the cheddar cheese and put the cover back on but take the pan off the heat. In the meantime, lightly toast your sandwich flat, add your lettuce, tomato and onion to the flat then remove your burger from the pan and add to the bread. You can also add whatever condiments of your choice. There you go – a burger on a budget.

Feed the whole family and get all of your veggies on this delicious pizza that would normally cost $23-27 for a whole pie now for $12.43

Recipe prices:
Restaurant bought Pizza dough / $4.00

BelGioioso shredded Parmesan Cheese / 5oz tub $2.49

Olive oil – Bertoli will cost $5.57 for a 25.5 fl oz. bottle

Red bell pepper $1.00

Yellow bell pepper – $1.00

Zucchini – $.76 cents

Yellow Squash – $.83

Shallot – $ 43 cents

Eggplant – $ 1.87

Garlic clove $ .05

Instructions:

Chop all of the veggies to bite size pieces and place into a large bowl

Add olive oil and salt to the veggies, mix well.

Place veggies on a large sheet pan then roast on 450 degrees for about 30-45 min until caramelized and tender.

Remove the veggies when done and set aside.

Crank the heat up to 550 degrees on your oven.

Stretch your dough out to fit the pizza pan.

Place the veggies evenly on the dough then sprinkle Parmesan cheese and finish with olive oil.

Put the Pizza back into the oven until the doneness is to your liking.

Put the Pizza back into the oven until the doneness is to your liking.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
1 – In a large bowl combine flour, Panko, and Parmesan cheese.
2- in a separate bowl crack 3 eggs and mix well with a pinch of salt.
3- Take your chicken and dredge it into the egg mixture then into your dry mixture. Try to use one hand for the egg mixture and the other hand for the dry mixture to avoid lumpiness.
4- once you have all of your chicken coated, place it onto a non-stick sheet pan. I would still use some Olive oil just in case.
5 – After all the chicken is on the sheet pan, place into the 400-degree oven until brown on both sides about 20-25 minutes.
6 – In a non-stick pan sauté your tomato, onion, garlic with olive oil until the veggies break down about 15-20 min.
7- Add water and your bouillon cubes to your veggie mixture and bring to a boil, add oregano and salt.
8- let reduce for about 5 minutes.
9- Use a hand blender to puree the sauce and then add basil.
10 – Take the sauce and place it on top of you’re chicken with mozzarella cheese and continue baking until the cheese is nice a melted for about 5 more minutes.
11- There you go a nice healthier version of chicken parmesan baked in the oven with less mess than frying and cheaper than a restaurant.

Chicken Parm Ingredients

3 – Plum Tomato’s
1 – Red Onion
3 – Garlic Cloves
2 – Bouillon Cubes
1 – TBSP – Oregano
2 cups Parmesan cheese
1 package of whole milk Sargento mozzarella cheese
1 cup of Panko bread crumbs
1 cup of flour
3 Eggs.
Basil
Olive oil
Salt
1 – Package of thin chicken breast

Penne Alla Vodka is usually a rich fattening meal, which you would usually have as a cheat meal. This Penne Alla Vodka recipe is lighter than the restaurant version where you won’t feel guilty after eating it. The best of this entire dish can feed the whole family for under $20 dollars. Let’s get started with the recipe, so you can share this delicious dish with your family.

1- In a large pan sauté your diced pancetta until browned.
2- Add your diced shallot and garlic to the pan with the pancetta and sauté for about 5 minutes.
3- Deglaze the pan with your vodka and let reduce about 2 minutes.
4- Add your Tomato puree to the pan and let reduce on low heat for another 3-5 minutes.
5- Add your Heavy cream to the pan and cook for another 2 minutes.
6- Boil your pasta until al dente, then add to the vodka sauce mixture and mix for about a minute, then serve.

Penne A La Vodka Ingredients

1 box of Penne pasta
1 large shallot
2 Garlic cloves
1 cup of tomato puree
1 cup of heavy cream
1 cup of vodka
1 cup of pancetta diced