Ok, I already know, everyone is going to judge me for using Boil in Bag Rice. Get your laughter out now. Get the criticism and judgement out now. I’ll wait.
Cool, got it out? Ok good! Lets be real, someday’s we just need a good set it and forget it so I can walk away and do other things and not think about part of dinner cooking. I also do NOT have the space for a rice cooker.
You know when you’ve had chicken too many times in one week and you’re just, OVER it. This recipe is perfect for those times. Its flavorful, filling, and just some thing a little different.
Ingredients
Chicken
2 bags Boil in Bag Rice
1 Chicken Breast(per 2 people), butterflied and cut into bite sized pieces
Salt and Pepper
1/4 Tbsp Onion Powder
1/4 Tbsp Ginger
2 Tbsp Flour
2 Tbsp Corn Starch
3Tbsp Butter
2 Tbsp Veg Oil
Sauce
1/3 Cup Honey
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vin
6 Shakes Fish Sauce
1-2 Tbsp Minced Garlic(Measure with your soul)
Shake of Red Pepper Flake
(My daughter added oregano lol)
Instructions
Make your rice (Boil in bag, or rice cooker or however you choose!)
Butterfly Chicken and Cut into Bite size Pieces
Put Cornstarch and Flour on a deep plate or in a bowl and add in Spices; mix it all up
Coat chicken pieces in the flour/cornstarch/spices mixture
Melt Butter and Oil over Medium
Add your chicken and cook until golden brown, you’ll need to flip halfway through
While the Chicken cooks, make your sauce
Add all sauce ingredients together, I did this in a 2cup measuring cup and mixed it with a small whisk (a fork would work)
Once the Chicken is cooked, move it to the edges of the pan so the middle of the pan is clear and turn the temp down to medium low
Pour your sauce into the middle of the pan and let cook for a couple minutes, it should get fairly thick. If its too sweet for you, you can add half a cup of water.
Mix your chicken into the sauce
Servce over rice!
Thats it. Its honestly so simple, but so good! I like the fish sauce but you can leave it out!
Who doesn’t love Mac & Cheese? I mean, I guess people who don’t like cheese… but I try not to think about those kinds of people. (I’ve met a few) I feel like cheese can bring people together, especially in this out of control world we live in right now. I mean, my daughter practically lives off cheese sticks. Who doesn’t want something cheesy, melty, salty, and oh-so-gooey — especially when paired with noodles!
This recipe is perfect for busy nights when you need something comforting but easy, or when your dinner plans suddenly change — like mine did tonight. I was all set to make enchiladas with leftover rotisserie chicken… but when I went to grab it, it had mysteriously disappeared. (Thanks, husband!) Luckily, I had just gotten my grocery order, and Mac & Cheese was the next best (and maybe even better) option.
I feel like everyone has their own way of making Mac & Cheese, and I’ve tried it all — different cheeses, different noodles, adding chicken, bacon, vegetables… you name it. Tonight’s version turned out so good I had to share it. I started with an online recipe but ended up adjusting quite a bit. And honestly? It’s my favorite one yet.
Ingredients for Mac and Cheese
1 box of pasta (elbows, shells, or whatever you love)
1 stick of butter, divided in half
1/4 cup flour
2 blocks of cheese, shredded. (This time I used cheddar, and Gouda…. But use what you have or enjoy)
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh grated of nutmeg (optional, but highly recommended)
Ingredients for Crumb Topping
1 cup crushed crackers (like Ritz, I used one stay fresh pack)
1½ cup panko breadcrumbs
1Tbsp Italian Seasoning
1/2Tbsp Paprika
Remaining 1/2 stick of Butter
Instructions for Cheesy Goodness
(Side note: I always ask myself if I should label this “Instructions” or “Directions” — I guess either works, but “Directions” makes me think of driving somewhere and I promise you don’t need a GPS to find the ingredients you need for this.)
1. Boil the Pasta Boil your noodles in salted water until al dente. Remove from heat, strain, and set aside.
2. Make the Cheese Sauce Melt half a stick of butter in a Dutch oven or other oven-safe pot. Once melted, whisk in the flour. Cook over medium-low heat for 4–7 minutes. (I like mine a little darker for a nuttier flavor.)
Lower the heat and let the béchamel cook while you grate your cheeses.
(Fun fact: A béchamel is one of the “Mother sauces” of the culinary world! — you’re basically a pro now!)
3. Add the Cheese Bring the heat back up slightly (medium-low). Add your shredded cheese a few handfuls at a time, stirring gently after each addition.
Season with salt and pepper to taste. (If you have white pepper, now’s the perfect time to use it — no black specks!)
4. Secret Flavor Hack Grate a little fresh nutmeg into the cheese sauce. It adds a cozy little umph! (I learned this from Good Eats with Alton Brown — he even keeps nutmeg in his pocket!)
5. Assemble Taste-test the cheese sauce — quality control, obviously! Pour the sauce over your noodles in a baking dish, or stir the noodles directly into the Dutch oven if you’re using one.
6. Make the Crumb Topping Melt the remaining half stick of butter in the microwave. Crush your crackers (this is a super fun step for kids!). Mix the crushed crackers and panko into the melted butter. Add a sprinkle of Italian seasoning and paprika. Stir to combine.
7. Bake Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the top of the Mac & Cheese. Bake at 350°F for about 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the sides are bubbly.
Final Thoughts on this Mac
And there you have it — cheesy, cozy perfection. Honestly, this might be my favorite way to make Mac & Cheese yet. Perfect for a weeknight dinner, a cozy Sunday meal, or anytime you just need a little cheesy happiness.
If you try it, let me know how it turns out! (Bonus points if you add bacon… just saying.)
Meal planning, while kinda tedious, saves us SO much money! We were spending $200+ a week on groceries. And it just wasn’t sustainable. We all know the price of groceries is crazy. And if it’s not the price going up, it’s the size of the product going down.
So my husband gave me a challenge. Could I get a weeks worth of groceries for $70-$80? Now let’s be honest, this isn’t happening EVERY week. But I feel like I’m usually between $85-$150 I’m really proud of that number. I also got a Costco card for Christmas so this is where I go to get a lot of our day to day snacks, like granola bars and Edamame and even Frozen Pizza. (I haven’t calculated the cost of Costco into the budget yet as we’ve only on once so far, but I’ll update once we get into a routine.)
I also only have myself, my husband, and our 15 month old to feed. She’s still breastfeeding so she only actually consumes so much regular food throughout the day. But I’m super lucky that she will try literally ANYTHING!
Alright, so how do I make my Meal Plan? How do I know what to cook, when to cook, how much to cook? This all changes by the week. But it’s also part of how I’m able to save on groceries. So keep reading to see my process. (It’s not that hard, I promise)
Step 1: Make a list of all food in the house.
And by all, I mean the things I’d generally use/need for most cooking. I note down if we have Milk, Eggs, Cheese (an important staple in my house) Do we have any meat in the fridge or freezer? What vegetables and fruits do I have? Do we have pasta, sauce, rice?
Please note, I’m old school. I’m an elder millennial, I still make lists on paper. Important things get done on my computer instead of my phone. I make a grid, one section for Fridge, one for Freezer and one for Pantry. Then I do the same at the bottom of the page for what we DON’T have. This way, when I move to the next step I don’t forget what we need.
So now I’ve got my lists. Now’s the time I get my laptop.
Step 2: Check the weekly Grocery flyer for what’s on sale.
This is the tedious part. I buy my groceries at 2 different stores. While it makes life a little harder, it saves me at least $10 a trip! I buy all my center store groceries (boxed goods, pasta sauce, shelf stable goods) at Walmart. Now like, real take here, I didn’t shop there for YEARS. I didn’t love some of their corporate policies. But with only being on one income, I need to save every dollar I can, and shopping there is how I make it possible. I will also on occasion buy my meat in a “family pack”. Then I freeze it into separate dinner portions and take it out as needed. This helps me keep my grocery price down the rest of the month.
I get all my produce, meats, and dairy products at Hannaford. It’s a grocery chain in the North East. (They are owned by the same people as Food Lion, if that helps for a comparison.) So I look at the Hannaford flyer and have tabs open on my computer for both Walmart and Hannaford. As I find what’s on sale, this is when I decide on a recipe, if I havent cooked with it often, I’ll look up a recipe. Luckily for my husband, I’m a pretty good cook. I did a semester of Culinary classes in college. (I suggest people take a cooking class if they are able, just getting the basics makes a Huge difference.)
This week ground Turkey was a good price so I figured Turkey Burgers would be good! (I made Tacos with ground turkey last week so I didn’t want to repeat this). Kielbasa was on sale, but its not something I cook with often. So, I did what we all do, I googled a recipe! I found a sheet pan Sausage, Broccoli and Potato recipe and figured that sounded great! Easy peasy. I also already had frozen shrimp, so Shrimp Scampi is an easy fix, and all I need is a small bottle of wine!
Something helpful if you’re not a super confident cook is to start with a few staples. (And I don’t mean a bowl of cereal) Learn how to make Spaghetti with meat sauce. You don’t even have to make the sauce! (I buy jarred and Zhuzh it up!) Tacos are an easy meal that everyone likes! You can use hamburg or turkey or chicken! I always add extra spices then just the taco mix. You could make your own seasoning mix if you wanted as well! As you get more confident, you can change up your dishes a little at a time, or branch out and make something similar. Make your own garlic bread for your pasta night! Make a burrito instead of tacos!
Once you feel a little more confident, you’ll be able to branch out into new dish’s and new ingredients! This will help you as you get your groceries as you’ll have more ideas for what you can cook out of what’s on sale. Even if you look up a recipe, you can always use it as a guide, and make it your own! I do this often!
I hope this was helpful! I’ll update again as we figure out Costco and how that affects the budget. I’ll also post recipes as well! Feel free to comment and let me know if this helps, or if you have anything that works really well for you!
Saving money on Groceries. (And how I actually save!)
I had these two articles suggested to me lately in my “News Feed”, and honestly I find them SO frustrating. They are absolutely click bait (shhhh, they baited me…I know). But I’m always curious to see if I’ll get that one little tidbit of advice that ACTUALLY works.
But let’s be real, the good stuff is few and far between. And almost always NOT where I expect to find it. I get the whole, play the algorithm, SEO, get clicks business. But to try to suggest some of these things as ways to save money is deceiving and can be down right dangerous if people take this as advice.
I find misleading information is much too prevalent and can be extremely damaging. Especially when that information spreads and people are misinformed. The article about a family of 7, surviving on one teacher income…come on now. Unless their mortgage was paid off and they had zero bills, this isn’t feasible.
They also have livestock, which not many people have, or can afford to just get and start taking care of. The two things that REALLY get me though, is that the dad had to get so many more jobs he hardly sleeps. This isn’t healthy, it’s also not sustainable as hes going to get burnt out, he may cause an accident going to or from work.
Then, to say they save money by EATING LESS? This isn’t something you put in an article about how you feed your family on a tight budget. Yeah, she said maybe it’s not the best idea, but she’s on a weight loss journey and that’s how she justifies it. Not getting fast food is a great idea, but follow it up with bringing snacks from home instead. She has a garden, bring fresh veggies, she could make jerky from the meat she gets from her livestock.
What about some ACTUAL ways to save money on groceries? Or on other things to help offset the rising cost. I mean, a dozen eggs is $7! I know we could all use a little help in that area. While I can’t save you on the price of eggs (Unless you wanna buy Chickens, but I’m no expert in that area. But I did see Tractor Supply has chicks in. You do you.) Maybe some of my ideas can help you.
This, this right here is the MOST IMPORTANT thing that I do to save us money on Groceries? I make a Meal Plan! This took us from over $200 every week-week and a half, down to $100-$120 for a week-week and a half. That includes me, my husband, and our 15 month old Toddler. Now look, I can’t guarantee your results. It does take a bit of planning, research and a bit of cooking know-how.
So if you’ve followed me this far, I’ll link my Meal Plan guide so you can see if it may help you!
