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whole roasted chicken

My Top 3 Reasons to Roast a Chicken

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite meal to cook. I love the smell of a roasting turkey and making multiple meals with the leftovers is the best. One downside to roasting a turkey is that it takes several hours, and whole turkeys are harder to find at the store after the holidays. Having two young kids, I need quick meals that don’t require many ingredients yet provide me with leftovers to use throughout the week. Cue roasted chicken! Roasting a whole chicken is easy and helps me create several meals from one dish. The aroma while it cooks is a bonus 😊.

CHICKEN WITH MUSHROOMS

Chicken with Mushrooms

Are you a mushroom lover? In my home, we are divided. Three people love mushrooms and two people hate mushrooms. Our February recipe of the month is Chicken with Mushrooms. This recipe is a pan fried chicken topped with mushroom gravy. Since the chicken and gravy are prepared separately, the mushroom haters can breathe a sigh of relief. They can have their chicken plain. And, for us mushroom lovers, we get extra mushroom gravy.

Spend Smart. Eat Smart.

It’s Cold Outside, Time for Soup

Soup is a great comfort food for winter meals, and so good for you too. Our featured recipe for January is  Mexican Chicken Soup. Making this soup takes less time than getting in the car and driving through your favorite takeout place. You don’t have to cook the chicken ahead of time. Just place raw boneless chicken in the pot with the other ingredients. After cooking for about 20 minutes, take the chicken out and shred it into bite-size pieces. Serve it with tortilla chips or bread, apple/orange slices and you have a meal with something from each food group plus plenty of fiber. For extra instruction, check out the preparation video under the recipe instructions.

Spend Smart. Eat Smart.

Let the Buyer Beware

Grocery and discount stores like to promote groups of different products for the same price (i.e. mix and match for a $1.00).  Some are good buys, some are the regular price, and sometimes they are more.

Spend Smart. Eat Smart.

Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Bake

Our featured recipe this month is Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Bake.  It is a very easy recipe that costs about $.80 a serving. You can use any combination of 4 cups of meat and beans that you have.  The recipe also calls for salsa. I use medium, but if you want a little more heat you could use a spicier salsa, add a hot pepper, or add a little hot sauce. Be sure you save a little of the enchilada filling to spread on top of the enchiladas.

Ramen Noodle Skillet

Ramen Noodle Skillet was a hit with my kids when they were in school and it still is one of my favorite recipes.  I think the noodles were the attraction for them. I like it because you can use just about any vegetable that you have in your garden or vegetable drawer, only one pan gets dirty, and you can have the meal on the table in 15 minutes.

Fiesta Skillet Dinner

Fiesta Skillet Dinner, Easy and Inexpensive

Our feature recipe for March is Fiesta Skillet Dinner. Fixing up the recipe was easy while following the simple directions. The recipe calls for 2 cups of cooked chicken. I decided to cook boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but you can use packaged, precooked chicken or precooked canned chicken.

chicken-fajitas

Chicken Fajitas

When it is hot outside heating the oven to cook seems counterproductive and sometimes I’m just too lazy to start the grill. A dish that will cook quickly on the stove top seems to work the best. This recipe does require some chopping, but it goes together very fast. Plus, when you make it yourself you control the amount of fat used, which can be an issue with restaurant meals.

Chicken Alfredo Pasta

My family and I love pasta with alfredo sauce, but I am not a fan of the fat and calories that go along with traditional alfredo sauce recipes. Our recipe for June is Chicken Alfredo Pasta and it is an alfredo sauce makeover that you will enjoy. It has all the creamy cheesiness of a traditional recipe with fewer calories and less fat.

Spend Smart. Eat Smart.

Chicken Stock – An Easy Kitchen DIY!

I am a soup lover from way back. I eat it most days in the winter and it is one of my favorite things to cook when the weather gets chilly. Homemade soup is often much healthier than soup from a can and it tastes so much better. Even though I love to make soup, it took me years to get up the guts to try making my own stock. It seemed like the people who I saw doing it were chefs on TV and that’s just not me.

Spend Smart. Eat Smart.

The Salty Six

We have blogged on the Salty Six before, but since so many of our readers are interested in reducing their blood pressure, we decided it was worth another post!

Sweet and Tangy Chicken Quesadilla

Sweet and Tangy Chicken Quesadillas

I enjoy using sweet and savory flavors in a meal, but, I confess, I had never had fruit in a quesadilla until I tried this recipe. I was skeptical when I first made these quesadillas, but now I enjoy trying different fruit and vegetable combinations in my quesadillas. This recipe combines canned peaches, chicken cooked in the juice drained from the peaches, and cheese in a whole wheat tortilla to make a delicious quesadilla.