Amazing! Delicious! Cheap!: It's Chili in the House

Amazing! Delicious! Cheap!: It's Chili in the House: It was Sunday mid-afternoon and I was starvin[g] like Marvin[g]. I had to think fast on my feet and create a meal before I gave up and broke...

It's Chili in the House

It was Sunday mid-afternoon and I was starvin[g] like Marvin[g]. I had to think fast on my feet and create a meal before I gave up and broke into the baby's stash of Goldfish crackers.

SNOMG!

Now that the snow is starting to melt, I can finally say that if there was one great thing to come out of all this Snowpocalypse mess we've just endured, it's that I discovered I am one kick-butt* cook!


I got home on the Thursday evening of the blizzard and didn't leave the house for the next 3 days! That left me and the baby staring at each other in silly silence, with her eyes blinking at me, as if to say, "What the hay are we going to do about food for the next three days, my Sugah-Mommy?"


I tell you what! I cooked all sorts of breakfasts and dinners, that's what the hay I did! I must brag, the three dinners I made (lemon pepper ravioli w/chicken sausage bits, tilapia w/carrots and potatoes, and chicken & rice) were out of sight. The breakfasts all followed the current nutritional standards for 10 month olds, namely, fruit, dairy, and grains.¹ The baby's snacks were healthy (rainbow fish crackers, honey graham crackers, cheerios, yogurt, and Chex squares). And I couldn't have done all of this without having some miraculous foresight to stock up on groceries at the store the day before they predicted the Blizzard of O'12!


I noticed that there were a few ways in the future that I could replicate this phenomenon of delicious and nutritious cheap meals. Stock up on Cream of Chicken (or Mushroom) soup, for instance, so that you will always be able to make Chicken & Rice in a pinch. Buy the value box of five-minutes-to-cook Minute Rice. If you know of friends who make their own sausages, ask them to give you some to save yourself some money! You can barter with them to sweeten the deal.

+=Yum!

I Am One Hot Dollar Store Mess

Some days I really hate going there, but it is so worth it. I'm talking about the dollar store, aka My New Best Friend.

I primarily only hate it because I always seem to go at the wrong time. I have learned my lesson: You should never go there during 4-7 pm on any given day. The last time I went to Your Dollar Store on Nob Hill was on a Friday, around 5:15 in the evening. I stood in this super-long line that seemed to move only a few centimeters every 3 minutes. The entire time I was stuck there, a teeny little boy, all of about age 4, kept kicking the back of my boots. I didn't want to cause a scene so all I could do was turn around and glare at him with the evil stink eye. When that didn't work, I turned around and glared at his mom. She glanced over at me, watched her son kick my boots, and then promptly went right back to her cell phone conversation. I think I need to work on my evil techniques.

Before the baby, the dollar store wasn't even on my radar and I thought the only food they had to sell was off-brand juice and Bugles. That was the case in the 90's, but not anymore! The one on Nob Hill sells frozen food, sodas, canned goods, and all kinds of stuff. Of course, there still is the off-brand cranberry juice, but come on man, it's only a DOLLAR!

I stocked up on organizing containers for the fridge (3 for $1), plus I got some surprisingly pretty new plates with matching bowls at the Dollar Tree next to Rosauer's. And, get this, I saw the same exact design of the matching cups at Wal-Mart for $4.99! Let's see, $1 vs. $4.99? Who’s a saucy savings ninja now?!

I discovered that there IS a great time to go to the dollar store, which is usually between soon as the doors open and noon, and you must choose a weekday that isn't Friday.

The dollar store is a hidden gem to a parent who is working with a limited budget. You probably agree with me that having the addition of kids to your life means that you don't get to spend an extra $40 on a super-cute purse from TJ Maxx like you used to do because now you have to spend said not-so-extra-anymore $40 on super-necessary diapers from Costco. Whatevs. Costco is my new best friend, too, because you can get at least double the amount of diapers and formula for the same price you’d spend at your regular grocery store!

Organizing Le Pantry

Yesterday morning, high off of the excitement of cooking my first meal in, oh, I don't even know how long, I decided that I should get organized in order to continue on my mission.

What's my mission, you may ask? My mission is to not spend any money on fast food for 1 month! (Yes, I've already failed the mission as you will find out in a minute.)

So I took a picture of my pantry with my new tablet, the Motorola Xoom Family Edition.

OMG look at it! Just look at it! My pantry is deplorable! It's right now what I call a "Disastra Zone". Not a disaster, a "disastra", because as you can plainly see, it's beyond a disaster. *Huge sigh* Yes, there are lots of plastic bags that I swore I would never take home from the store anymore (that lasted about a month) and there is even an ironing board. I just have to shake my head at myself. SMH

I hope that sometime in the very near future my pantry will look like this:

Meanwhile, I did not cook anything before I left for work so that left me starving come 5:00 pm when I left work to go pick up the baby from daycare. I had planned on stopping by the store first, but then I saw the halo around the Taco Bell place. (Don't judge me! The Taco Bell is much closer to the daycare than the store.) I made a mad dash to the drive-thru to get something to eat quickly before I gnawed off a finger from the hunger. Then I ordered a 7 Layer Burrito (with no lettuce) and a Volcano Taco. Finally, I snuck home to devour my food. I do this from time to time before heading to the daycare in order to have a few moments of peace while I eat.

I was 5 minutes late picking up my kid, but at least Mommy was happy! And the baby was happy, too!*

*By the way, the baby is always happy :-)

Pasta Barata (con Pollo), aka The OMG Pasta

This morning I was really desperate for something to eat.

Normally, I just zip on over to Jack in the Box or something, but since I've been on this very recent "Organize My Pantry" kick, I decided to cook with what I have. Enter one box of cheap Shells & Cheese, stage left. I began to lament the 10 minutes it would take to wait for the noodles to boil. That's when it finally dawned on me just how impatient (and spoiled) I really am.

As I glared at the boiling dollar store noodles in the pot, I just so happened to look on the side of the box and noticed a list of "Suggested Items" to add to the pasta.

That got my creative juices flowing, so I opted to add the following to my finished shells & cheese: 1 can of (Costco) Chicken Breast, 1 can of diced tomatoes w/green chiles, plus some sea salt & fresh ground pepper. Stir together and voila! Deelish! And super cheap! Serves about 3 or 4 people. I hereby name this recipe: Pasta Barata con Pollo! (Also known as The OMG Pasta, for the gringos.) If you want to make this dish look a bit fancy, you can garnish it with cilantro and parmey (that's what I call parmesean). I made this dish in less than 20 minutes. Move over, Rachel Ray!

I was amazed at how deelish and spicy this was. I tried to give some to the baby but she gave me a puzzled expression and then proceeded to throw the pasta shell onto her tutu dress over and over.