What's for Dinner? Crockpot Pot Roast

When my husband proposed to me, I joined a gym to get myself ready for our wedding. A nutritionist met with me and we discussed different diet plans but the one that appealed to me the best at the time was a low-sodium diet. I am a major fan of salty snacks (mostly, popcorn)

Slow-Cooker Pot Roast

Here is all you need for an amazing and flavorful roast:

2 cans of beef broth

1 onion

1 packet of Italian dressing mix

1 pot roast (maybe 3lbs, but 2lb will do) 

 

 

Put everything in the crockpot. It doesn't matter how you arrange it, but I put a little broth in the bottom first. Leave it on low for 8-10 hours. For me, it's perfect at 8.5 hours, but if you're leaving it there during the work day or something, it's still amazing by 10 hours.

 

 

Serve it with whatever you want. These are my stand-by favorites: corn, mashed potatoes, garlic green beans. This is my favorite meal to make in my crockpot. 

 

 

Budget Breakdown:

A good sale on pot roast is normally no more than $2.99/lb. When it's anything less, I take advantage of those prices. Spending $9.00 on a meat item is normally not good for me, but I split this meat in half and use the rest to make beef rolled tacos or I have a full leftovers meal the next day for everyone.

 

Pot Roast: $9.00

Beef broth, 2: $1.38

Onion: $1.00 or less

Italian dressing: $1.00 or less

 

Total: $12.38 for 2+ meals = $6.19 or less per dish. 

How to Make a Perfect Hard-boiled Egg

I love making devilled eggs. I love making egg salad. But I do not love hard-boiled eggs because I had always had a rough time cooking them. I always undercooked them (dark yellow in the center) or overcooked (grey around the yolk). My mom said there's a million ways to do it but I've found that her way works the best.

 

 

1. Cover eggs with water in pot.



 

 

2. Bring to a boil (with lid on) and let boil for 3 minutes. At the 3-minute mark, turn off the burner and let it sit with the lid on for 10 minutes.

 

 

3. Take them out of the pot and put them in a bowl with ice. Let them cool off. This will make the shell easy to remove.





 

 

4. Peel the egg. When I peel mine, I crack the bottom and top and then, roll the egg on the counter. Then, I peel it under the faucet.

 

 

5. Slice it in half and check out your perfect egg. :) 

 

 

The thing I love about these are that eggs are cheap (like, 20 cents each when you break it down), they are a great source of protein, and they can make so many recipes. My preference is devilled eggs. But that will be another post probably.

What's for Dinner? Chicken Cordon Bleu

When I was first living on my own, I bought a lot of pre-made dinners in the frozen section of the grocery store. My favorite thing was these stuffed chicken dinners. They had several options and Wal-Mart sells them for a good price. But as I learned to cook more things, I thought, I can totally make that. The first time was not good or simple or easy or quick. The more I made it, the easier it got. You can freeze the extras and have it later as well.

 

First of all, chicken cordon bleu is relatively simple. You only need a few ingredients and it's not expensive to make.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs

1 egg

1 cup breadcrumbs or 1 cup crushed croutons

Ham or prosciutto

Shredded cheese

Toothpicks

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. While the oven preheats, let's prepare! If you have chicken breasts, you can pound them to about 1/4-inch thickness. That's what I usually use. Tonight, I'm trying it with chicken thighs. You can just open them like this:

 

3. Next, pack in your ingredients!! I normally use provolone for the cheese but I already had shredded mozzarella so we're trying that out tonight. (I found that, unlike when I use sliced cheese, the shredded cheese did not leak out but that could just be me) Since I have ham baked already, I just took out a couple of pieces and stuffed them in.

 

Next, you'll roll it up. Fancy version? We are now going to roll it into a "roulade," which just means we're rolling it up. It's one of those methods that you can use to make a million dishes. Thanks, Mom! Once rolled, toothpick it in place.

I know it doesn't look fabulous like this, but you just want it to stay in place.

4. Traditionally, these are breaded. I was out of breadcrumbs BUT I had some leftover croutons. I smashed them and added a little bit of parmesan so I had probably a cup's worth of breadcrumbs.

Dip your chicken in the egg mixture and the breading mixture. It doesn't have to be perfect; it just needs to be coated. Then, put them on the cookie sheet or whatever baking dish you want. I didn't grease mine.

5. Once you're set, place them on a cookie sheet or whatever you have and put them in the oven for 35-45 minutes. You want to make sure there's no pink and that the cheese is melted. With these chicken thighs, they cooked for 40 minutes.

 

Nice and golden on the outside!

 

Gooey and cooked in the middle!

 

Budget Breakdown:
2 lbs of chicken thighs = $2 (on sale for 99 cents per pound)
1 egg = About 11 cents (full dozen was $1.29)
Croutons = I used what was in my pantry
Ham = I used leftover ham from an earlier meal
Shredded cheese =  About 29 cents (I used about 1/8 of a 2-cup bag while was $2.29)

Total cost = $2.40 for 4 servings.

 

"A Mean Box of Mac and Cheese."

"I can make a mean box of macaroni and cheese."

This was the proud statement I made through my teenage years until I moved out of my parents' house at 19. I was incredibly proud to have found a different measurement for the butter and milk you add to a box of macaroni and a packet of powdered cheese. It wasn't the only thing I could make but I wasn't really set on making anything else. My dad taught me to make his recipe for fried chicken when I was a kid and I had learned recipes from my mom through the years but I prided myself on macaroni and cheese. When I moved out, I realized that it would not be healthy to only live on a box of preservatives and begun collecting recipes to try.

Now, I am proud when I make chicken cordon bleu or homemade pizza dough or a slow-cooked pot roast. I have learned so many recipes from my mom, cooking websites, magazines, cookbooks, and I've even modified some myself. My budget continues to shrink and, each week, I ask myself:

"What delicious foods can I make without breaking the bank?"

I'm hoping to use this blog to show you inexpensive and easy recipes from all of the resources I've had. I'll reference websites I've used but I'll try to post my own pictures that may not be as pretty as the magazine. I hope you enjoy this journey with me!