Jalapeno Poppers

I got a bunch of jalapenos in my food box this last week. I wasn't quite sure what to do with them but I found this recipe for Easy Baked Jalapeno Poppers.

I picked this recipe because it didn't have bacon or need to be cooked on the grill. I probably should have asked my husband to bring me home some gloves to wear as the recipe suggests but I didn't. I decided to just go for it and wash my hands a lot while I was preparing the jalapenos. (Not recommended)

Mine of course do not look as pretty as the original recipe but they were very tasty! I was afraid to try them at first because I thought they might be too hot but they were just mildly hot.

• 12 Jalapenos-$.98 a pound, I'll say 2 pounds to be on the safe side-$1.96
• 6 oz Cream Cheese- $.97
• 1/4 cup Cilantro-$.68 a bunch, used less than half- $.34
• 6 oz Mozzarella Cheese-$3.58 for a 16 oz ball= $1.34
• 1/4 cup Parmesan (I buy the triangles you shred yourself which are $4.58. This is only a tiny bit off of that, I'll say $1.00 which is probably on the high side

Total is $5.61 for 24 pieces or $.23 each. 

Calorie Breakdown using Lose It (Free website and app)

These poppers would be a fantastic appetizer at a party. I ate a couple every day for a snack after work. They were great just popped in the microwave for a few seconds.

Julia Child's Eggplant Pizza

I got an eggplant in my food box and I was kind of just "eh, what am I supposed to do with THAT thing?" The last time I tried cooking eggplant was when I was doing the South Beach Diet and I made this big pan of roasted vegetables. Eggplant being one of them. I then proceeded to eat all the vegetables BUT the eggplant because, ick, it was nasty.

I was looking around on Pinterest when this recipe caught my eye.

Julia Child's Eggplant Pizza

It used one eggplant, which I had! and just a few other ingredients so I added them to my shopping list for the week.

• 1 eggplant-I got mine in my food box but they run about $1.78 each
• 1 Tbsp Salt-on hand
• 2 Tbsp + 2-3 tsp Olive Oil- On hand
• 2  1/2 Tsp dried Italian seasoning-I had a packet of that salad dressing seasoning left over from something else, you could probably just mix a few spices together if you didn't have that (oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt)
• 10 large basil leaves-$.49
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan-$1.15
• 1/3 cup grated low fat mozzarella blend-I just buy one of the balls ($3.58) and grate off my own $1.00
• 3 large garlic cloves-$.24
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes $.58
• 1/4 tsp oregano-on hand

Total of $5.24 for about 8 slices which makes them about $.66 cents each and calorie break down according to the Lose it calculator is 86 calories a slice.

The little pizzas turned out so good that my son actually said "I could eat these all day!". Must be good if an eleven year old wants to eat it. They were also still good the next day reheated in the microwave for my lunch.  I'm definitely going to be a regular eggplant buyer now!

Pan Roasted Lemon Chicken

This recipe for Pan Roasted Lemon Chicken just looked so delicious! I think this is the second recipe I've made from Damn Delicious (love the name too!)

This recipe starts with chicken thighs. The first thing I noticed though was that she leaves the skin on. I debated with myself back and forth on that. I haven't ate chicken skin in YEARS. Everyone knows that's the first thing you do when you are trying to be "healthy".  I wondered if the recipe would still turn out ok without the skin or not. Finally I just did what I always do and took the skin off. Amazingly it turned out just fine!

This recipe calls for 8 chicken thighs. I had a value pack and there was actually 9 in the pack so I got a serving of 9 out of this recipe. I did not increase any of the other ingredients and still had plenty of the rub for all the pieces.

So what do you need?

1 1/4 cups chicken stock-I used the broth from some previously boiled chicken breasts. If you had to buy this it would be one can which runs $1.00 or less.

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice- I used 2 small lemons $.84

3 teaspoons lemon zest-the same lemons-used the zest from the squeezed lemons

2 tablespoon olive oil-on hand

1 tablespoon whole grain mustard-I didn't have this fancy mustard so I just used some dijon I had in the fridge, worked just fine!

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano-on hand

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme -on hand

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt -just used the regular out of my salt shaker

8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs-my pack came with 9 for $7.17

Total cost=$9.01 or $1.00 a serving (for 9)

141 calories per chicken thigh

The chicken was really moist and had a nice sauce from cooking. I'll definitely be making this one again!

 

Garlic Chicken & Carrots

This recipe is actually called Clean Eating Wok-Style Garlic Chicken and Carrots.

I'm just calling it Garlic Chicken & Carrots since I got rid of my Wok years ago. We got one when we got married and used it about two times. It took up a lot of the room in the cabinet so eventually I donated it.

So my meal was cooked in my trusty old cast iron skillet. I cook almost all my meals in this skillet.

This is not the best picture since I forgot to take one of just the chicken.

This serves 6

6 cloves of garlic-I had this on hand but we'll call it $.50 for good measure
1 small yellow onion-also had on hand we'll say $.50
3 large carrots-had in my food box, we'll say $1.00
2 tbsp olive oil-on hand
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts-$3.37 (about 2 breasts)
1/4 cup parsley-$.15
I also added one zucchini that I had from my food box

Total price is $5.52 or .$.92 a serving

Calories from Lose It calculator

I served this with some brown rice and that was a great combo. (Also a Greek salad and corn-obviously)

White Chicken Enchilada Casserole

This White Chicken Enchilada Casserole was really good!  I actually totally blanked on buying the beans. I live about 13 miles from town so it's a bit of a chore to just "run to the store" when you forget something. I decided to just leave out the beans and see what happened.

I made this 8 servings but it should have been cut smaller. Probably 10 would have been better.

3 tablespoons butter-$.28
3 tablespoons flour-on hand
2 cups chicken stock-on hand (I boiled my chicken then saved the broth and used that)
1-4 ounce can chopped green chiles-.88
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin-on hand
1 cup light sour cream-$1.30
flour tortillas-called for 24. That seemed like way too much so I cut it down to 12-$2.00
2 cups shredded cooked chicken-$3.37 (about 2 breast out of my 6 pack)
2 cans northern beans (omitted)-$0
3 cups shredded pepper jack cheese-$2.68
1 avocado-from my food box, we'll say $1.00 since they have them for about that at my store
1/4 cup cilantro leaves-$.14

Total-$11.65 so $1.46 a serving if you do 8 servings. I actually ate just 1/2 of one of those left over pieces for my lunch and it was plenty with some veggies.

Calories from Lose It calculator

Which, is quite a bit but not so bad if you cut it in half.

Easy Baked Paleo Chicken Tenders

I don't eat Paleo but I like to try some of their recipes since they usually do not have any (wheat) flour in them. I always play around with the idea of going gluten free but so far I can't seem to stick with any kind of restriction type diet. I'm more of a eat a bit of everything in moderation girl.

I mostly just picked these because they looked good and I thought the kids might like them.

Easy Baked Paleo Chicken Tenders from Allergy Free Alaska

Mine of course, look nothing like the original recipe picture. I'm guessing that is because I forgot to pat my chicken dry and that I did not have any spray olive oil. I recently stopped using PAM because I've read that it is not that good for you. I need to buy myself an olive oil mister.

Here's my breakdown:

Serves 6

2 pounds Chicken Tenders $6.46
1 cup almond flour-$1.68 (I bought a pound of bulk almond flour at Winco and this was about 1/4 of a pound.)
1 tbsp Flax Meal-had on hand (probably could just leave this out if you didn't have it)
1 tsp paprika-had on hand
1/2 tsp garlic powder-had on hand
1/2 tsp sea salt-used regular salt-had on hand
1/2 tsp dried parsley-had on hand
1/4 tsp poultry seasoning-had on hand (this stuff has been in my cabinet FORever)
ground black pepper-had on hand
2 eggs-$.25
olive oil in a sprayer-didn't have just wiped a bit on the pan-had on hand

Total cost $8.39 for $1.40 a serving. Calories from Lose It calculator.

Everyone in my house liked the chicken and we didn't have any left overs. That's always a sure sign of a good recipe in our house.

The Food Box

Through a garage sale group on Facebook I stumbled across this guy that sells fruit and vegetables for a discount each weekend.

I decided to try it out and one of my neighbors said she'd split the "large" boxes with me. They were $25 each. We got one fruit and one vegetable box.

Isn't that amazing? We split the two boxes and that gave us quite a bit of fruits and veggies each. I've been getting these boxes the last few weeks so I will have some meals that use things from my "food box". It's also got me to try some things out of my comfort zone.

I'm lucky to live in the valley in California where we have so many fruits and vegetables grown locally. I'm posting these to show how you can shop "outside the store" for some delicious food!

Look for farmer's markets, fruit stands, and your friends and families back yard gardens.

I also have a small vegetable garden which sadly didn't do as well as I had hoped this year but I have been getting quite a few cherry tomatoes. You'd be surprised at how many recipes are out there using cherry tomatoes! With just a few ingredients you have a partially home grown fresh meal.

Welcome!

The idea behind this blog was to present some fun and healthy recipes, the calorie breakdown and the cost per meal to show that you can really have something good to eat for you and your family without breaking the bank.

Then I watched this documentary called A Place At The Table. I have to admit I have never been on Food Stamps, and or had only one can of food to feed my children with. I've never had to go hungry. If you are in that situation I believe you truly probably cannot afford to eat healthy.

So for this page I am going to just focus on making fun recipes (mostly from Pinterest, because I LOVE making meals from there) and then adding the cost and calorie break downs. I have been on a journey to become more healthy over the past several years and I find that I am so much more successful if I make a menu of fun recipes to try. Usually they are on the "healthier" side, so that is what I will be sharing here. I hope you enjoy my little food blog I look forward to sharing all the fun meals to come!