Budget Recipes
Arroz con pollo means "Rice with Chicken" in Spanish. It is a classic dish of Spain and Latin America, with many different traditional ways to prepare it, unique to various countries. An arroz con pollo you find in Cuba may...
Everybody loves turkey breast for their turkey sandwiches but the more flavorful meat comes from the dark meat found in turkey thighs and legs. These, by the way, are much less expensive than the breasts. Mom and dad have a...
What's there not to love about chicken drumsticks? They're dark meat (more flavor), relatively inexpensive (certainly compared to boneless skinless breasts), they cook up quickly (half an hour in the oven), you can save the leftover bones for making stock...
Chicken cacciatore is an Italian dish of chicken braised in a tomato-based sauce and often includes wild mushrooms. It is frequently referred to as "hunter style" as the word cacciatore means "hunter" in Italian. I don't know the source of...
We've been experimenting with chicken lately and stumbled upon a recipe in a 10 year old Good Housekeeping for chicken paprikash, a Hungarian dish. The printed recipe actually called for roasting a whole chicken; we chose to use pieces. What...
Under the headings of quick, easy, and a good way to stretch a half pound of pork, I present my friend Heidi's Citrus Pork with Egg Noodles. I'll admit that I was skeptical at first, but it's surprisingly good and...
This baked chicken recipe is one of those recipes that every home cook should have in their repertoire. It uses a minimal amount of ingredients - chicken, olive oil, salt and pepper (and if you want gravy, chicken stock or...
My parents are no strangers to making a dollar stretch, both of them being children of the Depression and having raised six kids on a teacher's salary. Some of my favorite recipes on this site are those inexpensive dishes...
One of the most filling, delicious and affordable dishes one can make is turkey stew. You make it with turkey thighs (or legs), which, in addition to being the tastier dark meat, you can usually get for $1.50 per pound...
Black beans and rice is such a classic combination, especially in Caribbean or Southern cooking. There are probably dozens of ways to make it; this one is an easy recipe that cooks up quick and tastes great. Now, if you...
Shepherd's Pie is an English dish, traditionally made with lamb or mutton. Americans typically make Shepherd's Pie with beef. The English (and Australians and New Zealanders) call the beef dish a "cottage pie". Naming conventions aside, Shepherd's Pie is essentially...
Preparation time: 30 minutes. Enchiladas were a family staple growing up, though thankfully this cheese enchilada recipe has much less fat in it these days. My mother, a fifth generation hispanic Arizonian, learned this recipe from my grandmother. Note that...
One of my favorite recipes on this site is our beef stroganoff made with strips of top sirloin that have been fried in butter. In the recipe several commenters offered their takes on the dish, including making it with ground...
Rachael Ray has nothing on my mother. As far as this family is concerned, my mom invented healthful, delicious comfort food that one can cook in 30 minutes or less. This hamburger and macaroni dish has been served in our...
There are two basic ways to make chicken stock. One method uses the leftover bones from a chicken carcass and vegetables, and takes several hours of slow cooking. The second method uses chicken backs and wings, sautéing them first, and...
A staple in our home growing up was my mother's chili beans, which she still makes several times a month with either ground beef or turkey. Many chilis I've encountered seem almost designed to give you heartburn. This one isn't...
I'm smiling as I write this. Why? Because there is no dish that reminds me more of my mother than her ground turkey with peppers. I've never had it anywhere but at home, not even at a school cafeteria, where...
When you have a week straight of over 100° temps, you start looking for cooler things to make. My mother whipped up this macaroni salad earlier this week and I think I ate half of the whole bowl. Think macaroni...
Stuffed bell peppers is one of those classic comfort food dishes that my family practically lived on when I was a kid. This recipe my mother got from Adele Davis as mom was teaching herself to cook in the 60s...
Here's a little secret: olive oil-packed canned tuna, chili pepper flakes, and pasta is a master combination (and classic Italian). One of my favorite dishes on this site is the tuna, arugula, chili pepper, pasta recipe. So when I stumbled...
My mother made a pasta dish the other night that took everyone by surprise. My skinny-as-a-spatula 10-year old nephew who won't eat anything, ate his serving with gusto and asked for more. My carb-avoiding sister couldn't resist it. My father...
Pulled pork sandwiches can hardly be called sandwiches. The sauce soaks into the buns and if you tried to pick one up with your hands it would completely fall apart. Well, perhaps if you used a sturdier bun, and wrapped...
In our house, quesadillas are the ultimate quick comfort food. If you aren't familiar with quesadillas, think Mexican version of a grilled cheese sandwich—toasted flour tortillas with melty cheese filling. I am the quesadilla queen (at least in my own...
My mother is a genius. She throws together the most simple of ingredients, and they are so good that I have to get up in the middle of a meal to write everything down, for in her words, "if you...
Something tells me we're not the only ones who get excited over beans and rice. Do you? Rarely a week goes by that we don't have beans of some sort or another, and my mother's chili beans with rice are...
Frijoles Refritos Pinto beans, prepared Mexican style, are such a staple in our house a week rarely goes by without my mother making up a batch. Although beans have a relatively long shelf life, the older they are the longer...
My mom knows a lot about cooking beef. She knows all of the cuts and what to do with them. This must have something to do with growing up at a time where people went to their local butchers for...
I distinctly remember the tall cans of dark pink salmon that used to be in our pantry when I was a kid. Although we could any time open a can of tuna or sardines and eat to our hearts content...
Raising six kids on a teacher's salary, my parents were always cooking on a budget. Being Catholic, with the Lenten requirement of meatless Fridays, this meant that we ate a lot of tuna macaroni salad and fried fish. Frequently mom...
I do believe these are the best black beans I've ever eaten in my life. My friend Suzanne has been teaching me some of her favorite recipes this summer (lucky me!), and this spicy black bean recipe is one she...
Almost every other Friday growing up my mother would serve the family this tuna macaroni salad. With six kids she loved this standard; it was easy to make, filling, relatively inexpensive, and best, we all gobbled it up.
