Diet Coke Chicken Recipe

As requested, here is my recipe for Diet Coke Chicken.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound (or so abouts) of boneless, skinless chicken, defrosted
• 1 can of Diet Coke (or Coke Zero works too)
• 1 cup of ketchup

Put everything in a skillet.  Cook uncovered on medium heat until sauce sticks to the chicken and it's 170 degrees...about 45-50  minutes.  Stir/flip the chicken occasionally.  You really don't need to watch it too closely! :)  (that's why I like cooking this...easy meal to make with a toddler at your feet!).  The Diet Coke and ketchup will form a nice mild BBQ sauce.  Tastes great with rice!

Baked French Fries, or, Oven Fries Recipe

I am NOT a fancy cook.

I like simple recipes with a few steps.

Wait, like?  Did I say "like"?

I LIKE my food served to me by a waiter or waitress, and I'll happily leave them a few bucks on the table for their service.

Unfortunately, the budget doesn't allow for too much of that anymore (though, we are fortunate that we can eat out at least once a week).  So, I seek out easy recipes-I'm still kind of a newb in the kitchen.

I came across this recipe in a magazine a while back.  Most of you probably already know it, but who knows, maybe I'm helping another kitchen newb!  Both Joe and I love it, and its super easy!  We also are big potato eaters here, so when we can eat them for fewer grams of fat and calories, we are all about it.

I cut up most of the 5lb bag of taters I picked up yesterday at the store, so I figured I would share the recipe with you!

Ingredients:

• Potatoes
• Olive oil, or non-stick spray
• Spices.  We like Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy.

Directions:
Wash the potatoes.  Cut them in half the long way, then cut each half in half.  So you end up with 4 fries per potato.  You can actually cut them up however you would like.  It truly doesn't matter.  If we are making these fresh, I often make hubby slice the taters because knives scare me.  He uses the mandolin to slice them.

Put all the slices into a bowl, drizzle on some olive oil - I don't measure, just do a bit, enough to lightly coat the fries and make the spice stick.  If you are using the non-stick spray, spray a cookie sheet, then place your potatoes on a cookie sheet, and spray the potatoes.

 

Sprinkle your spices on top.  Again, I don't measure.  Whatever looks good. :)

If you are doing the bowl method, toss them a bit to even out the oil and the spice.  If doing the cookie sheet, just wing it!

Cook at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes until they are crispy looking.

Today, I made 63 french fries and froze them.  The olive oil method works great for freezing.  Just take them out and cook as normal.  It might take a few more minutes in the oven because they are frozen, but not by much.  You do not have to pre-cook them before freezing.  Just freeze them raw after you have tossed in oil and spices.  I have kept mine in the freezer for a month without any issues/taste change.

I can't wait to eat you my darlings!

Easy Tartar Sauce Recipe

The other night when I realized my pork chops had freezer burn due to a punctured package, my motivation to cook drained from me.  I dug through the freezer for something, and ended up with fish sticks and french fries.

I only like fish sticks when they are bathing in tartar sauce; however, we didn't have any.  Instead of dropping a couple bucks at the store, I made my own!

Ingredients

• 1 cup of mayo (I used Kraft Miracle Whip)
• 1 dill pickle (I used a few baby dills)
• 1 tbsp oregano
  
• a bit of onion...maybe like 1/4 cup
  
• a couple drops of Tabasco for taste

Ya, I didn't measure much...sorry about that!  I did read a couple recipes that mentioned lemon juice, salt/pepper, and sweet pickle relish.  I just kinda adapted it to what I had on hand.

Directions
Cut up the pickle, and mix everything into the mayo.  Done!  I mixed it (and served it, he he) from a Pyrex measuring cup.  Worked slick.  Yum.

The World's Easiest Meatloaf

Here is a VERY easy recipe for meatloaf that requires no chopping of vegetables and nearly no measuring!  And very often all ingredients are on hand!

Both Joe and I are very particular when it comes to the flavor of meatloaf, and we love this one!

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1 6 ounce package of instant stuffing mix - the "herb" type flavors are best, but we have even used a chicken flavor and it was good!
• 2 pounds of ground beef (or turkey)
• ketchup

Directions

• In a large bowl beat the eggs and water.
• Add stuffing mix, mix well.
• Add meat, mix well.
• Press into an ungreased loaf pan.
• Top with ketchup.
• Bake uncovered at 350 degrees until no pink remains and the meat thermometer reads 160.  This takes 1.5 to 2 hours generally.

YUM!

Chicken Parmesan Recipe

Last night I made Chicken Parmesan instead of the planned "Favorite Hotdish." I've never done Chicken Parmesan before, so it was an adventure.

And I'm happy to say an easy and successful adventure!!

Here are the steps I took:
Pre-heat oven to 350.
1) Mix 1 egg (I used 1/4 cup Egg Beaters) and 1/2 cup of milk into a shallow pan.
2) Sprinkle a good amount of bread crumbs into another pan. I used plain and then also mixed in some Italian seasoning.
3) Dip frozen chicken breasts into egg mixture, then cover with breadcrubms.
4) Place chicken breasts into a hot skillet on medium-high heat. Cook for about 4 minutes per side.
5) Place chicken breasts into a baking dish. I just used the same dish that I had the breadcrumbs in to save a dish.
6) Cover each chicken breast with mozerella cheese. Either 2 slices, or a nice sized handful of shredded.
7) Dump your favorite canned/jarred sauce over the top.
8) Sprinkle with a bit of parmeasean and some more mozerella.
9) Into the oven for about 35-45 minutes - until the chicken is 170 degrees.
10) While chicken is cooking, make plain spaghetti noodles.

Done! Very good meal, very easy!

We ate it with the loaf of $0.98 french bread I picked up at Cash Wise, dipped in olive oil, a bit of parmesean and pepper. Drool.

Overall, this was a very cheap meal.
Chicken was purchased at $2.98 for 2 pounds. Used 1 pound, $1.50
Cheese was given to us, so free.
Sauce was $0.77
Fresh Pamesean was purchased months ago and has been kept in the freezer, used such a small amount it would equate to about $0.25 maybe!
Bread was $0.98
Spaghetti was Ronzoni from Target-used half a box which equals about $0.12 from what I paid for it.

I would guess around $3.75 for the entire meal. It fed 2 adults and a toddler, with leftovers for another huge adult sized portion!

My pasta lovin' hubby enjoyed it, and so did I. I'm thinkin' it will be entering into the normal routine of meals!