So tonight was another test night here in our house, and I have to say, this meal was great too! I am going to call it Poor Man's Stew, and once you see the ingredients you'll know why.
First of all, I think that the more skillet meals I can find, the better! One pan to clean works out very well, especially since my live in dishwasher (my dad) is moving out in two weeks.
This recipe came from an old Quick Cooking magazine Jan/Feb 2005. The original recipe calls for a frozen vegetable medley (Beef Stew), but I had all of those ingredients on hand separately so I used what I had. I am writing this recipe according to what I did.
Poor Man's Stew (Serves 6)
1 pound smoked sausage (we used turkey)
1 tbsp veg oil
2 cups of cubed potatoes
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 cup chopped carrots
1/3 cup onion, finely chopped
1 can beef broth
2 tbsp onion soup mix
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp cold water
2 small bay leaves
In a large skillet, cook the sausage until brown. Remove sausage from the pan and add the veggies. Saute for 5 minutes and then add the broth, onion soup, and bay leaves, bring to a boil. Turn to a simmer, cover and allow to cook until the veggies are tender, about 15 minutes. Remove the cover and take the bay leaves out of the skillet. Mix the cornstarch and water together and slowly add to the skillet and stir until combined and the sauce is thick, about 5 minutes. Add the sausage back to the pan and serve.
The only thing that could have made this recipe better is my homemade buttermilk biscuits!
All of my kids except for 1 ate this, and my eldest son had 3 helpings!
Here is how the numbers worked out:
Smoked Sausage $1.99 (on sale at Aldi)
Potatoes (approx $0.16 each) $0.32
Celery $0.30 (approx)
Carrots $0.33 (approx)
Broth $0.79
Onion Soup $.25 (approx)
The total is approximately $0.66 a serving! Amazing meal for such a great price! This will be great new addition to our meal plan!
Periodically I will be testing new budget friendly recipes and then posting the results. We are not foodies in our house, but if it is something that we end up really liking than I'm happy to send the recipe on to other families to try. This recipe came to me from the Jul/Aug 2005 edition of Taste of Home magazine. I altered the recipe a bit based on our tastes and the size of our family.
Baked Spaghetti Casserole (Serves 12)
1 1/2 pounds of angel hair pasta, cooked and drained
1 pound ground beef
1/2 onion chopped
1 1/2 jars of traditional spaghetti sauce
2 eggs
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese (grated)
3 tbsp butter melted
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese (small curd)
8 oz mozzarella cheese
In a large skillet, cook the beef with the onion until the beef is brown and the onion is tender. Add the spaghetti sauce. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, Parmesan, and butter. Add the cooked spaghetti and mix until it is well coated in egg mixture. Pour half of the pasta into a greased 9 x 13 casserole dish. Spread the 3/4 of a cup of cottage cheese on the spaghetti, spread 1/2 of the meat sauce over the cottage cheese and then sprinkle 1 cup of mozzarella over the sauce. Repeat the layer. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes uncovered, take the foil off and bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
Here's how it added up...
Meat $2.69 (73% lean, browned and drained well)
Sauce $1.49
Cottage Cheese $1.77
Mozzarella $1.99
Parmesan $0.59
Eggs $0.28 ( I got my eggs last week at Save-a-Lot for $1.49 a dozen)
Spaghetti $1.49
This works out to be $0.86 per serving!
My kids LOVED this recipe, all four (including my picky one) ate two helpings!
This recipe will definitely be going on our meal plan regularly.
