broccoli fettuccine alfredo $5.48 recipe / $0.69 serving

broccoli fettuccine alfredo

$5.48 recipe / $0.69 serving

So, this isn't really alfredo, it's more of a (not) alfredo recipe... I've made too many alterations for it to truly be alfredo, but it's still creamy and delicious!

I mean, I love alfredo with all of its buttery, creamy, parmesan-y goodness, but I also know that I can't afford to eat a 2,000 calorie meal. So, I made a few switches to lighten it up a smidge and added some broccoli florets to get in some green. If you like to live dangerously, go all out and use cream in place of the milk.

This pasta comes together super quick and uses staple ingredients so it's a nice standby for those nights that you just really don't feel like cooking. If you want to up the protein, you can quickly grill up some chicken breast on a countertop grill, slice it up, and then serve it on top. This is a super versatile recipe!

Oh, also, this recipe is super easy to cut in half... I just wanted to use the entire package of pasta and broccoli so I made a large batch.

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teriyaki meatball bowls $7.89 recipe / $1.32 serving

teriyaki meatball bowls

$7.89 recipe / $1.32 serving

I don't know what it is with me and meatballs lately... but here we go again!

These are ridiculously easy and when you serve them over a bowl of hot jasmine rice, they're pure heaven. The ingredient list might look long, but don't let that scare you. They're EASY. Many of the ingredients are just listed twice - once for the meatballs and then again for the glaze.

I used ground pork for this recipe but you could certainly use ground turkey or chicken instead. The bulk of the flavor comes in the potent teriyaki glaze that coats the meatballs. You can also make these into an appetizer by skewering them on a toothpick with a chunk of pineapple.

So, are y'all ready to party teriyaki meatball style? Lets get started!

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cinnamon pecan granola $6.15 recipe / $0.62 serving

cinnamon pecan granola

$6.15 recipe / $0.62 serving

Ahhhh... vacation was GOOD! But I couldn't wait to get back into the kitchen ;D I've been craving granola for weeks, so I decided to whip up a batch as soon as a I had a few free minutes to do so.

What I love about granola is that it's so customizable. I made cinnamon pecan flavor (with raisins) but you can use whatever nuts (or no nuts) and whatever fruit (or no fruit) that you want. I can't wait to start experimenting with more flavor combinations (cherry vanilla, ginger with bits of crystalized ginger). I used some ground flaxseed but you could certainly sub that for some wheat germ or oat bran... very customizable!

A lot of people are steer clear of granola because it is quite energy dense (aka high in calories), but the very ingredients that give it so many calories are the ingredients that also give it that classic crunchy texture. I used 1/4 cup each of brown sugar, honey, and oil. My granola was still pretty crumbly with a few clumps. If you like a super crunchy, clumpy granola, increase those three ingredients to 1/3 cup each. If you're tempted to reduce them further than I did, I suggest you just make a batch of muesli instead. It has practically the same ingredients minus the sugar and oil and is still one of my favorite breakfast items.

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burritos blanco $17.43 recipe / $1.74 serving

burritos blanco

$17.43 recipe / $1.74 serving

I made these burritos last week and just finally got around to eating one today... and WOW! Love 'em! I couldn't wait to get home and post this for you. The only bad news is that I was so enamored with how picturesque the chicken piccatta was, that I forgot to get pretty photos of the burritos (cooked them the same day)!

Poor burritos, they totally got slighted. They deserve better.

Anyway, I'm calling these burritos "burritos blanco" because there isn't much color in them... but don't let that fool you about the flavor! They're super tasty. I can't tell you enough how great it is to have burritos like this stocked in your freezer. They're the ultimate grab-n-go lunch. I just take one out of the freezer, put it in a container (to catch condensation) and it's mostly thawed by lunch time. Then I just heat it up real quick in the microwave and I've got a super satisfying and filling lunch. But bring a knife and fork, these yummy things ooooooze.

I used canned green enchilada sauce but I know from past experience that many of you can't find enchilada sauce in your grocery stores. So, here is a recipe if you want to make some for yourself. I would suggest making a big batch and then freezing portions so that you only have to make it once!

Also, I used white beans that I cooked from scratch in my slow cooker with nothing but the beans and water (read: super cheap). I used this method to cook them. It's super easy and very inexpensive. This recipe uses about four cups or roughly the same amount as two 15 oz. cans of beans.

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chicken piccatta $7.16 recipe / $1.19 serving

chicken piccatta

$7.16 recipe / $1.19 serving

Need a main dish that's full of flavor but only requires a few ingredients? I've got you covered. This dish is simple, flavorful, yet elegant enough to impress a date or your in-laws. When garlic and lemon come together with a little butter and fresh parsley, you just can't lose.

Chicken piccatta is traditionally made with white wine in the sauce, but I didn't have any around (I know, I was shocked too) so I subbed it with chicken broth. The sauce was still finger-lickin' good so I didn't feel like I was missing out. But, if you have wine around, by all means, use some of it for this dish!

The serving size might seem small (each piece is about the size of a deck of cards), but you can bulk it out by serving the chicken over pasta, or if you want something fancier, try this lemon parsley pasta. Or, just serve it with a green side salad and some garlic bread for a classic meal.

And, as always, I get great prices on my chicken breasts by buying a large pack (5 lbs.) and freezing them in recipe sized portions (2-3 breasts per freezer bag). When purchased this way, the price is often at least $1 less per pound. You can double up on the savings buy keeping an eye out for sales as well.

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thai chicken pizza $11.72 recipe / $1.47 serving

thai chicken pizza

$11.72 recipe / $1.47 serving

Due to poor planning on my part, I only came out of this weekend with one recipe to post... but boy, oh boy, is it a GOOD one!! These little individual Thai chicken pizzas on homemade naan bread are just heavenly. ...to say the least.

I made my pizzas on homemade naan, but if you don't want to make a batch, you can always use store bought naan or even pita bread. But if you haven't tried this naan recipe yet, you definitely should. It's soft, light, fluffy, and full of flavor.

I tried to keep it simple with the ingredients and toppings because, if you ask me, there's nothing worse about making homemade pizzas than to have them be really complicated. If you want to go a step or two further and try some more toppings, try pineapple, jalapeno, Thai basil, or green onion. If you want an extra special peanut sauce for the base (instead of the super quick version that I made here), check out this peanut sauce recipe.

Lastly, I have all of the ingredients/toppings for these pizzas stored in individual containers in my fridge. This way, I can quickly top and cook a pizza "to order" and have them hot and fresh! These pizzas are so easy and delicious! I will be making them again!

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smoothie packs & my favorite smoothie

smoothie packs &
my favorite smoothie

I've got another quickie for you tonight. It's more of an idea than a recipe. I'm sure a lot of you Budget Byters already stock your freezers with these handy smoothie packs, but I wanted to share the tip for those who may be new to the kitchen. Not only does this make smoothies faster and easier to make, but they're a fraction, a small fraction, of what you'll pay at your local smoothie counter.

So, the formula is easy. Three one pound bags of frozen fruit of your choice, and four bananas. Divide the frozen fruit up into 8 bags, and place half of a peeled banana in each bag as well. Seal them up tight and toss them into the freezer. When you're ready to make your delicious smoothie, place the frozen fruit in the blender, add milk (or soy or almond milk), and whatever else you want and press go! No more hauling ten ingredients out of the freezer every time you want to make one smoothie. Just grab one bag and add a liquid. Sure, I also add spinach, cinnamon, and ground flax seed, but it's still way easier to have the fruit divided up. And it only takes about 5 minutes to make all 8 packs.

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avocado breakfast pita $1.22 each

avocado breakfast pita

$1.22 each

I've got a quickie for y'all tonight. It's not a super clever recipe, just my current favorite breakfast sandwich. You see, I pretty much only eat two things for breakfast: some sort of oatmeal, or some sort of egg sandwich. Over the years my egg sandwich combinations have morphed into some really wonderful concoctions (see more here, here, and here). This is the one I'm obsessed with this week. It's fantastic.

It ended up being a little more pricey than I expected, but I think a simple swap from spinach to kale will cut the price down significantly. I bought a small bag of spinach this week so a handful (which I estimate to be about 1/6th of the bag) is over 50 cents. An entire bunch of kale is only 99 cents... so I'm sure you can do the math there. Plus, a couple weeks ago when I had the kale salad in my fridge, I stuffed it onto my egg sandwich a few times and it was delightful.

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(not) meatballs & marinara $6.38 recipe / $1.06 serving

(not) meatballs & marinara

$6.38 recipe / $1.06 serving

I didn't set out to make (not) meatballs, in fact, I just wanted to make one of my favorite recipes again with a slightly different twist. What is this favorite recipe of mine? FALAFEL! Say it with me now - FALAFEL! yum.

Anyway, since I wanted to pair the falafel with a marinara sauce, I decided to switch up some of the ingredients to make them a little more Italian. I added parmesan, nixed the cumin and cilantro, and added some bread crumbs and egg for binding purposes. Then I thought, "Wait, what? These are just meatballs minus the meat..."

Well, let me just tell you - any meatball would be jealous of all of the flavor packed into these special little chickpea (not) meatballs. Seriously, this stuff is so good that I kept eating the chickpea mixture straight out of the food processor (before I added the raw egg, btw).

One word of warning, though. They are quite soft in texture. And the longer they sit in the sauce, the softer they get. So, I suggest topping the (not) meatballs with sauce just prior to serving. If you're keeping them for leftovers, keep the sauce in a separate container. Sure, I doused mine in sauce and they're in the fridge right now mingling and getting softer by the moment... but they tasted so good at lunch today that I didn't give a second thought to the texture. But, I know some people have texture issues, so a fair warning is in order.

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top 20 from 2011

top 20 from 2011

Wow, so 2011 went by fast, right? As I was scrolling through the recipes from this year I couldn't believe that I made some of these in 2011, they feel like ages ago!

People often ask me what *my* favorite recipes are, so I've decided to compile a list of my favorites from this year. Sure, I like everything that I post, but there are just some recipes that really make me say "WOW," some recipes that I'm just dying to make again. I tried to make it a list of ten, but that was pretty much impossible, so you get 20 instead.
If you haven't tried any Budget Bytes recipes yet, this list is a great place to start.

So, here they are, in chronological order:

1. Cinnamon Raisin Bread

This easy, almost no-knead cinnamon raisin bread is super easy and had me starting every day with a smile. A slice or two toasted with some peanut butter made for a quick, delicious, and filling breakfast. And it's got way less sugar than store bought cinnamon raisin bread.

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banana bread oatmeal $3.67 recipe / $0.46 serving

banana bread oatmeal

$3.67 recipe / $0.46 serving

I've had this recipe up my sleeve for about a week and a half now, but just haven't had time to post it... I've been enjoying this breakfast gem in secret all week!

After the half-way success of the gingerbread baked oatmeal, I decided that what makes a truly good baked oatmeal is fruit or vegetable puree (like the pumpkin puree in the baked pumpkin pie oatmeal). It provides thickness, body, and moisture. So, banana bread oatmeal, with mashed up bananas, was a natural next step. I basically just used the pumpkin pie oatmeal recipe and tweaked it to be banana bread flavored. I am happy to report, it was every bit as much of a success as the pumpkin pie oatmeal!

This baked oatmeal is moist, fluffy, thick, hearty and delicious. It tastes just like the best banana bread you've ever had and is 10x healthier (very little fat, lower sugar, and tons of fiber). It's just an all around win!

One more interesting thing about this oatmeal: it's nice and golden brown when it finishes baking, but as it sits in the fridge during the week it turns a little grey... but that's just the bananas oxidizing like a peeled banana would if it sat on your countertop. It didn't affect the flavor at all. So, don't let that scare you!

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