cilantro lime rice $2.08 recipe / $0.35 serving

cilantro lime rice

$2.08 recipe / $0.35 serving

I made this Cilantro Lime Rice as a side dish for the Shrimp Tacos that I made last weekend (my apologies for taking so long to post it). This rice is very simple and makes a great, filling side dish to any Mexican or Tex-mex meal. It's so delicious that I'm tempted to just put some in a bowl, melt some cheddar cheese over top and have at it... oooh, and maybe add a few black beans in there. Okay, now it's turning into a whole other recipe! As you can see, it can also be a versatile base to many other dishes. Try it in casseroles or as a super flavorful filling for burritos! Plus, it's just pretty and green.

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super simple shrimp tacos $11.94 recipe / $1.49 taco

super simple shrimp tacos

$11.94 recipe / $1.49 taco

Do you need to impress somebody? Say your friends, a date or maybe your in-laws? Well, these shrimp tacos will surely do the trick. They require next to no cooking (a quick 5 minute saute) and they are jammed packed with fresh, vibrant flavor. Serve them with some cilantro lime rice (recipe coming this week), some guacamole salad and you've got the perfect meal to eat out on the patio while enjoying this spring weather. And at only $1.49 per taco, you'll probably have some money left over to spring for a bottle of tequila to make some homemade margaritas... this is beginning to sound like a back yard Cinco de Mayo party. I guess I should post a margarita recipe, huh?

Anyway, I marinated the shrimp in a mojito lime marinade that I found in the seasoning aisle. As the shrimp cooked they let off some juices that mixed with the marinade and created a nice sauce that I drizzled over the tacos. Next, I topped the shrimp with some chopped tomato, mango, cilantro, salad mix (ice berg, red cabbage, carrots) and finally some jalapeno sour cream (directions below). There are plenty of other items that you could put in the tacos so run wild with it!

I am usually against bagged salad mixes because they are just so expensive but this time I saved money by purchasing it. The bag of salad mix was the same price as a head of lettuce and it also contained red cabbage and carrots which give great color and texture to the tacos. If I were to make the salad mix by purchasing all three items (lettuce, cabbage and carrots), I would have spent three times as much and ended up with way more than I could have used. So, this time, it was economical to purchase the small bag of mix.

NOTE: I bought my shrimp when they were on sale for $5.99 / lb. so you may want to save this recipe for when they go on sale in your area.

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basic bok choy $2.65 recipe / $0.44 serving

basic bok choy

$2.65 recipe / $0.44 serving

I got really excited when I was at the produce market the other day because bok choy was only $0.79 per pound. I guess I get excited whenever ANY produce is under $1/lb. but I already had an Asian inspired main dish planned so this was perfect. There are a lot of things you can do with a basic sauteed (or stir fried) bok choy but I kept it simple this week with a little bit of garlic, ginger and sesame.

Normally my favorite way to saute green vegetables is to use garlic and red pepper flakes but I was serving this as a side next to Sriracha Chicken Strips so I nixed the spicy red pepper and opted for cool, fresh ginger (which happened to be left over from the chicken marinade). You can also simply saute it in oil and garlic then drizzle oyster sauce over top (DELICIOUS) but since I was also serving Garlic Noodles which has an oyster sauce base, I skipped the sauce. You can also stir the sauteed bok choy right into the Garlic Noodles for simple bok choy noodle stir fry!

Sauteed bok choy also makes a great add-in for yummy Ramen Bowls so keep that in mind as you shove the leftovers into the back of your fridge!

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sriracha chicken strips $4.55 recipe / $1.14 serving

sriracha chicken strips

$4.55 recipe / $1.14 serving

I saw this recipe for Sriracha Chicken Strips one day while stumbling around on the internet and, being the Sriracha lover that I am, I immediately bookmarked it for later use. Jenny's Idea for marinading chicken in Sriracha is absolute genius. The vinegar in the Sriracha and the little bit added to the marinade tenderizes the chicken as it sits so you end up with a super moist and tender chicken strip after cooking. The other reason that I wanted to try these is because back when I made Coconut Chicken Strips I wondered if they would work baked instead of pan fried and this recipe does just that. The result? VERY crunchy on the outside and super moist on the inside. Success!

These chicken strips are super spicy so if you've got a bad case of GERD, maybe try the Coconut Chicken Strips instead. I made some sauteed bok choy and Garlic Noodles to serve with the spicy chicken strips and they balanced the heat perfectly. What a meal!

I made a couple of minute changes to the original recipe like using fresh ginger and garlic in the marinade and adding a flour dredge step to the breading process.

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tuna pasta salad w/peas $3.82 recipe / $0.64 serving

tuna pasta salad w/peas

$3.82 recipe / $0.64 serving

The weather has been getting warmer and the days have been absolutely gorgeous. We've been doing a lot of grilling and cooking out lately which puts me in the mood for cold pasta salads and other potluck classics. I'm sure this recipe has been around for a gazillion years and rightly so. It's delicious, well rounded (starch, protein, veggies) and it fits Budget Bytes principle #2 (using less expensive filler ingredients to reduce cost per serving). Tuna was at one time inexpensive but I wouldn't exactly consider it so these days ($0.70 for a 5 oz. can). So, by adding pasta and peas to what would be an otherwise fairly expensive and small tuna salad, the volume has increased and cost per serving has decreased.

The sweet peas perfectly balance the pungent onions in this salad and both veggies offer great texture variation in each bite. For the dressing, I used light mayo (because this isn't 1950) and lemon juice for brightness. It's simple, it's delicious, it's a classic. If you make a variation of this salad at home, I'd love to hear your version!

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blueberry & banana "yoatgurt" $0.64 per bowl

blueberry & banana "yoatgurt"

$0.64 per bowl

I ran across the concept of "yoatgurt" (yogurt and oatmeal) the other day on Bran Apetit and was immediately intrigued. I love oats and I love yogurt so substituting the cold milk that I usually pour over my oats with cold yogurt seemed quite natural and delicious. It appears that fans of yoatgurt usually opt for greek yogurt but I really can't see paying more money for yogurt that has simply had some of the water strained out. Yeah, I know, its thicker, creamier and yummier but plain 'ol vanilla yogurt did me just fine here. Lemon yogurt would have been even more delicious with the blueberries and bananas... Mmmmm...

Anyway, I usually make steel cut oats but I wanted the flakey, flat texture of old fashioned rolled oats for this recipe. Plus I had some left over old fashioned oats from making apple crisp and I'm all about using up what's already in the cabinet. I wouldn't recommend quick oats because they don't have enough texture to contrast the gooey yogurt. Top your yoatgurt with whatever you like in your oats. Brandi at Bran Apetit uses almond butter which would be absolutely scrumptious.

Welcome to the wonderful world of yoatgurt, I hope you stay a while.

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bbq chicken pizzas$8.13 recipe / $1.36 serving

bbq chicken pizzas

$8.13 recipe / $1.36 serving

This may be the quickest, most delicious BBQ chicken pizza that you'll ever make. I know it was for me. I don't usually buy pre-baked pizza crusts (it's pretty expensive compared to homemade) but I've got places to go and people to see this weekend so I took a HUGE short cut and bought the ready-made crusts. Don't worry, if you like to make your own crust or buy dough from your local pizzaria (like I usually do), you can still make this recipe. It will take a tad bit longer but be a lot less expensive! Later this summer I will be getting into some serious bread making and will surely make lots of pizza dough so stay tuned for that. Until then, it's the pre-made stuff... which is still delicious, by the way.

I had some frozen chicken breasts in my freezer (buying them in 5 lb. packs saves you at least $1 per pound) so I pulled one out to use for the pizzas. This chicken breast was pretty massive, weighing in at .75 lb. At first I didn't think that one would be enough for two pizzas (I was thinking more like .5 lb. per pizza) but It turned out to be quite a bit of meat. If you have smaller chicken breasts (.5 lb. each), you could probably still use just one.

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cincinnati chili $10.61 recipe / $1.33 serving

cincinnati chili

$10.61 recipe / $1.33 serving

Cincinnati Chili is one of those dishes that sparks great debates, great HEATED debates over what is authentic and what is not. I'm not from Cincinnati so I'm not going to claim that this recipe is authentic. All I know is that it's not regular chili because it has chocolate and cinnamon in it and it's served over pasta... but it's not just spaghetti and meat sauce because it has chili powder, beans and (again) chocolate and cinnamon.

Sounds like a strange combination, right? Well, it is. It seems like people either love it or hate it so if you're not sure, wait until you're in one of those adventurous cooking moods to try this one. I love it. I can't get enough of it, as a matter of fact. The chocolate gives the sauce such a rich, savory, earthy and utterly unique flavor profile. Pairing chocolate and chili is an old flavor combination that dates back to Mayan civilization and it makes another slam dunk in this recipe. Cincinnati Chili is traditionally served over thin spaghetti (which provides and amazingly satisfying texture/mouth feel) and topped with shredded cheddar cheese and diced yellow onion. It is only fair to say that this recipe is not even the same if not served with all three of those elements.

After doing recipe research for this dish, I finally settled on this one from allrecipes.com because it seemed most similar to what I had tasted before (and loved). Of course, I made a few changes to meet my taste buds and pantry inventory. Overall, this recipe came together quickly and effortlessly and there was plenty for me to freeze for later!

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semi-homemade preztels $1.31 recipe / $0.16 pretzel

semi-homemade preztels

$1.31 recipe / $0.16 pretzel

There was a time in my life when I made many types of bread from scratch (sandwich bread, bagels, pizza dough, english muffins...). Bread making is a lot of fun and can be very therapeutic. The comforting smell of fresh baked bread is unrivaled. These days, I'm a tad bit busier and have to take a few short cuts. One of those "cheats" is to buy frozen bread dough. It usually comes in a bag of three, one pound loaves which can be taken out, thawed and used whenever you need them. A while back I had to do some quickie entertaining and bought the bread dough to use as a substitute for pizza dough. I made some really yummy BBQ Chicken Pizzas with two of the loaves (should I post that recipe?) and the third loaf has been waiting in my freezer for it's 15 minutes of fame ever since.

I decided to try my hand at pretzel making. Now, the dough I used is actually for white bread which is lighter and fluffier than pretzel dough would be. The end result is a really really soft pretzel. I used Alton Brown's pretzel recipe (minus the dough making steps) which includes boiling the unbaked pretzels in a baking soda solution. This step is pivotal to creating that authentic pretzel flavor so don't be tempted to skip it. If you do, you'll just end up with dinner rolls in the shape of a pretzels. Which is fine, if you like that sort of thing. I guess.

Here is a video clip of Alton's "Pretzel Logic" episode where he explains why the pretzels are boiled in a baking soda solution. It's a fun clip, check it out!

The pretzels I made here are plain with a light sprinkling of kosher salt. Getting creative with the toppings will make this recipe really fun and delicious. Some ideas are: garlic powder, parmesan cheese, pickled jalapenos (press into the dough after boiling but before baking), sesame seeds, melted butter, cinnamon and sugar (after baking)... The sky is the limit. Then there are the dipping sauce possibilities... oh my.

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asparagus breakfast wraps $4.71 recipe / $0.79 each

asparagus breakfast wraps

$4.71 recipe / $0.79 each

IT'S ASPARAGUS SEASON! I'm not even joking when I say that I wait ALL year long for asparagus season to come around. I love their flavor and texture but because they cost around $4/lb. most of the year, I only get to indulge when they're in season. This week, to my delight, I bought a bunch of asparagus for $1.50/lb.! YES!

My favorite way to eat them is just steamed/simmered with a touch of butter, salt, pepper and garlic. I prepared the asparagus for the breakfast wraps the same way. One bunch of asparagus should be plenty for six wraps, each with four asparagus inside. If your asparagus are super skinny, you can probably fit more in per wrap. Since I only eat one wrap per day (that's not to say I *couldn't* eat more...), I refrigerated the rest of the asparagus and then just gave a few of them a quick nuke before building my wrap the next day. Still delicious.

The wraps also include an egg, swiss cheese and sliced tomatoes. I cooked the egg over-easy so the yolk would act as a sauce. I thought swiss would make a nice match for the asparagus but some salty/sharp cheddar would also be delicious. There is wiggle room in this recipe... experiment and tell me what you come up with!

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stewed okra & tomatoes $2.88 recipe / $0.48 serving

stewed okra & tomatoes

$2.88 recipe / $0.48 serving

Okra is a strange, pod-like vegetable that is commonly eaten in the Southern United States, Africa and other tropical regions. When I was deciding what vegetable to make to go with my Jamaican Jerk Chicken Bowls, stewed okra seemed like a nice fit. If you've never eaten okra before, it can seem a little weird at first. It has an almost hairy texture on the outside when raw, is filled with lots of round, ball-like seeds and, most importantly, it has TONS of soluble plant fiber... which feels like a sticky goo.

Are you turned off yet?

I hope not. Okra is really quite delicious, has a wonderful texture that stands up to cooking and all of that gooey plant fiber is EXCELLENT for your diet (it binds to bad cholesterol and carries it out of your body). Okra can be prepared a plethora of different ways including frying, stewing/smothering, pickling (my favorite!) or adding to soups, stews and gumbos as a thickener (another attribute of that gooey plant fiber). This particular recipe is a super quick, "dump and pour" recipe that you can have ready in under 30 minutes. For that reason, this makes an excellent week night vegetable side dish. Spoon it over a bed of rice and you can also turn it into a great vegetarian meal. YUM.

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jamaican jerk chicken bowls $8.93 recipe / $2.23 serving

jamaican jerk chicken bowls

$8.93 recipe / $2.23 serving

If you've never had (or heard of) jerk seasoning, it is a sweet and spicy mix of flavors unique to the caribbean. I had to balance cost and convenience this weekend so I ended up using a bottled marinade. If you'd like to try your hand at making it from scratch, here is a great recipe. I was a little disappointed in the selection of pre-made jerk marinades at my local stores (I checked two stores). Even though I went with an inexpensive brand, the resulting chicken was mouth-watering delicious.

I paired the sweet and spicy chicken with some black beans that were simmered with jalapenos and garlic, sweet pineapple chunks and fried plantains all over a bed of savory coconut rice. The slight creaminess of coconut rice is perfect to mellow out the spices in the jerk marinade and jalapeno black beans. If other tropical fruits, like mango or papaya, happen to be on sale, scoop those up and use them in place of the pineapple chunks. I garnished with green onion but cilantro would also be an appropriate match.

Perhaps the best part about this recipe is that it was so quick and easy... everything came together in the amount of time that it took to cook the rice. So, although it looks complex, this could easily be a gourmet week-night dinner!

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lemon coconut bars $2.38 recipe / $0.16 serving

lemon coconut bars

$2.38 recipe / $0.16 serving

I saw this recipe that Gonna Want Seconds had posted to Tastespotting recently and I knew that I needed to make them soon. My mom used to make lemon bars for us growing up and they have been one of my favorites ever since. The addition of coconut is just like icing on top of the already-there-icing on the cake! I never made lemon bars before because I had this crazy idea that they were time consuming and complex to make. Wow, I was really really wrong. These bars came together in a matter of minutes (minus the baking time) and only used a few ingredients. The only problem with these lemon coconut bars is that I keep eating them... even though my stomach says to stop!

I made one change from the Gonna Want Seconds version, I only used 1/2 cup of butter rather than 3/4 cup. They still turned out perfect so I guess I'm glad I was too lazy to open up another stick of butter!

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