corn & cheddar pudding $3.57 recipe / $0.45 serving

corn & cheddar pudding

$3.57 recipe / $0.45 serving

This recipe is a little indulgent with the cream, cheese, and eggs... but every now and then I think you're allowed. It's all about moderation, right? Right.

Corn pudding is another one of those recipes that can go so many different ways. Originally, I wanted to use poblano peppers (my fav) but my local grocery was out. So, instead, I decided to go the honey and cayenne route. It's a little sweet, a little spicy, very rich, and definitely delicious. If you're not all about the spicy stuff, leave out the cayenne and you'll still have a nice contrast between the sweet honey and salty cheddar. You can also try dicing up some regular green and red bell peppers for extra color. There are many possibilities!

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slow cooker baked beans $5.14 recipe / $0.57 serving

slow cooker baked beans

$5.14 recipe / $0.57 serving

So, you know how I love to cook beans in the slow cooker, right? Right. Well, this week I was craving some good 'ol home cookin' so I decided to whip up a batch of baked beans in my slow cooker. I threw all of the ingredients into the slow cooker at night before I went to bed and in the morning, the sweet and savory scent of baked beans was beckoning me out of dreamland.

FYI, baked beans are REALLY good for breakfast. ;)

Did I mention that you don't have to soak the beans? Yep, you just toss them in there dry.

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baked pumpkin pie oatmeal $2.77 recipe / $0.46 serving

baked pumpkin pie oatmeal

$2.77 recipe / $0.46 serving

Let the pumpkin madness begin!!

Since I finally had success with the last baked oatmeal, I decided to give it a shot with pumpkin. This recipe is a little different than the last because I didn't have any yogurt on hand. It still turned out fantastic and I've been enjoying it all week. You can certainly add some yogurt to this and I plan to next time as well. Either add 1/2 cup of plain yogurt to the ingredients as listed below, or reduce the milk to one cup and add one cup of yogurt. The canned pumpkin puree also adds moisture, which is why the total milk content of this recipe is lower.

I absolutely loved eating this cold every morning. I drizzled some maple syrup on top and then added some milk. It was the best oatmeal I've had in a while... and since the oats are pretty much baked in a pumpkin pie filling mixture (minus a lot of the fat), it truly does taste like pumpkin pie. You can also try topping it with nuts, whipped cream, or raisins.

This definitely blows my old pumpkin oatmeal recipe out of the water.

AND it's EASY.

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pesto focaccia pizza $6.53 recipe / $1.09 serving

pesto focaccia pizza

$6.53 recipe / $1.09 serving

I'm addicted to pizza, I really am... but I make no apologies for it. The endless variety of flavor and texture means that the good just keeps coming.

The only problem with homemade pizza is the dough. You've got to knead, you've got to let it rise and rest... it's hours in the making. Not good. And that's why on Friday night when I'm about to topple over from exhaustion, I sometimes stop and buy a frozen pizza. *sigh* Yes, I admit to the occasional frozen pizza.

But I think I just found a good alternative - no-knead focaccia. In the morning before work, I just mix up a batch of the no-knead focaccia bread, let it ferment while I'm at work, and then when I get home all it needs is to be stretched, topped, and popped in the oven.

I peeked at the ingredient list on the last frozen pizza that I bought and the crust alone had about twenty different items on it. I'm really not freaked out by long ingredient lists or unpronounceable ingredients, but that just seemed excessive. This dough has four ingredients - including water.

Mixing the dough before work takes less than five minutes. It doesn't matter if the dough is too wet or too dry, you just go with it. If you don't even have five minutes, measure the dry ingredients the night before and just add the water in the morning. You *can* completely mix the dough the night before and let it ferment almost 24 hours but I think the flavor texture is best between 8-16 hours so I do it in the morning.

This recipe makes two pizzas. I have also successfully halved the recipe.

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sriracha peach crisp $5.88 recipe / $0.74 serving

sriracha peach crisp

$5.88 recipe / $0.74 serving

So, a couple of weeks ago my friend Jenni (of the vinaigrette slaw fame) sent me a message saying that the Creole Creamery had sriracha peach ice cream. I was all like, "What the WHAT?! Must have some now..." Not even ten minutes later, I ran across this recipe for Hot and Sweet Mango Crumble. So that was it, I had to make a sweet and spicy Sriracha dessert.

Sweet and spicy are a classic pair. If you're uncertain, think about all of the fruit salsas out there. They go great together! Add a sweet, butter, slightly salty crumble topping and you've hit all of the bases. Adding a scoop of cold vanilla ice cream on top balances the heat nicely, but I ate it the rest of the week without and it was still ah-mazing.

Oh, and I got my peaches on sale for $1.49/lb. Score!

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balsamic bruschetta chicken $6.75 recipe / $1.69 serving

balsamic bruschetta chicken

$6.75 recipe / $1.69 serving

I love this recipe because it's easy and can be modified in a million ways. Plus, it's just plain pretty.

I love balsamic vinegar so I made a quick marinade for the chicken with it. I also mixed some into the tomato topping for extra zing. The tomato topping is a lot like my favorite pico de gallo recipe except with a more Italian flare. I garnished with some fresh parsley for the photos, but it's not needed for flavor. If you have fresh basil, on the other hand, that would knock this recipe right out of the ballpark. Oregano would also be amazing. You can play with it!

I chose shredded mozzarella cheese here strictly for budget reasons. I bought a large 2 lb. bag of shredded mozz and then divided it up into 8 oz. bags and froze three of them. Shredded cheese freezes extremely well. If I wasn't concerned about the budget of this recipe, I would have used either fresh mozzarella or goat cheese. Again, there are many many options!

I was lucky enough to find roma tomatoes on sale for $0.50/lb so I grabbed them up quickly. You can use any type of tomato here, just make sure they're fresh and flavorful. The tomato is a major flavor player in this recipe!

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ginger scallion soba salad $8.27 recipe / $1.38 serving

ginger scallion soba salad

$8.27 recipe / $1.38 serving

I was really in the mood for something light and fresh this week. Who knows, maybe it's a last hoorah of summer cravings before fall sets in with all of its hearty soups and stews.

This salad is super light and fresh, and really lets the flavor of the vegetables shine through. If you're looking for something with a real flavor punch, this isn't the salad for you. Check out garlic noodles or peanut soba stir fry if you want something bold enough to stand on its own as a meal. This ginger scallion soba noodle salad is the perfect side to a bold main dish, like the teriyaki salmon with sraracha mayo.

Despite being really light and fresh, this salad is a serious hunger squasher! Soba noodles are made of buckwheat so they've got tons of fiber and protein to fill you up. Add to that some edamame (soy beans) and one bowl will fill your tummy up and make you happy really fast. Just one bowl of this with a piece of salmon has left me feeling really full (and healthy) every day this week!

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teriyaki salmon w/ sriracha mayo $13.94 recipe / $3.30 serving

teriyaki salmon w/
sriracha mayo

$13.94 recipe / $3.30 serving

One of my wonderful readers recently asked for more fish recipes. I fully intended on doing cod or some other type of fish that I had never cooked before, but when I got to the store and saw this pretty, fatty salmon, my mouth started to water. ...but I'll be doing more fish in the future, so stay tuned.

This recipe is, of course, pretty pricey, but its worth every penny. This is the best salmon I've ever made and it was incredibly easy. The best part about this dish is that you can cook it any way you want. I opted for a skillet but you could also use a George Foreman grill, an outdoor grill, or bake it in the oven (like I did last time). Whatever you do, make sure to oil your surface well so that your fish comes off in one piece. It's deliciously delicate and the teriyaki sauce is sticky!

I decided to whip up a quick sriracha mayo because I thought the spicy, creamy mixture would pair perfectly with the sticky sweetness of the teriyaki. Right I was. Plus, sriracha mayo is good on just about everything under the sun so it's no biggy if there is extra.

Pair this salmon with some savory coconut rice, garlic noodles, or (not)fried rice and you'll have a gourmet meal for at least half the price that you'd pay in a restaurant.

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vinaigrette slaw with feta$4.97 recipe / $0.62 serving

vinaigrette slaw with feta

$4.97 recipe / $0.62 serving

There is a constant war going on between my brain and my stomach. My brain likes things that my stomach doesn't and when I eat it anyway, my stomach throws a fit. Raw cabbage is one of those items. But, when my friend Jenni messaged me this recipe last night for a quick vinaigrette coleslaw with feta, I said, "screw you, stomach, I'm eating the raw cabbage whether you like it or not!"

And I'm so glad I did. This stuff is amazing. And amazingly easy!

You can use bagged coleslaw mix but the selection at the store today looked pretty sickly, so I decided to use fresh cabbage. The only problem with fresh cabbage is that you can't get away with making just a little coleslaw, you have to make buckets of the stuff. I only used half of each head of cabbage (green and purple) and I still had a TON. So what do you do with all of the left over cabbage? I shredded the rest of mine and froze it. It will make a nice addition to a vegetable soup this fall, or a quick stir fry!

The same goes for the dressing. You can make your own vinaigrette or buy pre-made. I took the easy route today and used some Newman's Own Caesar dressing. It was pretty incredible, I must say. I think the caesar added extra zing and umami that really made the slaw something special.

So, the next time you need a quick, delicious side dish, try out Jenni's vinaigrette slaw with feta!

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magazine GIVEAWAY!

magazine GIVEAWAY!

Because I don't have another day off to cook until Friday, I thought I'd do a little giveaway to keep everyone entertained!

I have decided to give away three (3) one year subscriptions to Bon Appetit magazine. I love this magazine because it is a great mix of simple food and adventurous, exciting cuisine. I look forward to my copy coming in the mail every month (thanks to my generous friend, Jeffrey) and I hope you will too!

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apple flax muffins $3.49 recipe / $0.29 serving

apple flax muffins

$3.49 recipe / $0.29 serving

I'm really not one to use all sorts of fancy "health food" ingredients but strangely enough, I enjoy the flavor and texture of things like bran and flax meal. So, when I spotted a box of flax meal at the store for less than $3, I grabbed it. I love to sprinkle the stuff on my oatmeal or in my yogurt.

On the back of the box I found this recipe for apple flax muffins. I thought it looked interesting and it kind of reminded me of the morning glory muffins that I made and loved so much... except even healthier.

Well, I switched around some ingredients, made a couple of substitutions and came up with a version all my own. Flax seed contains a bunch of good fat so it wasn't necessary for any extra oil to be added to the batter. The texture of the batter is definitely different (a little stiff/gooey) and I almost thought the recipe was going to be a flop, but while they were in the oven magic happened. They puffed up and turned into delicious, light, yet hearty muffins!

After they cooled, I zipped them up tight in a freezer bag and popped them into the freezer. Now I can pull out one muffin at a time, thaw it in the microwave for 30 seconds and enjoy the yummy muffin goodness whenever I want!

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chai spiced simple syrup $2.60 recipe / $0.16 serving

chai spiced simple syrup

$2.60 recipe / $0.16 serving

I got a very sweet email from two readers (Lauren and Oliver) last week and in it they included a link to this awesome recipe for Ginger Simple Syrup. I was so on board with making the recipe to begin with but then my brain starting working...

It reminded me of a pared down version of the chai concentrate that I made (and LOVED) last year. So, I thought, why not just go ahead and make the simple syrup not just ginger flavored, but chai flavored? That way I can add it to whatever I want. I can still make chai with it (add it to brewed tea and milk), or I can drizzle it on vanilla ice cream, add it to a cocktail (recipes below), or even put it in my coffee!! FYI, I had it in my coffee this morning and it was to die for.

Normally, simple syrups have a water/sugar ratio of about 1:1. This recipe starts off with 2 parts water and 1 part sugar but because you're simmering it for so long to infuse the flavors, a lot of the moisture boils off and you will have a 1:1 ratio in the end.

Oh, and if you're looking for inexpensive cinnamon sticks, check the Mexican section of larger grocery stores. I found a separate spice section in Walmart's Mexican aisle with inexpensive spices like cinnamon, star anise, dried chiles, chamomile, and more. ...and they were only $1.50 per pack! Of course, this may depend entirely on the size of the Hispanic population in your area. Stores won't stock it if there isn't a demand for it.

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