Chicken recipes: It's what's for dinner!

To contact us Click HERE

Chicken has been on sale a lot and I've got a freezer full of all kinds. I thought I'd share some of my chicken recipes with you.
Sticky chicken: this is awesome, and I always have to pull out the big roasting pan and make three whole chickens because everyone loves sticky chicken and I want leftovers. The spice mixture you rub on this is wonderful and you baste the chicken throughout the cooking time which is what makes the skin "sticky".

Chili-maple glazed chicken: this is one of many "dump chicken" recipes that I love! They are easy, and you can prepare them ahead of time and freeze them, then defrost and "dump" into a baking dish and bake in the oven or "dump" in the crock pot or slow cooker and let it cook while you're out running errands or at work.

Grilled chili lime chicken kebabs: perfect for summer grilling! No grill? That's okay, you can make these in the oven and turn the broiler on for the last few minutes to make sure they get a nice brown on them. You can also make these on a grill pan or on the GF grill.

Sesame hoisin chicken wings: these wings are so good! They're a little bit sweet, a little bit salty, sticky but crispy. Yummy! Perfect any time of the year. They make a wonderful appetizer for an outdoor summer party, as well as the Super Bowl.


Ground chicken spanakopita meatballs: the first time I made them, huge hit! They've asked for them twice since. I serve with Greek salad, homemade pita bread and homemade tzatziki, which is a delicious dip/spread made with yogurt, cucumbers and garlic.





If the links don't work, you can copy and paste them directly:
Sticky chicken: www.examiner.com/article/oven-roasted-sticky-chicken-recipe
Chili-maple glazed chicken: www.examiner.com/article/chili-maple-glazed-dump-chicken-recipe-perfect-for-memorial-day-or-everyday
Grilled chili lime chicken kebabs: www.examiner.com/article/chili-maple-glazed-dump-chicken-recipe-perfect-for-memorial-day-or-everyday
Sesame hoisin chicken wings: www.examiner.com/article/serve-up-a-chicken-wing-super-bowl-buffet-sesame-hoisin-chicken-wing-recipe

Ground chicken spanakopita meatballs: www.examiner.com/article/ground-chicken-recipe-chicken-spanakopita-meatballs-with-tzatziki-and-pita 
Bonus recipes:

• homemade tzatziki: www.examiner.com/article/tzatziki-recipe-greek-cucumber-yogurt-dip
• homemade pita: www.examiner.com/article/pita-bread-recipe
• Greek salad: www.examiner.com/article/how-to-make-fresh-salad-dressings-recipes-to-save-you-money-2012

Till next time, keep on keeping on and fight the frugal fight!

This week's featured recipes: Summer recipes, meatless Monday recipes, weeknight and back to school recipes and fudgy brownie cookies recipe!

To contact us Click HERE
This week I've been sharing up a storm with summer recipes, especially pickles and recipes to use the bounty in your garden, from you CSA or from the Farmers market. I've also been sharing quick back to school and weeknight dinner recipes. We've also been sharing Meatless Monday recipes.

Next week we'll be sharing more quick back to school recipes, crock pot recipes and cooking for two. Hubby and I have recently become sort of empty nesters with one son living on his own, and one son living here, but not really. He's out a lot, working, spending time with his girlfriend and his friends, he rarely eats at home anymore. So, we're learning to cook for two a couple of nights each week.

In today's blog post you'll find links to the recipes I've shared from July 1st through July 21. Enjoy and let me know how you like the recipes you try.
Don't forget to join us on Facebook at Better Frugal Living for Families and Rachael's Recipes, Frugal Living Advice and Homemaking Hints.

Summer recipes:
Watermelon and tomato salad

Easy and refreshing watermelon pops


Meatless Monday recipes:
Meatless taco pizza
Greek quesadillas
Quick weeknight or back to school dinner recipesCuban quesadillasSteak pitas


Easy, delicious dessert or snack ideasFudgy brownie cookiesUntil next time, I remain...Frugally yours!Rachael Monaco

Menu planning to save money: What's for dinner 8-18-12 through 8-24-12

To contact us Click HERE

Chicken fricassee with sweet potato dumplings

Menu planning saves me money, plan and simple. During the summer months, life is a little more relaxed, but when the weather starts to get cooler, I get back to structured menu planning with even more purpose!
Here's what we'll be eating for dinner this week. Breakfast is pretty basic, we either have yogurt with homemade granola or oatmeal or toast and eggs. Lunch is almost always whatever was leftover from dinner the night before or a sandwich and soup. You'll find the links to most of the recipes in my blog. Let me know if you need help finding them!

Saturday 8-18-12                                                                                                       Beef + potato hash                                                                                                        Steamed green beans with lemon and sea salt                                                              Salad with homemade dressing                                                                                      cupcakes
Sunday 8-19-12Going out to dinner with gift certificate
Monday 8-20-12                                                                                                               Spaghetti with homemade sauce, zucchini + yellow squash                          Cheesy garlic breadiSalad with homemade dressing
Tuesday 8-21-12Crock pot ham + cheesy potatoesSteamed broccoliSalad with homemade dressing
Wednesday 8-22-12Chicken fricassee with biscuits                                                                                        Wax beans                                                                                                                      Salad with homemade dressing
Thursday 8-23-12C.O.R.N = Clean Out the Refrigerator NightAKA leftovers
Friday 8-24-12Veggie, cheese + ham frittata                                                                                      Hash browns with onions + peppers                                                                       Toast                                                                                                                       Salad with homemade dressing
Until next time I remain Frugally Yours!Rachael Monaco

Bryant Terry's Inspired Southern Food (Vegan)

To contact us Click HERE


So, Paula Deen decides to make lighter Southern food and it gets headlines? It's a campaign year, and I am sick of the mud-slinging, so I will just say this: I think the wrong person has been getting the headlines all this time. When it comes to Southern food, real Southern food that has evolved — as any cuisine should — my vote is for Bryant Terry, including his book, The Inspired Vegan.

Yes, vegan. And Southern food without bacon and lard. Terry's recipes use many of the classic ingredients one associates with good Southern cooking; black-eyed peas, greens, sweet potatoes, grits, johnny cakes, sweet tea, molasses. And, he definitely doesn't use factory-farmed pork or Velveeta, which is not on any seasonal, heritage ingredient list I can fathom, Southern or not. The beauty of Terry's take on Southern ingredients is that he's re-thought them, added his life influences, often Asian, and continues to create. Food, like everything else, must evolve.

Terry's food is healthy. This commitment to good, healthy food is not just in his cooking, he lives it. Terry has worked for food access and food justice as well as nutrition education and empowerment throughout the span of his career. This is not a new brand image he's acquired for marketing purposes.

Vegan or not, and I am not a vegan, his recipes are creative, and, as the title suggests, inspired. The recipe for Savory Grits with Sauteed Broad Beans, Roasted Fennel, and Thyme is the sole reason my 7-year-old now requests "Fennel!" as a favorite vegetable when we shop.

This fall, I am looking forward to trying Sweet Potato-Cornmeal Drop Biscuits with Maple Syrup. The fresh shell peas at the market right now will be great in Black-eyed Peas in Garlic Ginger Braised Mustard Greens. Terry's Pickled Red Onions are a staple condiment in our fridge for months now.

Get past the "vegan" thing if you are not vegan. When I am run dry on ideas for making vegetables delicious, I turn to vegan cookbooks for inspiration. Not the ones that try to make non-meat versions of a burger or hot dog, but the ones like Terry's that embrace the flavors and richness that vegetables and grains can bring. The title is so aptly named. This is Inspired cooking. And Terry, as a chef who uses his creativity to help and inspire others, and to bring about food justice and healthy choices for all is my kind of inspiration, too.

It's Bigger Than Just School Lunch

To contact us Click HERE

As many blog posts as I have written bemoaning school lunches and nutrition for kids, it's refreshing to share good news. Here's an updated menu with the proposed USDA changes for better nutrition for school meals. It's much improved and I was even surprised to see jicama on the ingredients list.
What I like most about it is that it is a bit realistic. It's healthier swaps for things kids have been eating. What I would call "transitional foods." There's a chance kids will actually eat part of these lunches. Much of the rationale used to block school food changes hinged on precisely that: kids won't eat healthy foods. There is more waste. It won't work. And, frankly, they are right. If kids won't eat these items at home, how can we expect them to at school?
It's like a chicken and egg thing. Or a chicken nugget and egg mcmuffin thing. Do kids eat poorly because they get junk food in schools every day, or do kids eat junk food every day so they will only eat junk food in schools?
I've read with envy all the amenities and fresh food that Alice Water's and Co. have implemented in Berkeley schools along with their Edible Schoolyard program. I think about that program, even as I am applauding these hard-won changes. But,read this article in Grist about just how well the kids in Berkeley are eating and what they are not eating. Do they eat a better diet and non-processed foods than other kids? Yes. But, even with all the advantages, frankly the kids still aren't eating as well as they could.

We're winning in our schools. Which is incredibly important for kids whose best meals and main nutrition for the week come from our school lunch program. Let's not stop here. 
Let's keep fixing school lunches.Let's fix lunch at home. Let's help others get access to affordable, healthy foods.Let's make healthier choices in quick serve restaurants. Let's tackle junk food marketing to kids.Let's tackle our whole food system that's designed around commodity crops for animal feed and processed foods.
Let's tackle our own kid's eating habits at home.

A bit of history for perspective:

The first school lunch programs were created by teachers and moms. They often included things like a garden on site and even a cow for fresh milk.

The first school lunch legislation was passed in 1946. The program was not designed as a way to help feed hungry kids alone. It was also established to use surplus agricultural commodities which in turn kept food prices from crashing. The program was funded with $10 million per year in 1946 dollars (114.6 million today) to feed 6.7 million children. Today's budget is $11 billion annually to feed 31 million kids daily.

What are "surplus agricultural commodities?" Commodities may not sound much like food, but historically this meant the basic items produced from a farm; corn, wheat, soy, rice, meat, milk, eggs, fruit and vegetables. Not so much now, but we'll get to that in a later lesson.

In many ways, the 1946 legislation was well-intentioned if not fairly administrated. Okay, it sounded good at least.

Here's a few other quotes from the 1946 legislation that might make us all yearn for the good old days, or at least the old days of good lunch as it was promised:

• "The need for a permanent legislative basis for a school lunch program, rather than operating it on a year-to-year basis, or one dependent solely on agricultural surpluses that for a child may be nutritionally unbalanced or nutritionally unattractive, has now become apparent."
• "It is hereby declared to be the policy of Congress, as a measure of national security, to safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation's children and to encourage the domestic consumption of nutritious agricultural commodities and other food ..."
• "The educational features of a properly chosen diet served at school should not be under-emphasized. Not only is the child taught what a good diet consists of, but his parents and family likewise are indirectly instructed."

While it may seem like some of our lunch items around today have enough preservatives to have endured since 1946, the lunch program then contained a lot fewer processed foods. It was 1946 after all. Here are the 1946 recommendations for a typical meal per child:
Milk, whole, 1/2 pint Protein-rich food consisting of any of the following or a combination thereof:

• 2 oz. Fresh or processed meat, poultry meat, cheese, cooked or canned fish
• Dry peas or beans or soy beans, cooked, ½ cup
• Peanut Butter, 4 tbsp.
• Eggs, 1

Raw, cooked, or canned vegetables or fruits, or both, ¾ cupBread, muffins or hot bread made of whole grain cereal or enriched flour, 1 portion
So, at least 66 years ago, folks knew that our country's future was linked to healthy children. That not all agricultural commodities are healthy foods. And that the meal provided should be exemplary of what families should eat at home. The meal was also based on whole foods; milk, protein, vegetables, fruits and whole grains.

Calling your bluff

To contact us Click HERE
Me: Since you're so unhappy with me, why don't you leave? 
Alex: What? 
Me: Leave.
Alex: And go where? 
Me: That's your problem. Get out.
Alex: You're kicking me out? 
Me: No. I'm inviting you to do what you want. 
Alex: But you're telling me to leave.
Me: No. You're the one who thinks I made such a big mistake leaving Aunt Elaine's. You're the one who doesn't believe that it wasn't a choice, that she kicked us out. So go back. 
Alex: You didn't even try!
Me:  Oh my god, are you fucking kidding me?! I BEGGED to stay through the summer! The only reason you don't know is because you were busy skipping along enjoying life while Dani and I panicked and planned and budgeted late into the night! 
Alex: No. I don't remember that at all! That's not what happened. You just wanted to live with Josh! 

So I reminded Alex that at least two months before I graduated she was threatening to change the locks. Alex claimed Aunt Elaine wouldn't really do that. But I remember her patting her pocket where she'd put the phone number of a locksmith! She was constantly talking about how great it would be to not have to deal with us for much longer. So go. She needs to either shut up about it or get out. Staying her and bitching at me is not going to work long-term.

No really

To contact us Click HERE
Josh pretty much never yells at my sisters. Part of that is because he misses his own sister, likes how close we are, and would never want to do anything to mess with that. The other part is that overall, he's pretty easygoing. But the key to his easygoing-ness is that everything runs pretty smoothly and everyone is fairly easygoing.

All that to say he's really displeased with what's going on lately. We've gotten in little arguments obviously, but they always blew over quickly and a lot of it was teasing. Josh is very good at not taking sides and always listening and encouraging us to talk and work things out.

That is not working right now. Today Josh picked me up from my last tutoring thing and asked if we could go to a happy hour and talk. Of course I said yes, but I don't think he fully thought that out. I think Josh intended for us to go get a glass of wine and talk, but that's not what happened. What happened was that we wound up in a crowded bar full of single professionals, and when Josh went to get us drinks, a guy came over to hit on me. Once we got rid of him, it was still really loud for talking.

We talked on the way home instead. Josh thought that Alex and I were trying to work things out. He may be disappointed to find out it's not really happening. We're not really talking at all, except when we yell at each other. Josh is not happy with this. He explained that drama on the home-front makes him really uncomfortable.

My sisters have accused me of putting Josh before them. I don't want to be disloyal to anyone. If Josh and I broke up, I would be okay. I mean, royally devastated obviously, but okay. The whole way home Josh kept trying to tell me in different ways, that I need to fix it. No really, make up with them. No really, they'll be my sisters forever.

I didn't tell him, but it got annoying after a while. Why is it all on me to fix everything? Why isn't anyone else ever in charge of doing the hard stuff?