Meals at Home

Recently I have been writing down all my spending each week! Let me tell you how shocked I was, my guess was so far off my actual spending. For the two of us I had budgeted 75$ a week for food, eating out , cleaning supplies , paper products, etc. In my opinion I thought I was being very generous, WRONG!! The 25$ I though we were spending on eating out a week was in reality at least double that! We could be eating lobster every night if we cooked it ourselves for what we're paying at "Mom and Pop", restaurants. Keep in mind there are ony two of us (soon to be three). Since DH and I don't go to movies, dance, or do many of the things others do for "entertainment", eating out was one way to get out of the house.

Meals at home even if you don't prepare them from scratch are SO much cheaper, of course if you do prepare from scratch that's even more of a savings. First a word of caution, DH grew up in an Jewish- English household so after we married I learned how to please him with my cooking, which I had to change considerably. The items I now buy in my regular weekly shopping, are things as a single girl I NEVER ate. Duck, lamb, baguettes, seltzer, hummus, pitas, pate, veal and sparkling water just to name a few. If we were eating more of the "typical" American diet out grocery spending would be much less. DH also doesn't care for any kind of cheese, cream, cottage cheese, sour cream, cream soup, or egg recipies. Since hes the one earning the money I realized since we could afford it we will eat what he prefers. Here are a few of the recipies from scratch he enjoys.

Chicken Pie
serves 2-3
Make in deep pie plate

In a med. sauce pan boil 1 Chicken Breast add
1 diced carrott
1/4 c. chopped onion
1T. chopped garlic
2 diced potatoes.
2. Chicken bullion cubes
add enough water to cover
Cook until tender, then chop chicken into chunks.

Add to this any of your favorite spices, I add hot sauce, black pepper, sage, rosemary, parsley, and a touch more seasoning salt (the bullion has quiet a lot of salt). Then I thicken the broth with corn starch till its almost gravy texture.
For the top crust, you can either use a pie crust, Filo dough, or mix up a batch of Bisquick mix buiscuitts and drop by tablespoons on top. Cook at 375 till browned on top.


Veal Cuttlets

(don't be intimated)

4 Veal cuttlets (sliced thin)

Mix 2T. flour & 1/2 c. bread crums
add to mixture, powdered garlic, rosemary, saesoning salt, parsley, black pepper to taste.

1 beaten egg & 1 T. milk (whip together)

Get your pan with hot oil in it, heat to 375 or until oil sizzles without smoking.

Dip cuttlets in egg then in flour- bread crum mixture, pop in hot oil , about 2 min. a side, with veal if you over fry it it will turn tough.
I serve this on a bead of liguine noodles that has been tossed with butter and fresh garlic(sautaed), you can also add maranara sauce over top.