Friday, January 30, 2009

encouragement

I just realized that I'm doing great this week! In terms of saving money, I think I could be doing better. I spent $175 on groceries and supplies this week....which is technically over budget, but I won't have to be cereal, snacks, shampoo, toothpaste or toothbrushes for such a long time. I think it was money well spent. I also have not eaten out once this week. The kids and I have stayed home everyday and I eat sandwiches or leftovers....whatever is handy. We've also done a pretty good job with eating our leftovers. We have some chicken leftover from Wednesday, but I'm going to take it off the bone, cube it, and freeze it. It will be great for Chicken Tetrazzini. I am really proud of myself.

Speaking of Chicken Tetrazzini, it's one of our favorites. It's not too costly, although I've never figured out how much it exactly costs. I should sit down and do that. But using leftover chicken like I will, really cuts the cost of this meal. Plus, you can easily get 2 meals out of this.

Chicken Tetrazzini

4-5 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (or 2C leftover chicken, cooked, cubed)
16 oz light sour cream
16 oz chicken broth
1C Mozzarella cheese
1/4 C Parmesan cheese (optional)
1 stick butter
1/4 C Flour
salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder (to taste -- I use quite a bit)
12 oz linguine noodles

Topping:
melted butter
italian bread crumbs


Boil chicken, cook, cube. Cook linguine noodles, set aside. Combine sour cream and chicken broth, stir and set asid. In a medium size sauce pan, melt butter. Add flour, salt, pepper, onion and garlic powders and wisk constantly for 1 minute. Add sour cream and chicken broth to flour/butter mixture. Continue wisking constantly until thickened (keep heat pretty high, otherwise it will take a long time to thicken). Stir in mozzarella and parmesan cheese, add cubed chicken and cooked linguine noodles. Stir and pour into a greased 9 X 13 baking dish. Top with the moistened bread crumbs. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until it starts to bubble.

Note: If you make this ahead of time and store it in the fridge first, cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes then bake uncovered for 15 more minutes.

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