....not quite dollar menu......

....but it's quarter to ten and I just poured my fourth cocktail and here we are...I do not want to say bored....because that is the wrong to say right in the middle of such a busy summer.....I am completely enthralled with the AcDec curriculum this year....I know that it is going to be close when it comes to finalizing the team to compete....but no need to worry about for it is not about the destination, but the journey that drives me....

....oh right, on to the food.....green pepppers, they happen to be on sale for I think 1.28 a pound, the days of red peppers for $1.28 is over my friend....I guess this means we have hit the 1/2 point of summer....which also means the return of the persimmon....quite simply the best fruit in the world....ok, back to the peppers....I boiled 1 cup of orzo with 2 cups of water, and let simmer until water was gone, then I added some skim milk and a few small cubes of Italian fontina cheese....it is simply sublime.....meanwhile broccoli (in teeny tiny pieces) was "steamed" in the microwave for 1 minute, and 1 purple onion (minced) and some brown mushrooms are sauteed with extra virgin olive oil, garlic powder, seasoned salt, and red pepper flakes....


....then the onion/mushroom, broccoli and cheesy orzo are all mixed together and place in a green pepper, then topped with some shredded cheese.....patiently waiting....

~enjoy!

...Veggie Lasagna.....doubled?!?

...well here we are I am waiting for the significant other to come home and 2 lasagnas....yes TWO are sitting in my freezer.....I am still somewhat amazed how I managed to "rearrange" everything and get it all in there....in my dreams I own a home with a deep freeze so things like this and "stocking-up" on stuff is a little more realistic....

....so I started to saute the onions and brown mushrooms and on a whim decided that the yellow squash should be in included in this layer of the lasagna....while boiling all of the noodles (only 3 at a time) I mixed together 3 leaves of dried basil and added it to the fat free ricotta.....you may remember earlier this summer when I could not contain my enthusiasm for how CHEAP and GOOD the farmers market basil is.....

....I finally found a great way to "handle" the eggplant....thank you parchment paper....I lined the baking sheet with it, then sprayed it with pam and sprinkled some Italian seasoning on it....laid out the sliced eggplant, then proceeded to do the same to get some great searing on it...so more pam and Italian seasoning it was.....under the broiler for just over 10 minutes did the trick....yeah, no more adding tons and tons of olive oil to take care of the eggplant in the frying pan......although tasty, I concur that deep-frying not only is a mess but that it is not quite the healthiest route.....


1.) Spray pans with pam.
2.) Line with whole wheat noodles
3.) Spread on thin layer of voodka sauce (I am partial to Safeway brand!)
4.) Layer with mushroom, onion, squash blend (1/2 per pan)
5.) More noodles!
6.) Now comes the eggplant...
7.) Crumble on herbed ricotta cheese (1/2 per pan)
8.) More noodles!
9.) thin layer of sauce and top with shredded mozarella


Now I remember that you need to bake it in the oven covered for most of the time and then the last few minutes uncovered to get the top of the cheese golden brown....will add more when cooking for company.....


....I guess in retrospect that 2 pans of lasagna makes great sense as one could serve one for dinner the day of preparation and then save one in the freezer for a day when all you want to do is talk....then eat.....but seeing as though I am not that kind of gurl, I decided to simultaneously make green peppers stuffed with a fontina orzo with mushrooms and broccoli....perhaps not dollar menu worthy...but hopefully delicious.....


.....2 pans of lasagna = 16 servings for just over $15.00......close I know.....but still room left over....maybe a piece of garlic toast or a simple salad might do the trick if you had to get it up to a dollar a serving.... ~enjoy!

Why Mike's homemeade pizza may never make it to the blog.....

....where do I begin.....if you have been reading, which let's face it I think I am the only one who has been......I was in possession of a pizza stone....from what I know, the absolutely best way to cook a pizza at home, unless of course you have a wood burning oven where you can just slide the pie in without putting it on anything, but let's face it....I rent....therefore, no special pizza oven for me....one day I shall upgrade to a convection oven....then I'll take on the pizza stone again....perhaps.....until that time, it's all airbake for me baby!

....the pizza was simple and starting to be dollar menu worthy....or as the BK'ers would say "value menu"......give me a break, who cares if your food is cheap, its crap! Oprah would agree, a few days ago her show was devoted to diabetes and how so many Americans are affected by this disease simply because of the food choices they make everyday....what is sad are those that have diabetes due to their genes....I could go on and on because of one special little guy I know...but wait this is Donna Reed's Dollar Menu....not Donna Reed's Rants and Raves....or is it.....

......homemade crust.....thank you Michael Joshua, Safeway brand 4 cheese spaghetti sauce.....didn't even use the entire jar.....hmmmm, pasta for Mike's lunch.....sauteed brown mushrooms and purple onions (some people like them raw on pizza, but I can't resist the opportunity to caramelize an onion).....meaty half had turkey pepperoni and veggie half had black olives....of course I also could not resist jalapenos....apparently I added too much....see picture above.....

....today's Oprah is going to the Texas state fair.....I wonder if diabetes will still be on her mind as she munches on something deep fried....maybe cookie dough or a twinkie......I have NEVER understood this....


....well, not too sure what might happen in the kitchen tonight for dinner....I do know that one of these days I will be making a veggie lasagna and I of course have been saving my receipts so that I can calculate its dollar menu worthyness.......I have only made it twice before....the first time was for in-laws that were coming to stay with us and well, my father-in-law is a vegetarian, so off in search of something simple was I.....it actually turned out pretty darn good....plus when you have company over and all you have to do to prepare dinner is pull something out of the freezer and pre-heat the oven, it's priceless....unless of course you are cooking something that you didn't make from scratch....for shame.....it happens every night in millions of homes.....the fine art of cooking is quickly being lost....even though my name is now Donna Reed....for quite some time I have been known as a 1950's housewife....and proud of it...lol....it's time to take our meals back to the table and away from the drive-thru.

Chili Con Cashews

....what a productive morning.....4 loads of laundry and 2 batches of chili.....maybe its the constant connections and too much Facebook, but I can easily see how this blog may be too much Donna Reed and not enough Dollar Menu....or maybe its reading Julie & Julia at the gym on the stairmaster that is causing all of this side-tracking....at any rate....here she blows...

Chili Con Cashews

2 cups cashews
1 onion
3 stalks celery
1 can corn
2 cans Bush's baked beans (vegetarian of course!)
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
2 cups H2O

Saute onions, celery, and corn with: season salt, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and chili powder. Add water, (it lifts all that great seasoning off the bottom of the pan....I am sure there is some sort of culinary term for it), beans, tomatoes, tomato paste and more seasonings to taste. Let simmer about an hour or so.

This recipe cashes in at a cool $11.00 total which equates to about 65 cents a serving....yeah baby, that means you still have room for sides, rice, toast, corn bread muffin, tortilla chips....or whatever it is you serve with chili....enjoy!

Chili Con Carne

....the Con Carne part means with meat.....and in order to satisfy a slim waist line I have chosen to use ground turkey instead of ground beef.....I have been substituting in the turkey in a variety of recipes for quite some time now....I wish I could take the credit for the clever idea.....a fellow co-worker tuned me into the idea when mentioning that his wife does it all the time....ahhh, the great people @ Cygnus.....sad sad story, for another time perhaps....

....in order to appease the gods...or at least the gods of I have company coming the day after I return from my own vacation, I have decided to get ready now! This means chili cooking oh so early in the morn.....I have also recently found out that one of my guests is a vegetarian.....of course, I was made aware of this after suggesting such ideas as: roast chicken, BBQ pork, shrimp sushi, and turkey burgers....hmmm...wonder how much I have disgusted her already....

....many, many, moons ago I went through a "I'm eating less meat" phase....needless to say it was short-lived....thank heaves for ribs bringing me back to sanity....although I do have to admit that I have found some superb recipes sans meat.....one of my favs is a chili with cashews.....yet another amazing idea from yet another amazing Cygnusian.......


Chili Con Carne......
1 pkg ground turkey
1 onion
3 stalks celery
1 can corn
2 cans Bush's baked beans
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
2 cups H2O

Brown turkey in separate pan, season with: seasoned salt, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and chili powder. Set aside. In a big pot (one with 2 handles) saute onion, celery, and corn. Add in beans, tomatoes, tomato paste, H2O, and turkey. Add more seasoning and let simmer for 1 hour or so.


This entire recipe is made for about $12.00 and even though it is still simmering on the stove now, I know that it makes more than 12 serving....thus, we have another Donna Reed's Dollar Menu item.....of course I would suggest serving it anyway you like: over rice, with toast, corn bread, or some tortilla chips and sour cream....or whatever you fancy...the point is to enjoy something healthy and tasty for under $1.00!

101 ways with chicken....

....OK, so the BBQ chicken pizza was somewhat of a bust.....our friendly neighbourhood chef decided to let me borrow his pizza stone....yeah, my mom has one and it works wonders.....if of course you know how to use it.....I have somewhat perfected the timing and temperature on the airbake.....clearly this does not work with the stone...one word....crunchy.....everything, even the gooey fresh mozzarella was toast.....but I digress....and plan to use remaining left over chicken breasts for chicken quesadillas for dinner tonight.....calculations shall ensure and I hope to have this one added to the dollar menu......

....on a side note, seeing as though I love talking about food so much I shall share last nights dinner.....for starters we had a something I call a simple salad....romaine, chopped tomatoes, and a few slices of onion....tossed gently in some garlic caesar dressing.....then we had spaghetti that was cooked in a brown mushroom chessie white sauce with BBQ shrimp....interesting combination indeed.....

10 days of vacation......

...of course, no one has missed me as this whole blog thing is somewhere in a nebular stage.....and I have no fans, but never fear for Donna Reed is here! After 10 days away I am back and ready to continue with the whole dollar menu thing.....I have to admit that I thought about it a lot as we were paying restaurant bill after restaurant bill on vacation....but then again, I didn't have to have all those margaritas!....or did I?.....The pesto is for sure going to have to be a do over, after learning just how potent freshly smashed garlic can be, I did end up adding more basil and got it to a phase that was pleasing to the palate....of course, this was the morning before we were leaving so not enough time for calculations and such....I did however manage to can the stuff....I believe that with one more round of pesto I will be set for a year....mmmmm pesto......it goes great with so many pastas, and of course in a chicken sandwich with a slice of beefsteak tomato....ramble, ramble, ramble, I go....tonight's challenge will be a homemade BBQ chicken pizza.....I cooked up 5 chicken breasts last night....bone-in of course, to lock in all those sweet juices.....keep your fingers crossed that BBQ chicken pizza will make Donna Reed's Dollar Menu.....