Spinach Braid

If you couldn't tell by now, I'm not a huge fan of processed foods and pre-made meals. I love homemade food. It tastes SO much better than store bought and is healthier for you too (generally, haha). One food I don't like buying is Hot Pockets. Great idea; terrible execution. The flavor is so gross. I was so disappointed one time at work when I bought a ham, turkey, and cheese Hot Pocket. It was so gross. I just threw it away and bought something else.
So here's an amazing recipe that I will sweat by. It is so delicious, creamy, addictive, filling, and easy to do. I was going to share some of what I made with my husband, but that didn't happen! I couldn't put the spinach braid down, it was so good! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Spinach Braid

1 loaf's worth of dough (homemade or store bought pre-made dough)  $.95-$1.16
8 oz cream cheese  $1.69
3 cups spinach  $2.99
1/2 tsp. basil  
1/2 tsp. rosemary  $.01
2 eggs  $.23
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese  $.97
2 cups ham  $2.25
1 cup fresh mushrooms  $1.10
1/2 cup chopped onion  $1.12
1 clove garlic  $.06
2 Tbsp. butter  $.19
1/2 tsp. salt 
1/8 tsp. pepper

Roll out dough to a 12x18 square on greased or floured surface, cover in plastic wrap and let it rest for 10-15 minutes. In a bowl, mix softened cream cheese, chopped spinach, basil, rosemary, 1 egg, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, ham, and salt and pepper. In a pan, melt butter then sauté minced garlic, chopped onions, and chopped mushrooms. 

After the dough is done resting, spread the cream cheese and ham mixture on the dough in a 4 inch strip down the middle (leaving about 4 inches on both sides). Add sauteed mixture on top of the other filling. Cut 1 inch wide strips 3 inches in to the center. 

Then, take your strips of dough on the side and braid them on the top of the filling, to cover it. Once you're done braiding the dough, beat the last egg and brush it on the top of the dough. Sprinkle on the remaining Parmesan cheese. 

Here's a rough picture of what the braiding will look like, so that you get an idea. 

Bake at 350°F. for 35 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. Let it cool for 5 minutes. Serve warm. Enjoy!

Total Estimated Cost: $11.77
Servings: 4
Cost Per Serving:  $2.94

Vegetable Soup

It's fall time again. What does that entail? Yummy, hearty foods. Veggie soup is the perfect recipe as we're getting into fall. We still get our large portions of vegetables, like we did during the summer, but now are eating it as a hot, main course. I always loved my grandma Shoaf's recipe for vegetable soup. She used all fresh veggies from her garden in it. There would be a large soup pot on the stove, ready for anyone to enjoy. I love my grandma's cooking. But, I will confess, I will never cook as good as her. So here's a cheater recipe that I use to make a vegetable like my grandma's.

Vegetable Soup

1 medium onion  $.49
2 cloves of garlic  $.12
3 carrots  $.32
2 Tbsp. Italian seasoning  $.06
6 cubes chicken bouillon  $.12
1 can corn  $.69
1 can peas  $.22
1 can green beans  $.69
1 can diced tomatoes  $.59
4 cups water
1 chicken breast, cooked and diced  $1.00
1 cup egg noodles  $.16
1 tsp. salt

Dice onion, mince garlic, and peel and dice carrots into small pieces. In a large pot, saute onion, garlic, and carrots in a small amount of oil over medium heat. Cook until onions are transparent. Add Italian seasoning and chicken boullion and stir. Cook 2 minutes longer over medium low heat. Add water and undrained diced tomatoes. Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes, or until the carrots begin to soften. Drain and add other vegetables. Add chicken and noodles. Cook until noodles are soft. Depending on how chunky or soupy you want this recipe, you may want to add more water.

Ideas: Try adding bell peppers, ham chunks, beef chunks, or potatoes. (If you do potatoes, peel and cut them into small pieces. Saute them with the onion, garlic, and carrots to begin their cooking process, because they take a long time)

Total Estimated Cost: $4.46
Servings: 7
Cost Per Serving: $.64

Buttery Biscuits

Buttery Biscuits
2 cups flour  $.16
1 Tbsp. baking powder  $.06
2 tsp. sugar  
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar  $.01
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter  $.75
2/3 cup milk  $.13

Stir together flour, baking powder, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt. Cut in butter. Make a well in the center, and add milk all at once. Stir just until dough clings together. Knead gently for 10-12 strokes on a lightly floured surface. Roll or pat out to 1/2" thickness. Cut with a 2 1/2" biscuit cutter (or cup), dipping cutter in flour between cuts. Transfer biscuits onto a baking sheet. Bake at 450° for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.

Total Estimated Cost: $1.11
Servings: 8
Estimated Cost Per Serving: $.14

Homemade Flour Tortillas

I had no idea how good homemade tortillas were, until I made them the other day. The ones you buy at the store are okay, but homemade ones are heartier, thicker, and full of flavor. Plus, they're fresh! This is a super easy and fast recipe to make tortillas. Plus, they're not just for breakfast burritos, but you can eat them with bean burritos, tacos, fajitas, quesadillas, etc.  From now on, I'm going to save money and just make a large batch of tortillas (to save for the week) on Sundays when I make my homemade bread.

Flour Tortillas
2 cups flour  $.16 
1 tsp. baking powder  $.17
1/2 tsp. salt
5 Tbsp. shortening or butter  $.57- $2.00 (depending on ingredient used)
3/4 cups hot water

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Soften butter, add to bowl, and cut the butter until the butter is in pea size pieces. Add hot water to mixture and stir with a wood spoon until dough begins to form. Knead for 5-10 minutes on floured surface. Let dough sit for 10 minutes.
 Preheat frying pan to medium, add a small amount of oil (1 Tbsp. or so, so that it doesn't stick). Cut dough into 8 pieces, roll out into a thin circle. Place tortillas, one at a time, into the hot pan and cook each side about 30 seconds, or until it is bubbly with light brown spots. Remove from pan, and enjoy!

Estimated Total Cost: $.90- $2.33
Servings: 8 tortillas
Cost Per Serving: $.11- $.29



This dinner took about 25 minutes to make, from start to finish. But seriously, they were some of the best breakfast burritos I have ever had. You have to try these recipes!

Wheat Bread

Can you just smell it now? The best thing ever is smell bread baking in the oven. Then, eating the warm, soft bread with butter, jam, or honey. My mom has always been good at making bread. There's nothing like homemade bread to eat with stew, soup, or chili. This recipe is my mothers, but tweaked a tiny bit, to what I call perfection.
Being a newlywed and a college student means that you don't have much money. So, with a tight budget, every other Sunday I make loaves of wheat bread to last us for 2 weeks. Homemade bread is SO much cheaper than spending $3 or $4 on just one loaf. Plus, it is healthier and tastes a million times better! It's worth spending the time to make homemade bread. So go ahead and try this recipe!

Wheat Bread
1 cup warm water
2 Tbsp. yeast  $.30
1 cup warm milk   $.19
1/4 cup sugar   $.02
1/2 cup oil  $.24
1 Tbsp. salt   $.03
4 cups wheat flour   $.96
2+ cups white flour  $.16

This recipe makes two loaves.
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Let sit 5 minutes (this lets you see if the yeast is active and alive. It's not fun when you kill the yeast and waste lots of ingredients before realizing it. The yeast should start to dissolve and bubble). Heat milk, add to water and yeast. Add sugar. Let it sit 2 minutes longer to double check the yeast (I'm all about making sure the yeast is good). Add oil and salt. Stir ingredients. Add wheat flour and mix well. Add 2 cups white flour and mix well until it makes a soft dough. Knead until the dough is soft (not sticky) and elastic (you should be able to push on the dough, not have any come off on your fingers and have the dough bounce back). If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, just have it knead it for anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. The more you knead, the softer and more tender your bread will be. Let dough rise until it doubles (about 45 min). Form 2 loaves, grease loaf pans, place in pans, and let it rise until it's 1" above the loaf pan.

Bake at 350⁰F for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the crust is brown and makes a "hollow" sound when thumped. Cool out of pans on rack.

Ideas: If you don't have 2 loaf pans, just grease a cookie sheet and make the loaves on there and let it rise about 30 minutes. This bread makes really good french toast, sandwiches, or is just good to eat alone.
Total Estimated Cost: $1.90
Servings: 2 loaves
Cost Per Serving:  $.95

Can you  imagine?! Less than $2 for two loaves of bread?! And it's SO good! You can't get bread that good anywhere for that cheap! You can only get the nasty white bread that feels like eating air for about $1. Trust me, save yourselves some money and give yourself something good. You can't go wrong with homemade bread.

Fresh Salsa

I love summertime! Why? Because there are so many fresh fruits and vegetables in season, and for cheap! I loved growing up and having our own garden. We would make fresh salsa at least once a week, if not more. It's So good, So fresh, and you don't feel guilty about eating a lot of it. And trust me, once you start, you can't stop!

So go ahead, test out what will be your new addiction!

Fresh Salsa

6-8 Roma Tomatoes, diced  $1.70

1 medium onion, chopped  $.50

2 jalapeño peppers, diced  $.18

1 green bell pepper  $.79

cilantro  $.99 for a bushel

salt

pepper

lime juice   $.10

Rinse all the produce. Combine chopped tomatioes, onions, and peppers in a medium sized bowl. Add cilantro to your taste (I add about a quarter size bunch, but only chop up the leaves. I'm not a fan of the stem). Add salt, pepper, and lime juice to your taste.

Ideas: You can use your produce bag to cover your hands when cutting the jalapeño peppers. This way, if you don't have any gloves, you still avoid pepper burn. Also, the more seeds you leave in the pepper, the spicier the salsa will be. If you don't like spicy salsa, try Anaheim peppers. It gives it a mild kick, but is also sweet at the same time. Try adding corn, chopped mango, black beans, or avocado to this recipe

Total estimated cost: $4.25
servings: I would say at least 6. But, Treyton and I pretend it's only 4. We LOVE to pile on the salsa on top of the enchiladas. After all was said and done, we still have a small container of salsa left.
Cost per serving: $.71



Trust me, these recipes are perfect for summer time, are super easy to make, and beyond delicious! Plus, for less than $4.00, you get 5 enchiladas and a huge pile of fresh salsa! Try getting that much food at a restaurant for that cheap and that tastes that good!

Apple Crisp

Apple Crisp = fall time!! I love the fall. Autumn is my favorite time of year. Cool air, colorful leaves, fresh apples, cinnamon and spice, hay bails, fall decor, and FOOD! Apple crisp is perfect for your fall time sugar craving. You get the sweetness from the soft apples with a slight crunch from the oatmeal crisp topping.
Plus, Treyton (my husband) loves fruit! If he ever craves anything sweet, it always has something to do with fruit. And even more so, a crisp or cobbler. So, I surprised him a little bit ago with his favorite dinner and apple crisp. Couldn't have had a happier husband. So, married ladies, if you want to make your man happy (or make his day), bake him this sweet treat.

Apple Crisp

1 can apple pie filling  $.2.49

Crisp topping:

1 1/2 cups oats  $.30
1 cup flour  $.08
2/3 cups brown sugar  $.17
1 tsp. cinnamon  $.01
3/4 cup butter, softened  $1,08

Spread apple filling in greased 9x9 baking dish. Mix remaining ingredients and sprinkle over filling. Bake at 375°F for 35 minutes.

Total Estimated Cost: $4.13
Servings: 6
Cost Per Serving: $.69