Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Ballin on a Budget!



Ballin: To live the good life. (Used in a coherent, non-Ebonics sentence) "I'm still ballin!" To ball on a budget means to live the good life within my means...not tying to keep up with the Joneses or anyone else.

With my kids home for the summer, I find myself trying to prepare inexpensive meals that stretch. Even more of a challenge, creating inexpensive HEALTHY meals. We all know, healthy foods put a dent in the ole' pocketbook, so please share any money saving tips and dishes in your "meals on a dime" repertoire.

Displayed for your viewing pleasure, meals with components that stretch to create leftovers:

Grilled drumsticks go a long way, minus the skin of course: drumstick, 1/2 c brown rice with gravy, and 1/2 c frozen green peas.

Our friend the grilled drumstick making another appearance. Also pictured, homemade coleslaw that stretched for 2 days (coleslaw recipe: Eating for Life cookbook by Bill Phillips). Lunch: drumstick, 1/2 c coleslaw, and 3/4 c strawberries.


A bag of chicken breast produces a variety of meals. Take a look at my chicken quesadilla: 2 Mission Low Carb Whole Wheat Tortillas, 4 oz chicken breast, 28 oz Kraft 2% Mexican Cheese and of course pico from HEB.


A repeat performance by none other than: grilled chicken. I call this dish pictured below "Jambalaya."


Jambalaya
  1. Boil brown rice in reduced sodium chicken broth.
  2. While cooking rice, saute shrimp in onions and olive oil.
  3. Add leftover chicken.
  4. Add a can of Rotel or spicy diced tomatoes to the shrimp and chicken mixture.
  5. After rice cooks, add to shrimp and chicken mixture.
  6. Mix. Voila, Jambalaya!
Using the last of the chicken breast, I concocted a salad. Of course I made my own dressing.


After peeling shrimp for Jambalaya, I bagged the remaining shrimp and cooked "Shrimp Scampi" the next day using the recipe from Bill Phillips' cookbook, Eating for Life.



If you decide to use my pics, please site http://mesohongry.blogspot.com/ as your source. Honesty is the best policy.

11 comments:

  1. This looks so fabulous! You are really inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks! I try, gawd knows I try. I hope these healthy meals will overshadow the bad ones that slip in, Like the fried ice cream we shared at Ichibon yesterday for my Mom's bday.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Funny Ive been thinking about making Jambalaya soon- I keep looking at a few recipes in different cookbooks that I have and then I see it AGAIN on your blog! I think I will have to add that to the SOON list for us! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. @ TJ...My mom calls it Jambalaya, but its not real true live Louisiana Jambalaya...it will do. You can tweak it and add sausage or other types of meat. I'm all about quick cook time and as few ingredients as possible.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Finding good and cheap meals for the family is so tough! Great ideas.
    Dropped by from SITS.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The strawberries and peas look delicious. Makes me want to go buy some.

    ReplyDelete
  7. They peas look better than they taste. I'm not a fan of peas.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ooooo everything looks so good!!!

    Happy Saturday Sharefest!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yumm. I'm hungry now! Lol I love the title of this post & thar you defined ballin'!
    Stopping by from SITS to say happy Saturday sharefest! :)

    ReplyDelete

First off all, THANKS for stopping by and for those of you following...THANKS for following AND indulging my MADNESS. Please feel free to holla back or provide your 2¢. I WILL respond to ALL comments via email. I USUALLY respond in the comment section, but I plan to start responding via email. AGAIN THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT!