Fiesta Chicken Chili: a Blueprint Recipe

I always loved Michele Urvater's "blueprint recipe" concept, in which the basic idea of a recipe is laid out, with variations and suggestions for making it your own. Her Monday to Friday Cookbook inspired me to cook in a more adventurous manner and I eventually gained confidence in creating recipes of my own.

I "invented" this chili as a way to use up some leftover chicken taco meat from a school event. I had about 10 cups of leftover chicken, and I turned it into 10 quarts of chicken chili. I've scaled the recipe down so that it can be made with as little as 2 cups of chicken. It's easy to increase it from there.

Fiesta Chicken Chili

2 cups Fiesta Taco Chicken
1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can (14 ounces) small red beans, drained and rinsed--or any kind of beans you like
1 cup chicken broth
3/4 cups water
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 chipotle in adobo, chopped OR 1 tsp chipotle chili seasoning
1 clove garlic, minced

Combine all ingredients in saucepan and simmer, covered, a few hours to allow flavors to mingle. Stir occasionally. I cooked mine in a Nesco roaster at 200 for 5 hours. Cook time is flexible on this recipe, as the chicken is already cooked.

Secret Recipe Club: Taco Pizza

It's the March Madness Edition of the Secret Recipe Club!  In this group, each member is secretly assigned the recipe blog of another member.  The recipe is then prepared and taste-tested, photographed for cyber-posterity and posted.  It's fun to try new recipes, and I'm lucky to have a family that's generally good-natured about such experiments.

Of course, if I left the choosing to the kids, they'd pick cookies every time.  While cookies are fun, I like finding new main-dish recipes too.  So even though my assigned blog for March is really heavy on cookies, I focused on the non-dessert offerings at Sweetie Pettiti.  But that doesn't mean I didn't find a "fun" recipe!

Susie worked hard to duplicate her childhood favorite, Happy Joe's Taco Pizza.  She had to find a recipe that lived up to her high nostalgic expectations.  I had no such expectations, since I never ate at Happy Joe's.  The idea of Taco Pizza was appealing, though--and I figured my family would love it.  And salad on a pizza sounded fun, different, and even (imagine that) good for you!

Changes I made:

Instead of one huge pizza, I made individual ones.  This allowed each family member to customize their Taco Pizza.  If your kids like to help in the kitchen, this is an ideal recipe.  Once the ingredients are all assembled, kids can spread their favorite toppings on their pizza, then the grownups can bake it until done.

I also added sauteed onions as a topping.  (YUM!)

I had no tomatoes in the house, so I skipped those.  This is not the time of year for tomatoes.  In the summer, though, I'd have to add them!

I made my own pizza dough based on the recipe at Once a Month Mom rather than using premade dough.

Finally, I made a meatless pizza for my daughter, at her request.

Survey Says:

This is a yummy dish!  It would be a fun meal to have while you're watching a little March Madness--just be sure to have plenty of napkins handy, because (as Susie pointed out in the original recipe) the toppings fall all over the place.  It was easy to customize to individual tastes.  My daughter had a meatless pizza.  My husband ate his salad separately and spread sour cream on top.  It's also frugal:  I used up some pizza sauce and refried beans that were already in the refrigerator, so it's a good way to reinvent some leftovers.  I found that it was easier to "fold" this pizza like a huge taco and eat it that way rather than slicing and lifting little pieces of it.

Here's how to make this at home:

Taco Pizza

Makes 8 individual pizzas

1 batch pizza dough, divided in 8 portions, rolled and par-baked for 5 minutes at 425

1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained

1/2 onion, finely chopped and cooked until onions are soft

2 TBL taco seasoning

1/4 cup water

1 can refried beans

1/4 cup taco sauce

1/4 cup pizza sauce

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 1/2 cups cheddar-jack cheese, shredded

Lettuce, shredded

Tortilla chips, broken into small pieces 

Additional taco sauce, optional

Sour cream, optional

Season cooked ground beef with taco seasoning.  Add water and simmer until water cooks off.  Meanwhile, mix refried beans, taco sauce and pizza sauce.  (I found that heating the beans in the microwave for about a minute made them easier to mix up with the other ingredients).  Spread bean mixture on your par-baked pizza crusts.  

Top with mozzarella cheese, then with seasoned taco meat.

Add onions, then cheddar-jack.  Bake at 450 for 8 to 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown on the edges.

Allow pizza to sit a few minutes before you try to slice or eat it.  Then top with salad and chips.

Grab a napkin or three, and dig in!

Don't miss the other recipes in today's Secret Recipe Club big reveal.  I always find a whole bunch that I want to taste-test!

Ranch Salad Dressing Mix

My Southwestern Chili Mac recipe calls for a teaspoon of ranch salad dressing mix. That's not the kind of thing I keep in the house, but I didn't have to run to the store to make that dinner! It's really easy to make this mix and keep it at home.

In an 8-ounce or larger jar (I used an old bottle from parsley flakes), combine:

1/2 cup dry buttermilk powder
1 TBL dried parsley flakes
1 tsp dill weed
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried chopped onion
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp pepper

Put the lid on and shake well to mix. Store in the refrigerator.

1 tablespoon = 1 packet of mix.

I love to keep seasoning mixes around, and this way I can control the seasonings. I used extra garlic powder and pepper since that's the way we like it. It's much more frugal to mix up a seasoning blend than to keep buying a new one, especially when I have many spices around to play with!

Recipe source

Frugal Hydration at College or Anywhere

Big Brother went back to college yesterday. Last week, when he was making his grocery list, he observed that even though there's a supermarket down the block from school, everything is twice the price that it is at home. I do what I can to keep him in Dr. Pepper and a few other things that are impossibly priced in his school's Philadelphia neighborhood. (He took 4 cases of soda to school with him yesterday).

He's also a water drinker, and last year he'd hike the block to buy a case of water bottles and then lug that back to his dorm. This time, he mentioned that he'd do that when he got to school. Then he had another idea. "Maybe I'll just get a Brita pitcher and use that. I've got a sink in my room."

A water pitcher plus one extra filter will be enough to get him through the semester, and it weighs a whole lot less--and takes up much less space--than a case of water bottles that lasts 3 weeks at most.  He's got a reusable bottle if he wants to carry water to class; otherwise, there are plenty of cups and mugs in his box of stuff.

Waste Not, Want Not: Citrus

Tell me I'm not the only one who buys a bunch of lemons or limes because they are sold in a bag or sold "8 for a low, low price," uses four of them and then lets the rest molder in the fruit drawer of the fridge.

Today I rummaged around in the fruit drawer and found 4 lemons and 4 limes hanging around in there.  The limes were starting to turn yellow, and I knew that brown and icky were just days away, so I decided to head them off at the pass.

I squeezed the limes and then poured the juice into ice-cube trays.  Into the freezer they went, and then I did the same with the lemons.

The juice of one lime made 3 ice cubes; one lemon made 2.  That may be due to differences in the size of my ancient ice-cube trays (I have about 8 of them in random sizes).

When they're completely frozen I'll transfer them to labeled freezer bags.

This would also work with orange juice.

Extra-Frugal Couponing

Here's my tip for extra-frugal couponing:

Save those single-sided notices & newsletters that your kids bring home from school (provided they're not too crumpled to work in your printer.) Load them into your printer so the printing will be on the back side of the paper. Use this paper to print those Internet Printable coupons!

Pushing It?

This afternoon I stopped at Dunkin' Donuts for the 50-cent iced coffee they were offering today (one per customer, please.)

While I was waiting for my coffee and the "new" Cinnamon Twist pastry I couldn't resist (it was REALLY GOOD too) a young man came in and asked the other server for two fifty-cent iced coffees. He was kind of bouncing up and down while he asked, which I thought was a little odd.

The server informed him politely that the offer was one per customer, and then it got a little nasty. The young man rudely told the server that he had been in several other Dunkin' Donuts today and ordered two coffees in each place with no problem. Then he said, "Fine. I'll just get one, go outside, come back in and get the other one."

I think the guy needs to switch to decaf. Clearly he has had at least 4 iced coffees already today if he's been in more than one other store today. He was bouncing up and down and getting a little aggressive.

And I think it's kind of unfair of him to expect more than one of the deal. If my daughter had wanted a coffee too, I'd have made her come into the store and get her own. But maybe that's just me. So what do you think? Is it rude to ask for more than one of a "one per customer" deal when there's only one customer? I think there's frugal, and then there's crossing a line.

Mashed Potato Cakes

I cobbled together a few recipes, a little of this and a little of that, and ended up with something pretty good!!

MASHED POTATO CAKES

3 cups leftover mashed potatoes
1 egg
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded (I used a Cheddar-Jack mix)
salt and pepper to taste (about a teaspoon of each)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
oil for the griddle

I used a 2-burner griddle to make this go faster. This recipe made about 15 potato cakes.

Mix potatoes, egg, cheese and seasonings (not bread crumbs) in a large bowl. Form into patties and dredge in the bread crumbs. They don't have to be completely coated. Fry on a heated, oiled griddle until brown on both sides. Keep warm in the oven until all the cakes are done.

Note:  these are even better when you use a good sharp Cheddar. They're not the prettiest side dish in the world, but they're very tasty.

Frugal Grocery Shopping

I had to laugh when I read this article just now: Does Your Frugality Drive Everyone Nuts?

An hour ago, I finished up my grocery shopping at my favorite local supermarket. I had a pretty full cart, and wound up with 10 canvas grocery bags full of food. I got 50 cents back for using 10 reusable bags, by the way! Those bags I bought last January have more than paid for themselves.

Anyway, I had a big stack of coupons with my order, plus my "free" turkey (you get a free turkey each November if you spend over $300 during a certain time period. They calculate this BEFORE coupons--works for me!)

The two men behind me in line rolled their eyes when they saw the coupons sitting there waiting to be redeemed. And because I had a new-to-the-job checker, it took a little longer than usual.

But hey, guys behind me in line--I saved $71.98 in coupons and store savings--I only had to pay $131.46 for $202 worth of food. Not bad for a few minutes of coupon clipping and careful list-making.

Sorry if my frugal ways cost you an extra few minutes this morning. Next time, pick another line.

My husband thinks that ShopRite is going to stop letting me in if I continue to shop like this. But we're enjoying it while it lasts.

Fascinating Spice Information!

This post on how long spices really last and how to find spices less expensively is well worth the read. There is also a link to making your own spice mixes.

I've got 4 little "baskets" full of jars of spices in my kitchen cabinets right now. The only "blend" I buy is lemon pepper. It's easy enough to blend my own for other seasoning mixes--and I just save my old spice jars to hold them. An old oregano or basil jar is great for Italian seasoning. When a cinnamon jar is almost empty, I fill it halfway with sugar and have one of the kids shake it up. Instant cinnamon-sugar for topping waffles or muffins!

Spices are pricey, so any little way I can save on them sounds good to me (here's one that wasn't mentioned: buy it in bulk and share with a neighbor!)

Frugal Fried Rice by the Coupon Queen (AKA SFO Mom)

Or, how to feed one mom, one teenage boy and one "tween" girl on about $1.75!

Here's the shopping list. I bought on sale and used coupons.
1 Perdue Perfect Portion boneless/skinless chicken breast (6 for 4.99, $1 off coupon, so 67 cents for one piece of chicken)
1 bag Birds Eye Steam Fresh Asian vegetables (99 cents a bag, save $1 off 2 coupon, so 49 cents for a bag)
2 cups cooked jasmine rice (1/4 lb raw rice=1 cup raw=2 cups cooked; this rice is 20 pounds for about $10 at the warehouse store so 12 cents for rice)
1 small onion, chopped fine (3 pounds for $2 and this onion was probably 1/4 lb at most, about 15 cents for the onion)
1 tablespoon minced garlic from a jar (I get maybe 100 tablespoons out of a jar, and a jar cost me $5, so 5 cents for garlic)
Some soy sauce and a splash of sesame oil (no prices on these but the amount is small)
Olive oil for the pan
I allowed a very generous 30 cents for the 2 kinds of oil and the soy sauce.

67 + 50 + 12 + 15 + 5 = $1.45

Saute onion in the olive oil. Add garlic & saute. Add cubed chicken and cook until browned. Add thawed vegetables and cooked rice. Stir until everything is hot. Stir in a little soy sauce and drizzle a bit of sesame oil over top.