Chicken Enchiladas

Good morning...

Well my weekly ads finally arrived in the mail yesterday. There are lots of good deals, but I have made my list and am going to stick with it. I will be heading out on Friday to do my shopping, so keep an eye for that post.

Last night I made chicken enchiladas, yummy.

Here is what you will need to make your enchiladas:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 14 corn tortillas (more or less depending on how fat you like your enchiladas)
• Cheddar or Monterrey Jack Cheese
• Enchilada Sauce from can or from scratch

Enchilada Sauce Recipe

4 T Oil

4 T Flour

2-4 T Chili Powder

1/2 T Salt

1/4 T Cumin

4 cups chicken stock (I use the stock from the chicken that I boil)

Heat oil in pan while you are mixing your dry ingredients, stir in. Add chicken stock. Your sauce will be a dark brown color, so I like to add 1/2 a 8 oz can of tomato sauce to lighten up the color. Let it simmer until it thickens. 

I do not like burning my fingers while prepping this dinner. So, after my chicken had boiled I place it on the cutting board and let it cool while the oil for the tortillas is heating up. This is also when I start making my sauce. After I have softened the tortillas, I go back to the chicken and shred it. Next I grate the cheese and by this time the tortillas should be ready to handle. Assemble. Preheat your oven to 350 degree and cook for 20 minutes.

As you can see in the picture I dinner also included rice and beans.

Cost for this meal:

• Chicken - $5.00
• Tortillas - $0.51
• 2 cups rice - $0.60
• 2 cups beans - $0.38
• Tomato sauce - $0.50
• Cheese - ??? I do not measure how much cheese I use, so I will never be able to figure out a cost for this

Total: $6.99 to feed a family of 6

As always there were leftovers for my husband to take to lunch today.

Grocery List Planning - 6.3.2015

I didn't get any weekly ads in the mail yesterday, bummer. I am assuming that they will come in today, but luckily all the ads that I wanted to look at are available online.

After paying our monthly bills, money is going to be tight. To be completely honest we have $290 to last us until the 15th. So, this week I have planned to spend $90.

Here is my plan, again I will go to my 3 favorite stores: Grocery Outlet, Safeway, and Lucky.

Grocery Outlet: $11.96

• Bananas - $1.99
• 2 lbs red or green grapes - 2.99
• Cantaloupes - $0.99
• Watermelon - $3.99
• Tomatoes - 10/ $2

Safeway: $40.50 - $3 (Just 4 U coupon) = $37.50

• Top Ramen - $1.18
• 24 oz Log Cabin Syrup - $2.62
• Eggo Waffles - $3.86
• 10 ct Capri Sun - $1.88
• Coke - $6.99
• Starbucks Coffee - $6.99
• Yo plait Yogurt - 10/$4 - $0.50 (digital coupon) = $3.50
• Frosted Flakes - $1.99
• Special K Red Berries $1.99
• Fresh Express Salad - 4/$5 (Friday deal)
• Lucky Charms - 3/$5 (Friday deal) - $0.50 (digital coupon) = $4.50

Lucky: $40.54

• Milk - $3.99 x 2 = 7.98
• Cheese = $5
• Meats = $27.56

I am unsure as to what kinds of meat I would like to purchase. I have chicken breast and thinly sliced steak in my freezer. So I will probably get some ground beef. Also, I like to purchase any pre-marinated chicken or steak that is available, it makes for easy to prep and cook dinner.

Good luck with your shopping trip this week.

Wow, I cannot believe it has been almost a week since I last posted about my grocery shopping adventures. Last week was super busy in our household, end of the projects to complete. Whew... all done.

I didn't make it to the grocery stores until Saturday morning, and brought along my oldest son to help me out. We went to all the stores that I had planned on, Grocery Outlet, Smart & Final, Safeway and Lucky.

As you might remember my weekly grocery budget is $120 to feed six people, I was able to purchase everything on list for $105. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of my score this week. When I got home from shopping, my kids went to work and put everything away before I could snap a picture.

Today your weekly ads should come in the mail. Keep an eye for them and use them to plan your shopping trip, it is best way to save money without clipping coupons.

Pulled BBQ Pork Sandwich

I have had some pork boneless ribs sitting in the freezer and had been wondering what to do with them. The first thing that came to mind was to throw them in the slow cooker add BBQ sauce and serve pasta salad, corn and bread.

My husband is not the biggest fan of pork, so when I told him what I was making for dinner he was not thrilled and didn't want ribs. So, it was leftovers for dinner. We headed out to Coyote Point park and ended up bringing home take-out.

On Monday, I was trying to figure out what to feed everyone for lunch, since all were home due to the holiday. Since ribs was shut down the other day, I came up with plan B. I shredded the pork, added BBQ sauce and made french fries. SUCCESS

Boneless ribs: $5
French Fries: $3.50
Coleslaw: Under $0.50 (not sure of cost, cabbage was $0.99 and bag of carrots $0.99)
Hamburger Buns: FREE (Lucky Supermarket promotion)

Total: $9 for 5 people

Grocery List Planning - 5.27.2015

It is that time again. Time to plan my grocery trip. This week I will be going to Smart & Final, along with Grocery Outlet, Safeway and Lucky.

Some of you might be thinking that you do not have time to sit down and look at the weekly ad and plan. Well, I timed myself this morning and it took me 30 minutes to review the ads and write out my plan of attack.

Here is my list:

Grocery Outlet -- $20

• Apples
• Bananas
• Watermelon
• Cantaloupe
• Tomatoes

Smart & Final -- $13.46 

I normally do not go here, but they are having the best deal on creamer. Since I also need tortillas, I decided to get them here instead of going to Costco.

• Coffee-mate: $1.99 x 2 = $3.98
• Doritos: $1.99 x 2 = $3.98
• 70 ct Corn Tortillas = $2.50
• Flour Tortillas = 2/ $3

Safeway -- $22.83

• Top Ramen: 6/ $1
• Safeway Whole Wheat Bread: $1.99
• Italian Sausage: $3.99
• Gold Fish x 2: $3.09 (BOGO)
• Pop Tarts: 2/ $5
• Safeway Peanut Butter: $1.79
• Frosted Flakes: $1.99
• Apple Jacks: $1.99
• Froot Loops: $1.99

After logging into my Safeway Just 4 U account, I found a $3 off coupon for spending $20 or more. So, my total here will be $19.83

Lucky -- $31.94

• 18 ct Sunnyside Eggs - $2.99
• Sunny Apple Juice: 3/ $5
• Eggos: 2/ $5
• Welch's Juice: 2/ $5
• Milk: $3.98 x 2 = $7.96
• Coke: $5.99

I will roughly spend $85.23 and have a remaining $31.77 of my $120 budget to spend on meats. Lucky has a new rewards program and for every dollar you spend you rack up points. I like to build my points so that I can get a $5 or $10 coupon to use towards a future purchase.

I need to purchase steak, beef stew, bacon. 

In reviewing my list, I realized that I did not budget for cheese, so I will need to set aside $5 dollars for this.

Steak Ranchero Dinner

For dinner last night I made a family favorite, steak ranchero or is bistec a la mexicana (does anyone know the difference?), with rice, beans and flour tortillas.


Steak Ranchero Recipe:

• 2 packages of thinly sliced steak
• 1 small yellow onion
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
• 2-3 jalapenos (less or more depending on how spicy you like you food)
• 8 oz can of tomato sauce
• 8 oz can of El Pato sauce (optional)
• 32 oz beef broth

Heat up pan with with a couple tablespoons of oil. While pan is heating up chop onion, peppers (I placed some of these aside to add to my rice), and jalapenos, place in pan and sprinkle with salt. Saute veggies while you are cutting your steak into strips. After veggies have cooked, translucent, remove from pan and cook steak (this is when I start my rice). Replace veggies in pan add tomato sauce, el pato sauce and beef broth. Cook on low until your rice and beans are ready.

Rice Recipe:

• 2 cups of rice
• 4 cups of water & 1 T of chicken bullion (or use 4 cups of chicken broth)
• onion and bell pepper (optional)
• 8 oz tomato sauce
• 2-3 sprigs clinatro

Heat pan with a couple of tablespoons of oil. Once it is hot add some of the onion and peppers, to taste, saute for a couple of minutes. Add rice, sprinkle with salt and let the rice brown. Once bottom layer of rice is golden brown add water, chicken bullion and tomato sauce. Stir and bring to a boil, add clinatro and cover. 

Pinto beans:

• 2 cups of beans
• 8 cups of water
• 1 T salt

This is really easy, put beans into a pot, add water and salt. Cook on Medium/ Low for 2.5 to 3 hours. FYI, it is really important to soak your beans for at least an hour before cooking, to prevent gas.

Cost for the meal:

• 2 packages of thin steak: $8.67 (this was a BOGO deal at Lucky)
• 1 red bell pepper: $0.50
• 1 green bell pepper: $0.50
• 3 jalapenos: $0.45
• Beef broth: $2.99
• 2 cans tomato sauce: $1.00
• El Pato sacue: $0.49
• 10 ct Flour Tortillas: $1.99
• 2 cups beans: $0.38
• 2 cups rice: $0.60

TOTAL: $17.57 for a family of 6 

Again, we had leftovers that my husband will take for lunch.

Weekly Shopping Trip - 5.21.2015

I ended up doing my grocery shopping yesterday, because there was rain in the forecast for today. And tonight at church we are playing Bible baseball, so in between taking care of my household duties I will be studying.

 I had some helpers with me.

Shopping with kids can be difficult, not only did I have my two youngest, but I also had my friend's 3 month old. You have to get them in and out of car and then there is the possibility of having to deal with them wanting things that are not on your list. But, I came prepared... the iPad kept them busy and only ended up buying an extra little bag of chips that they shared. 

My first stop was to Grocery Outlet. I would have liked to take more pictures of the great finds, but I had to much going on. Watermelon is currently $3.99 and if you can see in the picture is says "Elsewhere $5.99" and at Safeway that is exactly what they were selling it for. The provolone and cheddar cheese, $1.99 per package of sliced cheese, and Heinz ketchup, $0.99,  was cheaper than what I would have spent at Safeway. I also, found a great deal on Farmer John Bacon, $3.99 compared to $6.99, and bought the kids a treat some cheez-its, $1.49 compared to over $3. Total spent was $28.57

This is what I bought:

Green Bell Pepper: 2/$1
Red Bell Pepper: 2/$1
Bag of Jalapenos: $1.69
Deli Cheddar Cheese: $1.99
Deli Provolone Cheese: $1.99
Farmer John Thick Bacon: $3.99
Bag of Carrots: $0.99
Cheez-Its: $1.49
Bananas: $1.99
Cilantro: $.50
Heinz Ketchup: $0.99
2lb bag Avocado: $1.99
10lb bag Potatoes: $1.99
Cantaloupe: $1.99
Watermelon: $3.99
Small bag of Doritos: $.99 (kids shared this to snack on)

At Safeway, I had originally planned to spend around $35, I went over the planned budget. This is due to not rechecking my card promotions. A few of the items that I thought I was going to save on, the promotion deal had ended on Wednesday, bummer. So, a new rule that I am setting for myself is to check the promotions loaded on my card before I head out to the store. If, I had I would have found a $3 off coupon for spending $20 or more. Total spent was $39.09

This is what I bought:

Chicken broth: $2.99
Beef Broth: $2.99
2 cans tomato sauce: 2/$1
Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits: $2.50
Coca Cola: $6.99
El Pato Sauce: 3/$1.47
Mission Soft Tortillas: $1.99
French Fries: $3.50
Stouffer Frozen Pizza: 2/$6.67
Fat Free Milk: 2/$5.98
Milky Way (for me they are my favorite): $1.29

At Lucky's I had planned to spend around $45.78, but spent $56.40. If you remember from my post on Tuesday, I mentioned that I would have an extra $13 to spend on ground beef. I choose to buy the ground beef here. In addition to getting the hamburger buns for free, promotion on my rewards card, I also got a free gallon of Almond milk with the purchase of 2 Kellogg's products. We don't drink almond milk, but have been wanting to give it a try.

This is what I bought:

Lay's Chips: 2/$4.29
Ken's Ranch Dressing: $2.50
Froot Loops: 2/$5
Ragu: 2/$3
Hamburger Buns: FREE
Silk Almond Milk: FREE
Sunnyside Yogurt: 10/$5
Stouffer Lasagna: $12.99
Welch's Juice: 2/$5
Ground Beef: $11.12 (originally $13.12, package had a $2 off coupon)
Mt. Olive Pickles: $2.50

TOTAL : $124.06

You might be thinking what are some things you plan to make for dinner? Here are some ideas:

• Hamburgers with french fries
• Sweet and sour meatballs over rice
• Steak Ranchero
• Grilled chicken with zucchini, salad and biscuits
• Lasagna with green beans, Italian sausage and French bread (This is one item that I will need to go back for, since I only purchase the bread on the day that I plan to use it, otherwise it will get hard.)

Most of the dinners that I make, have left overs that my husband takes for lunch.