Mexican skillet meal under $9 (cheaper if you use leftovers!)

This meal is one of my Husbands favorites. He requests it all.the.time.

I threw this thing together one evening when I had failed to have something ready for supper. I had some left over rice and I had some turkey kielbasa that needed to be either used or frozen that day.

If you catch them on sale the butterball turkey sausages can be bought for $2.50 a pack. The key is to dice it to make it "look" like more in the skillet. I could probably get by with using only half if I diced but usually I slice and use the entire thing.


Here is what you need

about 2-3 cups of rice (measurement is for cooked rice) (perfect for leftover costing you nothing, even if you need to cook it its pennies on the dollar)
Can of black beans drained (or use dry beans, about a half a bag soaked overnight)
1 package of kielbasa (I use turkey kielbasa) Sliced or diced
2tbs butter
1/4 - 1/2 cup Chicken broth ( you can substitute water, or even bouillon water to be more cost effective, Chicken broth is something I always have on hand)
Onion (grated or diced)
1 Clove of Garlic minced
Mozzarella cheese (I always preach about buying block cheese and grating your own but this is one meal that when I am fixing on the fly I tend to grab a bag of shredded cheese, Trust me, it is so much better with the real McCoy but whatever is more cost effective for you)
Spices (this is all entirely up to you) I use salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and a tad of chili powder (and sometimes cumin).I also add a squirt or 3 of sirachi sauce (great stuff I should be their spokes person) but you can just use plain ol' Tabasco or do without the hot factor.

Now the good part, In a skillet add your butter, saute your onion and garlic (you can add other veggies too, whatever is on hand this dish is a throw together meal to fit any budget or taste bud) Add the sliced kielbasa, cook until starting to brown. Add your beans (we also like red kidney beans in this meal or even garbanzo beans would be great), add your rice, add a bit of your broth just so it doesn't dry out, add your spices, cover and simmer to heat everything through, watch it carefully though so that it doesn't get too dry and stir often. (if it starts to dry out add more broth/water) I salt mine at the end once the flavors have melded. top with cheese cover just long enough for it to melt and there you have it! Now the great part, EATING IT!

Other items that would work great in this dish are Corn, salsa or canned tomatoes, you could even use ground beef or chicken instead of kielbasa. This meal is usually enough to feed us plus my husband has enough for work for one or two days.

Dutch baby with fruit for under $4

This is a great Sunday morning food. It is super cheap and so so easy, I had forgotten about this little dish until I saw it on Food network the other day.

If you are familiar with popovers then this will look super similar.

The best thing about these are you can make them your own. Top them with whatever you want. Fruit and Powdered sugar are my favorite toppers.

We have a nice little strawberry patch out back and Strawberries make the perfect topper. Blueberries are another fave with a bit of lemon zest but sometimes blueberries can be expensive!

The rule to this little beauty is 1/4 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of milk for each egg.

So here is what I do.

First make sure your pan is cast Iron OR Oven safe!

3TBS butter (.25)
3 Eggs (room temp) (.30)
3/4 cup whole milk (room temp) (.25)
3/4 cup flour (.14)
Heaping (and I mean heaping, don't be shy now) TBS of sugar (negligible)
2 tsp of Vanilla I eye ball it (you will find I am famous for "eyeballing") (.25-.50 depending on your vanilla quality/cost)
a pinch of Kosher salt (I always use kosher or sea salt but a pinch of table salt is fine as well)(negligible)
Fruit of your choice (assuming it is out of season we will say 2.00 a pint for berries)
Lemon (.33)
Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Preheat your oven to 400°

Place your butter in your skillet on medium- med/low heat (or stick it in your preheating oven) to melt the butter in the pan. This will grease your pan and melt the butter to be placed in your dutch baby batter. Now you can do this by hand if you want to but if you want to do it the easy way, pull that blender out (or food processor) Add everything but the butter and blend on medium speed until uniform. (if mixing by hand combine your milk and eggs first then add your other ingredients making sure to mix out all the lumps) Now grab that butter, swirl it around in the pan to coat it all and then pour into your batter, whisk to combine. Pour mixture into the pan and place in oven. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until puffy in the middle and golden brown around the edges.

While it is cooking prepare your fruit. You can use any fruit blueberries, strawberries, apples (baked), peaches.. Whatever is in season and that will cut your cost immensely. With berries, zest the lemon and add half the juice to the berries sprinkle with a tad of sugar. When it is done, pull it out of the oven and dust it with powdered sugar, cut into pizza like slices and top with the fruit of your choice. The possibilities are endless and the reward is, well so sweet.

You can change up the dutch baby by changing your extract, try lemon extract topped with blueberries, or maple extract topped with baked apples, or even with chopped nuts and drizzled with caramel. Don't like fresh fruit? Top it with some nutella or just some pancake syrup.

Want something more savory? use maple extract and serve with sausage patties!

You won't be disappointed and neither will your family!

I will be making this twice this week so be sure to check back and see the pictures of this baby!!