Fast and Frugal dinners About This Page:

[Minnie Lor]

Here's one of mine...

Cheeseburger Pie

This is an easy and budget friendly recipe. You can change it up by switching the meat to finely chopped ham, shredded chicken or turkey. You can even use ground sausage and serve for breakfast. You can change the cheese and spices as well. Add chopped tomatoes to the meat and change the spice to make Italian or Mexican. Serve it with salsa, marinara, or ranch dressing. The possiblities are endless.

1 lb ground beef or other meat
1 1/2 cups chopped onions or tomatoes or mushrooms or green pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper and/or other spices (I use Mrs Dash and skip the salt)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (about 4 ounces) or mozzarella or jack
1 cup milk
3/4 cup Bisquick baking mix
3 eggs

Brown the meat and stir in the additional veggis if desired. Place in the bottom of a 10" pie plate that's been sprayed with Pam. Sprinkle with seasoning and top with cheese.

Beat the Bisquick, milk, and eggs together until smooth. May need to use blender or hand mixer. Carefully pour over meat and cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes before cutting into 6-8 wedges.

Serve with a salad or other veggie. Freezes well.

[Minnie Lor]

And if you're really broke....

Ham 'n' Beans

1 lb dried pinto bean, sorted and washed
5 cups water
1 large onion, chopped
4-8 ounces cooked ham or polish sausage, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
salt, to taste

Cover beans with water and soak overnight; drain.

Place beans in a 6 quart crock pot with water and remaining ingredients except salt. Cook on low setting for 8-10 hours, or until beans are soft and done. Stir a couple of times during cooking, if possible. Add salt after beans are done. (Cooking salt in the beans will make them tough.)

Serve with corn bread. Freezes well.

Note: I have a fast cooking crockpot and mine was done in 8 hours

[Dobby]

There are some great ideas here! I'll post a few of my own once I finish reading these...

[rescuesk]

OK, did this one this week.

I bought one of those Old El Paso soft taco bake kits. They were on sale for $1.99. You are supposed to use 1 pound of ground beef, mix it with water and the sauce and then alternate the beef/taco/beef/taco etc. So instead, I browned 1/2 pound ground beef, drained it and mixed in a can of drained and rinsed pinto beans. I added about 1/2 cup frozen corn and the water and sauce. Heated it for a minute or two. Then I layered one soft taco, meat mixture and shredded cheddar, repeating until I had three layers. The top layer was the last soft taco, and I spread the cheese sauce that comes with the kit on top of that. Let me tell you, it was sooooooo good. DH doesn't eat anything Mexican or with beans, so I got dinner and 2 lunches out of it!

[ilovedisney247]

All of these recipes have meat in them. You're not REALLY broke if you can afford to buy meat!! I'm working on a cookbook called Living on a Shoestring

Here's my contribution:
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 can corn rinsed,
1 can rotel tomatoes and chilis
combine all three in a pot over med-low heat simmer and reduce
Serve over white rice or roll in tortillas

This recipie can also be done with chicken, use the rotel liquid as a poaching liquid for 1 chicken breast . . . remove breast, shred and add back to pot!

[shellybelly72]

these are great!

[mousestruck]

Thanks for the ideas everyone! Yum... I'll definitely give some of them a try!

[klositis]

Im doing the Swiss Chicken tonight.... cant wait for it to get finished! Im HUNGRY now!!

[msnewfie]

we love breakfast for supper -- eggs, french toast, hash browns, some fruit,bacon, toast etc... quick -- easy and not too pricy

[disneymom9092]

Whole chicken in a crock pot

Honestly??? The easiest and most frugal recipe I have ever done. I will admit I was a skeptic when the instructions said not to add any water! I made the broth as well and we had several meals with the chicken. I just put salt and pepper on the chicken-nothing else.

Whole Chicken in a Crock Pot

[mechurchlady]

Gluten Free burgers
1 pound of ground beef
quarter of a minced onion (adjust to taste)
1 minced green onion
a chunk of soft cheese to taste
3 minced olives
Italian herb mix and pinch of dill, salt, and pepper

put a hole in the loaf of meat, pour in a spoonful of olive juice from the can
mix everything together and place in a baking dish with a touch of olive oil
Bake until done along with potatoes or sweet potatoes. Make extra potatoes for use tomorrow. I nuke a can of veggies.

Easy Chicken Breast
I buy on sale for 99 cents a pound chicken breasts. I add lemon juice, olive oil, dill, salt and pepper. Let bake until skin is golden brown.

I love baking, no work, lol.

[guitardiva]

Chicken n Dumplings

Broth=
whole chicken
onion
carrots
chicken bullion (just a few cubes)
salt pepper

dumpling dough=
flour (self rising)
pinch of baking powder (makes them xtra fluffy)
buttermilk
cold butter

boil chicken in pot with chopped onion,and thinly sliced carrots, take out chicken when done and remove from bone. put chicken back in water. Add remaining ingredients. salt pepper to taste. add bullion cubes to "bulk up" the water, not a lot.
For dough mix flour with pinch of baking powder. Self rising has powder in in , but the extra little bit will make the dumplings fluffy. pinch of tiny bits of cold butter or shortening into flour , mix into flour. slowly add buttermilk. It is exactly like making biscuits. You will want the dough a bit wet not too much though. if it sticks to your hands it is probablly too wet.Cover and let sit for about 15 minutes to rest.
Turn broth up to high and drop in pinches of dough, let cook until they float to the top, then an extra 5 minutes. You can make a lot of dumplings out of one pot.

After you enjoy the dumplings, let the remaining broth cool and strain it to remove any bits of flour and such. You can use that broth to make soups. If you want it freezes nicely.
Two plus meals out of one chicken.

[FanOfMickey]

Some more wonderful recipes!!

[jenifermg0]

Okay - ready to cook a whole chicken right now! And then make chicken pot pie!!!! Oh, man - I'm drooling!!!

[unewillow]

Oh man, I cannot tell you how many times we made a pan of these at college.

Bean and Cheese Burritos

2 cans refried beans
1 bag shredded cheddar cheese
1 package of tortillas
1 can red or green enchilada cauce

Put beans in a microwave safe bowl and heat about 30 seconds to soften. Mix in about 2-3 handfulls of cheese. Put a couple tablespoons (or about 1/4 cup) of the beans onto the center of each tortilla and roll into burritos (tuck ends under when you put them into a pyrex dish). When all your burritos are in the dish, pour the can of sauce on top and then sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover with foil and bake in 350 degree oven for 20 min, uncovering for the last 5 min.