Lunch Recipe:

With the $25/wk Food Budget Challenge, I’m always looking for new frugal recipes and was so excited to check out a copy of The $5 Dinner Mom Breakfast and Lunch Cookbook: 200 Recipes for Quick, Delicious, and Nourishing Meals.  I chose the Southwest Pasta Salad above because I had all the ingredients in my pantry. Author Erin Chase claims she could make it for $3.95 and, of course, I had to test that out for myself:

• 1 – 16oz pkg pasta shells – $0.50
• 2 cups cooked black beans – $0.52
• 1 can corn – $0.34
• 1 – 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (I did not drain according to her directions, in fact, I think you could add more liquid such as tomato juice) – $0.53
• 1 c shredded cheese (I substituted (2) 100 calorie packs Pepperjack cheese cut into smaller pieces) – $0.30
• 1 teaspoon cumin – ? I’ll go with her $0.05 estimate
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder – $0.05
• salt/pepper

Total for me = $2.29. Verdict = Good. Easy lunch. I added a bit more spices for my own taste, and after a night in the fridge it could definitely use more liquid. Other than that, it’s a cinch to prepare.

Overall, I’d say this cookbook is a great resource. The recipes use simple ingredients that are easy to prepare. Next week, I’ll share my experiences with one of the breakfast recipes!

10 Ways to Prepare Eggs

Eggs are such a frugal food and they’re so versatile. I knew I could come up with at least 10 ways to eat eggs. In fact, I had to because I purchased 4 dozen eggs (plus I already had a dozen in the refrigerator!) using coupons when they were on sale making them only 6¢ per egg. That’s a lot of eggs for one person to eat in 3 weeks! I immediately boiled a dozen.

Speaking of *boiling*, Martha Stewart thinks eggs shouldn’t be boiled at all. She says to use room temperature eggs, cover in cold water, heat the water up to a boil, remove pot from heat and let sit for 12 minutes, then run eggs under cold water. My grandma boiled eggs, my mom boiled eggs. I boil eggs. What do you do??

Boiled:

• Hard-boiled eggs are very portable.
• Slice over a salad for extra protein.
• Egg salad sandwiches.

Scrambled:

• With tofu, onions, mushrooms, feta cheese.
• With brown rice in stirfry.

Fried:

• My dad makes the best fried eggs ever. A great childhood memory. Probably because it involves LOTS of butter.

Desserts:

• Pumpkin Souffles – I have everything for this recipe and it uses up 6 eggs!

Maybe:

• I could be brave enough to try to make homemade mayonnaise??
• The Local Cook shared a recipe to add an egg to oatmeal. I’m iffy on this one. Scared of slime, but she assures me there isn’t any and that it’s delish.
• Quiche. I’ve never made one.

Do you have any more ideas on how to use up lots of eggs? Any recipes to share in the comments that will use them up quickly? What about non-food uses like: beauty routines or hair shine?

This post is linked to Top Ten Tuesday.