Pot roast is an obvious way to turn an inexpensive piece of meat into something great. Growing up, my mom’s slow cooker pot roast was always great – a wonderful quick dinner solution. But if you want real greatness (no offense mom) you should try browning the roast on the stove top method as described in this recipe. The fresh thyme is a must, and do not substitute the red wine if you can help it. Gold potatoes instead of traditional Russet were a brilliant choice here, as the buttery texture of the gold potatoes assumes the beefy, aromatic flavors and just melts in your mouth. This roast reminds me of a meal I had at an upscale Williamsburg tavern. If there is such a thing as haughty colonial, this is it — minus the haughty price.

Classic Pot Roast

Cooking Light

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 (3-pound) boneless chuck roast, trimmed
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups coarsely chopped onion
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 4 thyme sprigs
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium beef broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 large carrots, peeled and cut diagonally into 1-inch pieces
• 2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
• Fresh thyme leaves (optional)

Preheat oven to 350º.

Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chuck roast with salt and pepper. Add roast to pan; cook 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Remove roast from pan. Add onion to pan; sauté 8 minutes or until tender.

Return browned roast to pan. Add the red wine, thyme sprigs, chopped garlic, beef broth, and bay leaf to pan; bring to a simmer. Cover pan and bake at 350° for 1 1/2 hours or until the roast is almost tender.

Add carrots and potatoes to pan. Cover and bake an additional 1 hour or until vegetables are tender. Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaf from pan; discard. Shred meat with 2 forks. Serve roast with vegetable mixture and cooking liquid. Garnish with thyme leaves, if desired.

Pretend you are at an Italian restaurant, browsing the gourmet pizza selection. One offering that catches your eye reads, “Whole wheat crust with rosemary, topped with skim mozzarella, marinated artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, yellow bell pepper and black olives.” You would so pay like 18 bucks for that pizza. That’s what we had at my house tonight, minus the $18 price tag which by the way, wouldn’t have included tax and tip. Of course, this doesn’t include the chunky vegetable salad we had, featuring cucumbers, yellow bell peppers, shaved sweet onions and olives, dressed with a homemade lemon dressing. I had all of these ingredients on hand. I looked at what I needed to use up, and created a really nice, healthy meal for my family.

Homemade pizza is such a great budget meal if you make your own crust, and buy your cheese on sale.  For a quick homemade sauce, check out the Five Minute Marinara recipe. It’s for sure worth the five minutes. I didn’t have enough mozzarella cheese for two pizzas, so I made one with half mozzarella, half sharp cheddar. Boy was that good. The dough needs to rise in two stages, totaling about two hours. The recipe calls for kneading the dough for 10 minutes, but that seems a bit much. Just use your judgement. Remember that dough should not be too sticky, but on the other hand, adding too much flour will make the dough tough and dry. Check out these tips if you have never made dough before. If you want to make a faster pizza recipe, I recommend the recipe in this link, which does not require a rising time. Either recipe makes for great calzones and bread sticks as well.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

Allrecipes.com Recipe Submitted by Marla

When we  lived in Northern Virginia, we bought kale and eggplant from the farmer’s market. I had never had either vegetable, and I wanted to experiment. I don’t know what I did or didn’t do with the kale, but we just threw it away and wondered if even goats would really stoop so low for dinner. I know goats often eat maps from back pockets of unsuspecting petting zoo patrons, but surly even that would taste better. Years later I decided to give it another try, and now I could eat this calcium-rich leafy green a few times a week. The secret to the most delicious way to eat kale involves bacon, cheese and cream. Before you judge the ingredients, consider the fact that you probably eat out at least once a week and consume God knows how many calories even in a presumably healthy meal. You know you do.  So why not splurge your calories on a super-healthy anchor ingredient you could grow to like in lower-fat meals? Plus, you introduce your children to the flavor and concept of kale with this dish. Also, it’s just a side dish for heaven’s sake.

Over the summer I experimented with kale a lot, and made my poor meat-loving brother and sister-in-laws eat braised kale with pinto beans for a main dish, and more than once. Of course, bacon fat was involved, but just a tiny bit. Doesn’t take much. While I really liked it, we frankly needed a pork chop or something to accompany the kale.

Kale Gratin with Bacon

Amended from Food Network’s 30-Minute Meals, Rachel Ray

This recipe originally called for pancetta, but I used bacon because it is less expensive. And where it calls for cream,  I use half and half.

• 1 1/4 to 1 1/3 pounds kale, stems stripped and chopped, about 6 cups
• Salt
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 pound bacon, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 cup half and half
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
• 1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg, eyeball it
• Black pepper
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano

Preheat the broiler but place the oven rack on the second shelf down from the heat source. Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a deep skillet or pot, add the kale and salt and cook 5 to 6 minutes; drain and dry the greens. Return the skillet to the stove over medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil and pancetta. Crisp the pancetta and add the cream and garlic. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper then reduce 7 to 8 minutes to about 1/2 to 2/3 cup. Add cooked greens to cream and stir to coat evenly. Transfer to shallow casserole.

Toss with breadcrumbs with the remaining 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil. Season the crumbs with salt and pepper and combine with cheese. Place the casserole on the second shelf under broiler and brown breadcrumbs and cheese for 5 minutes.

It’s because I find bounce houses so utterly loathsome that when I learned my church was having family fun night at a bounce house place, I said out loud, “Oh crap,” which to my credit,  is a lot milder than what I’m usually inclined to say when I see a bounce house. So I made my stand – - we would not go. Then Anna came home from church and started asking about it,  Katelyn caught on, and so we went. Truthfully, we enjoy our church friends so much, it wasn’t too hard to convince me. Really it wasn’t that bad, although admittedly stressful. Katelyn hurt her hand, and Anna her foot, but nothing serious. They shook it off after a few minutes. I enjoyed seeing the kids jump around with their friends, and we got to have a chance to see ours as well. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m glad we went.

Everyone was asked to bring an appetizer or dessert to the event, so I made chocolate chip coffeecake. This tender cake has layers of cinnamon sugar and chocolate chips. If you are looking for a dessert quick and easy, this is one is for you. The batter is supposed to be super thick, so don’t be scared you did something wrong.  Jenny gave me this recipe about 9 years ago, and it’s still a favorite.

Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

Recipe from Taste of Home’s Annual Quick Cooking Recipes 2000 (and Jenny too)

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, sour cream and vanilla; mix well. Combine the flour, baking powder and soda; add to creamed mixture (batter will be thick). Spread half of the batter into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Combine chocolate chips, cinnamon and remaining sugar; sprinkle half over batter. Drop remaining batter by spoonfuls over the top. Sprinkle with remaining chip mixture. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Yield: 12-16 servings.

Using only 6 ounces of beef and the rest beans, the meat mixture is also bulked up by flecks of grated carrot. You mash part of the beans, leaving some whole. Watching the mashed beans become part of the meaty sauce is like magic, giving volume to the dish. I’ve adapted this Cooking Light recipe to use a little more sugar, and less spice in hopes of appealing to the kids.

For the budget cook this recipe is a winner. The meat will probably cost about a buck. If you cook your own beans, you are looking at about 30 cents. You can easily get a 2 cups of crushed tomatoes for $1. The other ingredients you should normally have on hand. The most expensive thing for this dish will be the rolls, so get them on sale and use a coupon to bring your total cost down. I would serve this with a salad and a homemade dressing, which by the way, I am starting to make with half canola oil instead of all olive oil to cut costs.

Almost Meatless Sloppy Joes

Adapted from Cooking Light

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup finely chopped white onion
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 6 ounces ground sirloin
• 1/2 cup grated carrot
• 1 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 TBSP brown sugar
• 1 TBSP pickle relish
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
• 1 (15.5-ounce) can low-sodium red beans, rinsed, drained, and divided (make your own)
• 4 (2-ounce) whole-wheat sandwich rolls, split and toasted
• 4 (1/4-inch-thick) red onion slices, separated into rings

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, salt, black pepper, and beef to pan; cook 5 minutes or until meat is browned and vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally to crumble beef. Add carrot, chili powder, sugar, oregano, and relish; cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in tomatoes; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; cook 10 minutes or until thickened and carrot is tender, stirring occasionally. Partially mash 1 cup beans with a fork or potato masher. Add mashed beans and remaining whole beans to pan; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Spoon 1 cup bean mixture onto bottom half of each roll; top each serving with 1 red onion slice and top half of roll.

Stretch-A-Buck Turkey Burgers

Food TV, Recipe by Rachel Ray

Quinoa is a super-food, and is super filling. It has more protein than any other grain (although if you want to get technical, it isn’t really a grain), and has all nine essential amino acids. Much like rice noodles, quinoa assumes flavors of other ingredients easily. You can also buy quinoa pasta, although I’ve never tried it. Bon Appetit has a recipe using quinoa pasta this month, but for some reason it isn’t on their website yet. The dish I’m posting actually boasts four super-foods – cumin, black beans, garlic and quinoa.  After we had this for dinner, I couldn’t wait for lunch the next day. I served it with a big salad (turnips included) with homemade lemon dressing. Here is a trick for taming the spice in root vegetables – cut them so thinly they are almost transparent and then let them marinate in dressing before adding lettuce. Set them out at room temperature for about an hour or two before dinner. The acid in the dressing tames the spice.

Quinoa and Black Beans

Allrecipes.com,  submitted by 3LIONCUBS

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped (I would use only 1/2 cup if you have kids)
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa (you are supposed to rinse quinoa)
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth (I used chicken broth)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• pepper and salt to taste
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinse and drained (I cooked my own – - much cheaper)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes,Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.

It was one of those days. I was all excited to volunteer for the first time in Anna’s class, and my car breaks down. Because it broke down at Katelyn’s preschool, I was able to get a lift from an unsuspecting mother as she was leaving the building. After working Anna’s class, Doug and I ended up waiting for the tow truck, getting it to the shop, yadda, yadda, yadda. This totally messed up my dinner plans. You see, Anna has a steel trap memory. She still talks about skinning her knee when she was 2 1/2 (she is almost 6), and also how at the same age she threw up cauliflower soup. Now she thinks she doesn’t like cauliflower, which I can understand. It’s not my favorite either, but cauliflower is awesome in a soup I make, and I think the “incident” may have soured her on the vegetable. Anna prides herself on her palate. She likes to take a bite of something and guess the ingredients. So, I planned on making the soup, having her close her eyes and guess the ingredients. I will then, do the reveal when she declares its deliciousness. I can’t out-fox her if she is home from school when I’m cutting up cauliflower, so I’ll have to save that one for tomorrow.

With my dinner plans out the window, I turned to another option for the week – - maple roasted chicken with winter vegetables. Sounds fancy, but it’s really easy. However, there was another glitch, because I didn’t have the recipe. So I called Jenny. First call, she is at the bank and couldn’t talk. Second time, she has to hang up because something about a $30 million art deal she is working. The nerve. Third time, her son had a potty accident, all the while her husband who is teaching seven college courses is trying to grade papers needing her to handle the situation. It probably didn’t help matters much that she also tried to bleach her teeth today, and now has white polka dots when she smiles. I mean, hate it for ya Jen, but I have to get dinner going. So, in between yells through her polka-dotted teeth to her son to wait a minute and stop screaming, she finally gave me the recipe. This is why she is my best friend.

Like I said, this maple roasted chicken is easy, and budget friendly. Just throw in what you think will work. I used potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, and two kinds of winter squash. Just don’t leave out the winter squash, because that is an important part of the dish. Got parsnips? Throw them in along with any other root vegetable you have on hand. I wouldn’t recommend beets though. That would just be weird.

The original recipe calls for roasting an entire chicken, but I got bone-in chicken breasts on sale for 67 cents a pound, and get this – - leg quarters for 37 cents a pound. The only expensive part of this recipe is the maple syrup. I wouldn’t use Aunt Jemima for this one. I tossed this dinner together at 4:45 p.m. and we were eating by 6 p.m. If you are so inclined, wild rice goes awesome with this dish.

Maple Roasted Chicken with Winter Vegetables

• 3 or more pounds of whole chicken, or bone-in chicken pieces
• Vegetables of your choice, such as carrots, potatoes, onions, winter squash, and celery. The amount of vegetables will depend on how much chicken you use. Keep in mind, vegetables will shrink during cooking, so use a generous amount.
• About 1/3 to 1/2 cup real maple syrup
• About 1 tsp of fresh or dried rosemary
• A little butter

Cut up vegetables in to large chunks and lay them in the bottom of an electric roaster (which is what I did) or a big casserole. If using whole chicken, you will place the vegetables around chicken. If using pieces, you will place on top of vegetables. Pre-heat oven to 400. Brush chicken with butter, sprinkle with salt, pepper and rosemary. Cook for 15 minutes. Baste with maple syrup every 10 minutes. You can expect this to take about an hour, but it really depends on the size and amount of chicken.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Allrecipes.com, Submitted by Jennifer

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

Part of getting and staying in shape is healthy eating, obviously, so I turn to Cooking Light. They have an incredibly easy and inexpensive recipe for egg drop soup. Katelyn (who is three) loves it so much, she “cooks” it for her dolls using her kitchen set. She said to me yesterday, “Mommy, I making egg dwop soup for baby.” When she isn’t punching her sister in the face or spitting at us, she is so cute.

This soup makes a great little lunch with a low-calorie frozen spring roll. For dinner, it’s a side to stir-fried rice. Taste your soup before seasoning, and you can also use soy sauce instead of the salt.

Egg Drop Soup

Cooking Light

4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons chopped green onions
1/4 teaspoon salt

Place broth in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; place a wire mesh sieve over saucepan. Strain eggs through sieve into pan. Remove from heat; stir in onions and salt.

CALORIES 54 (45% from fat); FAT 2.7g (sat 0.9g,mono 1.1g,poly 0.4g); IRON 1mg; CHOLESTEROL 106mg; CALCIUM 31mg; CARBOHYDRATE 1.5g; SODIUM 570mg; PROTEIN 5.7g; FIBER 1.1g