Aubergine (Eggplant) Curry

Budget Tip:
Indian food is in general so inexpensive to make!  Once you have the collection of spices and herbs, you are set!  Everything else is easy to get and easy to afford ingredients.  Even the spices and herbs aren't expensive if you can find a nice Indian store where you can buy in bulk.   Server your recipes with rice or even quinoa to make it go further.

Ingredients:
(ok so you'll notice I didn't say suggested - thats because i'm not good enough at Indian cooking yet to say "suggested" but if you are, go for it!)

2 large aubergines - or 4 smaller ones
1 1/2 cups of white button mushrooms
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
1 bunch of green onions (scallions) chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 fresh red chili, finely chopped
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
1 tsp salt
1 14oz can of no salt added chopped tomatos
1 tbsp fresh cilantro (coriander)

Method of Cooking

Wrap eggplant in foil and then bake in the oven at 200 degrees until  soft - about an hour.  Unwrap and let cool. 

Cut the mushrooms in half or quarters, depending on how big they are.  Heat the oil in a nice heavy pan and stir-fry the mustard seeds until they start to pop and sputter.  Add onions, mushrooms, garlic, and chili - fry for about 5 minutes.  Add chili powder, cumin, ground coriander, tumeric and salt.  Fry for another few minutes - 3 or so. 

Add tomatoes and simmer for 5 more minutes. 

Cut the eggplants lengthwise and then scoop out the insides.  Smash in a small bowl with a fork or potato smasher.  Add the eggplants and fresh cilantro to the pan.  Bring to a boil and cook another 5 minutes.

This recipe can be made with zucchini as well but I haven't personally tried it.  I also found the eggplants didn't mash very well so I chopped them up instead.  It's a pretty spicy recipe so you might want to dialdown the fresh red chili if you are serving it to kids.

Mexican Summer Salad

Budget Tip

The budget tip for this one is: when you're asked to bring a salad, bring this one.  All the ingredients you either have or if you have to buy it, they are CHEAP CHEAP!  And the best part is, even though the salad looks sparse, the flavor is AWESOME.  This one is going to be a hit, I promise.

Suggested Ingredients

1 1/2 cups corn kernels (canned/cooked, drained)
1/4 cup very well drained pickle relish
1/4 pitted sliced black olives
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 tsp salt
2 TBSP sugar
2 TBSP white wine vinegar
6 TBSP salad oil
1 8oz pkg shredded iceberg lettuce (or get a head and shred 8oz yourself)

Suggested Method of Putting it Together

Combine corn, relish, olives and celery,  Dissolve salt and sugar in vinegar in a small jar with a lid.  Add salad oil and shake while dancing to fiesta music and wearing a sombrero.  Pour over corn mixture.  Chill for several hours, stirring occasionally while dancing the Mexican hat dance.   Prior to serving mix with the lettuce by tossing.  Throw your sombrero in the air and try to catch it with just your head - no hands!

2 Day Ceviche

Budget Tip

Use a cheaper white fish such as tilapia.  It's being cooked in lime juice and then served on crackers..it doesn't have to have the flavor profile of a nicer fish especially because of all the other flavors in the ceviche.  Get the limes bulk - it's cheaper than buying them 2 for a buck and you'll have enough left over for Coronas and tequila shots.  Also, this makes a TON of ceviche.  Easily this is a party dish.  It doesn't seem like it with just the fish and shrimp but when you add everything else, it's alot. 

Suggested Ingredients

6-8oz of white fish
1/2 lb peeled, deviened medium white shrimp (uncooked)
enough fresh squeezed lime juice to cover the fish and shrimp - about 10 limes juiced
1 fresh jalapeno
1/4 of a medium-large red onion, diced fine
pico de gallo to taste (might as well make your own - recipe follows!)
2 medium tomatoes
2 avocados (be sure to not get them too ripe otherwise they will break down in the lime juice too much)
2 green onions, chopped
2 TBSP fresh cilantro, finely chopped - stems ok
2 teaspoons salt
a bit of black pepper

Suggested Method of "Cooking"
Chop the fish and shrimp into small cube type pieces and layer in the bottom of a glass lasagna pan, preferably one with a lid covering.  Pour lime juice over the fish and shrimp.  Put into the fridge.  This has to soak 24 hours.  About 1/2 way through be sure to stir it up so that the other side gets "cooked" too.

Drain out most of the lime juice into a bowl and reserve it.  Add the rest of the ingredients and combine well.  Add back enough lime juice to keep it "juicy" but not too runny.  Remember you gotta put this stuff onto crackers!  Put back in fridge for 12 hours.  It's ok if it cooks extra - it won't hurt it.

Pico de Gallo
Combine in a bowl and fridgerate for 1/2 hour:
1 medium tomato
1/4 onion
1/2 - 1 jalapeno (seeded if you don't want it hot)
2 sprigs of cilantro
1 green onion
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

Serve with..did I mention, crackers :)  If it's still too juicy just pour off some of the lime juice.

This is always a hit at parties - I rarely have any left over so I usually reserve some for myself for later.

Super-Easy Crockpot BBQ Chicken

Budget Tip

I have another recipe like this one on the blog however this one has 2 ingredients and is not only easy but terribly inexpensive.  The healthy factor depends on how much of the oil you can skim off the top.  If you want, you can help things by removing the skin, but I find that it dries out the chicken a bit.

Suggested Ingredients

3 - 4 chicken leg quarters (skin and bone in)
3/4 bottle of Sweet Baby Rays Honey Chipotle BBQ Sauce

Suggested Cooking Method

Put the chicken in a crockpot.  Pour BBQ sauce over them.  Put the crockpot on high for 6 hours.
After the chicken has finished, pull the chicken out of the crockpot, then remove skin, bone and gristle.  Skim the top of the sauce in the crockpot.  There will be quite a bit of oil on the top so get as much as you can!
Shred the chicken and throw it back into the pot.  It's good for sandwhiches or served on top of brown rice.  Either way you'll have a hearty meal that is filling for less than a buck a serving.

Corn Pancakes

Budget Tip

This has got to be one of the best and cheapest side items and I bet you already have everything on hand.  I used self-rising cornmeal but you could use whatever.

Suggested Ingredients

1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 TBSP sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup of milk (more or less)
2 TBSP butter
some vanilla

Suggested Cooking Method

Combine all the dry ingredients and then cut in the butter, mashing it together well with a fork.  Beat the egg and add it to the milk.  Put in a few drops of vanilla.  Add about 1/2 the milk and mix together, then add the rest until it is the consistancy of pancakes.  If it's too thick add a teeny bit more milk.  Cook on the griddle like you would a pancake.  These are the perfect sweet pancake and are wonderful as a side item or for breakfast.   

Tomato-Basil Chicken Sausage over Grits with Corn Pancakes

Budget Tip
The chicken sausage can be expensive but I get it from Costco so it's not too bad: http://www.alfrescoallnatural.com/FlavorDetails.aspx?ID=9778
Are you remembering to save your chicken bones for stocks?  I hope so!  It's the cheapest way to get some GREAT flavor!

Suggested Ingredients

4 links of Alfresco Sundried Tomato & Basil Chicken Sausage
Olive Oil spray
Chicken Stock
sage, onion powder, celery salt to taste
Grits
Cornbread Pancakes (I'll post a seperate recipe for those)

Suggested Cooking Method

Cut up the links into sausage rounds
Coat a cast-iron skillet with olive oil spray
Saute the sausage rounds on med high heat until they have a light brown (i've just been pan sauteed) look to them
Add the spices and let that cook for just a minute or two.
Pour in the chicken stock and turn the heat down to medium, let this reduce for a while and i'll take a moment to talk about the stock

For this particular recipe I used chicken bones from a roasted chicken that I had stuffed with garlic cloves, lemons and rubbed with italian herbs like basil and oregano.  I tossed all of this, lemons and garlic cloves included into a pot for about an hour or so and just let it simmer until all the yummy flavors were well developed.  To be honest, I think that the quality of the stock is often what makes the flavor of the dish you are cooking.  And, because stocks are rarely made the exact same way everytime you generally get a unique flavor to the dish.  So if you aren't getting the robust flavor you want in your recipe, try adjusting your stock.

Once the stock has reduced a bit, you can thicken it up to make it a gravy by adding either a bit of flour water, cornstarch or a little bit of the corn pancake batter.  If you choose the batter, just know you'll have some lumps in there that you'll need to stir around until they melt all the way.  This is the way I chose :)

Cook up your grits according to the directions, feel free to add cheese.  I did not only because I didn't have any on hand but Carter said the sauce was so good, it made up for not adding cheese.

When you serve this dish, put some grits on your place and make a little well to ladle the sausage and gravy.  On the side, serve the corn pancakes.

Black Bean Chicken Soup

Suggested Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, sliced and cubed
1 can organic black beans, i use the earthfare brand because it's low in sodium
chicken stock as your base - how much depends on how much soup you want to make
2 - 3 carrots, sliced thin
3 stalks of celery, sliced
1 very large garlic clove or 2 - 3 smaller ones, sliced thin
2 bay leaves
fresh parsley, as much or as little as you want
onion powder, if your kids don't like fresh onions, like mine
poultry seasoning
mediterranean seasoning, I use Frontier Organic Herby

Suggested Cooking Method

Over medium heat bring to a simmer chicken stock, add veggies, bay leaves, parsley, onion powder, poultry seasoning and the juice from the can of beans.  Depending on how much soup you want to make or how much chicken stock you are using, feel free to add a bit of water as well.  While that is simmering, heat a bit of olive oil in a skillet.  When it's hot enough to make water jump when sprinkled in, toss your chicken into the pan and saute with the mediterranean seasoning until mostly done.  You may want to cut into smaller bite-size pieces if they are not already.  Thow them into the simmering soup and add the beans. 

Let this cook for at least an hour or until the flavors are melded and the veggies are soft.  Adjust flavors to taste.  I don't add salt because the seasoning has plenty, but you may want to.

Based on feedback, be sure to add a bit of extra mediterranean seasoning to the soup as well if it still seems bland after adding the chicken. The other thing is to use a really strong and thick(ish) chicken stock.  You can get this by simply using less water and more chicken bones when cooking your stock and simmer it down a little bit longer than normal.  It'll give your soups more body as well.

To serve, add a dollop of sour cream!  I personally use all organic ingredients and find that the celery flavor really pops!  I love it!