First: I bought almost twelve pounds of fresh chicken breasts today for $22. That's less than $2 a pound. Only catch is that my husband doesn't like chicken breast. He says he always gets gristle in his. I should rephrase that, he pretty much only likes ground meats. Ground beef, ground chicken, ground turkey. Call me mean but I've decided that since I do all the grocery shopping, all the budgeting, all the cooking, and since I've spent several years cooking only what he likes it's about time I start making stuff I like too every now and again. Happy New Year!
Second: tonight I made a brand new chicken dish. It's in the oven right now and smells awesome. I should not be this excited to eat baked chicken breast but I really really am! I tweaked a recipe to use what I had on hand so hopefully it turns out as good as it smells: three chicken breasts (I pounded them pretty flat), a can of cream of mushroom soup, 1/2 cup of sour cream (which I was excited about because I had just about that much in the fridge that I was about to throw away... just about to go bad), 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 tsp of garlic powder, salt and pepper. Baked for an hour at 350F.
Third: I cut all of the gristle I could find off of the three chicken breasts before I put them in the oven and I didn't want to throw raw chicken in the trash can. We don't produce a ton of trash and I knew it would start to smell way before I needed to empty the trash can. So I threw the yuck pieces in water and popped them on the stove. My "boil the chicken junk so it doesn't smell" idea instantly became "make soup" instead. I also don't make soup. My husband also doesn't like soup. I know, you're thinking, "who is this guy you married Rivulet?" I'd answer a guy who was raised on steak and potatoes and tv dinners. His mom does not cook.
I boiled the soup for almost an hour with some carrots, a rapidly aging onion that I might have thrown out if I hadn't decided to make soup with it, garlic powder, and a little salt. I took the chicken bits out after the hour and threw in some corn and peas. I just tasted my thrown together soup and it will make a fabulous lunch for me and little Abe sometime this week. I'll probably make some baking powder biscuits to go with it. They's so rustic, easy, quick, and little Abe has a lot of fun making them with me.
Yep, I'm way proud of my accomplishments for this second day of January.
Average daily spending for 2015: $26.27
But that'll drop down pretty fast. I did a good job shopping today.
You Go Girl!! I am proud of you too! What a great day!
ReplyDeleteThe deal on the chicken was really great- can't beat that price! The baked chicken you made for dinner sounds delicious- I think I'm gonna have to try that out soon. Thanks for sharing the recipe! And soup is the perfect winter meal.
My husband and I had different ideas about dinner for many years. He was a steak and potatoes type of person too, in fact he still likes meat most nights, and he is actually particular to ground meats also. I try to accommodate him as much as I can, but I know what you mean about wanting something to please yourself once in a while. After being married for many years I think I finally have him broken in to the point of knowing that he always has 2 choices for dinner: Take it OR Leave it. ;)
The chicken turned out super yummy. Better than I'd hoped. Hooray! Also I use Campbells healthy request, I think it's called, because it's the only mushroom soup I can find that doesn't have MSG in it and MSG gives my husband debilitating migraines.
DeleteI usually do the two choices for dinner thing too (we do not have a very big list of dinner options with all of his pickyness though) but I think at least one day a week I'm going to start making something that I want regardless. I'm sick of NEVER eating chicken breast.
I never get tired of eating chicken breasts, either. I hate the gristle part, too. But, I pick it out. So can your husband...lol. All the gristle is ground up in ground chicken. It is so less healthful and actually unhealthful. How does he handle gristle in steak?
DeleteSomeone gave me a crockpot. I can put 6-8 chicken breasts in there and then use it however I like. I found another crockpot for $3 at a yard sale, so I have the ability to cook two dishes at once, even desserts.
Haha, he doesn't handle gristle in steak. But we don't eat it that often. It's too expensive. I was just saying that he was raised on steak and potatoes and tv dinners so he's got a strange pallet.
Delete$3 for the second crock pot. awesome! I'm not a huge fan of crock pot cooking but there are a few crock pot meals that we really like. I need to make them a bit more often I think.