Italian Cheese & Herb Fettuccine

Lazy me called for lazy lunch.  I found the Philadelphia cooking creme a short-cut for creamy based pasta.  I always have frozen mixed vegetable for fried rice, Japanese curry and pasta in my freezer and packages of dried pasta in my pantry.  So, this was an easy lunch to whip up.  I only need to thaw a boneless and skinless chicken breast, sliced it and seasoned it.  Another alternative is to use the canned tuna or tuna in pouch for a quicker preparation.

This noodle dish was rather inexpensive.  1 package of pasta was $1 (on sales), 1 container of cooking creme was about $3 (with coupon), 1 chicken breast was about $1.50 and the mixed vegetable was about $0.25.  So, total cost for this lunch was about $5.75 and it served 4 persons.

Sharing this with Presto Pasta Nights hosted at Ruth of Once Upon a Feast and  "S$20 Budget Meal"  or "US$15 budget meal" hosted by Cuisine Paradise.

Ingredients:

1 (16oz/ 1lb.) box of fried fettuccine

1 container of Philadelphia cooking creme with Italian cheese & herb

1 skinless and boneless chicken breast

1.5 cups of frozen mixed vegetable

1/2 cup milk

Italian herb seasonings, salt, black pepper, olive oil

Method:

1.  Thinly sliced the chicken breast and seasoned with olive oil, Italian herb seasonings, salt, black pepper and cornstarch.

2.  Cook fettuccine as package direction, drain with cold water and set aside.

3.  In a heated pan, add in some olive oil.  Pan-fry chicken breast until cooked.  Add in mixed vegetable and stir-well.  Empty the container of cooking creme and add in the milk.  Stir-to mix well.

4.  Add in the cooked fettuccine and stir well.  Season with some salt and black pepper if needed.  Serve hot.

[S$20 Budget Meal] Steamed Tilapia Fillets, Eggs with Napa Cabbage and Seaweed Tofu Gochujang Soup

Above was one of the everyday dinners I made at home.  I was trying to be healthier so I steamed my fish in my steamer basket.  Usually I would pour hot oil to finish my steamed fish (made the fish glossy and shiny),  but decided to skip this step with the "healthier" in mind.  I added eggs in my napa cabbage because I wanted to submit this dinner to $20 Budget Meal.  This veggie dish could be cooked without adding eggs.

Total cost for this dinner was about $6.87 and I was not budgeting this meal at all, it was just a meal I prepared often at home.  It would be even cheaper without adding soup.  I would beak down the cost and provide recipes in the next page.  Again, it prove to me that it is so affordable to cook healthy meal at home, however I do need my break on weekend, it's great to eat a meal cooked by someone else and not have to stay for the clean up.  :-P

I am submitting this to "S$20 Budget Meal"  or "US$15 budget meal" hosted by Cuisine Paradise.

Steamed Tilapia Fillets with Ginger and Scallion

Cost of ingredients:

3 Tilapia fillets = $4.20

Ginger = 20c

Scallion = 20c

Total for this dish = $4.60

First rinse the fillets and place it on a steamer basket or ceramic plate.  Then, spread the ginger slices that had been soaked with soy sauce, rice wine and sesame oil (for at least an hour) on top.  Lastly top with some thinly sliced scallion and steam for 15 minutes.

Eggs with Napa Cabbage

Cost of ingredients:

1/4 Napa cabbage = 50c

2 large eggs = 17c

Garlic = 10c

Total for this dish = $0.77

Wash and cut the Napa cabbage into pieces.  Heat up wok with some cooking oil.  When heated, add in the chopped garlic, stir-fry until almost golden, add in the harder part of the Napa cabbage (the white part), stir-fry for a little while, then add in the rest of the Napa cabbage, stir-fry well.  Add in salt and mix well.  Add some water and a little chicken powder.  Then pour beaten eggs on top, lightly stir until the eggs are cooked.  Serve.

Seaweed Tofu Gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste) Soup

Cost of ingredients:

1/2 soft tofu = 50c

Seaweed = 50c

Gochujang = 40c

Garlic = 10c

Total for this dish = $1.50

The recipe for this soup can be found here and here.

Total cost for this dinner was $6.87.  It's cheaper than a chicken fried rice we order at take out.  Chicken fried rice here cost $7.95 not including tax and tips. 

[S$20 Budget Meal] Ginger Chicken with Rice Wine, Spicy KangKong and Laver Anchovies Soup

Recently, I spotted a  Singapore "$20 Budget Meal" event that got me interested.  For US dollar, it would be $15 Budget Meal.  You have to cook two dishes and a soup or a one dish meal that priced less than S$20/ US$15.  Frankly, I never really counted how much each dinner that I prepared at home cost me.   But I believe it would be less than $15.  For April, one of the dishes must have an egg as an ingredient, so above was what we had on April 11, 2011 which I submitted to this event.

I am submitting this to "S$20 Budget Meal"  or "US$15 budget meal" hosted by Cuisine Paradise.

Dried Laver (野生紫菜)Anchovies Soup.  The cost of this soup is US$1.00.  The recipe can be found here. 

Cost of ingredients:
Dried laver - 50 cent
2 medium eggs - 20 cent (on sales)
1/4 of a carrot - 10 cent
1/4 cup of dried anchovies - 20 cent

Spicy KangKong/Morning Glory/ On Choy with shrimp paste in soy bean oil.  The cost of this dish is US$2.24.  The recipe can be found here.

Cost of ingredients:
Kangkong - $1.50
1 Shallot - 20 cent
Shrimp paste in soy bean oil - 54 cent

Ginger Chicken with Rice Wine.  The cost for this dish is US$1.80.  This recipe can be found here.

Cost of ingredients:
1 skinless and boneless chicken breast - $1.30 (on sales)
Ginger - 25 cent
Wood Ear - 25 cent
Fermented sweet glutinous rice wine - FREE (given by a friend)

The sweet glutinous rice wine

I added the wine and residue together in stir-frying this dish thus the cloudy gravy you see above.  But sweet and flavorful.

To sum thing up, the above meal only cost me US$5.04.  Served 4.  A healthy home cook meal at a fairly cheap price.  All you need to have is a little time at home to prepare this wonderful meal for you and your family.  By doing this event and really sat down and counted the amount of each ingredient I spent on this meal made me realized that home cook meal is really cheap.  :-)  Imagine, for $20, I can eat four meals at home!!