Monday, August 10, 2009

Livin' it up on the cheap

Quick, easy, delicious, healthy, and cheap! The perfect meal combo! I have not only been challenging myself to cut our grocery bill in half, but also to have meals that are quick and healthy. My sister and I went to the Aunt Millie's bakery outlet and found some great deals on whole grain breads (some even organic!) for $0.49, including a package of whole wheat pitas. No, they were not expired or even close to being expired...just overstock. So, I decided to make some pita pizzas today based on a recipe I found online.

Remember the garden fresh pesto in my freezer? Well, I used this as the base. I deviated from the recipe (of course!) and used some chard we bought at the farmers market, some summer squash from our garden, and a tomato from our garden. I topped the pizzas with a little bit of feta and other shredded cheese. I chopped the veggies up pretty small so that pea would not have the opportunity to pick them off! He gobbled it up. Yet, another easy and delicious way to sneak in a variety of veggies.


I then pulled out the red potato wedges I froze last weekend and made some oven baked fries. I simply tossed the fries with a little olive oil, lots of minced garlic, italian seasoning, salt, and a little bit of balsamic vinegar then baked them at 400 degrees (425 may have been better) for about 20 minutes turning once. They were so good!!
This dinner was so easy, quick, and really yummy! Not to mention...pretty healthy. Okay, I know it's a little carb heavy, but hey...it's good! Here is the recipe I used to create pizzas: PITA PIZZA.

It was also very cheap. Here is the approximate rundown based on the amounts I used for this recipe:

package of whole wheat pitas: $0.49
chard: $0.25
feta cheese: $1.00
shredded cheese: $0.25
pesto: free from last year's freezer pesto stash
tomato: free from garden
summer squash: free from garden
red potatoes: $0.20
TOTAL: $1.94 for 6 pita pizzas!! Plenty for dinner and lunch tomorrow!!

Let me know if you try any of these recipes and if you add your own version! I love to hear other ideas for adjusting recipes.

7 comments:

Bobbi said...

I am so going to try this!!!

Anonymous said...

Looks soooo good!!! I love cheap too! I love posts like this! Thanks!

Guatmama said...

Yummy and so creative!

Heidi said...

That looks delicious! I can't believe how creative you are in cutting your grocery bills. That is so awesome.

Becky said...

O.K., so have you considered having your own cooking show? Everything looks so good these days when I get on to you blog. Eli is always cute, but the pictures of the food look extremely awesome too!!!!

Arena Mom said...

Not only does that look tastey, but I think you should go into food photography!!

Pineapple Princess said...

I just want you to know I've been dreaming about your pizza all week! :)