My latest Deal of the Day healthy to the Nth degree. Fresh frozen Black-Eyed Peas by Stahl Bush Farms and purchased from my local 99c only Store.
They are about as fresh as you can get and they are ready to eat when they are heated through or reach room temperature. Just click here to read all about them. They also grow and package fresh frozen berries, veggies and more legumes.
And the Black-Eyed Peas are firm but still tender, not mushy like canned peas. You are tasting the clean flavor of Black-Eyed Peas. There was no seasoning that I could detect.
You can also feel good about this product as Stahl Bush Farms, located in Oregan, is certified sustainable. Even the package is biodegradable. It's a win-win side dish.
Click on any photo to see larger.
What I like about these fresh frozen veggies or beans is the natural flavor is not drowned in salty water like canned. I eat canned tomatoes and tomato sauce the most, follow by canned corn and pinto beans, but not as much as I used to because of the high salt content.
These peas are a bit dry when microwaved, so add a tablespoon of water per serving.
Since they are cooked through, the peas heat up quickly on the stovetop or microwave. Mix Black-Eyed Peas into a favorite stir fry, or plain steamed white or brown rice, for your New Year Hopin' John celebration. I like them best mixed with sauteed mushrooms.
Sprinkle a few tablespoons over your favorite salad or add some to a pasta salad, too.
While tasty I find these Black-Eyed Peas a bit bland, but there is always Cajun Seasonings or hot sauce to make them more interesting. Oh, heck with it, go ahead and add some crisped bacon or pieces of ham. At least you control the seasonings amounts to suit your taste.
So, on my Cheapskate Dining Scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best, I give Black-Eyed Peas by Stahl Bush Farms, straight out of the bag (with a little water and heating through,) a strong 7! But if you flavor them with spices, or add to a salad, then they are a perfect 9!
This is one sweet Deal of the Day. And it's a delish Orange Sesame Chicken Bowl by Smart Ones, under the banner of SMARTMADE.
I am a fan of Smart Ones by Weight Watchers, and this frozen entree lives up to their tasty reputation.
Frozen & Zapped
You first taste the sweet orange sauce. It is flavored with pineapple juice too. There is a slight hint of soy sauce that's listed as low sodium. It is sticky and thick, so make sure you stir the defrosted ingredients to get it on all the chicken, veggies and quinoa. I would like more sauce, but what's there is good enough.
This bowl had 4 or 5 huge pieces of white meat chicken. It remained moist when zapped in the microwave - the sauce helps steam the meat. And it is real chicken, not sliced from a processed poultry loaf. The photo shows sesame seeds covering the chicken. I could not taste the sesame seeds as the quinoa was so similar - not that it matters much.
I liked the large veggie pieces of broccoli. The whole snap peas remain firm and fresh tasting. And small squares of red bell pepper add the right amount of pungent flavor. This is one well balanced bowl of savory and sweet.
This oriental-style stir fry is made with quinoa instead of white rice and that's a good thing. I prefer rice, but am starting to warm up to tapioca-like pearls of quinoa. If you have not tried quinoa it is usually steamed, and when done the tiny round seeds pop when bitten. The taste is a grain flavor, with a very mild oats taste. If you are eating glutten-free, this is for you. Quinoa comes from a flowering plant that originates in South America.
At 9 ounces this is a light lunch, but with the addition of quinoa, it is quite filling for it's small package. The ingredient list is small with mainly real ingredients and no fillers or chemicals.
click on any photo to see larger
Once again Smart Ones have come up with a real winner of a frozen meal. So on my Cheap$kate Dining Scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best, I give SMARTMADE Orange Sesame Chicken Bowl by Smart Ones a perfect 9 !
This is one delish Deal of the Day made with fresh and real ingredients, so get a few of them if they still carry them in the 99c only Stores - hey, get a few from any grocery store at full price, it's worth every penny.
Got Leftovers? If you've bought a rotisserie chicken from the market and are looking for a recipe to use up the leftovers - like leg, wing and backbone meat, then read on for a delish dish with a Latin flare: my Creamy Cheesy Enchilada Casserole with Chicken, Corn & Peas.
If you cook with turkey pieces, they are too huge to use all at once, so take a bite out of the those leftovers, too.
Add a package of cheese, a tub of sour cream, frozen veggies like corn and green peas, plus a can of enchilada sauce, and you have a one pot meal for the whole family.
I use cans of enchilada sauce (sometimes listed as red chili sauce) quite often. It especially goes well with poultry in entrees like: Stuffed Bell Peppers and Chicken Tinga Stew.
Chicken is cheap anytime and turkey segments come on sale quite often, especially during the winter holidays. I get mine from my local Latin market.
Frozen veggies hold up better than canned when baking, so use frozen, or lightly steam fresh veggies for this Mexican-style casserole.
I can always find corn tortillas and sour cream at my local 99c only Stores. You should lightly brown tortillas in a pan to dry them out somewhat, so the enchilada sauce with sour cream does not dissolve away the tortillas (which happened the first time I baked this.)
You need an oven proof pan or dish, but don't fill it up all the way, it may bubble over - always leave an inch from the top lip. You may want to place a cookie sheet under the heating casserole dish in case it overflows.
Since the ingredients are pre-cooked, all you are doing is heating it up, so the baking time is quick, only about half an hour.
Try out my Latin-themed one dish entree, Creamy Cheesy Enchilada Casserole with Chicken, Corn & Peas, and save some leftovers for your weekly work lunches, too.
Ingredients (about 4-6 servings)
2 cups shredded cooked turkey - okay to use roasted or boiled chichen.
2 cups veggies - I used frozen (and defrosed) corn and peas. Okay to use any favorite frozen veggie combo. You can use fresh, lighlty steamed, veggies too.
2 cups enchilada sauce - 1 small can, add a little water or stock to bring up to 2 cups, if necessary. Okay to use red canned chili sauce.
1 cup sour cream - or cottage cheese. Light, low calorie, or regular.
2 cups cheese - shredded, sliced or crumbled. I used pepper jack cheese, but use any budget cheese you like.
6-8 small corn tortillas - whole and/or torn in half. Cut tortillas to fit a large casserole dish or deep pan.
1 to 2 tablespoons of oil - to lightly brown corn tortillas.
Directions
Start with firming up tortillas by lightly browning corn tortillas for 2-4 minutes. This will keep tortillas from dissolving or falling apart when baking with liquid ingredients. As tortillas heat up move on to assembling casserole.
Defrost frozen veggies. Either soak in water (then drain) or allow to come to room temperature. Shred cooked turkey or chicken into bite-sized pieces. Slice, shred or crumble cheese.
In a large bowl lightly mix 2 cups of enchilada sauce and 1 cup of sour cream, or cottage cheese.
Now time to bring it all together. In a large casserole dish or deep pan add a thin layer of creamy enchilada sauce. Next add a single layer of tortillas. Spread on a thin layer of enchilada sauce. Next pile on a layer of turkey, cheese and veggies. Spoon on another layer of enchilada sauce.
Layer on tortillas, sauce, turkey, veggies and cheese until you almost reach the top. I used 3 layers of tortillas total.
Save some cheese and sauce to top the Enchilada Casserole with. Also stop about an inch from the top of dish. You need some room as sauce and other ingredients melt and bubble. You may want a cookie sheet underneath casserole dish in case it bubbles over some.
Cover casserole dish with lid or foil. Bake in 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. If you want the cheese lightly browned then uncover the baking dish during the last 10 minutes of baking.
Serve hot. A delish side dish is my Mom's Mexican Rice, recipe is a click away, here.
Check back for a daily dose of Thanksgiving recipes all this week - it's
a digital all-you-can-eat holiday brunch at the Cheap$kate Chateau!
That's the beauty of this recipe, there is no fixed ingredients list, so you use whatever is leftover from your abundant holiday meal (click here for some recipes.) After such a big cooking event, it's nice to have all the ingredients in one place and in one simple serving -- no fuss, no muss.
It's simple really, just layer on your holiday leftovers in a deep baking dish then cover it with a cheap store-bought pie crust. When it's done baking (topped with a golden brown crust) spoon out a serving with a side of cranberry sauce.
You might think that it all mixes together, but no, each bite is different according to what you put in. In my first bite I got a pocket of sausage stuffing topped with turkey and gravy, while in the next bite it was pie crust, veggies, and sweet potato.
For this recipe I used the remains from a turkey dinner. I always make too much stuffing and of course there is plenty of turkey left. We baked orange sweet potatoes, but you can use regular white mashed potatoes.
We chowed down all the veggies, so I added a cup each of cooked corn and sweet green peas. You can add any leftover veggie dish you made.
There was very little gravy left, so I made a fresh batch. I browned some leftover turkey skin and poured in a couple cups of water mixed with 2 tablespoons of flour - it's good enough. You can add more gravy so the recipe resembles a pot pie.
Feeling lazy?
My latest cheap$kate recipe is adaptable to whatever you have on hand. Just get a pre-made pie crust from your local market.
So, save a few leftovers from you holiday feast and check out my video below and make your own delish Thanksgiving Leftovers Pie.
Ingredients 1 to 2 cups each of cooked: stuffing, turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and any veggies like corn, peas, green beans, Brussels sprouts and squash. Make this recipe your own and add or subtract the leftovers you have on hand.
1 pie crust - Use regular pie dough made with flour, not a graham cracker crust, as it will crumble apart and may burn easily. Also okay to use biscuit dough from the can, just stretch or roll-out enough of the biscuit dough to cover a baking dish or pan that's filled with leftovers.
Directions
I used a deep dish for baking. A pie pan may be too shallow for your ingredients and they may dry out. You could even half the pie dough and use a tall and narrow meat loaf or bread loaf pan.
If you only have a pie pan then check on baking and remove pie as soon as the crust is light brown, by then the filling should be hot enough.
Use any amounts you have leftover from your holiday meal; the above list is just a sample. Fill up the baking dish, but do stop about half an inch from the top - the liquid in your leftovers may overflow the dish. Just to be safe, you can place a cookie sheet underneath the baking dish or pan.
If you baked the stuffing in the bird, it may be mushy. I recommend
spreading it out in a baking dish and cook stuffing in the oven for
10-15 minutes at 350 degrees to dry it out, just a little. Of course, if
you like your dressing mushy then go right to assembling the Thanksgiving & Christmas Leftovers Pie.
As an example I put turkey in the middle and gravy on top. I liked the potatoes on the bottom layer.
Click on any photo to see larger.
We ran out of veggies, so I added some drained and cooked corn and peas. I also ran out of gravy -- that is the only thing I actually spend any
effort on. I used a little over a cup of gravy, next time I would add at
least 2 to 3 cups of gravy.
It's really up to you what ingredients make up a Thanksgiving & Christmas Leftovers Pie.
For the pie crust, I brought it to room temperature so the dough is easy to spread over the baking dish. Slice into the pie crust to let out steam from the ingredients below. For this recipe I kept it simple, but you could beat a whole egg, or egg yolk, to brush on the pie dough that yields a shinny golden crust.
Once you have all the ingredients layered in a deep dish and covered with the pie dough, bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Check on the pie dough towards the end of baking and remove if it gets too brown.
Since all the ingredients are cooked, all you are doing is browning the pie dough and heating up the leftovers inside.
Serve Thanksgiving Leftovers Pie with a side of cranberry sauce and extra gravy - yum!
Check back for a daily dose of Thanksgiving recipes all this week - it's
a digital all-you-can-eat holiday brunch at the Cheap$kate Chateau!
This Deal of the Day is the anti-Norman Rockwell holiday dinner. I've had my share of sad
Thanksgivings. This can happen when you are single, or first move into a
new city - maybe you are out of town on business. And, on some holidays
everyone you know may be visiting relatives.
While one does feel self-conscious eating alone during the holidays,
there is something to be said of being out of the holiday family drama
loop. And this Turkey Dinner by Banquet is a meal you do not want to share -- nor could you do so, with its small serving size.
I always find them at the grocery store for around a dollar, and they
show up at my local 99c only Store from time to time. The package cover
actually matches the real meal, this time around.
I actually like this frozen meal -- occasionally. While the turkey has
the texture of baloney, and the stuffing amount is miniscule, and if you
close your eyes, you would think you are having the real deal, as all
the flavors are there.
There is an ample amount of gravy to swab about the mashed potatoes,
and the green peas are firm and tasty. The gravy has a deep turkey broth
flavor, although, it overpowers and drowns the stuffing.
The
real weakness is the powdery instant potatoes. They dissolve once the
gravy is mixed in. I don't know why the Banquet food scientists haven't
figured out how to do it right -- after all these decades of frozen
entree development. Their potato formula needs bulking up. And, a touch
of butter (flavoring) wouldn't hurt.
The two turkey loaf slices appear to be white and dark meat. I couldn't
tell any difference in taste. The mechanically separated turkey loaf
doesn't compare to a fresh slice of steaming turkey breast, but for a
buck, it will do.
The peas, of all the ingredients, are the real winner on the black plastic
plate. They taste flash fresh frozen and are firm, not a typically mushy
defrosted entree -- they're as good as any name brand frozen pea.
So if you are alone and broke this Thanksgiving, I would recommend Banquets Turkey Dinner.
On a scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best, I give it a 5. You would not be to
far off to think the Grinch left this small entree under your tree --
and, you would need to consume 2 or 3 of these minuscule meals to get
that second-serving bloated afterglow.
Now, don't worry that The 99 Cent Chef is unhappy this holiday. And, my next post will not be depressing -- because,
my Mom is back with another holiday dessert recipe video: a sweet and
luscious homemade Pumpkin Pie!
