If you are having a bash this weekend, dig on this!  When I have people over to the house, it is all about the food and drinks.  Guests don’t care about it being fancy, but it has to taste good.  I like to make as much as I can in advance so I can “entertain” (According to my wife, entertain = me being loud and drunk.)

So instead of doing burgers and dogs, I decided to do Pot Roast Sliders.  I made about 40 of these for under $20

Pot Roast
2 Pot Roast (Costco, $12.48) (1 pictured)
Bag of dinner rolls from (Costco $4.00)
Beef Broth (about 2 cans.  $1.00)
Salt & Pepper
Rosemary & Thyme

Horseradish Sauce
Sour Cream
Olive Oil
1/2 Lemon Juiced
Salt/Pepper
Horseradish, strained

Take the Pot Roast and put a ton of rosemary, thyme (I have it mixed in my pantry) and salt/pepper.  I have a Le Crusset Dutch oven (spend the money and get one), so heat olive oil on medium and drop a small piece of fat in to check.  If it sizzles you are ready.  Seer one side for about 8 minutes, once it looks kinda burnt, flip it over.  If you have any onions or garlic, you can always add it now to spice things up. Add the garlic whole, you can strain it later.  While it is hot and about at 8 minutes on the second side, dump about a cup of red wine (cab) in the pot.  About 2 minutes later, add the beef broth. Reduce to low heat, we don’t want to boil it.

Most importantly, for the next 4 hours, you can drink the rest of the bottle of wine and clean the house so your friends don’t think that you are hillbillies.

I never measure the horseradish sauce, but the ingredients listed will get you on your way.  After about 1.5 hours, the meat will be really tight and you will think that you messed up, wait another 2 hours and the meat should start to pull apart.  If you can easily pull the meat apart with 2 forks, then it is finished.  Even if there is a slight resistance, then keep it in the pot.

Toast the buns, add the meat and horseradish, salt & pepper to taste, serve.  Now, you are big time courtesy of WIBIA!

-wibia

Cinnamon Rolls

As has been said here before, I’ve lost over 150 pounds over the past few years and because of that, I’m always looking for ways to cut calories on normal foods so that I don’t have to adjust my diet so that I have to eat rice cakes for every meal.  When I stumbled across this quick, easy and CHEAP recipe for low calorie cinnamon rolls on television the other day, I couldn’t resist.  I tweaked it ever so slightly (removed the butter spread and didn’t add the icing…it doesn’t need either of them).

This recipe can be made for less than $2.50 (depending on what brand of crescent roll dough you buy) and here’s what you’ll need:

16 oz. of reduced fat crescent rolls refrigerated dough
16 sprays of no calorie butter spray (I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, for example)
1/4 cup of dark brown sugar
1/4 cup of no calorie sweetener (Splenda, for example)
1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon of salt

The primary cost driver in this recipe is the crescent roll dough.  I got two eight ounce tubes of Meijer brand roll dough for 94¢ each.  The remaining cost was the conglomeration of the seasonings.

It’s easy to make.  All you do is roll the crescent roll dough into a ball and then use a rolling pin to spread it out into a flat rectangular sheet (roughly 8 x 12 inches).  Spray the sixteen sprays of butter spray evenly onto the dough and then spread out the seasonings evenly.  Roll the dough the long way into a log roll and pinch the ends to prevent spillage.  Cut the log roll into eight separate pieces and place flat side down on a baking sheet (use non-stick spray on the baking sheet).  Cover with foil and bake for eight minutes at 375 degrees.  After eight minutes, remove the foil and bake for another five-ish minutes until the rolls rise and are golden brown on top and then remove from the oven.  If you eat these things warm, you’ll immediately fall in love (they also keep in the refrigerator overnight and taste EXCELLENT if you microwave them for ninety seconds).

This recipe took me less than 25 minutes to prepare (including oven time; actual prep time was less than ten minutes) and each roll was less than 110 calories.   Give it a shot if you’ve ever got a craving for a classic guilty pleasure done in a semi-healthy way!

-IndianapolisEater

Hodgson Mill Couscous
Garlic & Basil

I usually get the Near East brand just out of convenience.  I tried their whole wheat variety once and it was horrible.   I picked up the Hodgson Mill brand and it is now my favorite box couscous.  Good flavors and consistency.

The “recipe,” I teamed it up with some fresh green beans with sauteed with flat leaf parsley and lemon juice.  Chicken thighs are grilled with a mix of rosemary, thyme, kosher salt and pepper.  I added a little parsley to the couscous as well.  Chicken thighs were on sale for $.99 a lb, couscous was about $2.00 a box and green beans were about $3.00 from Fresh Market.

Would I Buy It Again? Yes. Based on how much we had left over, it was about $3.25 a plate.  I prefer it to the Near East brand as well.  Great meal, great deal.

-WIBIA

So I don’t eat out everyday, but there is a review almost everyday, do the math there!  I gotta keep this blog fresh so you crazy kids keep coming back.

I love to cook and I am just as good at cooking as I am running this kick ass blog (stop rolling your eyes).   So occasionally we are going to add a segment for you at home cooks.

This week, how to make an awesome BBQ Chicken Pizza at home for $3.19!
Pizza Crust:  Kroger Brand.   $1.25 (on sale)
1/2 grilled chicken breast.  $3.55 for 3 breast package ($1.99 lb) = $.59
Sweet Baby Rays BBQ: $.50 worth (50% of a bottle on sale)
1/4 Red Onion:  $.20 worth of a 6 lb. bag from Costco
2 Hand full of Mexican Blend cheese:  $.50 from Costco
Green Onion:  About $.15 worth.

The Kroger Brand Pizza crust better than I thought that it would be.  This fed my preggo wife and I no problem and was pretty tasty.  Give this recession buster a try and tell me what you think.

Dig It!
-WIBIA