Oven Fried Chicken!!!

Wow! The kids will LOVE this! You can make it with the cheap leg quarters I keep telling you to buy. Here is what you do:

Cut up the leg quarters in 2 pieces, leg & thigh. It's not hard if you find the join. Then get a big baking pan and spray it with cooking spray and put a stick of butter or margarine in it. Turn the oven on to 425^ and put pan in the oven to let butter melt.

While that is melting, take a large bowl & put 1.5 cups of flour in it. Add 1 teaspoon salt, garlic salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper & 1.5 tablespoons paprika or creole seasoning. Mix it all up and coat 1 piece of chicken at a time. Leave the skin on. By this time your butter should be all melted.

Take pan out of oven with oven mits and place floured chicken skin side down in pan. Cook for about 20-25 minutes then take out of oven & turn over. Cook an additional 15 minutes on this side. Cooking time will be around 40 minutes.

You can even use the left over grease in the chicken pan to make great tasting gravy! Will give you the recipe for that next time.

Rosey~

Save Money Now!!

Now, more than ever, you have to find ways to save money! Recently 10 lb. bags of leg quarters were on sale for under $5 each. For a family of 4-5 you can get 2 to 3 meals a bag, big, filling meals!

So, we stock piled our stand up freezer with nothing but leg quarters. We went every day to the store and purchased 2 bags. That was the limit. Figured I could feed my family for a month for $60 or less! What else could you fix for that?

Chicken is so versitile. You can Barbeque it, roast it, broil it, fry it, grill it, even make chicken soup with it! Hope this helps! Rosey~

Side Dishes- GREEN BEANS!

ALWAYS have at least one Green thing on your plate! That is my eating Rule. They won't always like the same things. My boys like broccolli and one likes asparagus. But, most kids will eat Green beans.

Try adding a little bacon in before you add the green beans. It give it some flavor and then just salt, pepper & add a little garlic salt. Keep it simple. You can use canned or fresh.

Rosey~

Sausage Biscuts for BREAKFAST!

Here is another GREAT breakfast idea! Try sausage biscuts. Just buy the cheap biscuts, you know the 4 together, which gives you 10 biscuts. Then by the off brand sausage. I usually only pay around $1.20 for a roll. You can freeze them and thaw them right before you use them. The trick is not to thaw them all the way, just enough to get your knife through. Cut them into 10 pieces and put in the frying pan for around 3 minutes per side. I usually cook mine twice, that would be 6 minutes per side total or 12 minutes total.

While you are thawing out the sausage, pre-heat the oven to 400^ and spray a pan and pop open biscuits and follow directions to cook. So far, you have around $2 for breakfast!

If that is not enough, you can always fry eggs or scramble and you can have sausage and egg or add cheese. I usually cut up a piece of fruit with this, like an orange.

Rosey~

Breakfast Ideas

My boys love a big breakfast! Sometimes you don't have the time. But, if you make it up the night before, it can be done.

I have a great pancake recipe that even has the dreaded cottage cheese in it and they won't know it's good for them.

Country Pancakes: 3 cups all purpose flour, 4 tablespoons sugar, 4 teaspoons baking powder, 1.5 teaspoons baking soda, 3 eggs, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 1/2 cup of milk, & 1 cup of cottage cheese smashed with a fork. Mix it all together. It make a huge amount, at least 2 breakfasts. It won't keep longer than that.

If you like you can substitute sugar for artificial sweetner, you can't tell. I also use sugar free syrup, but my boys use the regular. You can add chocolate chips or nuts if they like that. When you fill them up on pancakes, they eat less meat! You can fix fried bologna or something else cheap. They'll love you for it!

Rosey~

More PORK ideas!

Everyone loves Pork! My favorite is boneless pork loin. Wait for it to go on sale, around $1.99 a lb. Usually I get 4-5 meals out of them for $16-$18. That's around 4 dollars a meal for meat!

Just cut the loin in slices as thick as you'd like and put in zip lock freezer bags, as many as your family will eat for a meal. Then put the rest in the freezer for easy meals later.

Put some lemon juice on them with salt, pepper, & garlic salt and bake or broil. Pork chops cook quick so don't over cook! That is the worse mistake, because then it is tough and chewy. Your family will love it!

Rosey~

More PORK ideas!

Everyone loves Pork! You can get it cheap sometimes. Boneless pork loin is my favorite! But wait til it goes on sale, like $1.99 a lb. If you take zip lock freezer bags, you can put as many as you need in each bag and freeze the other meals. I usually get 4-5 meals out of one loin for $16-$18. You can get a big piece of meat and make several meals out of it. Just slice it up any thickness you'd like. Put a little lemon juice on them and salt, pepper & garlic salt and bake or broil. They cook fast, so don't over cook them!

Rosey~

Shop at The Stores that will save you money!

Everyone likes a beautiful store to shop in. But, sometimes you have to shop where you can get the best bang for your buck.

Try places like Aldis or Save-A-Lot. These are no frills stores, but can save you a ton on price! They even have some name brand items. You can always buy your bulk items at these stores and pick up a thing or two at the fancy ones.

Rosey~

SAVING WITH OFF BRANDS

Most consumers are not aware that most off brands or store brands are made by the companies who make the brand things. You can save a ton buying the store brand items. There are codes on the items to show what plants they are at. If you buy brands wait for SALES! You can save some by not buying too much before it spoils. Know what is in your frig!

Rosey

Don't forget the rice & Fillers!

Once you have a few good meat recipes, don't forget the fillers. Give them anything to eat, except more meat! Try rice. You can just make rice & gravy or you could add chicken bullion to add flavor or bay leaves. Baked potatoes are good. You can bake in the microwave. Just scrub & fork holes all over and make a circle on rim of plate and cook at least 15-20 minutes. Most microwaves have a potato button. You can make broiled potatoes. Cut up scrubbed potatoes, put in a shallow pan, cut in small pieces. Add olive oil, garlic salt, salt, pepper, & creole seasoning. Mix & broil for 20 minutes. Don't forget to stir once or twice. They'll love it!

Rosey~

Don't forget the rice & Fillers!

With any good FILLING meal you need rice or something like pasta or potatoes. Basically, anything except more meat! Sometimes I cook pasta and just add butter & italian seasoning. Baked potatoes are good and can be made in the microwave. Just scrub off potato & poke holes in it with a fork all over. Then place in a circle around the rim of a plate and cook for at least 15-20 minutes. Some microwaves have a potato setting. Or you could try cut up broiled potatoes. They love them! Scrub off potatoes & cut up with skins on them into small pieces. Then sprinkle olive oil on top & garlic salt, salt, pepper, & a creole spice. Mix & put in a shallow baking dish & broil for 20 minutes. Taking out about midway and mixing to cook evenly. You can make a ton of this if you like. Different meat recipe next.

Rosey~

BARBEQUE BBQ IN THE CROCK POT

If you need another great crock pot idea, here is a Great Simple one. Just take a Boston Butt and place it in the crockpot. Cook 6-8 hours. Before you add the BBQ sauce, take off the juice and measure it and put it in another pan for rice. We call it "GREEZY RICE" and boy is it good! Just add rice & twice the liquid (including the juice from the pot). Start the rice to boil with lid and turn down to low and simmer 20 minutes (just don't lift the lid). Once you have the juice off the BBQ, just add mustard based sauce. It doesn't have to be the expensive kind. The cheap stuff will do. Let it cook for about an hour longer. It will be falling apart, but you can cut it up for the hash look. I also fix a can or 2 of off brand green beans with galic salt, salt & pepper. What a great and hearty meal! Sometimes you can get Boston Butt for $.99 a lb.

Rosey~

More Meat Ideas

Tired of Chicken! Try Pot Roast. You can do it in the crockpot or roast it in the oven.
Crockpot: spray with pam, add pot roast & cut up carrots & potatoes (peeled) then just add 1 envelope of Onion Soup Mix and 1 cup of water. Cook 6-8 hrs and enjoy!
Oven: do the same thing as above, instead cook in dutch oven or one with a lid at 350^ for 2-3 hours.
More later!

Rosey~

More Chicken Leg Quarter Recipes

Here are some more simple, yet amazing chicken recipes!

Try this Greek chicken recipe: spray your crock pot & put several whole pieces of leg quarters, skin and all in the pot. Then add olive oil, vinegar, garlic salt, a pinch of sugar, 4-5 bay leaves, a little oregano & a can of diced up tomatoes (if you don't have diced up, you can use whole & cut mash them up yourself or use tomato sauce or paste) you just want a hint of tomato taste! Scrub whole potatoes & quarter or eighth and put in the pot. You'll also be making Greek potatoes! Cook 6-8 hours in the crock pot or you can cook in the oven, slow roast at 275-300^ for 3 hours. It will be falling off the bone good! You can make a pot of rice and spoon the sauce over it.

On any of these recipes you can remove the skin. I'm not always crazy about the skin. So, on some of the pieces I will remove it and just have skinless chicken for me.

If you want it to look like more chicken, cut up the pieces into legs and thighs. They usually cook a little faster that way.

Try another recipe by just adding some jelly to the chicken. Orange marmelade is great or you could try peach. Just season with salt & pepper and add jelly on top then bake!

That's probably enough about leg quarters. But stay tuned to more crock pot & meat ideas!

Rosey~

Cooking Cheap with LEG QUARTERS

One of the best things I have found that is versitile & filling is fixing Leg Quarters. They can be purchased by the 10 lb. bag and freeze well. Usually I get 2 maybe 3 meals out of a bag. I try not to pay more than $6 per bag, usually only $4-$5. Walmart is a good place to find them cheap. You can bake, broil, fry, grill or even crock pot them.

Here are a few ideas: You can bake 1 hr.at 350^ or crock pot 6-8 hrs. the chicken with 1/2 bottle of italian dressing.

Most of the time I just use a little lemon juice, salt, pepper, & garlic salt.

You can always add barbeque sauce!

For Oven Fried chicken, cut into 2 pieces, take 1-2 cups flour, salt, pepper, garlic salt, & about 2 tablespoons paprika. Turn oven on 375^ spray a big baking pan, put in 1 stick margarine to melt while oven heats up (several minutes), then flour chicken place in pan skin side down. Cook 20-25 minutes, turn over & cook another 15 minutes. Your kids will love it! My boys favorite.

Rosey~

Take Stock of the Situation

Once my children where born and weighed 10 Lbs. 15.5 Ozs. & 9 Lbs. 1 Oz. I knew my husband & I were in real trouble. Our boys were eating all the food on their plates at restaurants for children 12 and under by age 4 or 5. By ages 10 and 11, I told my husband, who is a big guy (6'1" & 300 lbs), in a couple more years I'll have three (3) your size sitting around our table and eating all our food! Little did I realize they would be bringing their Friends over for dinner also! Our boys LOVE to EAT MEAT! Can anyone say "LEG QUARTER"? You can even pay too much for them. Will give you more tips on that later.

Rosey~

Feeding Teenage Boys for LESS

Hi, as a mother of 2 growing teenage boys, 16 & 17 and a next door neighbor who is practically my 3rd son, 15, I wanted to share some ideas of how to save money feeding these MONSTERS without skimping on nutrion! In the coming days I will let you in on a some secrets to buying off brand without sacrificing quality.