Feta Marinara Chops w/ Garlic butter noodles!

We have been buying feta for a long time now, it is so versatile, great with salads and eggs. I bought this huge 1kg tub of feta for 11 bucks at Superstore, way better deal then the 400g one for 8!

We had some left over pasta sauce from pizzas, I browned the chops then covered in sauce and chunks of feta, baked for 30 mins.
The chops came out so moist, with creamy feta with every bite!!

For the noodles I used PC blue menu whole wheat spaghetitini, thinner then regular, they are so good in stir fry's as well! After boiling, I added noodles to some butter and minced garlic I had browned up in a pan. Tossed and served.

We moved to all whole wheat pasta, rice and breads when Elias was born. Its way more filling!! Dont get me wrong...a white bun is soooo good!! But if you are going to eat some grains and rice, it might as well be whole wheat!

I'm pretty sure I didn't need 2 pork chops..
But I just couldn't resist!!!
Again, some wonderful sweet corn from the Hansons!!

Pork: $4.50
Noodles: $2.00
Feta: $1.00
Sauce:$.75
Corn: $ Sweat labor

Total: $8.25 for 6 peeps!

Enjoy,

Cory

Black Bean and Corn Chili

I love chili in the winter time! It is such comfort food!! And there really is no rule to chili, add what and how much of whatever you want!! My dad did not like spicy chili but he loved a sweet chili. He would make his with Heinz ketchup and syrup! Very tasty!! With my boys I did the same for this chili!

This week at Askews they had their 2 for 1 meat sale on. We buy a bulk of our meat there anyway, so we stocked up some more!! We got mainly ground beef, it worked out to 2.26 a lb for extra lean ground beef. Cant beat that anywhere!!! And they were in perfect 1 lb packs!

My recipe was simple:

1lb beef
1 med onion
1 tsp minced garlic
2 cans brown beans in tomato sauce
1 can black beans (rinse and drain well)
2 cups of frozen corn
3 tbsp of Maple Syrup
1 Cup of pasta sauce (leftovers)

Brown meat, onions and garlic, season with salt and pepper. Add remaining ingredients, simmer for 15-20 mins. Voila!

Simple, delicious, filling, CHEAP!!!

Total Cost: 6.50 We ate it for supper and lunch today!! Serve with some toast or fresh baked buns!!!

Cory

Waffles w/ Peaches and Bacon and Eggs

Its not a hard sell in our house for waffles!! The boys love them!! Add in some home made canned peaches, bacon and eggs and you got a great Sunday Supper! Grab a waffle recipe and have this for supper tomorrow!!

Yesterday I got a new app for the phone, a photo editing one, So I tried a few on some of the pictures, like these eggs from Skye Hamming

We usually have bacon in the house, but only because at Superstore you can buy 2kg of bacon for 5.99...Dirt cheap. Its by the frozen chicken breasts, look for Olympic bacon ends. They are ends, and some times alot of fat, but pick through and you will get huge meaty chunks of bacon. Your call how much fat you want!! It tastes great, and I think we have used it 5 times already for meals and I still have 1/3 left.

Every summer we usually can some peaches. We are limited by pantry space so we only did 12. But so thankful....they are delicious.

Waffles are dead easy to make. I used the better homes recipe, simple but tasty. Hint of vanilla and cinnamon make these waffles sweet enough!!

Last Christmas my mother in law bought me real maple syrup! I had never had it, and she wanted me to get all fancy shmancy with cooking. Well Ma, I put it on waffles ha. But its a something that we just started using all the time now, We don't buy anything but real maple syrup. Wouldn't you rather have natural then processed corn syrup? It is costly, but trust me, its worth it!!!

Enjoy!!
Cory

"Mennonite Style" Beef Enchiladas!

This is a delicious meal that my wife introduced me too when we got married. Her family was introduced to it by some family friends and have made a variation ever since! We add different stuff to ours, this time we used ground beef, peppers and spinach. We use tomatoes, peppers, ground pork, spinach, whatever you want as filling. So I will lay out step by step for you, and maybe this will be your supper one night!!!

We buy our wraps from Superstore, 10 in, 10 in a pack, usually 3.29-3.89. We use them for wraps and lunches all the time. These are Whole wheat ones.
To start off, you need 1 can of bacon and bean soup.
Take a spoon full of that, rub it all around the middle.

We fry ground beef with some onions and garlic, salt and pepper, add a spoon full of that mixture ontop of your bean spread.

This is where you can add extra flavor, you could use taco seasonings etc. We keep it pretty simple!

Next, we add our chopped peppers!!, You could use any kind of peppers you want!!! Tomatoes are excellent in here as well!!

We love spinach in our house!! We used to get tons of it from our weekly vegetable box from pilgrims produce! Check them out!!!  In the "off season" We usually buy big containers of fresh baby spinach for $3.50-$5.00. We throw it in everything!! Eggs, wraps, salads, these, etc!!Last many meals!! definitely worth it!

Wrap them up!!! Place tightly in a roasting pan or casserole dish!!

To top it off, mix one can of cream of mushroom soup with half of a cup of milk, pour over enchiladas, Grate some cheddar cheese and throw on, bake off at 350 for 45 mins. Not the healthiest!! But flippin delish! We serve it with sour cream and salsa, but tastes great all on its own too!!

Mmmm. Enjoy!!

Cory

Honey Garlic Chicken thighs w/ Smashed Veg and Garden Salad!

I love coming home to cook after grocery shopping! Your pantry and fridge are full of tons of ideas and selections.

At superstore, they had cases of thighs with legs attached for $14.99. And they are huge pieces of chicken! They come frozen in a 5 kg box, $1.36 lb. Not too bad!.

We had company over and took out half, which was 6 pieces. Chopped to legs off for the kids and the adults had the thigh.

To go along with the chicken, we mashed up some white potatoes (2.99 for 10lb @ quality greens, okanagan grown). With some carrots and cauliflower. I boiled the carrots and potatoes until almost tender, then threw in cauliflower to steam down.

Added some butter and milk, some basil and parsley, salt and pepper, and mashed up! Leave those skins on!! Healthy and way less work!

Perfect side dish, cheap, healthy, spuds, carrots, cauliflower!

I threw the chicken in with some salt and pepper @ 375f for 1 hr 15 mins. (they were frozen) In the meantime I took creamed honey, minced garlic, 1/4 cup butter, melted in a saucepan.

Throughout cooking, I poured sauce over the chicken. I basted 3 times with the mixture.

The result? Beautifully sticky chicken!! Crispy skin and nice moist meat.

I made a nice garden salad to accompany the meal. beautiful peppers from Swan lake nursery land! Shop local people, don't forget we are blessed to live in an area that still has local produce, support local or one day they will disappear.

And honestly, they were a fraction of the cost as peppers from superstore or walmart!!

So get out there and support local. for those of you in Armstrong, you should buy your meat from Askews, not Superstore! Wouldn't you rather have quality meat from real butchers!!! Not pre packaged hamburger and steaks from another province, shipped into the stores!! Its not more expensive to go to Askews. Most of the time the meat is cheaper there then Superstore or Wal-mart. Thats my challenge for you today!!! Shop local!! I did buy those chicken legs from superstore, but I'm not saying don't not buy stuff, just be aware! We buy 95 percent of our meat from askews or the Butcher shop in Vernon.

So serve up some honey garlic chicken this week at your table!! Don't buy the pre packaged sauce. Have honey in your house!! It is wonderful and healthy.

And you know whats in your honey garlic sauce!!!




Total meal cost: $14.00, 4 adults, 5 kids, 2 babies. CHEAP!!!

Cory

Pork loin Burgers w/ Maple Balsamic Onions and Acorn Squash Fries!

Question......What do you get when you take a juicy pork loin....home made buns....and maple balsamic onions? This awesome tasting burger!!!! You take the best and put it together. Who doesn't love a lean juicy pork chop?  Who doesn't like home made buns!!! So I figured you might as well combine them and go for a ride!!!

Now you don't have to go to the extreme of making home made buns...just get your significant other to do it for you :) Any bun will do!!, Grab some pork loin chops and bbq them or fry them in the pan. Add a little of your favorite BBQ sauce....boom. I took an onion, sliced it, cooked low for 15mins with a little oil and butter, added a dash of balsamic vinegar and a splash of real maple syrup! Cook on low another 5 or 10 mins! Its the perfect add on to a burger!!

Yummy Buns, You will have to ask my wonderful wife the recipe. I tried buns yesterday, but I doubled and didnt add enough liquid...so we had some nice thick dough buns. These were soft, so perfect for this!




Pork Loin chops from a whole loin I bought, about 3 bucks worth.

These tasted great with our home made Zucchini relish!! Check back through the posts to see!!

We had some acorn squash, And I wanted to find a new way of having it. I saw one recipe that had made squash fries....Genius. I cut the squash in half, used a vegetable peeler to get the skin off, scrape the insides out, cut into fry shape pieces, covered in oil and salt and garlic salt, baked off for 35 min at 350f. Delish.

They could have used a higher temp I think, they were a little soft, but they did have some crispys to them. They were awesome!! This picture is deceiving, because Elias took like 5 mins at the end of his meal to finish one bite of fries....``I dont like them...`` Ha. Win some lose some!!

 Yum!!!

I hope you take the chance to try this one out!! The Burger was excellent, I was glutonous and had 2....still full!! And cheap!! Cant go wrong!! Enjoy!!!

Cory

Quinoa with Sweet Chili Pork and Rainbow Chard

I love, love, love Quinoa! It is an awesome food that our family has really enjoyed.
In the summer we would do Quinoa with fresh asparagus and lemon and feta. So good!!!


I have to be honest, I have not looked around much for this product. I have only purchased mine at superstore. It is organic quinoa, And I think I purchased for $1.65/100g. So I have no clue if its cheap or not elsewhere! I know its not cheap for us to eat as a family all the time. But it is great once in awhile!

I started off cooking the quinoa in chicken broth rather then water, the flavor is amazing!! Make sure you rinse your tiny little quinoas before cooking. Same cooking ratio as rice. I used 2 cups to 4 cups broth. Brought to a boil, covered, and then simmered for 15 mins, remove from heat and let rest for 5 mins.

At the same time the Quinoa was cooking, I started my boneless cubed pork loin over med high heat.

 Rough chopped some beautiful rainbow chard, peppers and onions.

Once the meat was almost all cooked, I added the vegetables and sweet chili sauce!











Once Quinoa was done, I added meat mixture to the quinoa pot, mixed up, added some fresh feta cheese, gave a good mix, then served!!

Awesome quick meal, about 20 mins total time. And relatively cheap. Quinoa is not cheap like rice, but again, it is amazing, and we love it as a "treat" once in awhile!!.

Total cost:
Quinoa: $2.50
Pork: $3.00
Vegetables: $2.00
Feta: $1.50

$9.00 meal!! for 6, plus extra! So try some Quinoa Today!! Its awesome, filling and healthy!!!