Days 23 and 24: Dinner recipes

Today's post includes dinner from last night and tonight. Before we get to dinner, I did go to the store. We have only a 1/4 gallon of milk left, however, last time I went to Food City a "Kid's club" coupon printed out and said "good for 1 free Food Club milk." Well, of course it's not a full size milk, but it was a 12oz one and that makes me happy! Plus, it was FREE!!!

While I was there I needed to get meat. I was planning on getting a cheap cut of meat like thighs or legs, however, they had the all natural whole chickens on markdown for $2.73!!!! That's only $.69 a pound! So that and the milk only cost me:

Total: $2.93

Total so far: $99.91!!!! Hopefully we won't need anything else! 

Now, onto dinner. Last night I needed something quick and I did a "no, no" and strayed from the meal plan... I had carrots, onions, a little bit of broccoli, and 2 chicken tenders left so I decided to do some stir-fry. While I was cooking the stir-fry I had rice cooking. 

Quick Stir-fry

2-3 chicken tenders or 1 chicken breast 

3/4 cup broccoli 

half an onion, chopped

1/4 c Teriyaki sauce

1 carrot, chopped

pinch of brown sugar

choice of oil for cooking (olive, vegetable, etc)

Heat 1 tbs of oil in a wok or skillet (I used a wok). Add the chopped carrots along with just a pinch of brown sugar over them. Cook until they start to turn bright orange and get a little crisp. Remove the carrots and set aside for later use. Heat another tbs of oil. Once the oil is heated add chicken to it. Let it cook for a few minutes until the underside is white than flip. Take the chicken out of the wok and slice it into chunks. Add the chicken back to the wok along with the broccoli, onion and the carrots that were set aside earlier. Pour 1/4 cup of Teriyaki sauce over the top and cook until tender-crisp. 

Tonight I made a crockpot meal. I love using my crockpot, however, I knocked the lid to mine off the counter a few weeks ago and it broke into a billion pieces! Right now my mother-in-law has been so kind to let me use her crockpot. 

Cuban Black Beans and Rice (adapted from "Busy Family Recipes")

5 cups chicken broth (I didn't have chicken broth, but I did have bouillon so I used 5 cubes in 5 cups of water)

1 1/2 c uncooked brown rice

1 onion, chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped (I didn't have one so I didn't use it, plus, my 2 year old is eating this so I don't want to burn him up)

1 tbs garlic powder

1 tbs cumin

1 tsp salt

2 cans (15ozs each) black beans, drained and rinsed

1 tbs fresh lime juice

(optional sour cream and green onions for toppings)

Mix broth, rice, onion, jalapeno pepper, garlic, cumin, and salt into the crockpot. Cover, and cook on low for 7 hrs. or until rice is tender. After rice is done, stir in the beans and lime juice. cover for 15-20minutes. Last garnish your rice with sour cream, green onions, or whatever you like.