OK, once again, to Avery’s dismay, I’m changing the rules of my own game. It’s a perk of having your own blog. Bwahaha!!! (huge voice)-“Phenomenal cosmic power.” (baby voice)-“Itty-bitty living space.” (Name that movie, anyone?)
Instead of having you vote on the best unusual sentence, since I am not detecting huge interest in this topic, I am just choosing the three I think are most unique.
My three choices:
“They’re just like sponges soaking up all that yummy dad juice, aren’t they?” -submitted by Megan, written by kiwords (unspecified post, sorry)
“As I stepped down from the platform, my fashionable high-heel caught a loop of the microphone wire and I very ungracefully somersaulted the 100 yards to the prayer benches that stopped my human derailment.” Diane’s Place: Diane + Clumsy + Church = Hilarious
“It’s like crack, with bamboo flooring.” Chookooloonks: The Journal: guilty pleasures
(Side note: My college student read this quote of Karen’s and revised it to refer to her much-loved college choir “It’s like crack, with sheet music,” she told me.)
Thanks for submitting your sentences, everyone! I had fun reading them. And winners, email me (owlhaven at aol dot com) if you want the award html to put on your blog!
Oh, and for this weeks’ Opinion Saturday, I would love it if you would share YOUR most affordable recipe. Taking submissions until Tuesday evening.
owlhaven.wordpress.com 
Yeah, those are good. I like the human derailment. Sounds like she was talking about me.
This is a great recipe I got from a lovely woman on a cooking board named Joan. One batch of this recipe fed 6 grown (& hungry) men, a 12-year-old boy, and me, and there was still a portion left over. It’s a rib sticker.
Sloppy Joe, Macaroni & Cheese Casserole
Makes 10 servings
1 lb. elbow macaroni, or your favorite pasta shape
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes
1 can (6oz) tomato paste
1 pkg. Sloppy Joe seasoning
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
3 cups of half and half*
1/4 cup butter
1 small onion minced, about 1/2 cup
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. Coleman’s dry mustard powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 pkgs. (8 oz. ea.) finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese, about 4 cups divided
Cook pasta according to pkg. directions, drain, set aside.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Coat a baking dish (8 cup) well with butter and place on a baking sheet. In a skillet over medium-high heat cook the beef until browned, drain and return to pan. Reduce heat to medium. Stir in tomatoes and their juice, tomato paste and seasoning. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to allow flavors to blend.
Stir Worcestershire sauce into half and half, set aside. In a large pot over medium-high heat, melt butter. Add onion; cook until just tender. Whisk in flour, mustard powder, salt and pepper. Cook 1 minute, whisking occasionally. Gradually whisk in half and half mixture until combined. Bring to a boil; cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 1 min. Remove from heat; stir in 3 cups of the cheese until melted and smooth. Stir in pasta.
Spread half of the pasta into the prepared pan evenly. Put in all the Sloppy Joe mixture and spread that evenly over the top of the pasta mixture. Spread the remaining pasta mixture evenly over the top of the Sloppy Joe mixture. Coat a piece of tin foil with cooking spray and cover the dish. Bake on the baking sheet for 30 minutes. Remove foil and sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top of the dish. Bake for 10 more min. or until cheese is melted and mixture is hot and bubbly.
*you can substitute regular or low-fat milk, but sauce may be thinner
Oh…I haven’t seen Aladdin in awhile. Those are pretty creative. My recipe is from the LLL cookbook and it’s called Joe’s Sorta Lasagne” basically it’s a baked ziti.
1 egg
2Cricotta cheese
1lb ziti cooked
11/2 C spagheti sauce w/meat*
3/4 lb mozzarella cheese cubed
10oz spinach cooked, drained
Mix egg , ricotta chese in a bowl and add remaining ingredients; mix gently. Spoon into 21/2 uart casserole. Bake @350 for 30 min.
*I just use homemade spaghetti sauce and add some ground turkey or beef to it.
I’m not sure it’s my most economic but it’s easy and yummy!
I’m out – I have no idea what an “affordable recipe” means. Can you see why we are always flat broke? Heh.
I dontr know about affordable but it can be made to make double batches and it is super easy. I use the crockpot. Put in a package of stew meat straight from the freezer, 2 cans of diced tomatoes (or large jar of canned purred or diced tomatoes) and 2 packages of dry italian salad dressing cook all day. Then make egg noodles and serve mixture over egg noodles. Kids love it and I love it because it is easy.
Alladin!
I’ll be back with a recipe, great idea, I am ALWAYS looking for affordable dishes the kids will like.
Hi, first time commenting on your blog, which I found from your comment about my new Susie-designed template. Thanks for stopping by – and I’m looking forward to reading more here.
Boy, I wish I had a recipe to share, but instead I’ll steal the ones getting posted here. Great idea!
I’ve been reading for a while, found you from the Larger Family blog. I’ve never commented before, but now I can’t resist!
Here are some of our favorite flavorful, yet inexpensive meals. Each is designed to serve the 5 people in our family, with leftovers. None of these should cost much more than $10, depending on prices in various stores/regions. I’ve found that stocking up on good-quality spices when you can find them helps everything else be more frugal.
Chili
Tuna Noodle Casserole
Lentils and rice with meat
Tamale Pie and
Pasta Carbonara
We are eating gluten & dairy free, so just substitute normal pasta for the GF pasta, and butter for the margarine as needed.That will probably make them even cheaper to make, too.
porkchops ( to feed 5) (on or off bone, frozen or not….)
1 large jar of salsa
put in crock pot simmer on high for 8 hours
when done serve with shredded cheese, sourcream, and a veggie! Yum! (obviously some would need to double- maybe triple the recipe!!!)
[…] Mary ’s Owlhaven Opinion Saturday is about affordable recipes. I commented with about 5. I may be a little excited about recipes lately. Y’think? […]
Oooh–fun one. I’ll have to try some of these.
One of our favorites (and probably around $5 for our family of 4, plus one serving of leftovers for dh’s lunch)–you can also make it vegetarian by leaving out the sausage and adding another can (or variety) of beans
Skillet Supper (a Pace Salsa Recipe)
One link (half a pkg) of smoked sausage (kielbasa)
one can of tomatoes (diced, stewed, or with green chiles, depending on your love of spice)
one cup of salsa
one cup of water
one cup of long grain white rice
one can of dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
Mix all together in a large skillet with lid. When it boils, turn down to simmer, and cover. When I’m cooking regular rice, I never peek, but with this, you might peek and stir, and add more water if necessary every 5 minutes or so. It takes about 20 minutes to cook.
Garnish with shredded cheese and/or sour cream.
Every time I hear that line from Alladin, I think of baby Jesus. “PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER! Itty bitty living space.” Indeed!
I love cheap meals. They are the best ones!! I did a Thursday Thirteen with 13 of our favourite, cheap meals. You can find it here: http://pattonfamilymusings.blogspot.com/2006/05/thursday-thirteen-cheap-meals_04.html (I don’t know how to link up properly here…)
I have also started cooking in bulk by making 3 or more of the same thing and then freezing the extras. It makes the meals cheaper because we buy more for less at the time!
Ok, I can’t resist a recipe contest.
Mediterranean Lentils & Rice – serves 8
4T vegetable oil
2 onions, minced
4 t cumin
2 t cinnamon
1 t cayenne, or to taste
2 t salt
1 1/2 cups lentils
4 c broth or water
2 15 oz cans crushed tomatoes
2/3 cup dried currants
2 c rice
crumbled feta cheese (optional, but strongly recommended)
Heat oil in large saucepan (or dutch oven) and add onions, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, and salt. Cook over med-high heat until onions are soft. Add lentils and broth/water and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, simmer around 30 minutes. Remove cover, add tomatoes and currants, return to a boil then cover & reduce heat again. Cook for about another 10 minutes or until lentils are tender.
Meanwhile, cook rice (fast/easy method is in the microwave – add 4 c water to 2 c rice in a large casserole, micro on high for 5 minutes and medium high (power level 7 or so) for 17. Works like a charm.).
Serve lentils over rice and top with crumbled cheese if desired
Note – this recipe is for the dried green or brown lentils, not red lentils. If you want to speed things up use canned lentils instead of dried (3 or 4 cans). Also, you can substitute raisins for currants.
[…] I won the Golden Keyboard for this past Saturday’s Opinion Saturday! […]