Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Make-Ahead Mac-n-Cheese For a Crowd

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I’d never tried Make-Ahead Mac-n-Cheese before, but figured it was worth a shot! I wondered: Could I make my easy Mac-n-Cheese for a crowd, then put it in the crock pot to stay warm? After all, I didn’t want to be a slave to the stove just as my guests were arriving.

Obviously it worked marvelously, otherwise I wouldn’t be here telling you about it. I definitely feel that this dish is best fresh, right off the stove. But the day I was feeding 25 teens, I needed a side I could make ahead and keep warm. As it turns out, we can make Creamy Mac and Cheese en mass, then put it in a crock pot to stay warm until serving time.

A few small details about making Mac-n-Cheese for a Crowd: Plan to use lots of sea salt. It can be rather bland otherwise. I even go the extra mile and stir in some garlic powder for a little extra pazazz.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: When making this Creamy Mac and Cheese, always remove it from the heat BEFORE you add the cheese. It’s not difficult, but breaking this creamy mac-n-cheese rule will give you weirdly textured pasta. So cook your pasta in the milk, slide it off the heat, then add cheese. See how simple?

Make-Ahead Mac-n-Cheese for a Crowd

Make-Ahead Mac-n-Cheese For a Crowd
 
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Serves: 25-30
Ingredients
  • 32 ounces dry pasta (I use whole wheat noodles)
  • 6½ cups whole milk
  • Sea salt to taste (1-2 teaspoons)
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 3-4 cups shredded cheese (I use Colby jack; cheddar is also great)
Instructions
  1. Mix pasta, milk, sea salt, and garlic powder in a large sauce pan. (I've found it best to divide ingredients into two large pots for faster and more even cooking.)
  2. Cook over medium-high heat stirring almost constantly until the pasta is tender (10-15 minutes).
  3. Remove from heat. (IMPORTANT!)
  4. Add cheese and stir until melted.
  5. Transfer Mac-n-Cheese to a large (6-8 quart) crock pot.
  6. Keep warm at "lo" setting for up to three hours.
  7. Stir in a bit more milk at serving time as needed.

 

When making a large amount of Mac-n-Cheese like this, I usually use this variety of whole wheat elbow noodles.

Need more ideas for cooking for a crowd? Check out this link:

44 Meals to Feed a Large Crowd

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The Easiest Burrito Recipe to Make for the Freezer

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I remember the first time I made these burritos for the freezer. My oldest was a tiny baby and it was my first attempt at freezer cooking as a new mom. My friend had promised this was the easiest burrito recipe a person could make, but somehow I still felt I needed to make a big event out of the ordeal.

I blocked out the entire day. I had determined that I would start the intense burrito-making-process as soon as my baby had his first feeding of the morning. That way, if I needed to work on them slowly all day between taking care of his needs, I could be flexible and available.

Imagine my surprise when I had the entire batch of burritos ready for the freezer before Asa even woke up from his morning snooze! (Imagine my other surprise 21 years later when that tiny baby grew to be an incredible 6’4″ adult person. How did I get here?)

These burritos are so easy it’s almost ridiculous. Now that my first baby and all my other babies are all grown up and eating adult/teenage boy portions, I can’t tell you how glad I am to know how to make the easiest burritos on the planet! These are filling for the boys, easy for them to warm up, and I think we’ve already established that they are incredibly easy to make!

It’s ironic that I’m associating these burritos with having a newborn (pauses to sigh as she thinks back to the day her boys were tiny babies). Now, any time a friend has a baby, I almost always make a batch of these burritos to put in their freezer. It takes very little time for me to make, and it saves a new mom from having to cook for her family!

The most recent new mommy I delivered burritos to told me later that her husband was (kindly) demanding the recipe. “You must have made that sauce from scratch with fresh tomatoes!” she declared. I hated to burst her bubble, but I had to humbly admit, “Nope, that was store-bought salsa stirred into regular ol’ cooked meat and shredded cheese.” Shucks, and here she thought I’d labored on those burritos as long as she’d labored in the hospital having her sweet baby.

Ready to learn the secret of this fabulous freezer food?

The Easiest Burrito Recipe to Make for the Freezer

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The Easiest Burrito Recipe to Make for the Freezer
 
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Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 3-pounds ground beef
  • 32-ounces salsa (any kind)
  • 3 cups shredded cheese
  • Sea salt to taste
  • 12-18 burrito-sized tortillas
  • Any add-ins you like to help stretch the mixture: Cooked rice, black beans, olives, additional spices
Instructions
  1. In a large pot, brown and drain meat.
  2. Stir in salsa and cheese.
  3. Scoop mixture into tortillas and fold.
  4. Freeze burritos on a cookie sheet, then transfer to a freezer bag once frozen.
  5. Heat in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until burrito is hot through and through. (You can microwave them for a couple minutes if you like. Our family no longer has a microwave.)

With just five simple ingredients, you can make these wonderful burritos. Or, you can stir in cooked rice or a can of black beans to help the mixture stretch so you can make even more burritos!

Want more great 5-Ingredient recipes? You’ll definitely want to check out our newest High Five Recipes eBook!

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Oh! And also, I’d love to point you to The Prayer Mugs Prayer Journal. I wrote it in honor of my firstborn turning 20 last year. Believe it or not, an entire year has gone by and that boy turns 21 today! The Prayer Mugs concept has been life changing for me as I turn from worry to faith in trusting God with my growing kids. For one week only, use the code TWENTYONE to get an $8 discount in honor of his birthday!!

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Care to share a favorite homemaking memory from the days your kids were babies? Or maybe they’re babies right now. I’d love to hear the latest going on at your house!

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How to Make Roast Gravy

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If you saw my recent “Easiest Way to Make Beef Roast in the Instant Pot” post, you saw that I promised to share How to Make Roast Gravy. Where there is roast, there must be gravy. There is no other way.

While I shared that I struggled with making a good roast for over 20 years before figuring it out, I perfected my gravy-making skills long ago. I guess that’s a good thing, seeing as my roasts weren’t great. At least we drown the dry meat in gravy.

Making gravy truly isn’t difficult, though in my case, it took some practice. Did I ever tell you about the first time I made gravy for Matt? He had to spread it onto his potatoes with a knife. Good times. (That was in our dating days. Praise God he saw gravy-making potential and still chose to marry me. It was probably because of how I rocked the big hair. Or the high waist pants, which are somehow now back in style. Why, girls? Why?)

How to Make Roast Gravy

How to Make Roast Gravy
 
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Ingredients
  • 1-2 cups beef broth/drippings from a roast
  • ¼ cup cold water
  • 2 Tablespoons corn starch or arrowroot powder
  • Sea salt to taste
Instructions
  1. Pour the drippings from a cooked roast into a small sauce pan.
  2. Heat to boiling.
  3. Meanwhile, whisk together water and cornstarch in a small glass or jar.
  4. Slowly pour water/cornstarch mixture into the boiling beef broth, stirring/whisking constantly.
  5. Continue to cook and stir over medium heat until the mixture has thickened into gravy.
  6. Salt liberally as desired.

 

Need to thicken your gravy? Make another mixture of water/cornstarch and whisk it in to the boiling broth little by little until you’ve reached the desired gravy consistency you want.

It is important that you mix the water and cornstarch together before stirring it into your drippings/broth! Sprinkling cornstarch directly into the hot drippings will only give you lumpy gravy. Ask me how I know.

What are you better at making: Roast or Gravy? Maybe now we can all be good at both!

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The Easiest Way to Make Beef Roast in the Instant Pot

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My mom used to be the queen of perfect Sunday roasts. But for some reason, it’s taken me over 20 years to figure out how to get my roast to fall apart and taste delicious. Today I’ll share what I’ve learned about making beef roast in the Instant Pot. Aha! Now we’re on to something.

After years of trial and error, I finally learned to make a Melt–in-Your-Mouth Beef Roast in the Crock Pot. This is all well and good except for the days I don’t have 12 hours to wait for my beef roast to cook to perfection. A recent Sunday morning, “What can I make for lunch before we leave for church in ten minutes?!” panic led me to investigate how to make a beef roast in my Instant Pot.

Wait. You don’t have an Instant Pot? Trust me. I understand. It took me years of hearing about them to get on the Insta-Train. Now that I’m on board, I’m declaring it to be one of my favorite appliances. Is an Instant Pot worth your investment? I give an emphatic, “Absolutely!” (I have this one.)

So anyway, back to my pot roast. I discovered that there are many Instant Pot roast-making instructions out there. But I have to admit what you already know about me: I really do not like recipes that instruct me to take several steps before walking away from my food to let it cook. After all, what good is using a Crock Pot or Instant Pot if I have to spend 30 or more minutes prepping the food?

Therefore, while most recipes I found instructed that I sear both sides of the roast and sing it a lullaby before allowing the Instant Pot to work its magic, I decided to do what I do best: Throw the food into the pot, turn it on, and walk away. After all, I don’t have time to sear meat on a Sunday morning, nor am I interested in going to church smelling like caramelized onion. And all my fellow worshipers said amen.

I figured the worst that might happen if I took a few shortcuts is that my roast would be mediocre, something my family has dealt with for most of my roast-making life. This is why God invented gravy.

So into the Instant Pot went the roast. I dumped on some sea salt, worchestershire sauce, water, onion, and carrots. We went to church and came home to this:

The meat fell apart. The flavor was incredible. Continue to sear your roast if you must, but as for me and my house, I will continue to throw in the food and let the appliances do the work.

The Easiest Way to Make Beef Roast in the Instant Pot

The Easiest Way to Make Beef Roast in the Instant Pot
 
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Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 3 pound beef roast
  • 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 medium-sized onion
  • Sea salt and pepper to taste
  • 5-8 medium-sized carrots
  • 1 cup water
Instructions
  1. Place roast on the metal trivet in your Instant Pot.
  2. Pour 1 cup water into the bottom of the pot.
  3. Cut onion into fourths and place in the pot.
  4. Peel carrots, cut them in half, then place them on the roast.
  5. Salt liberally, pepper as you like.
  6. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and seal it.
  7. Cook it at High Pressure, Manual Setting, for 70 minutes.
  8. I do natural release as I'm usually still at church during this time.
  9. Shred meat and serve!

 

Add 3ish pounds of scrubbed and cut potatoes to the pot if you like. :)

Be on the lookout for a tutorial on making Roast Gravy.

Am I the only one who has struggled to make a good pot roast? Here’s hoping this recipe solves all your roast-making issues!

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.

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Simple Cheeseburger Hashbrown Cups (or Casserole)

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Sometimes I experiment with recipe ideas and they turn out to be big flops. You don’t know about these because they don’t get shared here, for all the obvious, not-so-tasty reasons. This Simple Cheeseburger Hashbrown Cup or Casserole recipe got rave reviews at our house, making it definitely blog worthy. How can cooking real food continue to get easier??!

Have I mentioned that I discovered Mr. Dells Frozen Hashbrowns at the grocery store and declare them to be a fabulous option? They contain one ingredient: Potatoes. Other frozen hashbrowns at the store have a slew of ingredients listed that I can’t pronounce. So either make your own frozen hashbrowns or see if you can find a brand like Mr. Dells that includes plain ol’ potatoes. I try to have big bags of these on hand at all times now as they are super convenient!

To make this recipe, simply brown meat and stir in the remaining ingredients. Spread mixture into a casserole dish (easy!!) or scoop the mixture into muffin tins (still easy but one more step). Bake and serve. Enjoy the deliciousness!

Simple Cheeseburger Hashbrown Cups or Casserole

Simple Cheeseburger Hashbrown Cups or Casserole
 
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Serves: 24 cups or 6-8 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 pound ground beef, lamb, or turkey
  • 15-ounces frozen shredded hashbrowns
  • ½ - 1 cup ketchup (depending on how much your family likes ketchup)
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 Tablespoons dried minced onion
  • 2 cups shredded cheese (we like Colby jack or pepper jack best, but any variety will work!)
  • Sea salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Brown meat in a skillet until no longer pink.
  2. Mix cooked meat and remaining ingredients together in a bowl until well combined.
  3. For Cups: Scoop mixture into prepared muffin tins (I find that it works best to melt a bit of oil in each tin so that the baked nests pop right out!) Bake in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
  4. For Casserole: Spread mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Bake uncovered in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Freezer Friendly!

Make this recipe into a casserole, cover, and freeze. When you’re ready to bake it, take it from the freezer, cover it with foil and slide it into a cold oven. Bake at 250 degrees for 2.5 hours or until bubbly.

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Simple Crock Pot Salsa Shredded Beef (2 Ingredients!)

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Ready to cook dinner while you’re sleeping? This Simple Crock Pot Salsa Shredded Beef idea is genius!

My Simple Overnight Melt-in-Your-Mouth Beef Roast has become a staple around here. So one night I thought, “Why can’t I try the same idea but use salsa instead of bbq sauce? Then we can have Mexi-Wraps for lunch tomorrow?

I love it when good ideas turn out amazing results! But I love it even more that this recipe is so easy your two year old can make it. My favorite is that this cooks while we’re sleeping so we can wake up and have a good meal ready to serve later in the day. Or if you prefer, start this cooking in your crock pot first thing in the morning and have an awesome meal ready at the end of the day.

Now, some have cautioned against putting frozen meat in a crock pot. I have no hesitation about this, and I think we all know I’m terrible about ever remembering to thaw meat. So if given the chance, I will put frozen meat into my crock pot because this saves brain power. Coffee can only do so much.

The work involved in making this Simple Salsa Shredded Beef includes none other than:

  1. Putting a frozen roast in a crock pot.
  2. Dumping on a jar of salsa.
  3. Letting it cook all night or all day.

Praise God, Glory Hallelujah.

After cooking for 10-12 hours, this meat has become so flavorful and tender it practically falls apart before you even come near it with a fork. Shred it quickly, cry a joyful tear over how marvelous your meal is going to be, and serve this to your family with a smile. After all, you didn’t have to work hard to make this. So you still have energy to smile. What a gift.

Use this Simple Salsa Shredded Beef as Mexi-Wraps in tortillas with taco/burrito fixin’s. Use it to make Simple Spanish Rice Bowls. Toss it into a Taco Salad. Eat it directly out of the crock pot. Who can help it?

Simple Crock Pot Salsa Shredded Beef

Simple Crock Pot Salsa Shredded Beef (2 Ingredients!)
 
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Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 3-4 pound beef or lamb roast
  • 16-ounces salsa
Instructions
  1. Place frozen or thawed roast into a crock pot.
  2. Pour salsa over the top.
  3. Cook in a crock pot on low for 10-12 hours if frozen. If thawed, cook for 8-10 hours on low.
  4. Shred meat and serve.

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Simple Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip (3 ingredients!)

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You’ll love this Simple Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip. But first, wait until you see what we’ve got in the works!

high five cover

It’s a brand new eBook and we’re going to roll it out very soon! It includes a whopping 111 recipes – all of which only utilize 5 or fewer ingredients. This has been one of our most exciting projects! Sharing ways to put simple food on your table is one of our favorite goals, and if the recipe has only 5 ingredients, you can bet it is simpler than ever!

Be on the look out for brand new High Five Recipes I’ll be sharing during the next few weeks, as well as the reveal of our brand new eBook in just a few hours! As for today, you’ll need three simple ingredients and a bag of chips. What used to be a snack can now become a meal!


A few weeks ago when I posted my Cream Cheese Salsa Dip recipe, Kayla left a comment to share that she used the same idea to make Bean Dip. Say no more, Kayla. We got out our cream cheese, salsa, and a can of refried beans and we suddenly had a new favorite!

Do you see how easy real food cooking can be? I had a teen at my house last week devouring my food saying, “I guess I never knew healthy food actually tasted good.” Boom. That is my goal. Healthy food that tastes good. And if it can also be simple to make, then my entire food mission has been accomplished.

If you have time, soak and cook pinto beans for this recipe. But for all who are in a hurry, simply get out a jar of salsa, a package of cream cheese, and a can of beans. Blend it together and your main dish is ready. Eat it hot. Eat it cold. And of course, eat it with fruits and vegetables on the side because this is the 11th commandment. “Thou shalt eat fruits and veggies with every meal.” Amen.

Simple Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip

Simple Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip (3 ingredients!)
 
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Serves: 5 cups
Ingredients
  • 16-ounces salsa (any variety)
  • 8-ounces softened cream cheese
  • 15-ounce can refried beans or pinto beans
Instructions
  1. Blend ingredients together until smooth.
  2. Serve hot or cold with corn tortilla chips.

**UPDATE**

It’s here! Learn all about our High Five Recipes eBook and grab yours here!

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Simple Three Cheese Spaghetti (On a Simple Budget)

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I’ll tell you about this Simple Three Cheese Spaghetti in a minute. But first…

I’ve decided I need to write another cookbook. My Oh, For Real cookbook is almost out of stock, and I’ve learned a lot more about simple real food cooking since I wrote that one. My Best of Heavenly Homemakers book is selling well, but there are very few recipes included.

I think I need to write a cookbook filled with all these super simple real food recipes I’ve been sharing so we can help lots and lots of families put great, nourishing meals on the table without hassle or big expense. Hmmm…my wheels are now spinning with new cookbook ideas. What are your thoughts and ideas about this??!

three cheeese spaghetti1

Today’s Simple Three-Cheese Spaghetti recipe is super creamy and flavorful. We use Pepper-jack cheese for this, which gives it a nice kick. If your family doesn’t like spice, you can stick with Colby-jack, cheddar, or any of your favorites!

Simple Three Cheese Spaghetti

Simple Three-Cheese Spaghetti (On a Simple Budget)
 
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Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 16-ounces whole grain spaghetti noodles
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1½ tablespoons minced garlic
  • 1 cup freshly shredded pepper jack cheese (or cheddar if you want to avoid the spice)
  • ½ cup freshly shredded Parmesan Cheese
  • 4 Tablespoons cream cheese
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Cook spaghetti noodles according to package; drain.
  2. While noodles are cooking, saute garlic and olive oil for 1-2 minutes in a medium sauce pan.
  3. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients to the pan.
  4. Place back on the burner, and cook and stir sauce ingredients until cheeses are melted and sauce is smooth and creamy.
  5. Pour cheese sauce over the cooked spaghetti noodles and serve.

Simple 3-Cheese Spaghetti on a simple budget

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Simple Recipes on a Simple Budget

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Simple Noodle Soup on a Simple Budget

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Did you save your bones from the Simple Lemon Garlic Chicken Legs so you could use them to make broth? You’ll need that great broth in this Simple Noodle Soup recipe!

noodle soup12

See how orange my broth is? That’s because I always cook a lot of carrots and other veggies with my chicken or beef bones when I make broth. Then I blend up the mushy, cooked veggies and stir them back into the broth. I’m telling you, this tip makes our broth super delicious and obviously very packed with nutrients!!

Here are the links which share how I make broth:

I store my broth in 1/2 gallon jars in my fridge to pull out and use as needed. Usually when I make soup, I add more veggies so we’re getting veggies upon veggies and our soups are very nourishing!

This particular Simple Noodle Soup recipe I’m sharing today can really be made according to your family’s preferences. I simply cook sliced carrots and whole wheat noodles in the broth, salt it liberally, and call it a meal. If I serve it with salad then we’re getting even more nutrients and if I throw some fruit on the table we’re golden.

The best part is that this soup is comforting, warm, tasty, and quick to put on the table. It costs very little to make, especially if you’ve kept chicken bones from past meals like these Simple Lemon Garlic Chicken Legs.

noodle soup13

Simple Noodle Soup

Simple Noodle Soup on a Simple Budget
 
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Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 4 cups of your favorite broth
  • 2-3 carrots
  • 1½ cups of your favorite whole grain pasta, any shape or variety
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Additional veggies your family likes in soup
Instructions
  1. Pour broth into a large cooking pot.
  2. Slice carrots (and other veggies if you like) and add to the pot.
  3. Bring broth and carrots to a boil.
  4. Add pasta, salt, and pepper.
  5. Cook until pasta is tender, about 8 minutes.

Simple Noodle Soup on a Simple Budget

There’s no meat in this soup, but if you’ve got some leftover chicken hanging around, feel free to stir it in for extra nourishment and protein!

Catch the running list of Simple Meals on a Simple Budget here.

Simple Recipes on a Simple Budget

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Simple Lemon Garlic Chicken Legs (on a Simple Budget)

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These Simple Lemon Garlic Chicken Legs will make everyone think you are a gourmet chef. Which, of course, you are. No one has to know your secret. The secret about how you spent five minutes making the chicken. Let’s just keep that between us.

lemon garlic chicken11

No one has to know how little you spent on this meal either. We can let everyone think you went all out with time and money.

Want to know how much it cost me to serve this entire meal to my family? There were five of us home the last time I made this. My husband and me, our 17-year old son, our 15-year old son, and our 13-year old son. We ate a full pan of these chicken legs with mixed greens, grapes, and green beans. Total cost for all of us to eat?

$5.61

Total. For the entire meal. For five of us to eat a plate full of nourishment.

Indeed. I’m so glad I did the math!

I always watch for chicken legs to be marked down at the store, which is a huge money saver! This time I used two packages which had been marked down to a tiny $1.27 and $1.34! So total for my meat this meal was just $2.61. Incredible! Add in the greens, veggies, and grapes and I’m estimating that our total for this meal was just $5.61.

Now, not to geek out too much, but this breaks down to just $1.12 per person for this meal. Man, I am loving this Simple Meals on a Simple Budget series! It is challenging me to see what meals pack the most punch to stretch our grocery budget!

Oh! And I saved the chicken bones after we cleaned up all the meat and threw them into my Instant Pot for a small batch of chicken broth. Waste not, want not, right? :) Remember that little tip because the next Simple Budget recipe I plan to share will use that broth!

Simple Lemon Garlic Chicken Legs

Simple Lemon Garlic Chicken Legs (on a Simple Budget)
 
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Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 10-12 chicken legs
  • 1 large-sized lemon
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon paprika
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
  1. Lay chicken leg in a 9x13 inch baking dish.
  2. In a medium-sized bowl, juice and zest the lemon.
  3. Add remaining ingredients to the lemon juice/zest and stir.
  4. Pour the mixture over the chicken.
  5. (Do this ahead of time and refrigerate for 2-24 hours to marinate if you wish.)
  6. Bake, uncovered, in a 425 degree oven for 35-45 minutes or until juices run clear.

Simple Lemon Garlic Chicken Legs

Catch the running list of Simple Meals on a Simple Budget here.

Simple Recipes on a Simple Budget

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