What are your favorite "semi-homemade" recipes?

[Joanne]

I like to shop at closing or opening to get the best mark downs. Often, I'll find prepared salads, produce, rotisserie chicken, etc. marked way down.

 

The other day, I purchased deli made chicken salad on clearance. I added slivered almonds, walnuts, apples and celery. Cut the fat per serving, increased the fiber and nutrition. I turned 1.5 servings into 4.

 

I often put rotisserie chicken, whole, in a crock pot with water, nearly gone celery, carrots and onion. I "cook" for many hours. The chicken falls off the bone, the broth is seasoned, I utilize nearly all the meat in a soup/stoup/stew with newly cooked carrots, celery and usually add brown rice.

 

What are your favorite "semi homemade" options? The budget friendly ones especially welcome.

[helena]

I have a meal that the kids love which is neither homemade or pre-made, if you know what I mean :).

 

I make fideo with black beans and tortillas

 

fideo is made by browning a chopped old carrot, garlic, onion and a bunch of fideo noodles in some oil, adding a small can of tomato sauce, vegan chicken broth, water, salt, mexican oregano and cumin.

cook until noodles are soft

garnish with lime, cilantro, & sour cream

 

black beans

in an iron skillet: oil, 1/2 onion, 1 garlic, 1 slice vegan bacon

in blender add 1 can Sun Vista black beans, cooked garlic and bacon

puree

pour puree into seasoned oil (the onion should be blackened in the oil)

cook down, remove onion, squeeze some lime in.

Yummy!

 

I usually have some old mole in the fridge, if not it only takes a few minutes to whip up.

oil, 1 garlic, brown, add handful of little red dried chilis, brown, throw in blender with the oil, salt, blend.

 

This is the meal we eat when there's nothing to eat.

 

It's very cheap :D

Edited November 8, 2009 by helena

[DawnM]

Our stores don't mark things down early am or late pm. I have actually never heard of that. They don't even sell day old bread....they donate it, so no bargains there either.

 

I am actually moving towards making EVERYTHING from scratch to avoid the additives in prepared foods, so not sure I can help too much.

 

The easiest meals for me are:

 

Make rice in the rice cooker

or

Bake potatoes

or

cook some whole wheat pasta

 

then: Steam some form of low fat meat, fish, or the like

 

Make a salad

[MeanestMomInMidwest]

Well, I make pork quesadillas out of leftover pork roast - does that count?

 

I slice the pork thin

put a tortilla on the pancake griddle to warm

flip the tortilla, add pork & cheese

fold over, cook on both sides until cheese is melted & tortilla is browned

 

My kids love it and it is an easy way to get rid of leftover meat

[OrganicAnn]

I use the premade pie crust for both pies and also things like quiche (not the kind that is in a pan, but the kind that is rolled up). Mixing up eggs, cheese and left over veggies makes an easy quiche.

 

I can't think of any others that I do.

 

There used to be a show on HGTV that did just this semi-homemade. The only episode I've seen she took a store pumpkin pie and scooped out the filling, mixed with cool whip and put it in fancy glasses to make pumpkin mouse.

[LauraGB]

I have two.

The first is black beans and rice:

2 cans black beans (one drained and one not, so get the organic ones packed in just water)

1 jar medium salsa

2 tsp cumin

couple pinches of oregano

Mix it together in a 9" baking dish, cover with foil and bake at 350 about 1/2 hr. While that's in the oven, cook some brown rice on the stove top.

Remove the foil on the bean mixture after 30 min and sprinkle w/about 1 cup of shredded cheddar, bake another 10 min. Serve over the rice.

 

The other is from Cooking Light's SuperFast Suppers. Its called Sausage-Wild Rice Casserole. This is the original recipe, but I've since skipped the Uncle Ben's and just used long grain/wild rice and various herbs and spices.

 

1/2 lb sausage (I use soy sausage, but I think you're supposed to just use the regular bulk stuff)

2 small onions, cut into 8 wedges each

2 c water

1 (6.2 oz) pkg quick cooking long grain and wild rice (like Uncle Ben's)

1/2 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1 c frozen peas, thawed

 

Brown the sausage in a skillet. Remove and keep warm. Spray the pan with cooking spray and add onion, cooking about 3 min or until the edges are a bit browned. Add water and bring to a boil. Add rice, seasoning packet, oregano and red pepper. Return to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer until the liquid is almost absorbed (maybe 5 min). Stir in sausage and peas and heat through.

[Tammyla]

Rotisserie chicken is one of my favorites and stretches a long way in my house. My ds always wants the legs first and I serve the first round with baked beans, rice or baked potatoes, green beans, salad and garlic bread or corn bread. Ds always wants to get more than one chicken and I find it time saver later to do it. ;).

 

Then I take the meat off the bone and pop the carcase in the pot for stock. If there is a ton of meat, I freeze some and use the rest during the week.

 

Variations for the remaining meat are:

 

BBQ chicken

chicken salad

chicken-a-la-king served over rice (I make my own white sauce, saute some onions add veggies and pimentos and wa-la. Great when it gets cold here.)

chicken fried rice

chicken stir fry served with rice

chicken noodle soup is always easy

homemade chicken pot-pie

[Guest KaciMI]

I buy Publix packaged roast beef (actually quite good, but expensive) when it is on sale two for one. They're sealed and last for months in the refrigerator.

The beef and beef chunks are the only ones that seem to taste good to us.

 

Two quick meals:

 

2 cups egg noodles, placed in electric skillet. Add cup of water, replace lid and boil. Water should be nearly gone. Add roast beef, broken into pieces.

(I add garlic, too). Add one can of string beans. 1/4 cup sour cream. Simmer. Sometimes we add parm. cheese on top.

 

Another meal:

Place beef in skillet, broken up. Add one to two cans of Mexican stewed tomatoes. Simmer, serve over rice with parm. cheese.