Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Creole Chicken (Frugal Food Thursday)


Welcome to Frugal Food Thursday!  If you have a great frugal recipe, please link up below! 

This recipe is also listed at these wonderful linkup parties - thank you to all the hosts for allowing me to link up!

One well-known frugal tip is not to plan your meals and then shop for the ingredients, but the other way around.  Fill your stockpile with ingredients bought on sale and with coupons, then figure out what to make with what you have on hand at that moment.

But how do you do that?  One of my favorite things to do is to use Google as my cookbook!

I just type in a few ingredients along with the word "recipe" and voila! a list of possible dishes appears.  Then it's just a matter of looking through a few of them, seeing if I want to make it and if I have the other ingredients on hand.  Once I find a good recipe, it's time to start cooking!

For instance, one night I wanted to make something with chicken, green peppers, celery, and canned tomatoes.  I typed in these ingredients and out popped a recipe for Creole Chicken from BigOven.com.  It wasn't perfect; it had onions, which I didn't have.  But I found a bottle of Worcestershire sauce in the back of my stockpile, as well as a can of tomato paste, an ingredient I rarely use.

It was easy to make, and spicy but delicious!  I changed the proportions of the ingredients a little and used canned tomatoes with green chilis instead of two separate cans. I thought that the recipe is would be too spicy for my kids, so I sauteed the chicken first and put it aside for them to eat, then made the rest of the meal.

Here's the recipe!


CREOLE CHICKEN
(based on a recipe from BigOven.com)

2 tbsp canola oil
1 pound chicken breasts, diced
2 celery ribs, sliced
1 green peppers, diced
4 cloves garlic
1 15-oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1-1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1-1/2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp oregano

In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the canola oil.  Add the raw chicken and stir-fry for 5-7 minutes until the chicken is no longer pink inside.  Remove the chicken to a plate.

Add the celery, green peppers, and garlic to the pan and stir-fry for 3 minutes or until the vegetables are softened.   Return the chicken to the pan and add the rest of the ingredients.  Turn the heat to high until the sauce is boiling, then turn to medium-low, cover with a pot lid, and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Serve over brown rice.

There are lots more easy and cheap recipes posted here at Frugal FolliesClick here for the list!

Got a great frugal recipe?  Link below to your actual post, not your main page.  Please only link up recipes and other food-related posts. I'd appreciate it if you would link back to Frugal Food Thursday as well! If you have a linkup party that you'd like me to know about, please leave a comment below.





Want to find more places to link up your recipe or to find more great recipes? Please go to my Linkup Parties list and scroll down to Food Linkups. There are lots of great recipes on each blog and I'm sure you'll find some new favorites!

(This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.)

11 comments:

Diane Balch February 21, 2013 at 9:03 AM  

Do you think your recipe could be made in a crockpot? If so how long would you cook it?

Anonymous,  February 21, 2013 at 9:14 AM  

Thanks so much for hosting! Hope you're having a super week!

Unknown February 21, 2013 at 9:15 AM  

Diane - sure, I think that would work! I might double the recipe to fill up the crockpot more. If you cook the chicken first in a skillet, it would probably need to cook no more than a couple of hours. If you put raw chicken in with the other ingredients, I would think 6-8 hours on low. Just a guess, I haven't tried it myself.

Blenders On Sale February 21, 2013 at 9:49 AM  

What a fun recipe! Great tip about not shopping for ingredients - that is a costly way to shop!

mail4rosey February 21, 2013 at 1:04 PM  

I try to remember to put some off to the side too when I'm cooking spicy...for the kiddos. This recipe looks great! I'm already following you, but today I am visiting from Thursday's Favorite Things. :)

Yona Williams February 23, 2013 at 3:33 PM  

Yum! This meal looks good...that's why I had to click on the link. Thanks for sharing - it really doesn't take long at all to make.

I'm stopping by to say 'hi' from Katherine's Favorite Things Thursday - better late than never.

http://artpark78.com/blog1

Lisa Lynn February 24, 2013 at 11:03 AM  

Your chicken looks delish! Found your post on Thursday Favorite Things! I would love to have you share this on The Creative HomeAcre Hop today :)
http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/02/the-creative-homeacre-hop-4.html

Miz Helen February 24, 2013 at 9:13 PM  

Hope you have a fabulous week and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen

Cassandra February 25, 2013 at 3:14 PM  

That really looks so yummy and perfect with rice..

Stopping by from Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop- hope you can stop by...

http://www.cassandrasminicorner.com/2013/02/apple-cider-vinegar-and-tablets.html

April @ The 21st Century Housewife February 27, 2013 at 11:54 PM  

This sounds like a great store cupboard recipe - really flavourful and delicious. I love what Worcestershire sauce can do for recipes :-)

Chaya March 5, 2013 at 11:49 AM  

This is super yummy and it is being featured at the Recipe Box. Thanks for sharing and keep making wonderful dishes, like this.

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