My husband is starting a few businesses, which means we are on a strict weekly budget that I am in charge of enforcing. With the 4th of July holiday last week we went a little over budget for entertainment. So, I have to compensate this week, and I decided to cut our grocery bill to $20. How have I done it? By preparing meals using ingredients I already have on-hand in the pantry and freezer.

Monday’s dinner was a simple riff on Sopa de Lima, a Mexican chicken soup. I always keep chicken stock in the pantry, and this soup calls for lots of chopped veggies and a good squeeze of lime. Simple!

Last night I made up a new pasta. We keep plenty of poultry from a local farm in our freezer, so I defrosted four Italian chicken sausages. In a large pan I heated some olive oil and browned the chicken sausage with three cloves of garlic. I threw in a shredded zucchini and diced sun dried tomatoes. The chicken mixture was tossed with half a box of cooked whole wheat spaghetti noodles, a little butter, and some Parmesan cheese. It turned out really good!

Tonight I made a frittata using eggs from Family Farm Co-Op. It was super simple and surprisingly elegant.

My Frittata Recipe

Butter
8 eggs
2 cups frozen broccoli
2 tomatoes, diced
shredded mozzarella
grated Parmesan cheese
Fresh basil, chiffonade

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Set a large skillet over medium high heat. In a medium bowl, beat eggs and 4 tablespoons water. Add butter to heated skillet and drop in broccoli and tomatoes. Pour in eggs and cook for 2 minutes, till bottom is set. Sprinkle cheeses on top.

Remove from stovetop and place pan in the oven. Cook for 12 minutes – until eggs are cooked through. Remove from oven, slice, sprinkle with fresh basil, and serve. We enjoyed the frittata with bacon from Family Farm Co-Op.