Getting Healthy in an Affordably Delicious Way

Welcome to The Newlywed Chef! My goal and desire will always be healthy and budget-wise cooking. If you aren't a follower yet, please become one! Always feel free to e-mail me recipes that sound good to you, and I will cook them! Or, e-mail some family favorite that you want posted for others to try, and I can do that as well, as long as its healthy, AND budget-friendly.

Enjoy the site, cast a vote in the poll, and come back each day to check for new recipes!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Tuna Pasta Puttanesca (Remix!)

So, tonights dinner was a "Remix" of the traditional pasta puttanesca. Delicious nonetheless, in my opinion. Nick didn't hate it. It was a way to beef up on the protein! I must confess... today in the torrential downpour, i lost the receipt :( But I can guarantee that this meal is less than $10!!



Tuna Pasta Puttanesca:

8 oz of any kind of whole wheat pasta you prefer ( used the twirly kind because it was on sale, and I used probably more like 10-12 oz!)
1 T Olive Oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
12-15 oz white chunk canned tuna, drained and patted dry (canned chicken would work as well)
1 can 14.5 oz diced tomatoes
1/4 cup of pitted and chopped greek, spanish, or kalamata olives. (I used spanish because they were cheapest!)
2 T capers
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried red pepper flakes (although i omitted these because... we didn't have red pepper flakes!)
3/4 cup chopped arugula (I use baby spinach because its way cheaper!)
Grated Parmesan Cheese to taste

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil, add pasta and cook according to box directions.

Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add olive oil to the pan. Once heated, add 2 cloves of garlic and saute about a minute. Add the tuna and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the olives, capers, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Once well blended, add the tomatoes and simmer about 5 minutes. Finally, add the spinach/arugula and stir until wilted.

Drain pasta and add to skillet. Mix well, top with cheese and serve :) Yummy!



My grocery bill today was about $10, but that included buying olives and capers for the first time, which i now have plenty leftover for the next time this dish comes around. The great thing about this pasta is its so versatile. If you want real meat, cut up some chicken and brown it in the pan before adding all the rest of the ingredients. If you want no meat, omit the tuna, nothing else changes! It's so quick and easy and so tasty! One more picture for ya:




This serves 4. However, with Nick and I, it only served 2 tonight!!!! Enjoy :)

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Mexican Turkey and Rice Skillet Dinner!

Today Nick and I cooked and ate dinner together for the first time at the new apartment! I settled on making a Mexican Turkey and Rice Skillet Dinner. I realize this isn't the MOST appetizing picture, but all i had on me was my iphone and so I had to take some low quality footage! The meal was good, healthy, cheap... and will go into my "keeper recipe" memory.



Here was our shopping list, prices included. The first list was our startup cost... however, since we were stocking up on some items, I provided a second budget for the future shopping list and price tag of this dinner! And finally, at the bottom, the recipe and instructions!

Our Bill at Kroger today:

1 yellow onion: $0.92
2 lb Uncle Ben brown rice (NOT INSTANT!): $2.99
1 lb lean ground Perdue turkey: $4.19
2 lb sugar: $1.69
14.5 oz can cut green beans: $0.99
14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes: $0.53
Hot Sauce: $0.89

Total Spending for the first time apartment buyers: $12.14 (Not even too bad!)

BUT NOW THAT WE HAVE SOME BASIC INGREDIENTS, CHECK OUT THE FUTURE SPENDINGS:

14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes: $0.53
14.5 oz can cut green beans: $0.99
1 lb lean ground Perdue turkey: $4.19
1 yellow onion: $0.92

Total spending when repeating this recipe: $6.63

Might I add that this recipe serves 4! We had leftovers!!

Mexican Turkey and Rice Skillet Dinner Recipe:

1 lb lean ground turkey
1.5 cups cooked brown rice
14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes
14.5 oz can cut green beans, drained
1 T sugar
1 t Worcestire Sauce
1/2 t ground mustard
1/2 t garlic powder
1/4 t salt
1/8 t fresh ground black pepper
1/8 t hot sauce

Brown the turkey in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Drain, and then add remaining ingredients to pan. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat. Simmer 10-12 minutes.





Sunday, September 13, 2009

My Nephew's First Birthday Party.... SESAME STREET!!!

So... I'm not in the new apartment quite yet, but, today my little nephew turned 1 year old and I baked and decorated Sesame Street cupcakes. The cake i used was Fun-fetti! How perfect for these blue and red characters! I used pictures off of lovelysprinkles.blogspot.com for inspiration! I made Elmo and a mix between Grover and Cookie Monster! All the kids thought it was cookie monster, but it was supposed to be Grover!!!

So, for Elmo, I dyed some vanilla frosting with "Christmas Red" and used a decorator tip (perhaps #22 but I don't remember!) to make his fur. Then I used jumbo marshmallows (halved) for his eyes, an orange peanut M&M for his nose, and half of an oreo for his mouth. For his eyeballs, i just piped chocolate frosting in small dots!
Careful with those oreos, use a serated knife!!
                             
                            
Can you get enough of these, i mean really!?
                              

And for grover, I basically did the same thing as far as icing, except blue, used MINI marshmallows, and a RED peanut M&Ms :) WAY TOO CUTE!

Here he is, head on!
                                      

And just for the full oreo effect... here he is one last time!


           
These are a blast. I found red and blue cupcake holders which were AWESOME! I highly reccomend using them, it adds to the little character! Have fun with these! For more character ideas (and probably better looking cucakes)... check out lovelysprinkles.blogspot.com!!!

Saturday, September 5, 2009

The Aim

I've started this too many times to keep count. I've never had a good idea, nor an original one. Nothing has changed.

Here's what I know. I love cooking. I love baking. I love reading new recipes and finding ones that I think everyone will enjoy. I love eating. I love looking at pictures of foods and desserts.

Since I'm getting married October 3rd, I have many new fun toys and gadgets to play around with :) That means, time to try lots of new recipes, but keep the old! Basically, I'm going to try to master the art of healthy, economic recipes as well as food photography. Join me on my journey won't you?