Cheap but great dinner.

Most of you know that I love anything cheap. So when I get to use coupons and can create a whole meal for $2.69 dollars to feed 3 people... who can beat that. Let's face it, you can't go to McDonald's and get that much food to satisfy your hunger no matter what those commercials say.

Not sure how many people know this, but if you don't already here it comes. Most grocery stores that have a deli, do rotisserie chickens. Well you can only keep said items for sale for a certain length of time, before they "expire". So what do they do if they have leftovers. Well Wal-mart has been known give them away to customers in the checkout line for free (my in-laws benefited from that) vs. throwing them away. Other places like Kroger put their 4-5 dollar chickens on sale for 2 dollars. So here is the breakdown of my made up dinner and how I did it.

I had planned to get a chicken, normal price was 3.99 (it was on sale for that usually 4.99). So I went to Kroger and found one for 1.99 on clearance. I also had received a coupon from Kroger for 1.25 off a whole chicken. Making the whole chicken 75 cents. Which we made into 3 dinners. Making it 25 cents a dinner! The peppers and onions I got on sale for $1. And the diced tomatoes $1.28. Then the pasta I got B1G1 Free, which meant the 8 servings of pasta was 65 cents. Meaning our 2 servings was right at 16 cents.

So our grand total for us was $2.69 cents.

Chicken Spaghetti (makes 2 servings)

WW pts: 7 pts.

4 ounces of Chicken (you can use a chicken breast cooked and shredded if need be.)

4 ounces of whole wheat pasta

1-15 ounce can diced tomatoes, no salt added, drained

1- 15 ounce can tomato sauce, no salt added

1/2 green pepper, diced

1/2 red or yellow pepper, diced

1/2 medium onion diced

1 tsp crushed Rosemary

1 tsp oregano

1 Tbsp garlic, minced

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp pepper

pinch Cayenne pepper (optional)*

PAM

In a pan spray PAM and saute peppers, onions for 5-8 minutes on medium high heat. Add diced tomatoes and let them cook for 3 minutes. Then add tomato sauce, rosemary, oregano, garlic, garlic salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Turn heat down to a simmer.

While the sauce is cooking, cook noodles according to package directions. When noodles are almost done, add chicken to spaghetti sauce and heat through. Mix and serve hot.

Michael added the mozzarella cheese on top, and added more than I planned, so mine was a little cheesier than anticipated. So you will have to determine how much cheese if any you want on there.

*Just so you guys don't think I'm totally insane. The reason I add Cayenne pepper to a lot of stuff, is I read an article a year or so ago that talked about if you add a little extra spice to the food you eat, it causes you to slow down your eating, and you eat less. Plus the spicy foods cause you burn a few more calories than if it were normal. I'm not completely insane (and if any ex-roommates try to tell you differently. I've got Crisco ready for them) there is a reason to my madness. Most of the time.

One other little side note. I'm going to be MIA for a week or so. But when I come back, you better believe I've got some yummo recipes to share with you!!