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May 1, 2013, at 5:00 am If you're new to BFS, please subscribe to my RSS feed. It shows me a vote of support and keeps me motivated to keep your attention. If you have any questions or comments for me, please contact me and I'll get back to you asap. Thanks for visiting! As you may have been able to tell from all of my food posts and recipes, I like easy dishes the best. So when my younger sister was nice enough to show me how to make scalloped potatoes in less than 15 minutes for our little dinner for two, I was all over it!
Ambi’s Scalloped Potatoes
- Large potato – less than $1
- Milk (1-2 cups max) – less than 50 cents
- Flour (two handfuls) – less than 50 cents
- Olive oil (drizzle) – less than 50 cents
- Salt to taste – negligible
- Pepper to taste – negligible
- Garlic to taste – negligible
- Total Cost = About $2.00
1. Slice the potato thinly so they will cook quickly.
2. Spread out potatoes in a frying pan (we used our 12 inch nonstick sauté pan). Fill the very bottom of the pan with milk while the heat is on high. Drizzle the top of the potato slices with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Turn the heat to medium when you see the first bubbles after a little more than a minute or two (milk heats fast).
3. After about 5 minutes you will notice most of the milk has boiled down. Turn the heat up again, add some more milk, and sprinkle one to two handfuls of flour on top. Lightly stir the flour and potato slices into the milk to thicken the milk. Then turn the heat to medium again.
4. In about another 5 minutes, test a potato slice to make sure they are nearly cooked. Sprinkle some garlic to taste at this point and let simmer for another minute or so.
5. Enjoy! When we did this on Monday with just one large potato, we ended up with 4 servings. It covered dinner for the both of us and a healthy leftover portion for my lunch the next day.
November 15, 2012, at 6:00 am
Mr. BFS and I have started hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for friends every year and also attend one or two other get togethers that week to boot. That means we end up cooking a lot in November. It also means that we’d go broke if we couldn’t come up with some cheap side dishes. Just click on any of these names to see the step-by-step recipes if you are interested. 
Here are my cheap favorites:
1) Sweet Potatoes – I’ve posted our step-by-step recipe here before, and they are a huge hit around the holidays! You’ll need sweet potatoes, butter, brown sugar, and orange juice. Combine them as shown and you’ll be all set for less than $4! For every day use, you could also try them out with these chicken breast recipes.
2) Corn Bread Dressing – My husband made this recipe for the first time last year and we LOVED it! You can see the step-by-step recipe here. You’ll need 2 pans of cornbread (either from a box, your favorite recipe, or find one like this one if you’d like), 2 stalks of celery, 1 onion, 4 boiled eggs, 1 teaspoon of sage, and 3-4 cups of chicken broth. Chop the celery, onion, and eggs and mix them into a large bowl with your crumbled cornbread. Stir or fold in the sage and broth. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes and enjoy for about $4-$5!
3) Pineapple Stuffing – This is another recipe I’ve posted here with pictures that MikeS sent in. It has been a huge hit with my husband’s family so far and I’ll be bringing it to my parent’s house Thanksgiving Day! You’ll need sugar, butter, eggs, white bread, and crushed pineapple. Combine them as shown and you’ll be all set for less than $3.75!
4) Corn Souffle - You may remember this one from early last year. You’ll need 2 cans of kernel corn, 2 cans of cream-style corn, 24 oz sour cream, 3 eggs, 2 boxes of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix, and 8 oz of your favorite cheese. Mixing this up and cooking it is super easy and ends up only costing $6.75!
Any one of these ends up working great for our dinners, but I won’t hide it, the sweet potatoes are the ones most often requested. 
What are your favorite Thanksgiving sides?
Save on Dining at Restaurant.com!
November 14, 2012, at 6:00 am
I mentioned our first hosted Thanksgiving dinner last year and shared the recipe to Aunt Barbara’s Sausage Cornbread dressing. It can also be sausage cornbread stuffing if you decide to put it in your bird. I figured I would post this again – before Thanksgiving this time…
Aunt Barbara’s Sausage Cornbread Dressing
- ½ Loaf of day old Bread, torn into pieces (50 cents)
- 4 boxes of Jiffy Cornbread Mix ($2.00 on sale)
- 3 Eggs (50 cents)
- 1 Onion (25 cents)
- 2 Cups Celery, diced ($1.00)
- 2 Sticks Butter ($1.50)
- 5 Cans Cream of Celery Soup ($6.00)
- 1-2 Pounds Jimmy Dean Sausage (we went with 2 for $8.00)
- 8 Ounces White Mushrooms, diced ($3.50)
- 48 Ounces Chicken Broth ($2.00)
- 2 teaspoons Sage (25 cents)
- 1 Tablespoon Poultry Seasoning (25 cents)
- ½ teaspoon Salt ($negligible)
- 1 teaspoon Pepper ($negligible)
- Total Cost – $21.75-$25.75 for two 9″x13″ pans
1. Preheat Oven to 350° F and TAKE OFF RINGS and WATCHES – trust me.
2. Cook Cornbread per directions on box. Let Cool.
3. Brown Sausage, drain, let cool.
4. Crumble Bread and Cornbread into a large mixing bowl. Mix together well with the dry seasonings.
5. Saute Onion, Celery, and Mushrooms in Butter until Onions are translucent.
6. Mix Chicken Broth, Eggs, and the Onion mixture above together in a different large bowl.
7. Combine Breads, Liquids, and Sausage together and stir until evenly mixed. You will need to use the biggest pot you have, lol.
8. Pour into two 9×13 aluminum pans.
9. Bake in oven for 60 – 90 min until the edges are browing and it isn’t sloppy anymore. We actually left it in for about 10 minutes too long as you can see from the pic below, but it was still very yummy.
10. Let cool for 10 min before serving.
Each pan contains at least 12 healthy servings!
Hope you all like it as much as I do!
September 26, 2012, at 6:00 am
You all probably know I sort of stink in the kitchen. But I love easy recipes. I also love Halloween. Put those two together, and the cookies below are just too perfect! The key is finding the sliced almonds on sale…the rest is just putting a little time into shaping up a great Halloween treat!
Witches Fingers
- Peanut Butter (1 cup) – Less than $1
- Egg (1 egg) – $0.20
- Sugar (1/2 cup) – $0.50
- Sliced Almonds – $2.00
- Small spoon
- Total Cost: Less than $4
1. Preheat Oven to 350° F and TAKE OFF RINGS and WATCHES – trust me.
2. Mix together the peanut butter, sugar, and egg.
3. Roll a spoonful of dough in your hands until it is a long, thin shape like a worm and place on a cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil.
4. Use the spoon edge to make two knuckle indentations.
5. Place a sliced almond on the tip like a fingernail. You can dye the sliced almonds first if you have time. Red or green works well. Just soak them for 10 minutes in some hot water with the food coloring of your choice. Then pat them dry before placing them on the cookies.
6. Bake at 350° F for about 8 minutes. Carefully transfer the aluminum foil to a flat surface so the cookies can cool down fully before you remove them.
7. Enjoy! Makes 16-24 cookies depending on the size.
What do you think? Could these be a great decorative Halloween cookie for you?
November 30, 2011, at 6:00 am
I mentioned our first hosted Thanksgiving dinner last week and promised that I’d share the recipe to Aunt Barbara’s Sausage Cornbread dressing. It can also be sausage cornbread stuffing if you decide to put it in your bird. We did both. Here’s my rundown of my personal crack.
Aunt Barbara’s Sausage Cornbread Dressing
- ½ Loaf of day old Bread, torn into pieces (50 cents)
- 4 boxes of Jiffy Cornbread Mix ($2.00 on sale)
- 3 Eggs (50 cents)
- 1 Onion (25 cents)
- 2 Cups Celery, diced ($1.00)
- 2 Sticks Butter ($1.50)
- 5 Cans Cream of Celery Soup ($6.00)
- 1-2 Pounds Jimmy Dean Sausage (we went with 2 for $8.00)
- 8 Ounces White Mushrooms, diced ($3.50)
- 48 Ounces Chicken Broth ($2.00)
- 2 teaspoons Sage (25 cents)
- 1 Tablespoon Poultry Seasoning (25 cents)
- ½ teaspoon Salt ($negligible)
- 1 teaspoon Pepper ($negligible)
- Total Cost – $21.75-$25.75 for two 9″x13″ pans
1. Preheat Oven to 350° F and TAKE OFF RINGS and WATCHES – trust me.
2. Cook Cornbread per directions on box. Let Cool.
3. Brown Sausage, drain, let cool.
4. Crumble Bread and Cornbread into a large mixing bowl. Mix together well with the dry seasonings.
5. Saute Onion, Celery, and Mushrooms in Butter until Onions are translucent.
6. Mix Chicken Broth, Eggs, and the Onion mixture above together in a different large bowl.
7. Combine Breads, Liquids, and Sausage together and stir until evenly mixed. You will need to use the biggest pot you have, lol.
8. Pour into two 9×13 aluminum pans.
9. Bake in oven for 60 – 90 min until the edges are browing and it isn’t sloppy anymore. We actually left it in for about 10 minutes too long as you can see from the pic below, but it was still very yummy.
10. Let cool for 10 min before serving.
Hope you all like it as much as I do!
February 4, 2011, at 6:00 am
My friend Tonia shared this corn souffle recipe with me after I tasted it at one of our potlucks – I begged.
Cheap and Easy Corn Souffle
- 2 cans of kernel corn ($1)
- 2 cans of cream-style corn ($1)
- 24 oz sour cream ($2)
- 3 eggs ($0.25)
- 2 boxes of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix ($1.50)
- 8 oz favorite cheese ($1)
- Total cost was about $6.75 or about $0.50 per serving depending on your personal serving size.
1. Mix the 4 cans of corn, sour cream, eggs, and corn muffin mix into a large bowl.
2. Pour the bowl into an 9″ x 13″ pan.
3. Sprinkle the cheese on top.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a toothpick can be poked in and comes out clean. Cool and enjoy!
This was very tasty! It’s a great side for gatherings too! It tastes like a corn bread casserole. You could try it out with some of my other recipes. 
Do you have any other frugal and tasty recipe ideas that even I could cook?
November 16, 2010, at 6:00 am
When my husband and I got married, we came across the scheduling problem that some couples have around the holidays. What family do we visit on which day?
Since neither of our families wanted to “give up” Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day every year, we flip-flop annually. One of our families gets Thanksgiving Day and the other gets the day after. Then we see one family on Christmas Eve and the other on Christmas Day. This has worked well so far, but it does mean we usually need to bring a dish to 4 big family meals around the holidays and the 2 potlucks we have with friends.
Here’s my cheap favorites:
1) Sweet Potatoes – I’ve posted our step-by-step recipe here before, and they are a huge hit around the holidays! You’ll need sweet potatoes, butter, brown sugar, and orange juice. Combine them as shown and you’ll be all set for less than $4! For every day use, you could also try them out with these chicken breast recipes.
2) Corn Bread Dressing - My husband made this recipe for the first time last year and we LOVED it! You’ll need 2 pans of cornbread (either from a box, your favorite recipe, or find one like this one if you’d like), 2 stalks of celery, 1 onion, 4 boiled eggs, 1 teaspoon of sage, and 3-4 cups of chicken broth. Chop the celery, onion, and eggs and mix them into a large bowl with your crumbled cornbread. Stir or fold in the sage and broth. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes and enjoy for about $4-$5!
3) Pineapple Stuffing – This is another recipe I’ve posted here with pictures that MikeS sent in. It has been a huge hit with my husband’s family so far and I’ll be bringing it to my parent’s house Thanksgiving Day! You’ll need sugar, butter, eggs, white bread, and crushed pineapple. Combine them as shown and you’ll be all set for less than $3.75!
What holiday recipes do you like bringing to gatherings? Any other frugal ideas for us?
To Save in Dining, check out Restaurant.com!
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 Hi! Thanks for visiting! My name is Crystal, owner and author for BFS. I'm 30 years old, married, and proudly live in the heat, humidity, and hurricanes of Houston, TX. Feel free to check out the archives or just pop around. Hope to "meet" you in the comments soon! DISCLAIMER I am not a professional or a financial advisor. BFS posts are informational opinions only. Please make your own financial decisions based on personal research or see a financial advisor.
Also, there are paid links on this site. There is no obligation on your part to purchase any products advertised on this website.
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