What can you make for a dinner for four people, including a vegetable and dessert for under $7? That’s what Cate and I wanted to find out when we challenged each other to The $7 Dinner Challenge. Good thing we didn’t push to go any lower, because $7 is very challenging.

The first thing that came to mind, for me, was pasta. Pasta is one of those inexpensive fillers — 2 ounces, or 3/4 cup, dried pasta is one serving and most boxes have 16 ounces, so I would only need half a box. So I built from there, using the sales at my local ShopRite. Boneless chicken, some broccoli, lightly roasted . . . the ideas came together slowly but surely. When I was a preteen, just about the only dish I made was roasted broccoli in marinara over pasta. It delicious then and still is today.

But dessert, it was dessert that scared me. What could I possibly make for less than $2? Fortunately, I caught sight of the watermelon on the ShopRite flier. A watermelon ice idea floated through my head and I jumped at it. It was cool and refreshing, light but not too sweet.

The Menu:

Broccoli and Chicken Ragu
Watermelon Granita

Here’s how I did (some prices are prorated to amount used):

• 1/2 lime, $0.13
• 1 yellow onion, $0.25
• 1 bunch broccoli, $0.99
• 1/2 lb San Giorgio Penne Rigate, $0.40
• 1 lb Shop Rite brand boneless, skinless chicken breast, $2.31
• 1 can Contadina Crushed Tomatoes, $0.99
• about 1.5 lbs seedless watermelon, $0.99
• 1 tbsp olive oil, $0.20 (est — pantry staple)
• 2 cloves garlic, $0.05 (est — pantry staple)
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning, $0.05 (est — pantry staple)
• 1/4 cup sugar, $0.05 (est — pantry staple)
• salt and pepper, freebies

Total: $6.41 — PASS!!!

We’ve decided that allowing certain pantry staples to slide in the pricing is okay — within reason. After all, different people may keep different things in the fridge and some may not be as accessible as others. No off the wall or unusual ingredients without counting them. So, we’ll be tweaking the rules a bit to reflect that before next week.

Did you join in the challenge? Add your link below using the Mr. Linky.

This photo doesn’t do the dish justice. I love mixing a tomato sauce with broccoli. And when it’s lightly roasted broccoli like you find in this recipe, it’s all the better. Roasting broccoli brings out a great, lightly sweet flavor in it.

Will and Paige gobbled this up.

(This is part of The $7 Dinner Challenge.)

Pasta with Chicken and Broccoli Ragu
serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb chicken, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 tsp dried Italian seasonings
salt and pepper, to taste
1 head of broccoli, chopped
1/2 lb pasta (I like ziti)

Add the oil to a large skillet and swirl around. Heat over a medium burner.

In a food processor, process together the onion and garlic until finely minced. Pour into the skillet and add the chicken. Cook, stirring frequently, for about five minutes. (You want the chicken to be opaque on all sides.)

Add crushed tomatoes, Italian seasonings, salt and pepper to the pan. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Start a pot of water on the burner over high heat.

In the meantime, preheat oven to 350 degrees and spread the broccoli onto a baking sheet. Spray lightly with olive oil spray and salt and pepper generously. Place the pan in the oven and cook for five minutes. Using a spatula, flip the broccoli lightly. Return to oven and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add the broccoli to the sauce and uncover. Cook for 5-8 minutes, to thicken a bit. Stir frequently.

Is your water boiling? It should be. Add the pasta to the water and cook according to package directions.

Finally, drain the pasta. Divide it between four plates. Top with sauce. Enjoy!

Mmm, what’s better than a cool, refreshing and fruity dessert? One that costs next to nothing to make! Get the watermelon on sale and whip up a batch of this.

(This recipe is part of The $7 Dinner Challenge.)

Watermelon Granita
serves 8

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
3 lbs watermelon, cut into chunks
juice from 1 lime

Make simple syrup: Heat the sugar and water together on high heat until sugar dissolves into the water. Remove from heat and let cool.

Combine watermelon and lime in a blender and whirl until smooth. Alternatively, use an immersion blender and blend the mixture smooth in a large bowl. Add the simple syrup and lime juice and blend again.

Pour the mixture into a 9 by 13 baking pan and freeze. Scrape with a fork every half an hour until all the liquid has frozen. This takes from 1-3 hours.

Spoon into glasses and serve.

When I was a kid, my family had a tradition that we called Fun Friday. Each Friday, we’d eschew our regular eating habits in favor of fun, but not necessarily good for you, food. Sometimes we’d layer tacos with seasoned ground beef, lettuce, tomato, cheddar and salsa. Other weeks, we’d make homemade pizzas with pre-formed crusts. And every once in a while, the star of Fun Friday was Sloppy Joe.

Back then, Sloppy Joe was a loose, messy sandwich with delicious mystery sauce from the Manwich can (ok, ok, it was supposed to be some iteration of tomato, I think). You’d bite down into the soft bun and flavors would flood your mouth, but at the same time you’d feel the warm gush of meat in sauce overflow into your hand.

They aren’t called Sloppy Joe for nothing . . .

Read the rest of this entry…

With the economy in question, it’s no surprise that families everywhere are looking for ways to save on everything from electricity to food. Fortunately, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to make a great meal on a budget. That’s what The $7 Dinner Challenge is all about.

The $7 Dinner Challenge, besides challenging ourselves (that would be Cate and I), we want to make sure that what we’re making is accessible, so readers can actually make these meals for $7 as well.

Have a food blog and want to join in the fun? When we post on Monday nights, feel free to leave us a link with your post — the more the merrier.

The Ground Rules:

• You have $7 to create a complete dinner for four, to include the main course and either an appetizer or dessert.
• Your meal must include a serving of vegetables for each person.
• Items such as bread can be prorated (total cost of loaf/slices used).
• Salt and pepper are free — no need to count these into the cost total.
• No frozen meals. You actually have to make something (however it can have premade components).
• You must state where you get your pricing info from, and it must be current to the date posted (as in, if the sale is over, the current price is the one that counts).

So if you’re looking for delicious food without breaking the bank, be sure to tune in every Monday night and see what we’re all cooking up … with just $7.

Photo: Sweetnicks

When the Disney movie Ratatouille came out, I wondered what on Earth could be so special about ratatouille. It sounds like it could be a pasta dish, though it isn’t, so I was picturing a rotini with squash or something. As it turns out, the results were better than i imagined they would be. Paige ate it right up.

Ratatouille is a traditional French stew. According to Julia Child in her 1968 book French Chef Cookbook:

When a ratatouille is made as it should be, it is a casserole of cooked vegetables in which each of them retains its shape and its own special character.

This isn’t the classic method for cooking this dish, but it does remain somewhat true to its heritage. I used a red onion in place of a yellow and summer squash in place of zucchini, out of necessity. It came out well, nonetheless. I wonder what Julia would say?

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One of my greatest fears in cooking, before I knew how to cook, was making something incorrectly. What if roasting a beet would make it poisonous? (It won’t.) What if I accidentally failed to cook that chicken for long enough? (A greater fear should have been overcooking.) If I was unfamiliar with an ingredient, I would read as much as I could in cookbooks and online before even starting anything. And if I couldn’t find the exact process, I wouldn’t make it. So, I typically stayed within my comfort zone of foods.

That fear, coupled with a lack of knowledge of ingredients, led to dozens of soups with different add-ins that tasted strangely the same. It was a sad, sad time for my culinary endeavors.

So, I understand the fear of using new ingredients. I really do. But embracing new tastes and techniques will not only enrich your recipes, but your life. There is a wide world of flavors and tastes and textures out there just waiting for you to explore.

No. Everything won’t work. As a close friend, Virtual Frolic, recently said to me:

Well, if we got things right in the first try, we’d all be famous chefs =)

She couldn’t be more right. Don’t let the what ifs prevent you from opening up to new ideas and processes and experimentations. I encourage you to take some raw ingredients and play with them. Mix them up. Try unexpected combinations. That’s how delicious new dishes are born. You can cook by intuition too, if you let yourself learn to by trial and error.

There is no harm in seeing what other people do with something and then forging your own method. Try it!

As for the pasta above, it was pretty simple. So simple, in fact, I am just going to give you an approximation of how i made it: I chopped up about a cup of fresh arugula and two plum tomatoes and mixed it with some gorgonzola cheese, lemon olive oil, salt and pepper.

It was quick, easy and (most of all) tasty. Paige couldn’t get enough of it.

I was appalled yesterday afternoon when the kids and I watched as employees at Target consolidated Halloween gear to make room for the Christmas decorations. I was annoyed today when I could barely navigate a cart through HomeGoods because of the plethora of Halloween decor. But Linens-n-Things? They’ve gone too far. Not only have they handed over the front two large sections to Christmas gear, but they are playing Christmas carols in that area. Christmas carols. On October 1.

Retailers in the United States have gone too far.

We’ve barely left summer behind. The trees are only just beginning to change to brilliant shades of reds, yellows and orange. Halloween is still a month away. We’re in apple-picking season. It’s time for hayrides and pumpkin patches. I still need to find the perfect costumes for Will and Paige. Haunted houses and spooky hayrides are calling …

Yet, when you go to these mass retailers, you are smacked in the face with a holiday that is yet three months away. I don’t like getting smacked. I am not ready for the cheer of Christmas to invade my psyche.

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Who says that store-bought sushi can’t look great? These are fabulous bamboo sushi plates that Virtual Frolic gave me. Love them!

Check out other Wordless Wednesday entries here.