Featured Friday – Supper for a Steal

Another Friday upon us! Love me my Friday fix!!! Let me introduce you to today’s Co-Host, I met her through my #SundaySupper group and I’ve enjoyed her blog for many months now. Lane is the face behind Supper for a Steal. She was born and raised in the Sunshine state and has always had a passion for cooking and food. She offers great tips on menu planning and recipes. I love that she uses seasonal produce a lot. Since last summer was the first summer I started shopping at our local Farmer’s Market’s, I can appreciate this a little bit more. I love that Lane likes to eyeball measurements when cooking, this is something I’m trying to venture out on as well so it’s nice to see others more at ease with it. Lane remembers her Mom always having dinner on the table and never leaving the house without her coupons and grocery list, even before couponing was the “in thing”. Thanks to her mom Lane has learned to create weekly menu plans that helps her stick to her budget. I know one thing Lane and I have in common……we always have Chicken in our freezer!! However I need to take a few notes from her because at least she’s never paid full price for hers, and I’m sure I have because I need to get on bored with our local sales more!!

So if your anything like me, you want to get with it and budget more, pay attention to the sales and start couponing, you may want to check out some of Lane’s Posts on this: Couponing 101: This is a great post on how Lane compiles her coupons and what sites she uses. When can you Substitute: Great Great Great post!! I’ve just recently started substituting when cooking. Lane explains how she saves money by substituting at the right time. I NEED TO DO THIS!! Refrigerator and Freezer Staples: This is a quick and good read because there were things on her list that I never thought of to keep in my freezer!!! Most of Lane’s recipes are adapted from other sources and are made to amp up the health factor and control portion sizes.

Now let’s talk about her awesome recipes!! There are some MUST tries here for me, so many that I decided to make two!! Yep, two for one Friday folks! Before I get to them let me point out my favorites that I hope to try in the future. Oh wait, there is one that I did try a few weeks ago!! Lane’s Spinach and Red Pepper Dip. I made this for a party I had to welcome some of my friends to our new house. BIG hit. Now that I think of it I’m wondering why I never shared it with everyone!!! You all know that I’m a HUGE soup person, when I came across her Creamy Tomato Basil Tortellini Soup I would have been all over that one this week (specially since I have my upteenth cold of the season) however I don’t always have half and half in the fridge. Darn it! Something about a bunch of goodness rolled into a wrap of some sort that just sets off my taste buds so I’d like to try her Creamy Chicken Taquito’s at some point! Specially since baby Drew loves anything cheesy/Mexicany!! Speaking of things Drew craves……how about pasta, pasta and more pasta!! Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Linguine! YUMMY!!

OK so lets move onto what I did end up making!! Well you know I’m a big chicken fan, and you know I’m all about trying new spices or marinades so this one caught my eye big time. It has been forever since I actually baked chicken in the oven, I’ve been crockpotting a lot and using my stove top a lot that this one was perfect for this week!!! Just click on the picture or the name of the recipes to get over to her actual recipe!!

HONEY SPICED CHICKEN

I served it with a vegetable medley I put together with dill and butter, and also a sweet potato. Let me tell you how moist and flavorful this chicken was! My husband brought it to work the next day and he said it was just as moist and flavorful as I had described it the night it came out of the oven. He said it even left him wanting more!! I chose chicken breasts instead of Chicken Thighs just because I prefer breasts but I honestly want to try it again but on the grill next time!!

For the second dish, well I had originally planned on serving this with the chicken, however I’ve been pretty sick and laid up all week so I was I wasn’t sure if I was going to get to this side dish with the chicken. I also didn’t realize how fast it was either!! If I had known how quick I could have put it together I would have made it with the chicken! Oh well! Two nights in a row of a great dish!!

CAULIFLOWER “FRIED” RICE

Now keep in mind I did this two stages. I blended my cauliflower in one stage (Madison helped me) I left it in my saute pan and then made the rest awhile later when it was dinner time. Well first off let me say that was a mistake because I forgot how much cauliflower stunk!!!! LOL………..my whole house smelled just from grinding it up in the food processor and letting it sit there for an hour or so…….Whoopsy, Oh well I lit a candle. Also, I substituted the broccoli because I didn’t have any and added peas. I also didn’t use fresh, I used canned. Normally I don’t do that, I”m a little embarressed that I did that, I prefer using fresh veggies, but keep in mind that by using canned veggies I probably cut the time and steps in half. I can’t believe how easy this was. And I don’t care what anyone says……..the smell was worth it because it was a great dish!! All I could think of the whole time I was eating this bowl of delish, was OMG this is all veggies right now……..well besides the eggs of course. It’s all I ate for dinner, however next time I may try adding in pork and making it a “pork fried rice”. So glad I decided to try this because this is a real  healthy side dish that I will surly be trying again! I’d love to see how many points this dish is so if any of my Weight Watchers friends out their wants to calculate it and let me know, I’ll be happy to update and let everyone know. SOOOOOOOOOO this is me asking you to trust me………go check out Lane’s blog and browse through her many recipes and of course her tips on saving on that grocery bill you know you’ve been dying to save on!! Happy Friday my friends! Lane, thank you for Co-Hosting with me and for introducing a handful of new yummy recipes for me to try!