What's Been Cooking? Cheater Lemon Cake, Buffalo Chicken Dip and Honey Mustard Pork Chops

Tonight we have dinner with the Boy Scouts for the Blue & Gold Banquet, 

so I don't have to cook dinner!  Gotta love that!  

Every family has been asked to either bring a dessert or salad.  Normally I'd bring a nice green salad or a yummy quinoa salad, but since I'm trying to reserve my veggies for my family's dinners this week, I decided to bring a dessert.  

I took a look in my pantry to see what I had that needed to be used up and came out with a lemon cake mix.  I usually try to buy cake mixes when they are on sale for $1 or less per box.  So, I baked up the cake, according to the box directions.

Once it was done cooling I made a very simple glaze to go on top.  I figured a glaze would be more cost effective than a frosting.  

Simple Lemon Glaze for Cheater Lemon Cake:

• 2 Tablespoons melted butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 Tablespoon water

Whisk all ingredients together and then pour over baked and cooled cake.

The total cost for my pot luck worthy Cheater Lemon Cake: about $2

Since I'm not making dinner tonight and the banquet isn't until 7pm, I decided to make the kids a yummy after school snack that should hold them over until the later dinner.  We didn't watch The Super Bowl this past Sunday, since we got rid of satellite TV in 2014 and now only have Netflix.  Not that any of us actually missed watching the game, but we did miss out on all of the yummy game time foods that we usually eat while watching for the commercials.  

Enter Buffalo Chicken Dip!  Served with a sleeve or two of club crackers, this dip hit the spot for my boys when they got off the bus.  

Back when I started this blog, Pinterest wasn't a thing yet.  And now, we can type in any kind of dish we want to make and have tons of recipes pop up WITH pictures!  I eat with my eyes first, so Pinterest makes picking recipes out, so much easier.  

I found this recipe for Buffalo Chicken Dip and decided to give it a try.  Of course I changed things up a little, to use what I had.  And cooking on a budget is all about flexibility!  You must be able to alter recipes to fit what you already have in your house if you want to save money.  

Buffalo Chicken Dip:

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce
• 1/2 cup ranch dressing
• 1 large can chicken, drained
• 1/2 cup shredded Sharp cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients, except for the shredded cheese, in a baking dish.  No need to dirty two dishes, so just mix it all up in what you are going to bake it in. Once all of the ingredients are mixed, add the cheese on top and bake for about 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Total cost for Buffalo Chicken Dip: about $4, plus the cost of crackers.

The picture above is before baking, I didn't get one after it was cooked.  But, my boys loved it and it was much appreciated by them when they got off of the bus. 

Since I'm not cooking dinner tonight, I thought I'd link over to the recipe that I used last night to make Honey Mustard Pork Chops.  They were a hit!!  Served along with roasted potatoes that we gleaned back in October from local Potato fields (which equals lots of free potatoes!) and a side of honey glazed carrots (can we say cheap!?), our entire dinner last night cost us about $4 or so.  Since we have to pay for the pigs to be butchered, that's our main cost.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cubano Marinade

Yum!! That's all I have to say about this marinade! I love Cuban inspired flavors! Citrus, cumin, garlic...there isn't anything better!! When we made these pork chops I actually cut up the meat and then made soft tacos (with corn tortillas) out of it. Served with a cilantro avocado sauce (recipe coming tomorrow!) they were amazing!! I can't wait to make this again with chicken instead of pork!! I'm sure your family will love this too!!

Cubano Pork or Chicken Marinade

3 limes, juiced
1 teaspoon cumin
2 garlic cloves, crushed
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon bitter orange Goya adobo seasoning
6 pieces chicken or pork chops

Mix all of the marinade ingredients together in a large zip loc bag, add 6 pieces chicken or pork chops, close bag and mix together to coat the meat. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or as long as 6 hours. Grill or bake in the oven at 375° F until meat is cooked through. Enjoy!

Chile Verde

Chile Verde has to be my all time favorite thing to order at Mexican restaurants. Specifically at La Piñata in Hayward, California, where I grew up. You just can't get any better than La Piñata! But now that I live in Idaho, I have to make my own. I just haven't been able to find a restaurant out here that even comes close. Now all I need to do is learn how La Piñata makes their delectable corn tortillas. Yum!! So, I'm not saying that my Chile Verde is anywhere near as good as the one that I love so much, but it's pretty dang good. And it's super easy too!! With the help of bottled salsa verde, it makes it so much easier than dealing with tomatillos at home. Which I have done, and I prefer this recipe a million times over to the one I made completely from scratch. Just be sure to get mild or medium salsa verde so that your chile verde isn't too spicy. If you've been to La Piñata before, I'd love to know, leave me a comment about your favorite La Piñata dish!!

Chile Verde

5 lbs pork butt, cubed seasoned with garlic salt
Oil for browning meat
2 onions, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 Roma tomatoes,chunked
2 (16 ounce) jars La Victoria Salsa Verde
1 tablespoon Cumin
½ bunch Cilantro, chopped

Season pork with garlic salt and brown well in oil. Add onion, garlic and tomatoes; sauté for 2 minutes. Add salsa Verde and cumin bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to simmer, cook at least one hour or until meat is tender. Ten minutes before eating add cilantro, mix well. Serves 6-8.

Easy Country Style Pork Ribs

I buy country style pork ribs more often then I do any other type of rib, because it's a cheaper rib. They were on sale a couple of weeks ago and I got a couple of packages to stick in the freezer, which is what I do with most of our foods. I shop sales and stock up when things are really cheap and then save them for later, this way I don't have to pay full price for things! Not only is this recipe cheap, it's delicious too! Try it soon!

Easy Country Style Pork Ribs

1 large package country style pork ribs
1-2 (46 ounce) cans pineapple juice, enough to cover ribs
1 (18 ounce) bottle sweet baby ray's barbecue sauce

Place ribs in to a large pot and cover with pineapple juice. Bring pot to a boil and boil the ribs in the pineapple juice for at least 45 minutes and up to 1 ½ hours. Drain off juice and place ribs into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Cover with sauce and bake for 30 minutes at 350° F. You can also grill these ribs after they have boiled, just drain them off and then grill for about 15 minutes, basting with barbecue sauce.