Baby it's cold outside. Our Chicken Chili recipe will warm you up!

When it’s cold outside I like to cook myself up a little bit of chicken chili. Here’s one of my favorite recipes:

Chicken Chili

1 Roasted Chicken-$5.00  (I grab one of those roasted chickens that they have at Safeway or Fry’s. Did you know that if you go after 9 PM they are sometimes half off! You can get one of these and pull off all the meat for soups or tacos or salads, any old thing. Freeze it or stick it in the fridge to use during the week.)
1 Packet McCormick’s White Chicken Chili Seasoning Mix $1.50
1 Can kidney beans $1.00
1 Can White Beans $1.00
1 Onion $.80
1 Bell Pepper (any color will do) $.80
1 Large Can Diced Tomato $1.50
1 Avocado $1.00 (optional)

As you can see this is a pretty cheap dish and it serves about 4-6 people for under $15.00. Score!
As many of you know (including my long suffering husband) I am not what you would call a “cook”. I would much rather go grab some take out before cooking. I don’t like all that dicing and sauteing and whatnot. This dish is super easy. There is a little dicing and sauteing but if I can do it then anyone can. 



The first thing I do is chop off the chicken breasts and pick the meat off the roasted chicken. Then I dice up the chicken pieces and put them in a bowl to the side. I can tell you that I have a great audience sitting juuuust outside the kitchen while I do this.


Then I chop up the pepper and the onion add them to a hot pan with a swirl of olive oil in the bottom of the pan. Stir everything around a little bit, until the onion is kind of translucent, this should take about 2 minutes. You can add a little salt, pepper and garlic powder if you wish. When you are done with that step go ahead and dump the whole pan into the crock pot (you can also just use a large pot of any kind)

Once the onion and pepper are in the pot, dump in the can of tomatoes, the chicken, the chili powder packet, both cans of beans (rinsed) and just a little bit of water. I usually fill the can that the tomatoes were in about half way full and pour that in. Stir everything together and put it in the crock pot or a regular pot on medium for about 15-20 minutes then turn it down to low until you are ready to serve.

When I serve this up I slice a few pieces of avocado and squirt on some sour cream (if I have it on hand)  It really gives it a little boost!

Leftover Turkey? We got a cheap recipe for that!

Got some left over turkey? Well here’s a cheap thrill recipe to polish off the last of it! Courtesy of my dear friend Suzanne.

Turkey Tetrazzini

2 cans cream of mushroom soup -$3.00
2 cups cheddar cheese (or colby or anything that you have on hand) $4.00
1 can mushrooms (or you can use fresh) $1.00
3 pieces of bacon $1.50
Celery $1.00
1 Onion $1.00
1 bell pepper $1.00
1 box vermiccelli pasta (or you can use angel hair or thin spaghetti) $1.00
Left over turkey FREE!

This may also be a good time to use up the leftover celery and onion from your stuffing. We always have a few stalks left and almost a whole onion.

So, as you can see this whole recipe is under $15.00 and it serves between 4-6 people. Also, if you don’t have any leftover turkey you can always grab one of those cooked roasted chickens that they have at Fry’s or Safeway. They are $5.00.

Now, the first thing you do is put on a pot of water to boil up the pasta. I add a pinch of salt to give it a little flavor.
Then the next thing you do is chop up the bacon and toss it in a hot pan. While that is cooking up chop the mushrooms, onion, celery an bell pepper. Once the bacon is done cooking you toss all of those veggies in the pan and stir it all around. Your kitchen should smell good and bacony at this point.

Once the onion is a starting to turn translucent you should pull the pan off the burner and check your pasta. It should be about done now. If you are feeling crazy pull out a string of pasta and throw it at the wall and see if it sticks. I think if it sticks that means it is done.

When the pasta is done, drain it  and toss it in the pan with all the veggies and bacon. Mix that all around and then add the turkey and cream of mushroom soup, stir that all around and then add the cheese. Once everything is thoroughly mixed together pour it in a 13 x 9  (or other size) casserole dish. Stick the whole thing in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes until it is all nice and hot and viola! You got yourself some yummy food and you used up your extra turkey and you saved some money!

Cheap Thrills Recipe Edition

I was cooking myself up some chicken chili and it occurred to me that maybe I could come up with some recipes that are cheap and that are easy (I am NOT a cook by any stretch of the imagination)
So with that, here’s the first installation of Cheap Thrills Recipe Edition!

A few things of note: Most of the recipes serve 4-6 people and the prices that I am using are from my regular shopping at Fry’s or Safeway. You can get super cheap thrills by using coupons and shopping smart. Beth suggests couponmom.com. The site is super easy to use and she has had some great luck saving money using that site and the Sunday paper.

Without further ado….

Ever need to throw together a quick dish for a pot luck?  Or how about needing to toss something together because you have a few friends coming over? Well, this is my go-to quick and easy recipe. Just ask my dear husband. I am sure this is the recipe that stole his heart.

Baked Rigatoni
1 lb ground beef -$4.00
1 box rigatoni or penne pasta $1.00
1 can spaghetti sauce $1.00 (I know, I know you can get some pricier sauces but for my money I really like the Hunts Roasted Garlic Spaghetti sauce. It is basic and it has good flavor)
2 cups mozzarella cheese $4.00

Basically you can make this whole dish for about $10.00. If you want to add in a loaf of french bread for $1.00 and a bag of salad mix for $2.00 you can serve up a meal for 4-6 people on less than $15.00.

Here’s the super complicated recipe. Brace yourself.
Boil some salted water and add the pasta
While the pasta is boiling up,  brown the ground beef, add in some salt, pepper and garlic powder.
When the ground beef is done, drain off the fat and mix in the spaghetti sauce.
By now the pasta should be done so drain it and put it back in the pan, mix in the meat sauce and pour this whole thing in to a 13 x 9 pan. Sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese and pop in to a 400 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes until the cheese is all bubbly.
You can get fancy with this and add in some globs of ricotta cheese (say it all Giada style “reeecoata”) before sprinkling on the mozzarella. This gives it a creamier texture.














There you go! Our first cheap thrill recipe. Feel free to chime in with your own recipes! We would love to hear about them. E mail to cheapthrillsinaz@gmail.com

The Fair is coming!!

Do you feel like the Arizona State Fair is the kick off to all things Fall? Well, I do! Once you see the signs posted on the Coliseum you just know the scent of popcorn and fried things will soon waft throughout the City.

Arizona State Fair

The official kick off of the Arizona State Fair is Friday, October 14th and will run until Sunday, November 6th, the fair is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

There are lots of discounts offered while the fair is here. For example, on the first day of the fair admission is only $1.00 until 5 PM. There are also discount days throughout the week.

One great Arizona State Fair promotion is "We Care Wendesdays". Each Wednesday a different charity benefits from donations in exchange for free Admission from 12 PM until 6 PM.

The charities this year are Arizona Stand Down (benefiting Arizona's homeless veterans), St. Mary's Foodbank (benefiting Arizona's hungry) and St. Vincent De Paul (benefiting Arizona's poor) You can click here for details of which charities and donations are for which days. This is a win-win, you can help these wonderful charities and get free admission!

The Arizona State Fair is a great way to get out and enjoy this beautiful weather, see some really cool exhibits, play some games, ride some rides and eat some stuff you wouldn't normally eat (fried oreos anyone?)

Calling all women!

The Arizona Ultimate Women's Expo is coming to Phoenix on October 22nd and 23rd. 

Arizona Ultimate Women's Expo

There are all kinds of great speakers and booths. The keynote speaker on Saturday is Dyan Cannon and the keynote on Sunday is Paula Abdul. Not only that but the list of seminars is very impressive. There is something for everyone. Whether you want to build your business, learn about trends in fashion or party planning this is a great time to explore new and innovative ideas and get inspired.

If you just want to come and be pampered you can check out the massage pavilion, the martini and nail bar or one of the other 550 exhibits offering tastings or complimentary spa treatments.

The best thing is the ticket price! If you purchase online you can enter the promo code 2for1 and get two tickets for the price of one! Now THAT is a Cheap Thrill!

First Watch Free Omelette Day - October 12th 2011

If you want to have a great breakfast for cheap October 12th, 2011 is the day to do it! Every year all four Valley locations of First Watch host a free Omelette day for donations, proceeds benefit St. Vincent De Paul. Please don't forget to tip your server and let them know they did a great job.

Cheap Dining in and Around Phoenix - Promotional Special

If you are looking for a new Mongolian place to eat I highly recommend Genghis Grill. They have several locations throughout the valley. Currently they are running a Buy One Bowl Get One Bowl Half Off with purchase of two drinks. Get the coupon here!

Cheap Thrill of the week

This week's cheap thrill is at the Herberger Theater. For those of you haven't ventured downtown in a while this is a good time to check it out.

The second annual Herberger Theater Festival of the Arts event takes place on Saturday, October 1st. Tickets for the event are $5.00 for adults and FREE for kids under 12 years old. The parking is also FREE at the Arizona Center, located at 5th Street and Fillmore.

At the Herberger Theater Festival of the Arts you will have the opportunity to hear live music from bands like Chicks with Picks and Take Cover! You will also have a chance to see several film shorts and other performances. There will be food and a wine tasting and even a kids zone! Click here for a participant list. The event begins at 1 PM and ends at 5 PM so get there early to take advantage of all they have to offer.

Leather, Music and Motorcycles - Bike Night @ Westgate

Thursdays at Westgate hundreds of motorcyclists show up in droves to show off their, chrome, custom paint and LED's adorned bikes. You will not be lacking for eye candy here, there is something for everyone! All shapes, sizes, makes and models (of both bikes and people) fill the walkways round the fountains for an evening filled with socializing, live music, bars and restaurants. If you are looking to make customizations to your bike you will find vendors here to show off their talents and equipment. Riders enthusiastically share information about their bikes to anyone who shows interest or takes a few photos of their bike. They also give you the evil eye if you get a little too close so mind your manners and don't touch the merchandise!

Pictures from Bike Night

Michael and I have recently become motorcycle owners and have yet to participate in any cyclist events, mainly because I feel under dressed without my leather chaps...however we have found that it's easy to find fellow riders. There is an instant camaraderie with motorcycle owners and you always have something to talk about (instant ice breaker). Riders share a super secret 2 finger wave (like the peace sign) from the either the hip or the handle bars with fellow bikes passing by. If you are suffering from cabin fever from the dog days of summer take a ride over to Westgate City Center and check out some of the free events. There is shopping, food, movies and more! One word of caution...in my experience Thursday night, many of the bikers were not very patient with the pedestrian traffic and they let you know you are in their way by revving their engines behind you.

Cheap Thrill of the week

The thrill this week is brought to us by Ballet Arizona.

Ballet under the stars is running at different locations throughout the valley until Sunday, September 25th.  Here's a blurb from their website "

Ballet Arizona will present its 14th annual Ballet Under the Stars, series at parks throughout the Valley. FREE and open to the public, Ballet Under the Stars, allows Arizona communities to enjoy dance in a unique outdoor setting complete with a stage, lighting, costumes and beautiful Arizona weather. Bring a blanket or lawn chair and enjoy a varied program, ranging from classical to contemporary. You won’t want to miss this perfect show for the entire family – it is a great way to introduce ballet to your children for the first time."



Click on their link for locations and times. Ballet Arizona

Cheap Thrills, Recurring Events

There are a few events that are free and that happen every week. We will be posting them on the calendar over there on the right but here are a few to whet your appetite!

First up, check out the Thursday night bike night at Westgate. This west side event (located at the 101 and Glendale) begins at 5 PM and runs until 9 PM. This event will be on Thursday nights for the next five weeks and then they switch to Wednesday for five weeks after that. They are currently doing a theme night every week with this week being a 60's theme.

http://www.cyclerides.com/

Our second recurring event is also on Thursday. The Scottsdale Art Walk is happening every Thursday from 7-9 PM. Here's the blurb from their website "A 30-year tradition, the ArtWalk process is simple — proceed at your own pace, wander into galleries that capture your fancy, stroll around a delightful area punctuated by dramatic statues, bubbling fountains, tree-covered courtyards, famed restaurants and more. Horse-drawn carriage rides and trolley rides are often available from plentiful free parking areas nearby" You can also click on their website to get more information.

http://www.scottsdalegalleries.com/index.html

Belly Belly Belly

Saturday night found Beth, Michael and I at Next Coffee located on the west side, just south of the 101 on 59th Ave.

We were at Next Coffee to experience some of their free entertainment. This particular Saturday night was belly dancing night! The festivities began at 6 PM and when we arrived at 6:30 things were in full shimmy.

There was a pretty good sized crowd of people, some were dressed up and some were just clapping and having a great time.

Speaking of dressing up, there were belly dancing costumes of all types. There were some that looked like the traditional style that you would expect to see a belly dancer in and there were some others that were inspired by Steampunk. I had to google steampunk to see what it was. They kind of looked like pirates to me.

Beth and I ventured in to the little shop that the belly dancing troupe set up. There were all kinds of costumes and accessories for sale. Some of the costumes were really cool and very heavy with all the beading. We spoke with Kristyn (aka Anyanka) she is the director and choreographer of Dancers of DeNile. Here she is performing with her daughter and another dancer.

We asked Anyanka about the music choices of some of the dancers (Wang Chung Tonight anyone?) and she said that the dancers choose their own music to go with their particular style and the music doesn't necessarily have to be traditional.

She was shimmying all over the place!

 The belly dancing was something fun and free to do on a Saturday night. It is a recurring event on the third Saturday of the month at Next Coffee.

This venue is pretty cool. They have lots of yummy coffee drinks, teas, beer, wine and all kinds of food and snacks. They offered samples of their pumpkin spice latte and I drove back over the next day to get one for breakfast! Delish!

Next Coffee supports local artists and they have a great calendar of free events all during the week including open Mic night, live music, tea tastings and much more. Just click on this link and check them out.

I am sure we will be back to enjoy some of their other offerings and you know, maybe another pumpkin spice latte or two.

Cheap Thrill Date Night Edition

Our Cheapskate Daters

We begin our first edition of cheap thrill date night in Old Town Scottsdale at the Gelato Spot.

This particular cheap thrill date night is sponsored by Groupon. I picked up a Groupon for the Gelato Spot. The cost was $12 and that gave us two entrees and two small scoops of gelato. The food was molto delizioso!  On a side note, did you know that gelato is lower in calories than ice cream? So basically that means I could have had a large scoop but I didn't. I am getting so moderate in my 40's.

With our appetites satiated, we headed on over to Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMOCA). On Thursday the Museum is free and it is open until 8 PM.

 

I should have been on the Price is Right!

We checked out the Extended Collapse exhibit which is an installation that depicts architecture and design history and the implications of boom culture. Yes that was taken straight from the brochure but that is such a good summary why mess with it?  One of the pieces is a chunk of the marquee from the United Artists multiplex movie theater that was torn down in 1999 and replaced by the current location of SMOCA.

Here's a picture of the marquee. This is taken with my cell phone. I was being stealthy because I didn't know if we could take pictures in the museum. 

There were some other exhibits and SMOCA is really cutting edge. If you have a smart phone with the ability to scan, you can scan in the little bar codes at the beginning of the exhibit and read all about the artists and whatnot. This is WAY cooler than the old school head phones and the walk-man style players around your neck. What? Don't they do those anymore?

After the tour of SMOCA we decided that we had not seen nearly enough art so off we went to the Scottsdale Art Walk. It is free and it is a recurring event, every Thursday from 7 PM to 9 PM.

My little artsy take on the artwalk markers all along the streets.

We started our tour at the Bonner David Galleries. There were some pretty cool things in there, like this one that I call the cat lady in the wooden bowl.

She's a colorful cat lady

Then we sauntered on down to Madau Homan gallery. Mike liked this one the best. It had some seriously cool metal sculptures like these two.

Because of course I like the lady jumping out of the window and the robot holding a bunch of wine.

As we continued our loop, a few of the owners we chatted with mentioned that it was unusually quiet for Thursday night. I noticed this as well when we didn't have any trouble parking, which to me is a bonus. I didn't mind it being a slow night, it felt more intimate to be able to talk with the people and enjoy a glass of champagne with the other art walkers and gallery owners.

Here I am at the Occasions! By Design gallery. 

So, with that I will wrap up our Cheap Thrill Date Night. We had a lovely time and with the weather getting cooler this is a great thing to do.

I have a few tips. First, the parking is pretty easy for SMOCA. You just head East on 2nd Street from Scottsdale Road and the free public parking garage is on the North side of the street. There are also tons of restaurants around there so you could grab an appetizer or a snack if you get hungry.

Second, you can hop on and off the trolley to get around and make sure you hit all the sites. Here's the link to the Trolley Routes They keep it running until 9 PM on Thursday nights.

And lastly, wearing heels is probably not the greatest idea no matter how cute you look in them. Trust me,  I have a few blisters to prove it.

Cheap Thrill of the week!

Hey check this out! Harkins Theaters are saying celebrating 78 years in Arizona by offering free movies all week! Select movies and select theaters so here are the details.

Or click this link for more details Harkins Theaters

Jammers and Packs and Pivots, Oh my!

Our first foray out into the world of cheap thrills finds us at the Arizona Roller Derby opener on Saturday, September 10th. The tickets were $10 if purchased online at Arizona Derby Girls

The Arizona Roller Derby is a founding member of WFTDA ( Women's Flat Track Derby Association) Their home track is located in Castle Sports Club at 11420 N. 19th Ave.

First impressions? Well, the parking lot was jam packed and people were sitting out with coolers and camping chairs. I thought, "holy cow, this is an EVENT!" It turns out that there was a volleyball tournament going on which added to the semi chaos.

The crowd was filled with people of all shapes, sizes and ages with many interesting tattoos and piercings. There were even a few pirates! Let's just say that you could tell which people were headed to the Roller Derby and which were headed to the volleyball tournament.

The venue itself was loud and kind of stuffy. The benches in the glassed off area around the rink were filled and they had chairs on the floor around the "rink" where Beth and Michael had saved me a seat. We were behind a group that was there in support of their Derby Girl, Silent Ninja from the Brawlerinas team.

The bout began with a run down of the rules. I won't bore you with them here ( you can click on the link if you are interested) but it was helpful to kind of know what was going on. The rules were also posted in the program for the event. The next item on the agenda was to introduce the teams.

The colorful names of the teams and their players definitely follows Derby tradition. Here's a sampling of the player names; Bo Peep Show, Fairy Vicious, Destructo Kitty, Gratuitous Violet, Sammi Automatic, Milly Watt and Blok and DekHer. Not to be out done the refs get in to the game with Buster Chops and Maya Pinion.

My action shots aren't nearly as good as Beth's.

You will also be happy to know that they continue tradition with interesting outfits complete with fishnet stockings, tutus, hot pants and crazy makeup.

The bout itself was pretty cool. Nothing like you would imagine from what you may have seen in the movies or on t.v. but still fun in it's own right. The girls all had great attitudes and they were having a good time. For such a rough event it was inspiring to see the pack rolling around and tactically blocking the other team to keep the jammers from scoring. There wasn't a hint of nastiness or animosity when they slammed in to each other or crashed to the floor in a major pile up. They just got up and kept going. It was awesome! I think this would be a great event to take your teen and pre-teen girls to. Here's the link to the schedule. Arizona Derby Girls

So... Beth, what did you think? Got some cool pictures and videos to add?

Beth Says:

We had our choice of sitting safely behind the glass or on the playing field. I chose the dangerous route in hopes that I would photograph the perfect derby brawl. Being totally new to the Roller Derby I decided I better try to read the rules of the game so I know what I’m looking for and have a hope of understanding the scoring. I read about Pivots, Jammers and Blockers and none of it made a lick of sense. The pregame was chocked full of people watching while the derby girls warmed up. The MC worked hard to pump up the crowd, there were raffle tickets to buy…the prize.. $25 off a tattoo (very fitting for this event). One of the referee’s was worth a second look because her mannerisms reminded me of the star of GLEE. She took her job way too seriously, positioning herself in all sorts of weird stretches that normal athletes do not do while warming up, it was comical. I even spotted a derby perv taking action shots of the skaters from the floor, the only thing missing were the mirrors on his shoes!

With names like “Block and DekHer”, “Nicole Bitchy”, “Racey Rizzo” and “Hacker Too Pieces”, I hoped for some exciting brawls. I had images of girls smacking against the hockey glass and blood streaked glass, but in reality this particular event was nothing of the sort. We were clued in that the men’s roller derby leagues may have a little more of the action I was looking for. Being a skater myself, if I was 10 years younger I may have just signed up to be a derby girl. The girls did a great job and it was definitely worth seeing at least once. Advanced ticket prices are $10/ea for adults or $12 at the door. Don’t procrastinate because online ticket purchase can’t be made after 12pm on the day of the bout and it will cost you more at the door. Overall it was a perfect opportunity to stay within my budget of $10 and it was a great opportunity to try something new. I would totally take the family to see this event.

Picture Highlights