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