Saving Money on Dinner – The Hillbilly Housewife

The Hillbilly Housewife has an emergency $40 menu that is free to download. I don’t like that kind of food but in a pinch it will work. It looks like she updated the site to reflect current prices because although the menu used to be $40, the title is reading $45.

I think I will try making the homemade tortillas for the kid. She loves anything rolled up. I can even sneak some mushed pinto beans for some protein.

Wendy’s Lentil and Brown Rice Casserole

I just picked up a copy of La Dolce Vegan!: Vegan Livin’ Made Easy, thanks to my friend who sent me a Barnes and Nobles gift certificate for my birthday. I am sure he would be horrified that I used the gc to buy a vegan cookbook, being a devout meat-eater himself. lol The cookbook has quite a few cheap and quick vegan recipes that can be made out of staples found in the cupboards and I am making one tonight (Wendy’s Lentil and Brown Rice Casserole). Ok, with a cooking time of 1.5 hours, it is not quick but the prep time is only 5 minutes.

Tonight I making this casserole for dinner for me and the husband. The child doesn’t like lentils so she can have some leftover ravioli. I somehow hurt my back so I am taking it easy tonight. The actual cook time was closer to 2 hours but it was oh-so-good. I’m not complaining.

Oh, and to double the usefulness of the oven, the child and I made salt-dough ornaments that will cook at the same time as the dinner. A word of warning, don’t use course ground sea salt for this craft. Even though I told husband to dissolve the 1 cup of salt required there was still large granules in the dough.

Here is the ingredient list for the casserole:

3/4c red lentils
3/4c brown rice
1 can crushed tomatoes
3c vegetable stock (used water + bouillon cube)
1 onion
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
grated vegan cheese (I used cows’ milk cheddar, don’t hurt me *ducks*)