I was reading the news this morning before writing this post and, oh man, it’s scary what’s going on in the world, isn’t it? Even though Main St hasn’t been hit as hard yet, I believe it is time to start buckling up for the rough ride ahead. However, I don’t think that means we need to eat boring and tasteless food. This is the time to put on our creative hats and start making delicious foods on a budget. That’s why I encourage you to check out and participate in Frugal Fridays.
The premise of this Jerry’s great idea is to cook dinner for a family of four for US $10.00. That might not look like a big budget, but once you start getting a hold of frugal living, you will be surprised how far your money can go without sacrificing taste, nutrition or creativity.
For this week’s entry I made chorizo ($2.49 lb) and ground turkey ($1.99 lb) meatballs that I fried and cooked with diced tomatoes ($0.99 can) and served over pasta ($0.99 package) cooked with cabbage ($0.47 lb) and broccoli ($1.94 lb). Not bad for a frugal dinner.
Chorizo meatballs and pasta
Makes enough for six servings
For this recipe you will need:
- 1/2 lb chorizo
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup cornmeal
- 1 TBSP chopped fresh parsley
- 1/4 small onion chopped
- 1/4 cup cooked rice (optional)
- Cooking oil
- 2 cups diced tomatoes
- 1 8-oz package of spaghetti
- 1/2 small cabbage, shredded
- 1 cup broccoli, chopped
- basil, salt, fresh ground pepper and any other spice you like to add to your pasta.
Preparation:
- Cook pasta following the package instructions. Add cabbage about 7 minutes before you remove from heat and broccoli about 2 minutes before removing from heat. Drain, but save 1 cup of the water.
- Brown chorizo in a large heavy skillet and combine with ground turkey, eggs, cornmeal, fresh parsley, onion, rice (my mom used to add rice to the meatballs and they always tasted so good) and seasoning to taste in a large mixing bowl.
- Add some cooking oil to the same skillet where you browned the chorizo. Roll out meatballs as big as you want them and brown them.
- In a cooking pot add tomatoes and the water you saved from the pasta. Season if necessary. Add browned meatballs and cook for 8-10 minutes.
- Serve over pasta and top with queso fresco crumbs and enjoy.
Chorizo gave these meatballs a very disctintive flavor that wasn’t overwhelming. Cabbage and pasta are two ingredients that every frugal kitchen should always have, they are nutritious and always give a rich filling to any dish. What are your frugal dinners?
¡Buen provecho!
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22 Replies
Not bad at all! Very tasty & frugal
Posted on October 10th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Looks absolutely delicious Ben! Yes, the world is getting scarier!
Posted on October 10th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Scary times out there. Great combo of ingrediants you have going on.
Posted on October 10th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Hi Ben,
Nice frugal meal there! By coincidence, I made turkey meatballs this week with tomato sauce and pasta, but I was a bit disappointed – they were really dry so I didn’t blog about them!
Were yours dry, or do you think the chorizo made them quite juicy?
I try and be pretty frugal at home, we spend about £2.50 on an evening meal for two througout the week – thats about $5 give or take.
Posted on October 10th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Great meal. Chorizo is so good – a little goes a long way with superb flavour & I would have thought added great moisture to the meat too.
Posted on October 10th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Even better, this meal contains a variety of vegetables – so healthy, too!
I’m cooking something similar tonight – chicken sausage, cabbage and potatoes.
Posted on October 10th, 2008 at 11:39 am
What a beautiful and filling dish and the chorizo gives all the flavour to the meatballs. Your pictures are great.
Posted on October 10th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Looks great Ben…Love the picture!
Posted on October 10th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Good job, Ben. Yet another interesting combination of ingredients providing a balanced dinner (veggie, carb, protein, etc.) for minimal cost. And anything that has chorizo in it, tiene que ser bueno!
Posted on October 10th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
I don’t really listen to the news. This is depressing. I love your pasta. Well done!
Posted on October 10th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
I agree that things are heading down a bit, but I still think cooking is the best way to roll with the economic punches. I’ll sacrifice going out to eat to make sure I can still eat what I want at home.
This dish is great because it shows just that. Power protein, veggies, and good carbs. With your recipes on my side, I’m never going hungry dude.
Posted on October 10th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Looks great Ben! I must check out Frugal Fridays as I could do with some tips for budget meals that still taste good!
Posted on October 11th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Looks great, I only wish chorizo was that cheap where I am, here it’s 5x the price!
Posted on October 11th, 2008 at 10:10 am
How funy! My Frugal submission featured turkey and cabbage as well. Great minds…
Arika
My Yummy Life
Posted on October 11th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
yup, definitely not bad… in fact, i think it’s a great meal…
Posted on October 12th, 2008 at 2:01 am
omg this looks amazing!! Just added to my “must cook list” I lovee Chorizo and all the colors of this dish are soo pretty.
Posted on October 12th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Que rico Ben! Si, everything seems to be falling! I hope there’s good news soon about this crisis!
I like this event! Good idea
Posted on October 13th, 2008 at 8:10 am
I think we all need to start buckling down and eating more frugal dinners Ben. It is nice to splurge once in a while of course:D
Posted on October 14th, 2008 at 7:48 am
Chorizo and turkey meatblls, how delicious. Something I never thought about. Great idea Ben. There is a place here in town that makes hamburgers with chorizo. I haven’t tried it but my daughter has and she says they’re very good. I’m going to try your idea with the chorizo meatballs. I too love Halloween, but Dia de Los Muertos is also fantastic. Can’t wait to make my sugar skulls.
Posted on October 14th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
In the community that we serve many people are going to bed hungry,,,this meal for them would be “an event”. I often have to remind myself how fortunate we are….for us buckling down means not to go out for a meal so often or eat less red meat, but for a large part of our society …they have no belt to tighten…
…anyway this is not to make you feel guilty, your food looks amazing and yes, we all try our best to cut down, but still eat a nutritious meal….
Posted on October 14th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
de solo mirar esta foto me ha dado un hambre, jajaja ! Me encanta los spaghettis !
Posted on October 15th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Oh, Ben – this looks really great. I love the combination. Looks like yet another great use for cabbage!
I’m also pleased that you called the Frugal Fridays event to my attention. Glad I stumbled by!
Posted on October 16th, 2008 at 11:20 am
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