a [cheap] dinner

Hello! It's been a while! Things have been rather crazy in the Johnson household this past month. But things are slowing down and I am thankful. Last night Jerod and I hung out and ate at home and it turned out so well I thought I would share it with you! And it was also a pretty cheap meal, which is always good for my food budget.


Oven Baked BBQ Chicken Leg Quarters
adapted from the hungry mouse
2-4 BBQ chicken leg quarters ($2.62/2 @ Trader Joe's)
s and p (pantry staple)
a little canola oil (pantry staple), or some non-stick spray
parsley, chopped ($1.79/bunch @ Harris Teeter)
BBQ sauce from store or homemade

Honey BBQ Sauce
2 good squirts ketchup
2 good squirts honey
Splash or two of soy sauce
Splash of apple cider vinegar
1 tsp canola oil
Squirt of yellow mustard
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 garlic clove, chopped
WHISK: Put this in a small bowl and whisk it up!
*You can make more or less depending on how much chicken you have, for just the two of us I made less. Sorry my directions for this are not technical. You can taste it and figure out what you like.
*You can always just buy it too! But I do not like that everyone seems to have hydrogenated oil in it. I did see that Trader Joe's has one with out it. I think it was $3.00 through and I didn't want to spend the money on it.

OVEN: 375 degree F
SEAR: take frying pan, and heat small amount of oil or spray on HIGH heat. When the pan is hot place chicken in the pan and let cook for a few minutes, you can lift it up and check the color, I usually pull them off when they're a nice brown color. The pan will smoke and if you use oil, may pop so be careful. I always burn my fingers.
COOK: Place chicken on a rack in a roasting pan on on a sheet pan. Coat the meat with some sauce and cook for 15 minutes. Pull out rack and coat them again. Then let cook undisturbed for 30 minutes. In my oven that time will cook it all the way through. If you are unsure go another 5 minutes or use a meat thermometer.
SERVE: I like to serve the chicken with parsley on top in stead of cilantro because I like it better.

Boiled Carrots w/ Parsley and Butter

I use 1/2 the bag of small carrots so Jerod can have some for lunch the next day
(I believe these are $1.89 @ Trader Joe's, even cheaper would be the bag of regular carrots for $0.89, more work but cheaper)
parsley, chopped
1/2 tbsp real butter (pantry staple)

BOIL: boil water in a medium sauce pan (maybe 3 C), after water is boiling drop in carrots and let cook until they are as tender as you like them, about 10 minutes
DRAIN: drain the carrots and place back in the sauce pan, probably on a different burner so you don't burn the butter
FINISH: place drained carrots back in sauce pan with butter, place burner on med-lo. Let the carrots hang out in the butter for a little bit (~5 min) then add parsley and stir. Serve!

You can serve this with rice, oven roasted sweet potato or regular potato fries, buttered pasta, couscous, bread whatever you want really. I just love carbs!

Hope you enjoy! I made this last night and Jerod and I always really like it. Another nice thing is Jerod has lunch the next day. I put rice, carrots and some extra meat in a pyrex and he was set!

hope you enjoy.

dmj.