$10 Dinners part 10

Well, its been a few days since I posted, and I figure I better get back on the ball here. I promised 100 recipes and I plan on delivering!

Today I had about 1 hour until supper and 3 pieces of cooked leftover chicken. I put those 3 pieces on to boil and called 2 of my kids into the kitchen to help make noodles. There are many noodle recipes and I'm sure everyone has a favorite, but the simplest egg noodle recipe is just eggs and flour. A pinch of salt if you really want it is also added. A chef taught me this one. You make a pile of flour on the table or in a bowl, crack 1-2 eggs into the center of it, whisk the eggs with a fork and start incorporating the flour. I would guess about 1 egg to every cup of flour. It depends on the size of your eggs and the moisture content of your flour. I used whole wheat flour. Then when you have a ball that isn't too sticky, start rolling it or putting it through your noodle maker. I have an old hand-cranked one which I really love. Drop noodles into boiling water or broth and boil for 7-10 minutes depending on the thickness of your noodles. These are so cheap they're almost free! (And the taste is fantastic!)

Anyway, back to the pot of water boiling with the 3 pieces of chicken in it. After about 20 minutes, I took the chicken out and stripped off the meat. I returned the meat to the pot, added bouillon cubes (I use the kind with no MSG), chopped carrot, onion and celery, and 1/2 cup frozen peas. In about 6 minutes the veggies were tender so I started adding the noodles. Add them 1 by 1, so that the water continues to boil. If you dump them all in at the same time, they may stick together and create a big stuck-together mass.

This recipe is very cheap, but hard to put a price to. The eggs I buy are 10 cents each (from a farm.) The flour probably 10c. The chopped veggies and peas probably 50c. The chicken probably 1.50 and the bouillon cubes probably 20c. That makes a grand total of $2.50 which sounds hard to believe, but the water in the soup carries all the flavors and helps to fill up tummies. I made peach cobbler for dessert (see March 21, 2009 post). The approximate cost to that is $3.00

Let's put it all together:

16. Menu: Chicken soup with homemade noodles and peach cobbler
Shopping List: 3 chicken pieces or leftover bones with meat on, 1/2 cup each chopped onion, celery and carrot, 1/2 c frozen peas, 1-2 eggs, 1-2 cups flour, peach cobbler ingredients (see March 21, 2009 post)

For soup and noodle instructions, see above. Make cobbler and put in oven to cook while you're eating. After the hearty soup, the cobbler will be done and ready nice and hot to eat. Total Cost = $5.50

Now how's that for a great meal with very little cost? I hope you like it too.