Author Topic: What's for dinner?  (Read 23037 times)

Kaplin261

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What's for dinner?
« on: September 25, 2015, 09:35:12 AM »
Share with us what you are eating tonight? Got a recipe? How much does it cost to make?

My family of  three are going to eat a microgreen salad with fresh veggies from the garden with some chicken breast strips that were left over from last night. Total cost $7. Prep and cleanup time 15 minnutes.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2015, 05:51:34 AM by Kaplin261 »

bogart

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #1 on: September 25, 2015, 09:48:06 AM »
Leftovers.

Not sure whether it will be chicken  or ...
cheese quesadillas left over from a work event + some guac (Costco) and ditto on the veg or ...
hotdogs left over from a cookout and repurposed as "piggies in a blanket" with some store-bought dough.

Whatever the protein course, it will be + some random veggies lying around and/or from the freezer

Either way the prep will be very minimal.  Nutritional content only so/so, but they all need to get eaten.

Actually I think we'll be eating leftovers all weekend :) !

2ndTimer

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #2 on: September 25, 2015, 09:48:13 AM »
Potato leek soup

4 large leeks from my little garden bed (left the roots to see if I can grow more leeks like I do green onions)
6 slightly wrinkled potatoes that I needed to use up
2 Tbs butter
1 C whole milk previously frozen and thawed
2 Tbs chicken boullion powder
2 tsp seasoned salt
2 TBS flour
good shake of pepper

Chopped leeks and let them saute in butter while peeling and slicing potatoes.
Added potatoes and stirred
Covered and cooked about 10 min stirring now and then to avoid sticking
Added water to cover and brought to simmer. 
Let simmer 5-10 minutes or until potatoes are falling apart
mixed flour and 1 pint water and in covered jar.  Shook vigorously to prevent lu,ps
Turned up soup and poured flour water mixture in to thicken
Stirred while it returned to boiling
Turned off and went away for a few hours
Heated soup back to boiling while stirring
Tuned off heat and stirred in milk and all seasoning.

Next time I will use more leeks.

mm1970

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #3 on: September 25, 2015, 09:55:17 AM »
I have no idea.  We ran out of leftovers last night, and my son has a late baseball practice.

Frozen pizza ($3.50) and roasted cauliflower? ($0.50).  Dinner for 4 for $4.

catccc

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #4 on: September 25, 2015, 10:06:16 AM »
I have no idea.  We ran out of leftovers last night, and my son has a late baseball practice.

Frozen pizza ($3.50) and roasted cauliflower? ($0.50).  Dinner for 4 for $4.

Roasted cauliflower for $0.50?  I feel like I usually pay $4-$5 for a head of cauliflower.  Or is this home grown?

Apocalyptica602

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #5 on: September 25, 2015, 10:07:46 AM »
Lemon garlic chicken, over rice.

Simple, quick, yummy, minimal dishes (important because I hate dishes).

I pretty much follow this recipe as-is but i dial it back on the salt and sometimes substitute garlic salt for garlic powder.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/240993/lemon-garlic-chicken/

Prepube

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #6 on: September 25, 2015, 06:06:39 PM »
Eating alone tonight... One can chicken noodle soup mixed with one package of ramen noodles.  10 ritz crackers.  Two beers.

Directions: Heat Campbell's soup with one can water.  Crush ramen noodles before opening package.  Open package and immediately dispose of flavor salt pack.  Dump package into pot with soup.  Open beer.  Eat crackers and beer while waiting. When contents of pot begin to boil, add pepper to taste, eat directly from pot to save on cleanup.  Open second beer, put pot in dishwasher.

4alpacas

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #7 on: September 25, 2015, 06:38:51 PM »
We're out of most things, so we're having Poor Man's Burrito Bowls (http://www.budgetbytes.com/2015/09/poor-mans-burrito-bowls/). 

Kaikou

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #8 on: September 25, 2015, 08:27:42 PM »
I want pizza!

lbmustache

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #9 on: September 25, 2015, 08:29:41 PM »
Just made a quick pasta with stuff I had around.

Pasta
Basil from my basil plant!!!
Cream
Olive oil
Garlic
Salt

Done :)

kib

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #10 on: September 25, 2015, 08:34:23 PM »
Jumbo shrimp piccata over angel hair with zucchini julienne.  Chocolate pizelle with whipped cream and raspberries for dessert.  About $8 per head plus $3 for a glass of good white wine, but if i do say so, a $40 per restaurant meal. Approx 30 minutes but the shrimp were "EZ peel", add half an hour if they'd been fresh.
« Last Edit: September 25, 2015, 08:38:56 PM by frufrau »

mm1970

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #11 on: September 25, 2015, 08:36:27 PM »
I have no idea.  We ran out of leftovers last night, and my son has a late baseball practice.

Frozen pizza ($3.50) and roasted cauliflower? ($0.50).  Dinner for 4 for $4.

Roasted cauliflower for $0.50?  I feel like I usually pay $4-$5 for a head of cauliflower.  Or is this home grown?
Aside from the CSA membership that we have (which isn't enough for all of our weekly veg), I buy a bunch of veggies at the 99c only store.  The produce is hit or miss.  They always have produce, but not always the same stuff, and it varies in quality.  So I always go there first and look stuff over and buy what looks good.

I have found, however, that Saturday mornings they almost always have cauliflower.  This week, the heads were HUGE.  A few pounds at least.  I bought two.  One whole  head is enough for at least 3 meals for us.  So 0.50 was rounding up.  Right now it's 0.99 per head, but sometimes it's $1.29.  Still a super deal.

In the end, I made hash
3 potatoes: 0.10
1/2 an onion: 0.10
some leftover ham: 1.00

And then I realized that the buttermilk that I bought last week expired today. While hubs and big boy were at baseball practice, I whipped up some quick buttermilk cheddar rosemary scones.  I don't remember the last time that I just "winged it" and made something out of the ordinary in our kitchen. In fact, I bake so infrequently that I found the flour in the freezer.  (so the scones were a tad dense, but still delish).

It was very enjoyable to do that.
« Last Edit: September 25, 2015, 08:40:16 PM by mm1970 »

Sandia

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #12 on: September 25, 2015, 08:47:42 PM »
Fried rice, sweet red beans, and mooncakes for dessert (happy Mid-Autumn Festival!)

Cooked the rice yesterday and left it in the fridge uncovered to dry out. Tonight I will fry it with carrots, a handful of green beans, spring onions, and whatever else is cheap at the veg shop this morning.

The red (adzuki) beans get cooked with rock sugar, dried mandarin skins, and lotus seeds (our friend's Hong Kong recipe).

Zikoris

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #13 on: September 25, 2015, 10:21:09 PM »
We had leftovers because the cook (me) is sick. That was stir fry for me and shepherd's pie for him, plus some quinoa salad. We try to clear out everything by the weekend, then do mega food prep Saturday and Sunday for the week.

NorCal

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #14 on: September 25, 2015, 10:41:52 PM »
Leftover Cajun chicken pasta.  The recipe was excellent, but this one didn't have the same flavor as a leftover that I had hoped.

Budgetbytes does have some awesome recipe's though.

http://www.budgetbytes.com/2013/09/cajun-chicken-pasta/

jooles

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #15 on: September 25, 2015, 10:51:15 PM »
Ate potato chowder and a slice of whole wheat toast dry.  Side salad = cabbage, carrots, celery and green onions because that's what we had...and we're moving...and we're on a budget :)  dressing= balsamic glaze, mustard, fat free mayo, thinned w a little water. 

Made 2 kinds of corn chowder for future meals = fresh corn chowder and corn and Chile pepper chowder.

Cost minimal.  Potato chowder $3.00, made 6 servings, potatoes from the garden.  Corn chowder $4.00 per pot of soup, makes 6 servings.  Homemade whole wheat bread $1.00/loaf.  Salad $2.00 made 8 servings.
« Last Edit: September 25, 2015, 10:58:24 PM by jooles »

Kaikou

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #16 on: September 25, 2015, 11:30:17 PM »
chicken wings and mashed potatoes.

I think I'm officially off my chicken wing kick.. ate wings 4x this week.

Lanthiriel

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #17 on: September 26, 2015, 12:52:07 AM »
We were supposed to have glazed pork chops with roasted potatoes, but I got home too late to cook. Don't know what the husband ate, but I had a PBJ with a smoothie made of the Coscto frozen tropical fruit mix.

Lookilu

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #18 on: September 26, 2015, 08:42:31 AM »
The calendar says Fall, but with temperatures in the 90s it's time for gazpacho:
 
3 lbs tomatoes: $2.64
1 cucumber:      $.99
1 bell pepper:    $.50
1 white roll:       $.50
1/4 red onion:    $.25
Olive oil, sherry vinegar, salt and pepper, and a spoonful of sambal from the pantry: Maybe $.75
Total: $5.63 for 6 - 8 servings, depending on hunger levels ;)

I use this recipe http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/cooks-illustrated-creamy-gazpacho-andaluz-50091152

Beardog

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #19 on: September 26, 2015, 04:29:06 PM »
A bowl of lentils cooked with one hot red cherry pepper, a half a habanero,  fresh ginger, and hot curry powder.  And a second bowl with steamed carrots and broccoli, with a dollop of olive oil.  Yum!

kimmarg

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #20 on: September 26, 2015, 05:25:42 PM »
Turkey kale soup with cornbread.  turkey carcass was left over, boiled up and picked clean. Sauté a few onions, some garlic and a carrot, add Turkey, stock, kale, white beans. Season to taste. Kale from the garden, everything else I had no idea on cost. Cheap I hope!

MBot

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #21 on: September 26, 2015, 05:39:10 PM »
Twice-leftover pork ($1.44l/lb pork loin roast made into shredded pulled pork.) Served with red potatoes on sale and a quick spinach salad. Served 4 adults (husband and 2 male university students) for approx $3 total.

Zikoris

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #22 on: September 26, 2015, 05:49:58 PM »
Tonight I'm doing my weekly double dinner. Once a week on either Saturday or Sunday I pick two meals that use different parts of the kitchen (like a stir fry dish and a baked-in-the-oven dish), and just make them both at the same time. It typically produces at least six portions of leftovers, while taking a similar amount of time and effort as making one meal. It deals with most of our lunches for work, which is great!

This week is lasagna for Dish 1 and curry seitan stir fry for Dish 2.

2ndTimer

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #23 on: September 26, 2015, 06:25:31 PM »
It's clean out the fridge day.  The Hub had leftover chili.  I had leftover potato leek soup.

Kaikou

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #24 on: September 26, 2015, 08:32:17 PM »
turkey sandwich

HappierAtHome

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #25 on: September 26, 2015, 08:44:22 PM »
Having friends over, so:
Double batch of homemade pizzas.
Quick and easy coconut cake recipe I found on the simple living forum.
Gin blackberry cocktails (called brambles?) for which we already had the ingredients other than lemon juice and frozen blackberries - so an extra $6 or so to serve something fancy.

Evening as a whole won't cost us more than an extra $20. Hosting is great.

SingleMomDebt

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #26 on: September 26, 2015, 09:05:25 PM »
Pasta. Pesto. Biscuits.

11ducks

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #27 on: September 27, 2015, 04:37:57 AM »
I had leftover chicken meatballs and quinoa around 3, it was awesome!my partner usually gobbles up leftovers before I get a look in.

SingleMomDebt

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #28 on: September 27, 2015, 07:37:24 PM »
Rice. Black beans, mushrooms, onion, garlic, green onions, kale, diced tomatoes sautéed in cast iron pan w veggie broth. Bowl. Add lettuce, avocado, cheese, sour cream, hot sauce. (Clean out the fridge bowl) was delish. :)

lil_miss_frugal

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #29 on: September 28, 2015, 10:15:44 AM »
Since I have half an onion leftover from last week, I'll be making salmon croquette with basmati rice!

Polaria

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #30 on: September 28, 2015, 10:40:09 AM »
Toasts and homemade spicy butternut squash soup, inspired by http://thechicbrulee.com/2013/10/04/spiced-red-lentil-carrot-soup/
(the squash replaced the carrots, I used garlic-ginger paste and added leftover creme fraiche)

Zikoris

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #31 on: September 28, 2015, 10:59:40 AM »
Sushi, and I suspect my boyfriend bought my a donut cake for my birthday. Yay!

Trudie

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #32 on: September 28, 2015, 11:07:13 AM »
Curried couscous recipe (Barefoot Contessa's recipe), lettuce salads.

Then right after dinner am going to start assembling a large pot of veg/beef soup with the various odds and ends veg that need to be cleaned out before I go to the farmer's market again on Wednesday.

There's something satisfying about seeing an uncluttered fridge and knowing you haven't wasted much.

coffeelover

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #33 on: September 28, 2015, 11:15:42 AM »
Chicken and rice casserole with cream of chicken soup added, along with butter, garlic, and some milk.

I think the entire meal will have cost around 5.00 for all supplies, and will feed 4 people for dinner tonight and there will be enough leftovers for lunch tmr for eeryone.
So it will cost less then 1.00 per person. 2 out of the 4 poeple are toddlers... so don't eat as much some meals and then other meals they devour, I never know.

Tmr night it will be Red Lobster,using a gift card hubby got for his bday. I'm sure I can try and find a coupon somewhere as well.


acroy

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #34 on: September 28, 2015, 11:25:17 AM »
Barley Surprise!
DW handles most of the cooking. When I cook dinner, it's often a batch of 'Rice Surprise' or 'Barley Surprise' in the rice cooker. Surprise 'cause you never know what'll be in there! I clean up the various leftovers in the kitchen & throe them all in. It's usually a success. Not always.....
This one was good:
1cup barley (free, leftover from a project at work)
2lbs chicken (free, leftover from catering @ work
1/2 bell pepper (home grown)
1 cup frozen broccoli
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 apple
Various spices

All told, maybe $2 to feed fam of 8 with some leftovers.

Helvegen

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #35 on: September 28, 2015, 11:30:04 AM »
Leftover vegetable lasagna. Tomorrow night will be the same thing and then Wednesday, I am thinking of making okonomiyaki.

meg_shannon

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #36 on: September 28, 2015, 11:43:37 AM »
For 2 adults and 1 kid (and we all bike at least several km daily), we had:
scrambled eggs with sautéed mushrooms, avocado, and toast. And the kid had a few large cherry tomatoes as she doesn't care much for mushrooms. There were no leftovers.
All ingredients are prorated as we'll eat the remaining ones in the future. My husband also had a beer, which costs about 1€
eggs, 0.80€
scallions, 0.20€
garlic, 0.10€ (maybe? I used a couple of cloves)
oil, 0.05-0.10€
toast, 0.20€
avocado, 1.00€
tomatoes, 0.30€
total: 2.70€

horsepoor

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #37 on: September 28, 2015, 03:54:08 PM »
Chicken drumsticks:  $2.75 ish for four (free range).  I'll probably slather them in some homemade chimichurri and grill.  Maybe some baby homegrown potatoes - free.
Huge salad:  Spring mix - $2.40, green onions .50, coleslaw, 50c.  Avocado, 80c, blue cheese, 50c.  Tomatoes from the garden - free.

So $7.15 if I'm my mental addition is right.

NV Teacher

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #38 on: September 28, 2015, 04:33:50 PM »
Turkey sandwich.  We are still getting up to almost 100 degrees here everyday and it's just too damn hot to cook.

Joggernot

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #39 on: September 28, 2015, 04:53:08 PM »
Jalapeno omelet, hash browns, and bacon at home.  Excellent!

1967mama

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #40 on: September 28, 2015, 05:31:29 PM »
Pasta salad made with leftover rotini from last night's pasta dinner -- we had company so I made more than I needed. Dumped on half a container of Italian dressing and 1 cup of mayo (it was a huge bowl of rotini). Added diced onion, carrots, celery, bell peppers, cheese.

Also, cooked one of the last roasts from our $4.59/lb side of beef from last spring. New beef arriving end of October.

willikers

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #41 on: September 28, 2015, 05:43:35 PM »
A classic.

Homemade Mac n' Cheese and a garden salad (I had some Broccoli I was saving, for this specific dish, but I "saved" it for too long.


Teacherstache

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #42 on: September 28, 2015, 09:06:39 PM »
BLT sandwiches. The tomatoes were from our garden, so free. The bacon was $3.59 on sale, about 50 cents for the small amount of lettuce, and $1.00 for half the loaf of bread.

My daughter is vegetarian/pescatarian, So she substituted cheese for the bacon. Probably 30 cents worth of cheese.

Not bad for the 4 of us, and it sure was tasty!

jengod

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #43 on: September 28, 2015, 09:48:48 PM »
* 10-bean soup caramelized onions [very cheap and good]
* parmesan peppers [less cheap esp if you buy organic bell peppers, but delicious]
* Leftover Korean steamed buns [$2.50 per and awesome]
* Leftover El Pollo Loco chicken
* M&M's

Nickyd£g

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #44 on: September 29, 2015, 06:36:00 AM »
Roasted salmon fillet, hollandaise sauce, steamed asparagus, broccoli & mange tout.  Probably cost £3 for the ingredients.

boarder42

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #45 on: September 29, 2015, 06:52:25 AM »
Mustard rubbed oven roasted pork loin with chimichurri sauce and

Roasted Cauliflower Faux mashed potatoes with roasted garlic.

This is probably 2 bucks a meal and will last 3 meals for 2 minimum.  I buy everything in bulk onsale so i dont know actual prices.

happypup

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #46 on: September 29, 2015, 07:46:10 AM »
Pasta with the last of this summer's garden basil and tomatoes along with mozzarella we made this weekend. Not sure what the veg cost works out to be, but about 50 cents for the half-pound of pasta for the two of us. The milk was 2.79 for a gallon, maybe 50 cents more for the share of citric acid and rennet into the mix, which gave a pound of mozzarella (plus some ricotta, plus all the leftover whey), of which we'll use probably .25 lbs tonight.

Bucksandreds

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #47 on: September 29, 2015, 08:00:26 AM »
Hot dog Soup.

4 hotdogs boiled in water.
Salt and pepper to taste.

Remove hotdogs and enjoy the soup

Next day have 4 hotdogs to eat as leftovers.

Cost of dinner 11 cents.









Just kidding

Kaikou

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #48 on: September 29, 2015, 03:14:13 PM »
Hot dog Soup.

4 hotdogs boiled in water.
Salt and pepper to taste.

Remove hotdogs and enjoy the soup

Next day have 4 hotdogs to eat as leftovers.

Cost of dinner 11 cents.









Just kidding

Oh my god, hilarious

irishbear99

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Re: What's for dinner tonight?
« Reply #49 on: September 29, 2015, 03:34:15 PM »
Tonight is taco rice night. Two tortillas baked into bowl shapes, add rice, your choice of beans / meat (tonight it's simple ground beef) / veg, and top with sour cream, salsa and cheese.