Homecooked: Simple Pleasures

I try to let y'all know about not only the great places I visit for a meal out, but some of the meals I make at home, too. 

Whether it's just a fresh or forgotten easy meal idea for your family, or merely reassurance that chefs aren't eating much fancier at home than you are, I like to record my extremely low budget culinary adventures on the home front. But let's not kid ourselves- some meals just don't merit their own post. So today you get a BOGO blog deal!

My first "recipe" was on a night when I was really wrapped up in a project and didn't have a lot of time, energy, or clean dishes for preparing an extravagant meal. So I thawed a few chicken breasts in the microwave, seasoned them, and cooked them, pretty much exactly the same way I did for my Asian Chicken Salad but with a little more garlic pepper and no soy sauce. Then I washed and chopped a "heart of romaine", sliced up the chicken, and tossed it all with bottled Caesar dressing. While the chicken was cooking, I took some sliced cheddar and made cheesy toast.

It was a super simple meal, maybe 10 minutes total prep, but it was hearty and satisfying, & cleanup was minimal.

Another night I had my dad and a friend over for dinner really last minute, so I decided just to make hot dogs. I was inspired by the 4th of July party we went to this year, because the host had found Hawaiian bread hot dog buns. When I tried it at the party, it was like when that last piece of a huge puzzle clicks into place and now you couldn't find where it went if you wanted to- HOW could something so obvious as hot dogs and Hawaiian bread have alluded me all these years? The sweetness of the bread with the cured porkiness of the hot dogs go together better than sweet potato latkes and applesauce! So I made a point to look for Hawaiian bread hot dog buns, but the store didn't have them- I'm not sure they're a very common item. So I just bought a package of Hawaiian rolls and left them attached in pairs, then cut them like buns. Worked perfectly! I also served steamed corn on the cob, which I get in a frozen package at Walmart. It's great because there are 4 cobs to a package and I have a convenient "vegetable" (grain) to serve even when I haven't bought fresh produce in a while.

So there's your homemade inspiration for the week! Nothing too special, but darn good staples. What do you make when your budget is small and your time is short? Let me know in the comments!