This is the recipe for those times you want to grill hot dogs or cheeseburgers at home, want the good baked beans, but without all the fuss of making them from scratch.
Ingredients:
1 can Pork and Beans (we use the slightly larger can you can get at Dollar Tree by Campbells)
Brown Sugar
Powdered Mustard
Ketchup
Dehydrated onions/ Dried minced onions
In a small pot empty the can of beans. Now, the rest is by taste. Our family likes it a bit sweeter, so I use a 1/4 cup of brown sugar, maybe 1/8 tsp, a pinch of the dehydrated onions, and a heavy squirt of ketchup. You then mix it all up and simmer until it thickens back up. If I have it on hand, sometimes I will add flax seed to sneak extra fiber into the diet.
I fully admit: this is not the baked beans your aunt takes to the cookout. Not even close. This is just a step up from a plain can of baked beans you can get at the store. Mom's been doing this for as long as I can remember, and she says she learned it from Grandma.
Daughter checking in again. Mom put a version of chicken pot pie (which we often use the day after Thanksgiving with leftover turkey instead of chicken to use up some of the leftovers) on the blog years ago. It's tasty, it's comfort food, it's fairly easy. But, unfortunately, our local grocery store chain (Giant Eagle) has chicken pot pies in their hot food counter that has such a good flavor to the, for lack of a better word, gravy inside, topped with a circle of puff pastry. We have been trying for years to mimic the taste of it, and despite being given false leads from some of the staff at our local store, we think we have come pretty darned close. To keep with the theme of Low Budget, most everything you could get at a Dollar Tree if need be, but if you want to get the same experience, two items (the fancy cream of chicken soup and puff pastry topping) were bought on sale at Giant Eagle.
Ingredients:
1 can of Swanson's Chicken a la King
1 can of Cream of Chicken with Herbs (regular cream of chicken will work, but the additional flavors takes it to the next level. Store brands don't typically make this flavor, so we get them when on sale)
1 large can of chunk white chicken or 2 small cans
1 can mixed vegetables
1 can peas
1 can sliced carrots
1 roll of puff pastry, or biscuit like topping of your choice (like sheets of crescent rolls with the perforations sealed or biscuit mix poured on top)
If using puff pastry, 1 egg
Preheat oven to 425 F.
In a 9x13" baking dish, mix the Chicken a la King and cream of chicken soup. Open the cans of vegetables and chicken, draining off the liquid. Layer the three cans of vegetables in the baking dish, distributing evenly. On top, layer the shredded chicken evenly. You can mix it together or leave as a layer on top. Top with puff pastry or biscuit topping of choice. If using puff pastry, wisk one egg and use as an egg wash over the top of the puff pastry.
Bake at 425 F for 30 mins or until topping is fully cooked. Makes 6 servings.