We’ve kind of gotten away from the $3 meals, but don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about them entirely. I think I’ll keep doing them periodically, even though it was supposed to just be for the month of August. It’s kind of a fun exercise.
Anyways, Ansen loves stuffed mushrooms, so he made some a couple of weeks ago. It’s pretty simple, actually, and even though I’m not a mushroom lover, these were pretty good!
Stuffing:
1/4 lb sausage
1/2 onion, chopped
balsamic vinegar
1-2 small Roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 package cream cheese
2 Tbs heavy cream
bunch of basil, chopped finely
Brown sausage, add chopped onion. Saute until translucent. Add a dash or two of balsamic vinegar for flavor. Add tomatoes, basil, cream cheese and heavy cream.
Mushrooms:
3 portabella mushrooms, de-stemmed and cleaned out for stuffing
stuffing mix from above
1/2 c mozzarella
1/4 c breadcrumbs
1-2 Tbs melted butter
Scoop stuffing into mushrooms evenly. Cover with mozzarella. Mix breadcrumbs and butter together for a crumbly mixture. Sprinkle on top of mushrooms. Bake at 350º for 10-15 minutes, until cheese and breadcrumb mixture is golden brown and mushrooms are warmed through.
Now for the fun part! The cost!!
$1.99 – 3 portabella mushrooms
$.57 – 1/4 lb sausage ($2.29/lb)
$.15 – half an onion ($1.69 for a whole bag)
FREE – tomato from our garden
$.60 – 1/2 package cream cheese
$.10 – heavy cream
$.50 – mozzarella ($11.22 for 5lb bag from Sam’s)
$.10 – breadcrumbs
FREE – Basil from our garden
$.10 – balsamic vinegar
$4.11 Subtotal
We added a box of wild rice for $1.70, making the total $5.81. Per person, it’s just under $3 at $2.90. This could easily be doubled to feed 4 without doubling the rice (we had plenty of extra), for a total just under $10. Enjoy!