You don’t have to buy a filet to get your beef on. Look for sales, look for marbleization…you’ll be fine. Even with a cheapo cut, you can zip it up with some seasoning. Add a great side and you’re in business! The trick is to not overcook
as well. The longer you sear, the longer you’ll be chewing. So cheapsteak it up,
it tastes good!

Sliced Steak & Asian Broccoli
What you need:
1 medium thickness steak
1 head of broccoli cut & cleaned
1 bunch of green onions, sliced
1 fistful of dried red chilies
3 cloves of garlic, diced
6-8 dashes of soy sauce
8-10 dashes of teriyaki sauce
salt, pepper & olive oil

What you need to do:
Heat up your grill (or broiler)

Season your steak with salt, pepper and touch of sugar on each side
Gently poke each side with a fork (aids in tenderness)

In a medium saute pan/wok head up oil (enough to coat bottom of pan)
Add garlic, dried chilies, soy and teriyaki sauce
Once hot toss in green onions and broccoli
Cook until broccoli is tender, stirring occasionally

Once your grill is good & hot (half way through your broccoli extravaganza), get your steak on. For medium thickness steaks, allow 5 minutes per side for rare.
After side two is finito, pull from heat and let sit for a few minutes before slicing

Plate your steak on top your broccoli and feast—it’s steak that won’t break you.

The Dollar Menu is your friend
Everyone loves them some McNugs now and then, but remember, the $ menu is your friend. Most McDs offer a 6-piece in the $2.39 range. Most McDs also offer a 4-piece off the dollar menu. That means 8 nugs off the dollar menu for less than 6 nugs off the regular menu. Don’t even get me started about the 20-piece vs ordering five fours. Go nuggets.

Pink’s Hot Dog Stand
Sick, I know, there’s a bite out of it. But I couldn’t make it home which should tell you something: You can get your eat on for under $5. Not new news, by any stretch of the imagination, but Pinks Hot Dog Stand, in LA, is where it’s at. Hello, Spicy Polish Dog, equipped with grilled onions, mustard, relish, lettuce and tomato. For $3.85 you’re stuffed. And perhaps swerving across lanes & cleaning hot dog shrapnel off your car seats because “just one bite” on the drive home is impossible. To avoid that, just park it there on their patio. The drivers in neighboring lanes will thank you.

The Frugal Foodie went fishing the other day and caught her dinner. Now don’t get too impressed, it was an organized trip. Though organized or not, I still fished for food. So with a trophy fish and some fresh veg you’ve got a fun and healthy meal that doesn’t sink your ship. And fear not, you can whip this up without hitting the Seven Seas.

What you need:
Your catch o’ the day (any mild fish, e.g. Tilapia)
1 handful of sliced red cabbage
1 ear of corn, cooked
1 small handful of diced red onion
1 roma tomato, diced
1 jalapeno, seeded & diced
2 avocados
corn tortillas (check the dollar store!)
hot sauce (to taste)

What you need to do:
Heat up a medium sautee pan with olive oil
Salt & pepper your fish, both sides
Place into heated pan and sautee until white through to center
Turn off heat and let rest, then break up into small pieces
Warm your corn tortillas (toaster oven is easy)
In a bowl, smash up your avocado
Add red onion, tomato, jalapeno, salt and a few dashes of hot sauce
Mix thoroughly
Slice your corn off the cob
Spread a spoonful of avocado mixture down the center of tortillas
Top with fish, red cabbage, corn and hot sauce (to taste)

You’ve got yourself speedy fresh fish tacos and hopefully a few tall tales from your fishing trip.
Tip: Squeeze a little lemon or lime on the fish while it cooks. It can help kill any potential fishiness

The economy stinks…20% off online gift card purchases.

That’s right, BR Guest Restaurants (Fiamma, Dos Caminos, Blue Water Grill, etc.) are giving you a break on gift cards. Between now and April 16th you get 20% off online gift card purchases to any of their restaurants. New York, Vegas, Chicago…eat up!

The $5 Holler
Everyone loves to eat fresh once and awhile. For a limited time Subway is offering $5 foot longs. And seriously, no one needs to eat an entire foot of sandwich—I repeat, no one. So split it with a pal or save the other half for tomorrow. Either way you’ve got yourself a $2.50 lunch.

Ok folks, this one is cousin to the casserole so it stretches the dollar and, above all, makes good use of that borderline tomato lingering about in your fridge.
You can’t let it spoil, so use it to make your own sauce which is a frugal foodie must-do. Not only do you get better flavor and less preservatives, you get more bang for your buck. Toss some eggplant and cheese into the mix and you’ve got a low-budge winner.

And don’t worry, if you’re lacking the fading ‘mater, it’ll still come out great—promise. Maybe even better because who likes to eat rotten tomatoes anyway? Well apparently I do…

Lasagna’like Eggplant
What you need:
1 eggplant
1 zucchini
1 lingering tomato

1 8oz container of ricotta cheese
2 fistfuls of shredded parmesan cheese

1 24-oz can of tomato sauce
1 8-oz can of tomato paste

1 clove garlic, diced
4 dashes of italian seasoning
4 dashes crushed red pepper (optional)
salt & pepper

What you need to do:
Preheat the oven to 400º

Dice up your tomato
Over medium heat, coat the bottom of a saucepan with olive oil
Once warm, sautee the tomato with the garlic
Toss in the italian seasoning and crushed red pepper (optional)
Let heat for a couple of minutes then pour in tomato sauce and paste
Stir. Cover. Low heat simmer.

Moving back to the cutting board:
Thinly slice your eggplant lengthwise and the zucchini at an angle
Place evenly on sprayed baking sheets
Salt & pepper then pop ‘em into the oven for 10 minutes.

Once they’re out, leave the oven on
Next, put a little bit of your sauce in the bottom of a medium baking dish
Place a layer of eggplant on top of sauce
Spread ricotta cheese over the eggplant
(Relax, it won’t spread easy but it doesn’t have to be perfect.)
Add more sauce. Repeat.
After placing last eggplant, coat with more ricotta & sauce then top with zucchini.

Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bake for 40 minutes.
Remove. Whiff. Mmmmm.

Congratulations, you just saved a tomato from the trash and $2 by making your own sauce!

Attention carrot munchers!
1lb store brand bag of baby carrots: $2.29
2lb store brand bag of whole carrots: $1.29

DIY = twice the food for half the cost. And the same rules apply for celery. So you do a little prepping yourself…it’s worth it!

Prep as you go or all at once…just be sure to store in an air-tight container
with a touch of water to keep fresh.

In an effort to save a pair of rapidly aging peppers in my fridge, I pulled together a dinner last night that, the entire time I was preparing, I was convinced would be a huge failure and blamed it all on my current unemployment situation. Then I ate it.

It was SO good I thought y’all should totally quit your jobs and resort to kitchen experimentation too!

Drunken Stuffed Peppers
What you need to have:
3 uncooked beer bratwursts (Trader Joe’s brand is great)
3 lg spoonfuls of canned refried black beans (w jalapenos for extra kick)
2 whole red peppers
1 clove of garlic, diced
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
6 dashes of hot sauce
2 fistfuls of shredded cheese

What you need to do:
Preheat your oven to 425º
Cut the peppers in half length-wise
Hallow them out discarding the stem, seeds and membrane
Dice one of the halves
Place the remaining 3 halves on a baking sheet
In a medium sized bowl, squeeze the brats out of their casings
Add the refried black beans, diced pepper, garlic, cayenne pepper & hot sauce
Mix thoroughly then stuff into the hallowed out pepper halves (heaping)

Finish with shredded cheese on top
Place in your preheated oven and bake for 35 minutes

Yum! High flavor, low cost and saves a pepper or two from the trash can.

So what do I do with my leftover frank and beans?
We don’t waste food here; it goes against all that we stand for.
So freeze those remaining brats for a later use. And as for your remaining refried guys, warm ‘em up with a little sour cream and dip tortilla chips for a easy snack later in the week.