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My friend Jerry started a couple of weeks ago a very cool blog event called Frugal Fridays. The premise behind this event is to try to create a meal or course that will feed a family of 4 for US $10 or less (it’s OK to be a little bit over that) I think this event is great because with the oil prices skyrocketing everything we consume is going up, food is one of the most affected areas, so we cooks have to find very creative ways to keep feeding our families with good and healthy food with a tighter budget. I will try to make something for this event every week because that will force me to be more careful with my food budget (sometimes I don’t have the slightest idea how much things cost)

I was thinking what to do for dinner tonight. I pulled out of the freezer 2 pounds of chicken breasts I got on sale at Kroger’s ($1.99 a pound), one pound of red California grapes ($.99 a pound) and two pounds of Idaho potatoes (I am not really sure how much I paid for them let’s say $1.50 a pound). That would make my ingredients close to $8.00, right? So I guess I can throw in some leftover cucumber and jicama vinaigrette and still be under $10.

Now the question was what to make with those ingredients? Keep in mind that FF rulez say that “we are running under the assumption that most common spices, oils, vinegars, extracts and other general cooking provisions and pantry staples will be available at no cost.” I remembered I had seen a tasty looking recipe in the cookbook I received from the California Table Grape Commission (I will blog about it next week) and decided to go for it. The only change I made to this recipe was that I used chicken instead of pork.

Slow-cooked pork chops chicken breast strips with spiced honey and grapes*
Serves 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 45-50 minutes

For this recipe you will need:

• 2 TBSP butter or margarine
• 2 pounds chicken breasts, cut in strips
• 4 TBSP flour
• 1 1/2 cups red or black grapes
• 1/3 cup honey
• 2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
• 3 to 5 whole cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 tsp cumin (this was my addition)

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF (150ºC)
2. Melt the butter in a heavy saute pan or casserole over medium high heat.
3. Dust the chicken with the flour and brown slowly in the melted butter.
4. Move the chicken to a baking dish and add grapes, honey, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, salt, pepper and cumin.
5. Cover and bake for 45-50 minutes or until the chicken is tender.
6. Serve hot and enjoy.

For the side dish I cut the potatoes in eights and pan roasted them with salt, pepper, parsley flakes, paprika and onion. Who would’ve thought that such a delicious meal could cost about $10? And I still have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Now, that’s a good deal.

I am also sending this post to Ruth’s weekly event Bookmarked Recipes. This is the very first time I participate in this event mainly because I rarely follow recipes. I love to read them, but only to get ideas. I, like my mom, love to experiment and change ingredients and amounts. Well, this is one recipe that I almost followed to the letter so I think it is a good candidate for this event.

Buen provecho!

*This recipe is an adaptation to Susan Volland’s recipe from her cookbook Green Black Red. Recipes for cooking and enjoying California grapes.