Gyros.

I love Greek food. I could probably eat it everyday. I love the freshness of it. Since I've put cooking on the back burner for awhile I wanted to make something fresh and cool. I did a tweak on one of my fellow August cooks blog post about Pita Burgers.
The original recipe was to make burgers but I wanted to use things I had. Instead I  used sliced skirt steak and greek yogurt for the sauce instead of mayo. I’m not a big fan of mayo I also like the fresh quality of Greek yogurt.

I prepped the sauce first Greek yogurt, fresh garlic, 1 cucumber, and some fresh dill. I seeded and diced the cucumber and mixed all of the ingredients in the bowl and set aside to meld the flavors.

Since the steak was sliced so thin I baked it in my convection oven so it would still be juicy along with some paprika and spices.

Diced some onions (last weeks chili), tomatoes and lettuce I had lying around. Creating what ultimately became more of a gyro then burger. As soon as the steak was finished cooking I swiftly assembled them added some fresh Tabouleh salad. Viola a really quick dinner that was inspired by the pita burger post.

 

$6.67- skirt steak
$1.99- fresh dill
$2.58- greek yogurt
$.65- cucumber
$3.70- pitas
$15.59 Total

So a meal that consisted of many things I had lying about and a few I had to purchase that will feed us for two days and still fit into my budget. Yippee

I've sort of fallen off the wagon...

I am still fine tuning my eight dollar dinners. Works just kept me very busy so I haven't had time to really cook or blog about it. I have still been keeping up with my eight dollar dinners but in a more mass cooking style.  I made a pot of chili last week that fed Eric and I for a 5 days. It was the same chili I posted about before but on a larger scale. The orginal purchase went way over my budget it was about $28.00 but it fed two people for quiet a while panning out to about $4.80 a day.

This experiement has really helped me see what I spend my money on. I am also more conscious of what I buy and how much and if it can be used for other meals. 

Last nights sad dinner

My dinner last night was good, though not extremely healthy. I have to admit I was being lazy and I wasn't very hungry. Dinner last night consisted of something I would have eaten in college. A simple box of mac and cheese. It was slightly special though, it was white cheddar shells from Trader Joe's.  They were on sale last week and I picked up a box to try. It want to say that it was $1.89. So while watching past episodes of Top Chef I ate my cheap but tasty dinner. I did add some garlic salt to spice it up a bit. For dessert... an orange.

So Dinner was under $3.00. I'll work on the health factor tonight, I think I'm going to make tacos. If I can make it under eight dollars.

Dinner secret..

So I've come to realize that it is possible to do a healthy dinner for eight dollars. I've realized though that it is even easier to make a larger something and make it last for a few days. Especially during the work week. I'm very busy and don't always have or want to spend hours in the kitchen. That is where my crockpot has become a great friend.  Last week I bought a roast, a can of diced tomatoes and a can of french onion soup and an onion. I added all of this to my crock-pot along with some dried herbs, salt and pepper. I let it cook for almost 11 hours. While I was at work it was on low. after I got home I turned it on keep warm since Eric was working late. Woah, it was the best roast I've ever made. It completely fell apart.  I strained out the tomatoes and half an onion to top my roast and reduced down the remaining liquid to make a sauce. For a side I diced the potatoes and onion and roasted them in oil and seasoning until the were tender. Hands down this is my favorite easy meal. To make it even better It lasted 3 days. On the last day I bought some buns for sandwiches. The roast just fell apart like pulled pork.

Pot Roast $9.59
Can of diced tomatoes $0.79
French onion soup      $.89
Onion                       $1.00
Sweet Potato           $ 1.05
Potato                      $1.10
  = $14.42 

Buns $0.89

This super easy work week meal fed Eric and i for 3 days giving me a dinner total of $5.10 per person for two days. We couldn't eat at a fast food place for that.