I had 3 turnips in my crisper and needed something to round out a meal, so I peeled and cubed them, and boiled them until soft in heavily salted water that also had about a tsp of xylitol (something sweet mellows the "bite" that turnips can have). When they were drained I mashed them well, then mixed in about a half-cupful of finely chopped cooked bacon and a half-cupful of shredded colby-jack cheese, with about 2Tbsp of heavy cream. Topped it off with a generous layer of more colby-jack cheese, and put it in the oven at 350. About 10 minutes later the cheese was all melty and had started to brown in a few spots. This made about 6 servings, at approx. $0.70 per serving. (I will leave it in the oven longer next time, to get browner on top!)
I also had some asparagus (the frozen package of 8 oz. was $2.25 but I didn't buy it, my daughter brought it to me) that I sauteed in butter and olive oil (less than a quarter total, I'm sure!), and seasoned just with salt and a little onion powder. This served my husband and me, with one spear for my almost-2YO grandson, so that was $1.50/serving.
And I roasted 6 large chicken leg quarters (nearly 5# total!) that were on sale for $3.98, or 67c each. I brined them, and to the salty water I added powdered ginger, garlic, and onion in liberal amounts. Even if I count 25c/serving for the seasonings - and it wasn't NEARLY that much - the chicken was <$1/serving.
My own meal was less than $3 (but I wouldn't have bought that asparagus for that price, we'd have had a less expensive green vegetable instead), low carb, and extremely filling, healthy, and delicious! Hubby's meal was a little more, because he eats more than I do...but he also took some to work in his lunch, and had another meal of chicken and turnip casserole the next day. Now THAT's thrifty!
This sounds great. I'm looking for low-carb turnip casserole recipes and this would work. I live just south of Ann Arbor...
ReplyDeleteNice to "meet" another Michigander :). I seem to use turnips quite a bit, but this was the first dish, I think, that was all about the turnips.
ReplyDelete(We're in Houghton Lake but I've lived quite a few places downstate from Adrian to Detroit to Flint to Lansing...)