Penny Pinching Peach

For the semi crunchy, homeschool friendly and totally frugal!


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Easy Mexican Bean Salad

I love to cook, but don’t always have a lot of time to spend on making dinner. This super simple Easy Mexican Bean Salad is ready in a snap, healthy, delicious, kid friendly, and cheap enough for the penny pinching people among us! I mean, this is a meal I felt great about feeding to my family, but literally spent  less than 15 minutes int he kitchen preparing from the time I opened the fridge to get out things to start chopping! Who needs more meals like this? I know I do!!! 🙂 Keep reading for the how-to of this yummy meal!

Easy Mexican Bean Salad

Easy Mexican Bean Salad

Ingredients? You can choose your own! This time I use canned black beans (two cans seasoned with cumin, garlic powder and chili powder to taste should be about right for a family of four), avocado, tomato, cilantro, onion, cheese and sour cream. You can also use ground beef, venison, turkey, pork and chicken, shredded chicken or beef, pre-cooked dried beans of any kind you like, other types of canned beans, lettuce, green pepper, jalapenos, olives, fresh spinach, green onion, corn, sprouts and a variety of other things that sound appealing and reside in your kitchen at any given moment. The beauty of this meal is that it is so flexible to your individual tastes, pantry, dietary needs, and budget without being a hassle to throw together something different for everyone.

Give everyone a bowl, spoon in a healthy helping of your protein(s) of choice, then let them pile on their own choices from the rest of your ingredients you have set out for your family! My kids absolutely adore getting to pick all of their own toppings for their bowls of beans! It makes the battle of the belly filling non-existent, because most kiddos love to eat things they help prepare. Even my five year old, who is currently waging battle over half of her meals even when she likes them, didn’t give me a bit of trouble when she realized she was in control of all of her ingredients other than the beans she was piling them all onto! Since she chose it, she worked to make it herself and she is doggone proud of her own work in pretty much every instance…no arguments for the prissier side of my table. Bambam loves making his own selections, but he has a lifelong love affair with food, so if he ever protests a meal….well, the child is sick. 😉

If you pack lunches a lot, like I do for my hubby, this container is amazing for being able to carry leftovers to work or school for a healthy lunch without making a big soggy mess. Stay Fit Deluxe Salad Kit, EZ Freeze

Are there any toppings I didn’t think of that you think would be the bomb diggety on this easy Mexican bean salad? What do you think you’d like on yours? Are you hungry yet?? 🙂

“Penny Pinching Peach is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com”

Little Boy Approved!

Little Boy Approved!

Little Girl Approved!


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Money Saving Mexican Food

Pinch Those Pennies!

Pinch Those Pennies!

¡Hola! Let me tell you, not only are these some mouthwatering Mexican dishes, but they are loaded chock full of savings. I’ve got six- yes, count ’em, people- six coupons to go with this delicious budget dinner! I can see a fun Mexican dinner night in my family’s future this week, with this kind of savings to tick off on such a yummalicious menu. Read this twosome of toothsome recipes with a napkin handy to wipe up the drool, and keep it on hand for the salivating over the savings at the end! 🙂

Drool over these dishes, y’all!

♦Chicken Chilaquiles

1/4 pound chorizo
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 (10 ounce) bag tortilla chips
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 (19 ounce) can green enchilada sauce
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Cook the chorizo in a skillet over medium heat, stirring to break it into tiny pieces. Place the raw chicken into the skillet with the chorizo; cook and stir the meats together until the chicken is no longer pink in the center, about 10 minutes.
Spread half of the tortilla chips over the bottom of a casserole dish; top the chips with the cooked chorizo and chicken mixture. Sprinkle the corn evenly over the meats and layer the remaining chips over the top. Whisk together the green enchilada sauce and sour cream in a mixing bowl; pour over the top of the casserole. Top the casserole with the shredded Monterey Jack cheese.
Bake the chilaquiles in the preheated oven until the casserole is bubbly and the chips begin to brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

Mexican Red Rice

2 Roma (plum tomatoes), cored
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
1 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup canned tomato sauce
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
2 sprigs fresh cilantro
Salt to taste

Grate tomatoes into a bowl using a box grater; discard skins.
Heat vegetable oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat and cook onion until translucent, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Stir garlic into onion and cook until fragrant, about a minute.
Stir rice into onion mixture and cook, stirring often, until rice is lightly toasted, about 3 minutes.
Stir grated tomato, chicken broth, and tomato sauce into the rice, bringing the mixture to a boil.
Mix in jalapeno pepper, cilantro, and salt; reduce heat to low. Cover skillet and simmer until rice has absorbed the liquid, about 15 minutes. Do not lift the cover while the rice is cooking.
Turn off heat and let rice stand covered for 8 minutes. Fluff with fork before moving rice to a serving dish.

Now to salivate over the savings!

For the coupons, go to this link: http://www.coupons.com/coupons/Food-Coupons-107/?pid=13101&nid=10&zid=pt82
Print these coupons: Old El Paso, Swanson Broth, Hunt’s Tomatoes, Riojano Spanish Chorizo, Sargento’s Shredded Cheese and Uncle Ben’s Rice.

My family loves Mexican food, but we also love Italian, Chinese, Southern style and all sorts of other ethnicities of food. Variety keeps our palates pleased. What’s your and your family’s favorite kind of food?