In the Kitchen: Mexican Shells & Pork Chops

Among other things I'm trying to do more of, cooking at home is high on the priority list to help save money and just feel better about eating. Not to mention that fast food and pizza gets old fast. So does ramen. This past week I made a full menu and grocery list and bought things for a couple meals (more shopping tomorrow at some of the other stores).

Last night, I made Mexican Shells & Pork Chops for an easy Friday night meal. It was a first time recipe for me and it turned out really good.

Mine doesn't look as pretty as the one on the recipe page, but it tasted awesome. J and I aren't big green pepper eaters, so I omitted that. I seasoned the chops with some southwest seasoning and did have to add a little extra water to keep the noodles from cooking to the bottom of the pan.

As far as budgeting, this wasn't really expensive. The pork chops were about a dollar a piece, the shells and cheese were about a buck and a half, and the salsa was around two dollars but only because we forgot to pick it up at the dollar store and picked some up at the convenience store down the road, which was convenient but more expensive.  Veggie oil and seasoning were on hand.

Not sure why I never thought of the mac and cheese/salsa combo before. It's delicious!

Recipe on the Cheap: Homemade Chocolate Pudding

In one of the communities I’m part of on another site, someone posted the recipe for homemade pudding. The community is dedicated to living cheap and there’s been some really useful things I’ve picked up from it.

Because I’m always late to the party, I have a feeling that most of the free world knows how to make this stuff, but it was a revelation to me. Jon and I don’t buy junk food to “keep” in the house because it wouldn’t keep for long, so we generally buy things here and there when we’re feeling the sweet tooth. Sometimes though, and especially now with money being what it is, we can’t just run out and grab something.

I’ve been kind of experimenting with “ingredients on hand” recipes. Friday, Jon made cocoa cookies that were actually pretty good. This pudding recipe though is awesome. Jon made it last night and chilled it overnight so I could have some with lunch today. The recipe is extremely easy and uses ingredients that we tend to have on hand for baking and cooking purposes.

1/2 c sugar
1/3 c cocoa powder
3 tbsp cornstarch*
2 c milk
2 tsp vanilla


Mix together the dry ingredients. Add the milk. Stirring constantly, cook on med heat until it comes to a light boil. Add vanilla.

*We didn’t have any cornstarch, so we substituted with 6 tbsps of all purpose flour.

I know there are variations to this recipe just waiting to be tried, but this basic recipe came out great and I would think that if you broke down the cost, it would be much less than even a fifty cent box of mix.