Black Bean and Veggie Wraparitos
Serves 6

6 whole wheat tortillas
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1 16 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
4 cups fresh spinach, chopped
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
Salsa (your favorite kind)

Heat tortillas and keep warm.
Using a little cooking spray, spray a skillet and saute the onion and mushrooms until tender. Add beans and heat through. Add spinach and remove from heat.
Divide mixture evenly among the tortillas and sprinkle with cheese. Fold up like a burrito and serve with salsa.
YUM!

**Recipe from a yahoo group**

Beef Stroganoff
1 Lb. trimmed beef tenderloin
6 oz. sliced mushrooms (or 2 c. fresh)
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 can beef broth
1 c. sour cream
2 1/2 tbsp flour

Put everything but sour cream and flour in crock insert. Cook on low until beef is done and shreds apart. When ready to serve mix flour into sour cream and mix in insert until moisture thickens (sauce should be thin but not liquid). Season to taste. Serve over rice or noodles. Makes 4 very large servings.

YUM!

(original recipe from cooks.com... I played with this one a bit :)

Taco Soup
1 pound ground meat (I used hamburger)
1 can red beans, kidney beans, black beans
1 can mexican tomatoes
2 can low sodium v-8 juice
1 onion
16 oz of corn (frozen or canned)
1 tsp garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, parsley
Tortilla chips
Sour cream
Cheddar cheese

Cook meat mix in spices with cooking meat. Put everything in the insert and cook until hot.
To serve: put chips around out side of bowl, pour soup in center, top with sour cream and cheese (unless your like me then leave the last two off ;)
A good fast meal for getting to church on time! :)

Yum!

Leftovers Sandwich *I just can't come up with something better than this...sorry*

Tomato Basil Focaccia Bread (from Target)

Leftover Pesto Sauce

Leftover sandwich meat (ham, turkey, pastrami)

Leftover sandwich cheese (3 slices cheddar, tiny block of asiago)

The need to make something that will feed a hungry family of 5....

Carefully cut the bread in half (like a muffuletta sandwich...which is what I was wanting soooo bad but my friend doesn't make for me anymore...sigh). Then spread with pesto, layer meat and cheese (I shredded the tiny amount of asiago). Put in oven on 350 for 5 min. to melt cheese and heat up a bit. Then put the top of the sandwich on and continue heating for an additional 10 min. Pull out and slice. Oh my! Yum! This was the best sandwich I have had in a looooooong time.

**I just discovered that while I may be the only person who adds up how much every meal cost in their house *geeky grin*... I'm not the only one looking for cheap meals... so I'll start putting the cost of the meals here (when there is time)**

$3.29 Bread *I so need to learn to make this* (OUCH!)

$0.50 Pesto

$2.00 Meats and cheeses (Why is sandwich meat so costly!?)

$0.00 Hunger and imagination (ahhhh my kind of price *wink*)

--------

$5.79 Total

(We also have lunch leftover for two extra people over our family of 5... so if I add that to the amount of people that could eat this sandwich.... it makes it $0.83 each... not bad for expensive bread!)

Crock-Pot Chicken With Black beans and Cream Cheese

4-5 frozen boneless chicken breasts
1 can black beans (15 1/2 oz)
1 can corn (15 oz)
1 jar salsa, any kind (15 oz)
1 package cream cheese (8 oz)

1. Take 4-5 frozen, yes, frozen, boneless chicken breasts put into crock-pot.

2. Add 1 can of black beans, drained, 1 jar of salsa, 1 can of corn, drained.

3. Keep in crock-pot on high for about 4-5 hours or until chicken is cooked.

4. Add 1 package of cram cheese (just throw it on top!) and let sit for about 1/2 hour.

5 Done and enjoy.

(I found this on the Internet somewhere and didn't think to keep track of where... so who ever invented this YUM! Thanks.)

**Served with rice... very yummy must do again!)

Homemade Gyro's

Gyro recipe here: http://greekfood.about.com/od/porkrecipes/r/mockporkgyro.htm
WAY WAY WAY to salty... I'll have to try again without so much salt. But using pork tasted just as good and was much cheaper than lamb.

Tzatziki recipe here: http://greekfood.about.com/od/appetizerssalads/r/tzatziki_sass.htm
Really, really yummy. We like this and used it to dip our fries....

Over all this was good and we will be trying it again but with much less salt. Gyro's are one of our favorite meals and to eat them at our favorite restaurant costs about $38. This meal cost me $12.65 pricey but not as bad as eating out. If I shopped for this meal on sale then it would be even cheaper.

BEST HAMBURGER STEAK EVER

Steak:
1 1/2 lbs. ground hamburger
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper
1 med onion sliced
Gravy:
1/4 cup flour
2 beef bullion cubes
kitchen bouquet browning sauce (I didn't use this in mine)
1/4 tsp water
salt + pepper

Mix hamburger, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and flour together. Form into patties. Brown on both sides. Remove from skillet.

Saute onion in the same pan, adding a small amount of oil if needed.

After sauteing the onion, remove from skillet and add flour for gravy. Stirring constantly, brown the flour. Stir water into the browned flour to make the gravy.

Add bullion cubes, salt and pepper. Thin with water for desired thickness.
Add Kitchen Bouquet if gravy isn't brown enough.

When gravy is made, put steaks and onion in gravy. Simmer for about 30 to 45 minutes, checking often and adding water to keep gravy from becoming too thick. (I put a lid on so I didn't have to mind the gravy...)

Serve with french fries, rice, mashed potatoes or your favorite side dish!

Submitted by: Rita Giles (off of the www.cooks.com site)

YUMMY!!! a must try!