2 Simple Recipes (That Won't Hurt Your Wallet)

My cousin brought me a wonderful pre-made pesto sauce from Costco last week, so I've been making meals with it since.  Mr. H and I are both big pesto fans, so there were no complaints on having pesto-inspired meals several days in a row.  Below are two recipes that are simple, quick, and cheap!  Enjoy!

Pesto Pizza

What you need:
-Pillsburry refrigerated pizza crust (regular or thin, doesn't matter)
-Toppings of your choice (I kept it simple and used pepperoni)
-Shredded mozzarella
-Pesto

• Preheat your oven according to the instructions for the pizza crust.
• Roll out your crust on a greased baking sheet and spread pesto to cover.
• Place your toppings and then sprinkle with mozzarella.
• Bake according to directions for the crust.

How simple was that?!

Chicken Pesto Sandwich

What you need:
-Sliced whole wheat (or whatever bread you prefer)
-Mayo and other condiments (optional)
-Rotisserie chicken
-Pesto
That's it!

• Pull some meat off the chicken (dark or white, doesn't matter) and put it in a small bowl.
• Use two forks to shred the chicken.
• Add two tablespoons of pesto (or one if you don't want a super strong pesto flavor) to the bowl of shredded chicken and mix well.
• Toast your bread and spread a thin layer of mayo (optional) on each slice.
• Put the pesto chicken in the bread and enjoy!

What I love above these two recipes is that you can switch them up so easily and use the same basic ingredients for several days without getting tired of eating the same thing.  Make half your pizza with pepperoni and the other half with the rotisserie chicken.  Or have a pepperoni and turkey sandwich with pesto mayo by making a 3 to 1 (pesto to mayo) mixture to spread on your bread.  Another option is to mix in one tablespoon of alfredo sauce with your shredded chicken and pesto (as you can see, I had it out when I took the picture above).  It makes the pesto flavor much more mild and creamy.  Simple and cheap.

I've had this saved as a draft for weeks now, and we have still been broke (because of a dumb last minute decision to go to Reno for NYE).  So now I'm working on our other "broke couple go-to recipes" which include fried rice, pan fried udon, and a million variations of what to make when all you have to eat is packaged noodles, rice, eggs, and spam.  We are still eating pretty damn good!  And even though we are broke, we still had a blast in Reno and I am looking forward to this new year!  Sadly, I didn't document our trip in photos very well because I was too trashed and having way too much fun to remember to take pictures.  The one on the left is the only one I have of us actually IN Reno.  The two below were taken before we left and on the way there.  Look at my lame ass face in the left photo.  I lose all my photogenic magic when I have booze in my system.

Oh, and in a couple weeks we get to celebrate new years again!  It's my year: Year of the Dragon!  Sweeeeeet.