What To Make With What’s On Sale: pumpkin, chicken, pasilla peppers, steaks, and pasta!

Time for What To Make With What’s On Sale! Let’s get to work pulling together what’s on sale in Colorado Springs with what’s in our pantries from previous weeks, and plan meals for our families that maximize those sales.

Pumpkin

Well, it’s not really on sale, but it is appearing in stores everywhere, from King Soopers to Sunflower Market to Safeway!  (For more on why this is a big deal, read about the Great Pumpkin Shortage.)  So, it appears that we can stop fretting about how we’re going to stretch out those last 2 cans of pumpkin we have left over from last year and get started with the pumpkin goodness!

Joanne posted a yummy looking recipe for Chocolate Pumpkin Brownies on the Facebook page.  Got any other fall pumpkin favorites?

Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

Albertsons has boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $1.88/lb.  I’m often asked why I’d only rate that a 3 on a scale of 5, and the reason is simple: we see this price very frequently – probably around once every month and a half at Albertsons, Safeway, and Sunflower Market.  So, in my opinion, it’s a good price, but not one worth stocking up your freezer on because it comes around so often.

But at any rate, there are lots of things you can make with chicken breasts!  My favorite are Chicken Parmesan and Asian stir-fries.

I’ve had lots of compliments on my Chicken Parmesan and I’ll tell you the secrets. ;)  First, use panko bread crumbs instead of “regular” bread crumbs.  They fry up so crispy and crunchy – they are the key to amazing Chicken Parmesan.  You can find panko at the Asian market, and Sunflower Market carries them as well.  For that matter, all the other stores carry them, too, but they’re a little more expensive.

Second, pound the breasts before you coat and fry them.  I just use the bottom of a heavy pan, no fancy meat pounder necessary.  This definitely tenderizes them and is worth the extra work!

Pasilla Peppers (or Poblano Peppers)

These large, dark green peppers are on sale for $0.67/lb this week at Rancho Liborio.  I actually bought some when I was there on Tuesday – at full price!  Their regular price is only $0.99/lb, so still  a great deal when compared to other stores that sell them for $2+/lb.

These peppers are super yummy when you roast them, and then stuff with some yummy goodness.  I typically do a mixture of ground beef, onions, cheese, and red bell pepper, then dip in egg and then a cornmeal/flour mixture and pan fry.  Then, I top with a relish of corn, black beans, red onion, jalapeno, red bell pepper, lime, and cilantro. Serve ’em up with a side of Mexican rice and maybe some refried beans.

They are definitely one of Jeremy’s favorites!  I based my “recipe” on this one for Cheese Stuffed Poblanos with Black Beans and Chipotle Sour Cream, so you can read that to give you a more official recipe to follow. ;)

Petite Sirloin Steaks

They’re on sale for B1G2 free at Albertsons, which works out to about $2.66/lb if you’re lucky enough to find three packages of the same size.  I’ve got no personal experience with these, but this recipe for Grilled Petite Sirloin Steaks rubbed with mustard and pepper sounds good if you were to use a decent mustard.  Or, you could use some of the steak seasoning mixes we got for free earlier in the summer and get some grilling in before it gets really cold!

Pasta

Barilla whole grain and Piccolini pasta is $0.50 after coupon at King Soopers this week – hopefully you have extra coupons so you can stock up!  I personally would rather be able to get their “regular” pasta for $0.50, but there aren’t any coupons out for it. :(

So, what do you do with the tiny Piccolini pasta or the whole grain?  I don’t typically make real “meals” with them as they aren’t our favorites, but my husband has ahem a rather strange habit of liking pasta with ketchup (yuk), and he really likes fried pasta with ketchup, so that’s typically how I use those types of pasta.

Well, that’s all I’ve got!  What are you making with what’s on sale this week?  Share your tips, ideas, recipes, and questions in the comments!