Creating a holiday dinner for 2 people (with all the fixings) is not as hard as you might think!
Whether you live a long way from family and can’t make it home for a holiday or you just don’t have a large group to cook for, you should never shy away from creating a hearty meal to celebrate.
This year, I couldn’t make it home for Rosh Hashanah and I was totally bummed! It is in a tradition in my family to always have a delicious festive meal with chicken, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and more. Since it was only Dan and myself, I thought it would be hard to create all the same favorites without spending tons of money and making enough to feed a small army.
I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to let distance from my family change our long standing traditions and I was determined to figure out how I can make a reasonably affordable dinner (it actually was less than $20) and still eat all my favorites.
We ended up having:
- Chicken in a Cranberry & Walnut Reduction
- Apple & Cheddar Biscuits with Honey Drizzle
- Green Bean Casserole
- Garlic and Caramelized Onion Mashed Potatoes
How did I do this for under $20? Let me explain…
1) Chicken in a Cranberry Sauce w/ Walnut Reduction: To make this dish affordable, head over to the meat counter and order 2 boneless skinless chicken breast cutlets. At Whole Foods these were only about $2.00 each (.30 lbs each). Sauté those cutlets on a pan with some olive oil and top with a half of a can of cranberry sauce ($1.00) and some walnuts. If you buy the walnuts in the bulk bin and price out, you’ll spend about $.75. TOTAL: $5.75
2) Apple & Cheddar Biscuits with Honey Drizzle: This recipe is so inexpensive and easy to make! For two people, just half the recipe. Even if you have to buy the entire box of Bisquick (it can make about 100 of these biscuits), it’s still only $2.00 for the entire box. The apple is $.40 and the block of cheddar cheese is about $2.00 (and you will have extra cheese). Most people have honey at home as a pantry staple so I didn’t include that. TOTAL: $5.40
3) Green Bean Casserole: This one was easier than I thought! If you go to Whole Foods, you can buy green beans in bulk. I ended up using 1/2 lb. for the two of us and it cost $2.10. Then I bought a small little box of cream of mushroom soup for $1.50 and a small box of french fried onions for $1.89. Mix it all up, add a little splash of milk, soy sauce, salt & pepper and you’re golden! $5.49
4) Garlic and Caramelized Onion Mashed Potatoes: This will take some restraint, but only buy ONE potato. It is honestly all you need to make enough mashed potatoes for 2 people. Skin, cube and boil the potato as normal and then mash it up with some caramelized onions, a splash of milk and roasted garlic. Yum! You can even throw in some of the remaining cheddar cheese from the biscuits. TOTAL: $3.07.
In total this entire meal bought from Whole Foods(minus the Bisquick) was $19.71. So for less than $10 per person, you can have an incredible, inexpensive and delicious holiday dinner for 2 people!
Love always,
Erica
