Frugal Friday

Welcome to this week's Frugal Friday everyone. Today I am going to let you in on some of my favorite summer recipes that we use quite a bit here at home. These recipes have been passed down through several generations and I know you and your family will love them. The ingredients are not fancy and the cost is very reasonable to make them. I don't have pictures to post of them and really wish I did, but you can picture them in your head. The first one is my favorite Chicken Salad recipe. Now I love a good chicken salad and this one from my great grandmother is the "bomb".

Summer Chicken Salad:

2 large or 4 small chicken breasts
1 cup green grapes (seedless and cut in half)
1 cup green olives (I leave the pimentos in but it's your choice)
1/2 cup shredded carrots
4 oz of sliced almonds or 4 oz of chopped pecans ( We prefer the pecans ourselves)
2 Tablespoons or more of real mayonnaise (not the salad dressing but real mayo)
S & P to taste

Boil the chicken breasts until done and allow to cool. Once cooled, de-bone and cut into chunks.

Add everything else except the mayo and mix well.

Now add the mayo to coat and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve cold over a bed of lettuce or on sandwich bread. Whatever you would prefer.


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Now it's time for dessert. This recipe is quite old and I've never found it anywhere else. It's also one of my favorites.

Orange Coconut Apricot Nectar Cake:

1 box orange coconut cake mix (this can sometimes be hard to find and I just use a yellow cake mix)
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup Wesson oil
3/4 cup apricot nectar juice (found on the juice aisle)
4 eggs

Combine all ingredients together beating one egg at a time and pour into a loaf pan or a 13x9 flat pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour (for the loaf pan) or 26 minutes in the flat pan. Just stick a toothpick into the center to see if done.

Topping:

3/4 cup apricot nectar juice
3/4 cup sugar

Place these two items in a pan and bring to a boil. boil for 7 minutes. It will become somewhat syrupy and that's the way you want it to be. Do this while your cake is baking.

When the cake comes out of the oven and while it's still hot, poke holes in the cake with a toothpick. As many as you want. Now pour the hot topping all over the cake and let it drain down into the holes. Allow to cool and serve. Wonderful by itself and great with homemade ice cream.

Note: You can also substitute the apricot nectar juice with fruit cocktail in place of the apricot in the cake and then use orange juice to make the topping.

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Now there you have the perfect easy and inexpensive summer meal. Plus one that's been shared with you and you can trust is excellent.

Happy Friday All,