Resolutions

Call it a February resolution. I decided that for one month I will track every dollar we spend on food. Every receipt will go into an envelope, and I'll keep a running tally of how much I spend, and how much I save on coupons and in-store specials. At the end of the month, I'll know not just how much we spend, but how many gallons of milk we really go through, and whether we spend more on produce or salty snacks.

At the same time, I've been on a quest to make economical dinners for this family of nine. I'll admit I'm one of those people who gets thrilled when I put dinner on the table for $10 or $12 (or, on a really good day, even less).

Turns out February is a very good month to do this: I recently cleaned out the pantry and used up everything I could before stocking up on the things I like to cook with and we like to eat. Before that I used up

things that had been taking up shelf space for a while.

Like this large bottle of bourbon with just a little left in the bottom taking up way more space than it was worth on the shelf. It inspired tonight's bourbon chicken, which I served with roasted potatoes and sugar snap peas and onions. Total cost: less than $1 per serving.

Bourbon chicken (serves 8)

5 chicken leg quarters, skin and fat trimmed, legs separated from thighs (see Note)

1 cup bourbon

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 T soy sauce

In a sauce pan, mix together bourbon, oil and soy. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until reaches the consistency of syrup. Preheat oven to 375 F. Wash and dry chicken. Place in a roasting pan and coat with glaze. Bake until cooked through, about 45 minutes, glazing with additional bourbon mixture every 10 to 15 minutes.

Note: The other day I thought I did a great job when I found a 5 lb. package of chicken leg quarters for $2. Then the very next day I was at Food Lion when they announced a "yard sale" and picked up a 10 lb. bag, which usually sells for $9, on sale for $3. Of course, it was due to expire that day, so we either had to eat it or freeze it. My only regret was that I don't yet have my spare freezer here, so I didn't have room to buy two bags.

Now, with leg quarters you do get a lot of waste in the bone, skin and fat. I usually figure 5 lbs. will feed our family of eight meat eaters.

Roasted potatoes

2 1/2 lbs. white potatoes, washed, dried and cut into bite-size pieces

1 package onion soup mix

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Mix together soup mix and olive oil. Add potatoes and toss to coat. Place in a baking dish large enough to spread out in one layer and place oven with chicken at 375 F. Stir, scraping potatoes from sides, every 15 to 20 minutes. Once chicken is done, boost heat to 425 F and continue cooking another 15 minutes.

Snow peas

1 sweet onion, cut in half and sliced thinly

1 bag frozen snow peas

2 T butter, divided

2 tsp soy sauce

Prepare snow peas in microwave according to package directions. Meanwhile, melt 1 T butter in a large saute pan and lightly saute onion. Add additional T butter, snow peas and soy sauce and toss to coat.