The holiday season and Roasted Brussels Sprouts are a delicious combination. This is just a basic recipe, but there is a reason -- it's just plain good. These pint-sized cabbages take on a nutty flavor when roasted. It's the difference between a boiled or baked potato -- I prefer mine baked. My stop-motion animated recipe video is a short one. Because all I did was remove the old yellowed leaves and tough stems, slice some of them in half, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and finally finish them off with a half hour of roasting. I also have another re ..read more

  Potatoes deep fried, boiled, or baked, the end result is always deeply satisfying. It's also one of the most complete nutritional veggies -- it's what the stranded astronaut survived on in the book and movie, The Martian.  Are potatoes the cheapest veggie out there? I often get them on sale for a dollar per pound. And your Christmas table would not be complete without creamy and buttery Mashed Potatoes. The spud originated in the South American country of Peru, where hundreds of varieties are available, but for my next cheap$kate recipe I use Idaho's f ..read more

Check back for a weekly dose of Christmas recipes all this month - it's a digital all-you-can-eat holiday brunch at the Cheap$kate Chateau! Here's a perfect side dish for your Christmas Day feast. Fresh steamed green beans with crunchy almonds pair perfectly, and garlic gives it all a finishing flavor kick. My Green Beans with Almonds travel well, so bring a casserole dish full if you are a guest. Your host will surely place it between the centerpiece roasted turkey and sweet potatoes with marshmallows. The green beans are steamed for a couple of minutes while some ..read more

A cooked Thanksgiving turkey is the gift that keeps on giving. So keep reading to see a few of my recipes that will have you coming back for more succulent turkey leftovers. (Click on any recipe name to be directed to my blog post with all the tasty recipe text and yummy photo illustrations.) If you made a big spread for Thanksgiving go right to piling leftovers on a plate and zapping them.  However, if you only have turkey, cranberry sauce, some gravy, and stuffing left then a simple Leftover Recipe is the way to go. The easiest and quickest use of Thanks ..read more

  It's the busiest and most overwhelming cooking day -- well don't fret, The 99 Cent Chef wants to take the stress out and make it a bit easier for you. It's all here, my holiday recipes, along with a cupboard full of money-saving tips for you during this Thanksgiving season. Read on and click on any highlighted recipe name to gobble up my original blog post for the recipe, illustrated with yummy photos, fun videos, and tasty text. Below is everything you need to serve a sumptuous and cost-saving dinner table feast. And make sure you bookmark this pag ..read more

 On this auspicious day  in 1810 a brave Roman Catholic priest (and a real Father of two daughters) in the village of Dolores rang a church bell and made a powerful speech that set in motion the War of Independence from Spain. To read all about it, just click here.  ¡Viva México!  I can think of no better way to celebrate bashing away shackles from an oppressor than a deep cultural dive into Mexico's culinary arts. And, boy, do I have a barricade of recipes for you to attempt to go through. And, of course, the ingredients are cheap but tasty ..read more

Nothing is fresh in my latest cheapie recipe, and I'm proud of it! Yeah, that's right, The 99 Cent Chef's latest dish is 1960's Betty Crocker Cookbook can opener cuisine. And this recipe involves the same amount of cooking skill as defrosting a Swanson Frozen TV Dinner. This is classic casserole comfort food that will fit perfectly on your Norman Rockwell Christmas table -- an heirloom recipe to continue handing down. You can read about the creation of this recipe from the Campbell's Soup archives, just click here. All you need is a warm oven and a ..read more

This Deal of the Day is the anti-Norman Rockwell holiday dinner. I've had my share of sad Thanksgiving. This can happen when you are single, or after first moving into a new city, maybe you are out of town on business, or just plain busted, penniless, and, on some holidays everyone you know may be visiting relatives. While one does feel self-conscious eating alone during the holidays, there is something to be said about being out of the holiday family drama loop. And this Turkey Dinner by Banquet is a meal you do not want to share -- nor could you do so, with its small se ..read more

Thanksgiving is right around the corner so you have time to make my Mom's Pumpkin Pie. I was back in Gonzales, Louisiana a few years ago around Thanksgiving, and got her to cook it on camera. Boy, was it good -- so good that a lot of my Cajun cousins swung by. It was a fun and noisy day, as you will see, where everyone lined up for a slice after the pies cool down. Mom made a wheat crust from scratch, but for the filling, she went with the convenience of canned pumpkin. I know you are disappointed that we didn't find a free pumpkin in the wild like we did for Mom's last desser ..read more

Mom turns 90 years young on November 11. And I owe it all to her, at least where I get my cooking chops (and any good sense I have.) Just check out our cooking videos to see what I mean. She grew up in Texas on the Gulf Coast in a small shrimping town called Port O'Connor. There, I learned to love seafood. Port O'Connor Slideshow Her father was a shrimp boat captain. So, while we couldn't afford steak, we had all the fresh-caught seafood Big Daddy would bring home, including shrimp that fell off the big boat's conveyor belt while unloading his catch.  Big Daddy & Big Ma ..read more