Fifty Dollar Food Week - Dinner #2

So, on the menu tonight was Rock Cornish Game Hens, herb garlic potatoes, and farmer's market fresh corn on the cob. If you've never made game hens, they're really very good! You can stuff them like you would a turkey, but I usually don't. I only buy them when they are on sale, though, since they go on sale so often, so I had a few left in my freezer. Two hens feed my family of four.

The first thing I did this afternoon was pull out my basil. I like to buy fresh basil at the farmer's market, or at the grocery store if it's off-season. It's really very inexpensive. The best way to store fresh basil for any length of time is simply in a Ziploc bag in the freezer. When you need some, all you have to do is pull it out, break off a few leaves, and then chop them up.
Next, I took my thawed game hens, ran them under cold water to rinse the leftover juice and whatever else off the outside and the inside, and then patted them dry with a paper towel.

Kind of looks like a little headless chicken baby, doesn't it!?

I mixed my chopped basil with some olive oil and lemon pepper and brushed it on the hens.

Ooh, look!! Twins ;)

I shucked some corn on the cob, peeled some potatoes, and left those to wait until about 20 minutes before the hens were done.

To cook the hens:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Put the hens on a rack in a baking or roasting pan and place in the oven breast side up.

Two hens usually take around 1 hr 15 mins. When you have 15 minutes left on the timer, crank the heat up to 400 and the skin will brown and crisp nicely.

I soft boiled the potatoes tonight, melted a little butter over the tops, and then seasoned them with some sea salt, thyme, garlic powder, and basil. They were VERY good! Nothing beats a good Idaho potato.

As I said before, I happen to have a lot of meat in the freezer right now. There's no way I could be making these dishes on $50 a week if I had to purchase all the meat too. I do try to stock up when freeze-able things are on sale, like the game hens, chicken, and sometimes even salmon or other fish. As soon as the meat from our cow runs out, I will be back to buying beef at the grocery store for a little while, and that will drain my budget quickly.