This week, everyone has skinless boneless chicken on sale. Food Lion has them for $2.50 a pound. Lowes Foods has them for $2.29 a pound. Harris Teeter has them on sale in 2 1/2 pound bags for $1.99 pound. So choose your price and stock up!

Like many of you, I'm counting calories this month. (I've lost 4 pounds so far!) So I have been perusing recipes in a cookbook from the folks at Eating Well magazine. The book is “Eating Well: 500 Calorie Dinners, Easy Delicious Menus and Recipes.” This recipe for Curried Chicken Salad is only 240 calories a serving, and costs only $1.52 per serving. Happy eating, exercising and saving money!

Remember: To save more money, check out N&O retail reporter Sue Stock's Wednesday Deals, which pair coupons with what's on sale at the grocery store.

I thought I'd share a recipe this week that focused on using ingredients most of us already have in the house: frozen peas and canned tomatoes. I found this recipe for Pasta and Peas Au Gratin in a new cookbook from Better Homes and Gardens: "Super Market Shortcuts: Shop Smart! 365 Recipes to Save Time and Money." It creates what appears to be a yummy tomato cream sauce with cheese ravioli and peas. Of course, I'll be substituting milk for the half-and-half in this recipe, which you also might do if you are trying to lose weight in 2010 like I am. This meal costs $1.79 per serving. 

If you would like to enter for a chance to win a copy of that cookbook, please leave a comment at the bottom of this post before noon Friday. I'll choose a winner at random and announce who won next week. Good luck! 

If you need to stock up on frozen vegetables or canned tomatoes, Kroger is selling both as part of their 10 for $10 specials this week. For more ways to save money on your groceries, make sure to check out N&O retail reporter Sue Stock's blog, Taking Stock. She pairs what's on sale with coupons each Wednesday.

Pasta and Peas Au Gratin

1 9-ounce package of refrigerated cheese-filled ravioli
1 cup frozen peas
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup half-and-half, light cream or milk
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano, undrained
2 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese

In a large saucepan, cook pasta according to package directions, except add peas for the last minute of cooking. Drain. Return pasta and peas to the saucepan. 

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan stir together flour and pepper. Gradually stir in the half and half. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 1 minute more. Gradually add undrained tomatoes. Pour over pasta mixture. Toss to coat. Sprinkle individual servings with cheese. 

Makes 4 servings. 

Cost breakdown: 

Ravioli, $4.15 for 9-ounce package, Cost for meal: $4.15

Peas, $1 for 12-ounce bag, Cost for meal: 67 cents

Half-and-Half, $1.79 for 16 ounces, Cost for meal: 90 cents

Tomatoes, $1 for 14-ounce can, Cost for meal: $1

Parmesan cheese, $4.29 for 10 ounces, Cost for meal: 43 cents

Cost for meal: $7.15

Cost per serving: $1.79

Each Friday, I offer a recipe to cook on the weekends when we all have more time. Like many folks in January, I've resolved to eat better and lose the weight I've gained in this job. (Or at least, I'd like to blame this job even though I don't get to eat on the company's dime.) So you may see a healthy eating bent in these recipes and the Frugal Feasts for a while until I lose the weight or give up.

I love Indian food but find it too labor-intensive and time consuming. I love the idea of this easier preparation for Indian Butter Chicken from Annette Sym, who I've been told is an Austrlia's healthy eating food celebrity. This recipe comes from her new cookbook, "Symply Too Good to be True: Over 150 Tasty, Low-Fat Healthy Recipes." I would use fresh garlic and ginger in this recipe and prepare it on the weekend to eat for lunch or dinner during the week. Homemade Indian food always tastes better on the second day. 

With Super Doubles going on this week at Harris Teeter, I thought I'd share a recipe to take advantage of the buy one get two shrimp deal and the free Greek yogurt, if you have those $1 coupons for Oikos yogurt. (I'd buy the Oikos honey yogurt and scrap the 1/3 cup that you need for this recipe from the yogurt that sits above the honey on the bottom of the cup. I'm frugal. What can I say?)

The recipe for Shrimp Rolls comes from Ellie Krieger's new cookbook, "So Easy." As I've said before, I'm pretty skeptical of cookbooks from Food Network stars. I'm not as confident that the recipes are well tested. But Krieger's books from Taunton Press, the same folks who bring you Fine Cooking magazine, are always reliable, healthy and tasty. I highly recommend them. These shrimp rolls, a twist on a lobster roll, work out to be $2.23 per serving. 

(Here is a LINK to N&O retail reporter Sue Stock's Wednesday Deals on her Taking Stock blog. You always save more money by using Sue's Wednesday Deals as a shopping list. I paid $1 for FOUR boxes of Special K cereal last night at the Harris Teeter. That is an incredible price!) 

If you have a resolution to make more home-cooked meals in the New Year, you might want to check out this cookbook, "The Italian Slow Cooker," by Michele Scicolone. The book offers many delicious recipes, including some for slow cooker cake. Who knew!?!

This recipe for Chunky Pork Shoulder Ragu intrigued me. This seems like the perfect no-fuss comfort food for a hectic winter weeknight. Plus, the leftovers will freeze for other easy weeknight meals. Pork shoulder, or Boston Butt, is on sale at Lowes Foods and Harris Teeter this week for 98 cents or 99 cents a pound.  This works out to $1.05 per serving. 

No Frugal Feasts recipe today, but I thought I'd share a recipe for those Christmas ham leftovers: 

Open-face Ham, Cheddar and Apple Butter Sandwiches

3 ciabatta rolls, halved horizontally, or six 1/2-inch-thick slices country white bread
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 tablespoons purchased apple butter
4 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 1/4 pounds ham, sliced
12 ounces extra-sharp white cheddar cheese, thinly sliced
1 bunch fresh chives, chopped

Preheat the broiler. Brush cut side of ciabatta rolls with oil. Place rolls, cut side up, on baking sheet. Broil until the rolls begin to brown around the edges, about 2 minutes. Transfer sheet with rolls to work surface. Spread apple butter and mustard on each roll half. Top with ham, then cheese. Broil until the cheese melts and begins to brown in spots, about 2 minutes. Transfer to plates. Sprinkle with chives.

Serves 6 

Source: The Bon Appetit Cookbook: Fast Easy Fresh 

Each Wednesday, I offer a recipe based on what's on sale at the grocery store. Food Lion has a 10-pound bags of chicken leg quarters at 39 cents a pound. That's $3.90 for a ton of chicken if you have the freezer space for that chicken.

I also received an interesting cookbook in the mail today, which seems perfect for this time of year: "The Best Soups in the World," by Clifford A. Wright. Inside, I found this recipe for Pepper Soup, a Gambian soup that is sure to clear the sinuses. It's only 72 cents per serving.

Cold weather puts me in a heavy food mood. So I pulled a copy of this cookbook off the shelf: "Eat Feed Autumn Winter" by Anne Bramley. N&O staff photographer Juli Leonard had made me set aside this book for visual inspiration for our food photo shoots. But I hadn't actually read the book until now. It is beautiful. Photographer Tina Rupp takes gorgeous photos of food. I also like Bramley's friendly events-themed menus with recipes. If you are looking for dinner party inspiration from Twelth Night to Winter Solstice, this would be a good read.

To sastisfy my current craving, I think I'll turn to this recipe: French Onion Pot Roast.

Potatoes on my pizza; I don't think so! That is until I tried it. It's cheap and easy to make and best of all it's good. Red potatoes work best for this recipe and the thinner you can slice them the better.

This week, many folks will be headed to Kroger for the 10 for $10 sale. Among the many $1 deals is Barilla pasta. Add that to Kroger frozen peas for 88 cents for a 12-ounce bag, and you practically have dinner. Just snag a few more items to make Linguine with Spinach and Peas, which works out to $1.88 per serving.

This recipe comes from Molly Katzen's new cookbook, "Get Cooking." Katzen is known for The Moosewood cookbooks, named after a vegetarian restaurant in Ithaca, N.Y. (This cookbook would be an excellent gift for the beginning cook on your gift list.) With all the indulgences we enjoy during the holidays, a vegetarian dinner isn't such a bad idea.