I follow the ever-efficient @ShortOrderMom on Twitter, and her frugal yet interesting recipes always catch my eye. This one is the primavera style sauce, not really heard of in the UK. It’s something that caught on in the States in 70s, then became kitsch and fell away out of fashion. I’ve heard restaraunts updating the dish of late.

Here’s her penny-saving version: get pasta on the boil while you fry some chicken breast. When that’s browned add frozen mixed veg (not something I’ver ever used but it worked very well here) until defrosted.

While this is all going on I combine cream cheese with milk and Italian salad dressing and warm it through.

Combine in a bowl and you have a very cheap meal. It worked out very tasty, but if I’m honest I could cut this slightly cheaper by buying a cream cheese with garlic & herbs in for a very similar flavour. Still, nice and light yet still tasty. Thanks SOM!