Which meals are best for your family? The kind that taste great, don't break the bank – and most importantly, don't keep you chained to the stove all day. As the sole proprietor of her own restaurant and busy wife and mother of two, Dawn Welch has perfected the art of cooking smart, using short-order strategies and a little bit of advance planning to rack up huge savings of time, money, and effort at home on a daily basis, and now you can, too. These days everyone is keeping an eye on the bottom line, and Dawn is no different; she shares her best tips and tactics for stretching your food budget without giving up the favorite foods and special treats that make mealtime the best part of the day. Who wants to live on a steady diet of pasta and canned tuna? In Dollars to Donuts y ou'll find plenty of savvy ways to serve up steaks, seafood, even luscious chocolate desserts without letting costs spiral out of control. She also dishes up great ideas for transforming basic foods – baked ham, roast chicken, meatball mix – into sexy new offerings that no one will recognize as a leftovers and offers great advice on how to stock your pantry and freezer for last-minute drop-ins and impromptu entertaining. Each recipe indicates cost per serving so you can choose the dishes that suit your budgetary needs, and a weekly meal planner helps streamline the process of pulling together menus and making the best use of your time and pantry. Icons throughout show which recipes are kid-friendly, which freeze like a dream, and much more. Think cooking healthful, cost-effective, crowd-pleasing meals is beyond your reach? Take a page out of Dawn Welch's info-packed book and dollars to donuts, your family will be eating better than ever before and having more fun in the process! Dawn Welch owns and operates Stroud, Oklahoma's famed Rock Café, a fixture on historic Route 66 since 1946. For over a decade loyal customers and visitors to Stroud have flocked to the Rock for Dawn's homespun specialties like chicken fried steak, peach cobbler, and oven-barbecued ribs. Devastated by a fire in the summer of 2008, the newly refurbished and expanded Rock reopened on Memorial Day, 2009. the big bang relay Cooking and shopping in bulk saves money, period, end of story. That's why when I see a deal on a pork shoulder or family packs of ground beef, I £ce, knowing that the $10 or $15 I'm investing today is going to give me three or four meals down the pike. Cooking big today, whether it's a slow-roasted pork shoulder or a baked ham, means I've already cooked (and paid for) my main-dish protein for another day. When I serve up Chicken and Dumplings (page 6) or Chicken Udon Soup (page 11)--both of which are the delectable spinoffs of an original roast chicken meal--I get the rush of feeling I've gotten something for nothing. Having some cooked meat or a prepped dish stashed away in the freezer is really like finding a hidden treasure. These main courses offer up brand-new meals to serve later in the week or stash in the freezer. Cook the Big Bang on day 1, then relay the leftovers into a whole series of main-dish spinoffs. Having an extra freezer in the house comes in handy for this kind of cooking, not just for stashing the leftovers, but also for stocking up when good deals hit your markets on turkeys or roasts (see page 137 for more information on buying a chest or standing freezer). This brings us back to the "free meals a day" concept. Whether you're storing an uncooked roast, portioned cooked meat, or a completely prepped dish, you will already have covered the bulk of that meal's cost. Just add a few veggies, herbs, or sides and you have a real meal deal. THE BIG BANG THE RELAY Rosemary and Thyme Roasted Chickens Chicken and Dumplings Almond Chicken Salad Cheesy Baked Chicken Enchiladas Chicken Udon Soup Baked Honey-Glazed Ham Chef's Pasta Salad Ham and Provolone Melts Ham and Black Bean Soup Roast Pork Shoulder Pulled Pork Sandwiches Pork, Currant, and Pine Nut Ragout over Fettuccine Roast Pork, Beans, and Bangers Meatball Evolution Spicy Glazed Meatloaf Mozzarella-Stuffed Burgers Middle Eastern Kebabs Not-Just-For-Thanksgiving Turkey Turkey Pot Pie with Cheddar Streusel Turkey Tortilla Soup Turkey and Sausage Strata Rosemary & Thyme Roasted Chickens THE BIG BANG SERVES 8 $15.75/$1.95 I love fresh herbs and use them liberally both at home and at the Rock, where they grow in great clumps all around the Cafe. After the building burned down in 2008, I was in shock; the day after, I stood staring at the burning wreckage for hours. What brought me around was the sight of neighbors and friends digging up the herb plants and taking them home to their own gardens for safekeeping until the restaurant could be rebuilt. Now that we've reopened, I once again have a thriving supply of herbs growing around the Cafe to use in dishes such as this fragrant, simple roast chicken. They're the basis of so many great family meals that I usuall