The Recessionistas

The other day I told you about my Supper Club and today I'll divulge the inner-workings of another great group I'm in ... The Recessionistas.

This group started when 3 of us became friends because of the guys in our life all worked together.  Only one out of those 3 guy relationships lasted, mind you, but that didn't stop us from getting together!  Slowly our group expanded to include the sister of one of the girls, then a friend, and then another friend.  So that makes 6 of us.  But then one moved away, then another, and then I moved away.  So then there were 3.  But then I moved back to Charlotte.  Back up to 4 girls.  Are you still with me?

The six Recessionistas all together (make that 7 with Baby T)

Anyway, we used to get together at restaurants and drop lots of money on margaritas, appetizers, glasses of wine, dinners.  One night, one of the gals mentioned that she found out the following day if she was going to get laid off or not {this was during the recession that hit Charlotte bad around 2007/2008}.  We decided at that point that our nights of spending non-frugally didn't have to be that way.

New idea:  Get together at one girl's house.  She spends no more than $15 to feed us.  We bring a bottle of wine no more than $5.  And with that, The Recessionistas was born. {and sidenote: she kept her job!}

So I hosted Recessionistas the other night and one of the gals (Baby T's mom) had to stay at home because Baby T was under the weather as was Husband T.  There were three of us and we had a ball.


Yes this is MY NEW HOUSE!  And this is the
ONLY way to host friends: Juicy dress,
hair up, and barefoot!

As you can see, we are adding to our Recessionista family with the soon arrival of Baby H!  Another girl, just like Baby T.  So want to see what I made for us ... under $15?

First let me divulge: I actually spent $16.71.  But included in that total were crackers that we have tons left of -- so do they really count?

Our Menu:
* Feta and sun-dried tomato dip with crackers
* Crispy salami chips with spicy mustard
* Spinach and artichoke flatbread pizza
* Wine galore {and lemonade for Baby H's momma}

The top two recipes came from the latest Real Simple magazine, this one:

And because I don't want to re-type them, here you go:

And for the record, I omitted the fresh thyme from the mustard in the interest of time and our $15 budget.  I just used a nice spicy mustard with lots of grainy texture.  If you want to see these recipes bigger, just click the picture.  The flatbread pizza, I confess, was a California Pizza Kitchen frozen pizza that I just added extra cheese to that we already had in the fridge.  (We also already had the mustard and the sundried tomatoes which helped me stay under budget)

Here's the cost breakdown:

$1.94 : Multigrain Tuscan crackers (on sale)

$3.79 : Hard salami slices from the deli

$3.99 : Feta cheese (on sale)

$5.99 : CPK flatbread pizza (on sale)

$1.00 : Greek yogurt (on sale)

................  TOTAL: $16.71

Oh, and Kim brought over delicious chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache icing for us.  Me?  I didn't eat a single one. 

... or did I?

BUSTED!

I love my fellow Recessionistas and I love that we can host eachother at our homes for a great dinner without breaking the bank.  Besides, it's not really the cost of the production of the night that really matters, is it?