Female: Let’s get cooking and save some money. I met up in the kitchen with one of the country’s best known chefs helping you stretch that dinner dollar.

Before you pitch those leftovers why not more for into something delicious that you can take to work the next day? We are joined today by a best selling author and host on the Food Network, Robin Miller. Thank you for joining us today.

Robin Miller: It’s my pleasure; great to be here.

Female: Now you are saying we have to stop going to the lunch rooms, stop spending all the money because you have come great ideas.

Robin Miller: Well it’s not just money; you control what you are taking to lunch the next day too so it could be a more helpful choice but now I know every body is asking me; what can I do to get out of the brown bag boredom and also, save money. So there are some great ways to do it and this is not unlike what I normally do. I always morph—I usually transform one dinner into another dinner so this is kind of transforming dinner into a great lunch.

Female: Okay, what are we making?

Robin Miller: Great, so the first idea is I have a chipotle honey mustard chicken in my new cook book; Robin Rescues Dinner which is right here. So it’s got chipotle chilies, honey Dijon mustard; that’s it, you simmer that in a little bit of a sauce and you have got that for dinner the first night and what I love is it saves time. You can use a pre cooked chicken strips or steak strips for this dish which is awesome.

Female: So then it’s cooked.

Robin Miller: So you cut 10 to 15 minutes. So Tyson has great recipe-ready grilled chicken strips.

Female: Alright.

Robin Miller: So now you have got leftover’s so you want to help me right?

Female: Yes, I want to help.

Robin Miller: So I am going to take a pita pocket, already cut in half, open it up, I am giving you the tongs and I am going to use the fork so if I slip then it’s my bad. Okay so you can see there’s a wonderful flavor already on there from the chipotle chilies—you have got that wonderful grilled flavor.

Female: Just stuff it in there?

Robin Miller: And we are just making like an Italian inspired pita pocket sandwich. So we’re stuffing that in.

Female: Delicious.

Robin Miller: Okay, and then I am going to add some tomato but you can add roasted red peppers if you wanted. You have got some fresh basil there if you want to add that.

Female: Yes.

Robin Miller: Fresh mozzarella cheese, any kind of cheese would work right so, you put this stuff that all in there.

Female: I think even the kids would like this.

Robin Miller: Oh the kids would love it. My kids actually love basil, they love cheese, love tomatoes, they love balsamic vinegar so you can just kind of drizzle that in, and you can drizzle a little bit of olive oil in there if you want. Now this is ready to go if you wanted to take, wrap it up, and take a tour. You can also reheat it in the microwave for 630 seconds and get the cheese all melted that’s a wonderful lunch, cost effective, great use of leftovers and a time savings. It’s like an all in one.

Female: And it’s so healthy. I love that.

Robin Miller: It’s so healthy and then other great fun things that you can do are you add nuts, add some nut, mix it with dried fruit to your lunch—it spices it up. It gets you out of the right out of the boredom; just add up pretzels or chips.

Female: Yeah, you take a sandwich, and you are just bored.

Robin Miller: No, and like everybody is saying. What can I do that it’s different? Well just think outside the lunch box. We have got baby carrots. You could put ranch dip, cherry, tomatoes, grapes. Think colorful right?

Female: Okay.

Robin Miller: Another way to take this dinner and turn it into a healthy lunch, I have got penny, pesto, and the reserved chicken that you have saved so for a chicken pesto penny just add a little pine nuts, parmesan cheese and you are golden.

Female: Perfect, that looks wonderful and I know you said another quick way you can save money is just put your favorite beverage in a t-go thing in that way you are not stopping at the vending machine. I’d love that.

Robin Miller: Right you save money and also keep reusing your lunch box.

Female: Yes, great tips thank you so much Robin Miller. This looks delicious.

Robin has lots of other great ideas and recipes on her website. You can find a link by going to BetterTV.com.