Creamy Casseroles

If you don't like creamy, yummy, melt-in-your-mouth goodness, this post isn't for you. If you do, and, better yet, if you love to get that goodness quickly and easily, read on!

I thought I'd share two of my favorite recipes with you today. Actually, it's one recipe, tweaked a little to make two different dishes. The first is a favorite with my kiddos and the second is always a hit with the adults. Both are super easy and fairly quick to fix.

Unfortunately, I don't have any photos. :(

Creamy Chicken Casserole
4-5 large, boneless, skinless chicken breasts*
1 8oz. cream cheese, softened
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1/2-3/4 cup sour cream (add until as creamy as you'd like it)

Topping:
1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed
1 stick butter, melted

Boil chicken breasts until done, then move to a plate to cool. In a separate bowl, mix together cream cheese, cream of chicken soup, and sour cream. Shred chicken or simply tear into bite size pieces and stir into mixture. Spread into an ungreased 9 x 13 baking dish. Sprinkle crushed crackers on top. Drizzle melted butter over the crackers. Bake at 350 for about thirty minutes or until bubbling around the edges. Serves 6-8.

*Note: I have also used a whole bag of frozen chicken tenders and added to the casserole just what I needed, (by eyeballing it :)) and then used the rest of the boiled chicken for a different recipe.


Best Broccoli Casserole
3 boxes of frozen, chopped broccoli, prepared according to package directions
1 8 oz. cream cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
6-8 oz. velveeta cheese

Topping:
1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed
1 stick butter, melted

While broccoli is cooking, heat cream cheese and velveeta in a microwaveable bowl until soft and able to be stirred easily. Add cream of chicken soup and mix well. After draining the broccoli, fold it into the cheese mixture. Spread into an ungreased 9x13 baking dish. Sprinkle crushed crackers on top. Drizzle melted butter over the crackers. Bake at 350 until bubbly around the edges. Serves at least 6-8.

You can actually make either of these casseroles the night before you need them. Take them out of the fridge about an hour before baking. Add the topping just before baking.

Enjoy!

Real Food Freezer Cooking

I am a homeschooling mom of four children under 9 who insanely adds two blogs, freelance writing, a piano student here and there and occasional ministries at church to my already crazy schedule. When someone mentions the concept of once-a-month-cooking to me, my eyes glaze over really fast. A full day in the kitchen easily stretches into 3 for me by the time I add in the typical interruptions. While I love the concept, I have decided it is not for me.

However, Crystal of Money Saving Mom has made the idea of smaller batch cooking popular. I have recently tried to keep a step ahead of my family's voracious appetites by doubling a meal, cooking one and saving one for the freezer.

Does this work for real food? Absolutely!

Right now, I have an extra pan of baked oatmeal in the freezer, a cheeseburger meatloaf without the cheese on top and a batch of waffles. All of this required no extra time on my part this week since I simply doubled up what I was making and put the extra in the freezer. I do this with breads, too. I just make two loaves of cornbread, banana bread or whole wheat bread instead of one.

If we have leftover pasta or rice after a meal, I throw it into a gallon plastic bag and save it. Both of these heat up for a quick lunch. We added spices, butter, shredded cheese and chopped sundried tomatoes to leftover spaghetti  this week, and it was delicious!

When I brown ground beef for a meal, I brown an extra pound or two and put a bag of it in the freezer for a quick meal later. When I make chicken stock, I freeze it in two cup portions in sandwich bags. These thaw quickly for a quick soup or chicken enchiladas.

One thing that doesn't seem to work is soup. I make a double batch every time, and we almost always seem to finish or nearly finish the extra portion. I guess we are just eating more!

What are your favorite real food freezer meals?

Fast Food Alternatives

Busy moms that have children involved in a lot of activities struggle with not going through a drive-thru once in a while to make things easier. At least I struggle at times with this. Earlier this year, I did a 3 month experiment; and we didn't eat fast food from any of what I call the "Big 4". My children had been sick so often the previous months, but their immune health improved dramatically during our experiment. Since then, I've tried to make fast food an increasingly rare thing.

Here are some alternatives when you (or your kids) want fast food:

Arby's
Saute some sliced onions and garlic in olive oil until tender. Dump in some leftover roast beef. If you had gravy with it, that's even better---dump it in, too. Simmer for a few minutes to heat through and allow flavors to blend. Serve it as it is or add some ketchup for barbecue beef. We've added horseradish and cheddar cheese as well. When everything is mixed/melted well, place mixture on buns and serve. Yum!

Burger King
Mix some of your favorite spices into grass-fed ground beef. Our rule of thumb is 4 hamburger patties per pound. Spread the inside of hamburger buns with butter and grill the inside only as you would for grilled cheese sandwiches. In the meantime, saute some onions and garlic and mushrooms if you have them in butter until tender. This will smell heavenly! When your burgers are done, put them on the grilled buns, top with provolone cheese and mushroom mixture and spread with mayo or Ranch. Delicious!

McDonald's
Buy or make some whole wheat English muffins or biscuits. If you like the scrambled egg-type muffins, scramble your eggs. If you like the fried egg kind, fry an egg, then break the yolk before putting in on the muffin. Top with sausage or bacon, then with a slice of cheese. I would recommend homemade sausage and nitrate-free bacon. So much tastier and without the stomach ache afterwards. Microwave or place in toaster oven for 30 seconds to 1 minute to melt the cheese.
You can eat this with a homemade granola parfait, and you'll never miss the Golden Arches!

Wendy's
Cut several chicken breasts in strips. (You don't have to do this, but it makes them cook faster.) Sprinkle them with your favorite spices and saute in a butter/olive oil mixture. When they're almost done sprinkle with garlic powder and a few tablespoons of lime juice. Stir well to coat. Put on grilled buns or on a salad for a delicious grilled chicken alternative.

We don't eat at Taco Bell, but if you do, tacos and burritos are very easy to make at home.
If you take just a little time to prep these ahead, you can wrap them in foil and put them in individual bags and call them kids' meals for your kids to chomp on as you drive around.

Still not convinced fast food is that bad? Read about Morgan Spurlock's experiment to eat only McDonald's food for one month. Warning: Not written from a Christian perspective, so there may be some objectionable language.
For those times you just can't escape fast food, this book offers the best alternatives plus many healthy tips and recipes for making good food for kids at home.

Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links. Read my full disclosure here.

Doesn't Real Food Take a Lot of Time?

When I am asked this question, the first thing that comes to my mind is, "Compared to what?"

If you're used to making a frozen pizza for dinner, then making it homemade will take a bit more work and time. However, if you are used to ordering pizza, I'm convinced that you could have a homemade one on the table at least as quickly as it takes for the delivery guy to arrive.

This?

Or this?

If you're used to running through a drive-through on the way home from school/work/soccer practice, then making  cheeseburgers or chicken nuggets homemade might take more time. On the other hand, if you're used to dinner at a sit-down restaurant of any kind, you can make these foods at home in the same amount of time it takes for the waiter to get the food to your table.

For me the trade-off for better taste (not to mention health) is totally worth it. I used to dump a can of Campbell's soup in a pot on soup night. It only takes a little longer to make a delicious homemade soup and there is no comparison! Homemade Hamburger Helper or Macaroni and Cheese takes pretty much the same amount of time. And sauteing that chicken breast instead of deep frying it? Real food is a time saver in that case!

Here are a few other real foods that improve the taste phenomenally but take less than 10 minutes of hands-on time:

• homemade taco seasoning instead of  the little packets
• homemade popcorn instead of  microwave popcorn packets
• oven brown rice instead of  packets of seasoned rice
• cheddar potato strips instead of frozen french fries
• homemade bread in bread machine instead of frozen dough
• oven roasted chicken instead of rotisserie chicken

Here is an entire real food meal that take less than 30 minutes of hands on time:

An hour to two hours before you eat, dump 2 cups brown rice, a dash of olive oil and 5 cups water into a 13 x 9 pan. Sprinkle with salt and cover with foil. Set oven on 400 degrees and forget about your rice for about an hour. When the water is absorbed, just turn the oven off until you're ready to eat it.

About 15-20 minutes before you want to eat, pull some cooked meat out of your freezer. Our favorite is leftover steak cut into thin strips. All you need is one or two leftover steaks for this meal. You can also use cooked, diced chicken or even cooked hamburger.

Put 1 or 2 T. olive oil in a skillet, toss in some chopped onion and minced garlic (I just buy it in a jar). Now toss in your steak and any frozen or leftover veggies you have in the fridge or freezer. (I would skip the eggplant, but it's totally up to you!) Sprinkle on some seasonings of your choice.

While that's getting warmed and the flavors are blending, toss together a salad. You probably even have time to whip up a homemade dressing.

Put a generous amount of rice on each plate, top with the meat mixture and call it stir fry. My husband likes to put soy sauce on his. I have an aversion to anything soy, so I like mine best plain.

Good things sometimes take more time, but real food really doesn't require you to be in the kitchen all day. Unless of course, you include the dishes.

Marion's Favorite Honey Recipes

Baking with honey is always a great way to use it, while you lose the enzymes, you retain all of the minerals, pollen, etc. if you bake with unfiltered honey. Honey helps retain the moisture of baked goods, so if you have a recipe that always comes out dry, try replacing 1/2 of the sugar with honey (1/3 Cup for 1/2 Cup sugar). Make sure you also reduce the baking temperature. by 25*, as honey will brown and burn more quickly than sugar.

Here are a few of our favorite honey recipes :-)

  
Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 ¼ cup butter

1 cup cane juice crystals

¾ cup honey

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

3 ½ cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp salt

6 oz. chocolate chips

1 ½ cup walnuts

Cream butter, sugar, honey, eggs, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Chill several hours or overnight. Drop by rounded Tbsp on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350* for 10-12 min DO NOT OVERBAKE!

 Chocolate Angel Food Cake

3/4 cup sifted flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cup egg whites

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. vanilla

2/3 cup honey

Directions:

Combine and sift together flour, cocoa and 1/4 cup sugar. Beat egg whites and salt with mixer until foamy. Add cream of tartar and vanilla. Continue beating until stiff enough to hold peaks. Add honey 2 teaspoons at a time beating after each addition until just blended. Sift 1/4 cup of flour sugar mixture over egg whites, fold in by hand lightly. Repeat until flour/sugar mixture is used. Turn into ungreased angel food cake pan. Bake at 325* for 1 hour. Remove from oven and invert until cool.

Best Ever Corn Muffins

1/2 cup Butter, softened

2/3 cup White Sugar

¼ cup Honey

2 Eggs

½ teaspoon Salt

1 ½ cups All-Purpose Flour

¾ cup Yellow Cornmeal

½ teaspoon Baking Powder

½ cup Milk

¾ cup Frozen Corn Kernels, thawed

Preheat oven to 400* and lightly grease a 12 cup muffin pan. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the honey, eggs, and salt. Mix in flour, cornmeal, and baking powder. Stir in milk until batter is smooth. Fold in corn. Spoon into prepared muffin cups. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until muffins are lightly browned.

Pumpkin Cake

4 eggs
1 cup coconut oil
1 ¼ cups honey
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 cups butternut squash (or pumpkin)
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
Dash of cloves
1 cup chopped raisins (or dates)
1 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 360 F. Grease and flour three 6x8 inch pans. In large bowl beat eggs slightly. Gradually beat in oil, honey, sugar, and squash. Add in flour, salt, soda, and spices. Mix well. Stir in raisins and nuts. Pour 1/3 of batter into each loaf pan. Bake for forty minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 30 minutes.
Yield- about 24 servings - Calories- don’t ask :-)

Marion Yoder is a second-generation home-schooling mother of 4 (going on 5) little people. She and her husband, Joseph, live and work on his family's 190 acre farm in Holmes county Ohio. Marion started early with her love of all things natural, especially food, and has been learning more ever since. The Yoders raise bees, cattle, sheep, chickens, and heirloom veggies on their sustainable farm. Their goal is to provide local families with affordable foods raised  the way God designed them to be. They sell their wares at area farmers markets, as well as at the small store located on the farm.

Recipe for Satisfaction

With Fall quickly closing in all around us, I thought I would share one of my favorite Fall dessert recipes with you! I'm a big fan of Pumpkin, so if you are too I think you will really enjoy this fabulous dessert.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Squares

Ingredients:

Base
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

Filling
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3 eggs

Topping
2 cups sour cream
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Enjoy!

Joanna LaVan is a child of the King, wife to her incredible husband, adoring aunt "nana" to her four favorite little people, and Pastor's wife to their Church people in Virginia. Her desire is to share with the world the wonderful reality of sins forgiven. In her spare time she enjoys Kayaking, reading, occasional scrapbooking, cleaning, blogging, and spending time with her wonderful family. She blogs about her life's happenings, and passions at http://www.lukeandjoannalavan.blogspot.com/ .

Real Ways to Use Tomato Products

Everyone in our household loves tomatoes. Well, our one-year-old hasn't officially tried them yet, but I'm sure he will love them, too! :-) Unfortunately, grocery store tomatoes during the winter are so far removed from the fresh garden ones we enjoy in the summer that we don't even buy them.

Here are some ways we get our "tomato fix" during the colder months:

Preserve our garden tomatoes. Last year, that meant to can them. This year, it meant to cut the tops off, pop them in a freezer bag and stick them in the freezer. Whenever I have a recipe calling for canned tomatoes, I take about 5 small Romas out and place them in a bowl of cold water for about 10 minutes. The skins pop right off, they're thawed enough to dice without "smooshing" (very technical term, I know), and the finished product tastes the same.

Make our own tomato sauces. It seems silly to buy a jar of preservative-laden pizza sauce for $1 or more when I can buy a can of tomato sauce and add some basil, oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper. I love the way Nancy at Real Food Allergy Free does 5 jars of spaghetti sauce in 5 minutes for around $3.

Use tomato juice. I have a quick and easy recipe for tomato soup that simply thickens tomato juice with butter and  flour and a few other ingredients. I also use it as a base for a meatball dish I make.

Buy fresh salsa. When I can't make it fresh in my blender from our garden tomatoes, this is one of my monthly "splurges". I buy the large (I think 48 oz.) container of fresh tomato salsa at my warehouse club. If I were to break it down by can, it's probably actually cheaper, but we eat it twice as fast as regular cooked, jarred salsa; so there really isn't any savings to it! I use it in soups, taco salad and other Mexican dishes and as a dip for tortilla chips.

How do you eat tomatoes during the colder months?

Quick, Easy, Healthy: Lunchboxes

I don't often have to pack lunches for my kids since we home school.  Our lunches usually consist of leftovers or mac and cheese or cheesy rice with the occasional sandwich. However, sometimes we have to be out for the day and we do different things. If I were to pack a school lunch, here are some easy things I would try:

Read the rest of this post over at Healthy Moms Magazine.

Quick, Easy, Healthy: Try Something New

I finally did it...I tried "one of those weird health foods" and no it was not tofu! (Cue the shudders!) During my allergen-free experiment, I was allowed brown rice,  which we love, but I was soon ready for another carb.

Photo Credit

So, I got in the bulk bin at my favorite health food store and measured out a few cups of Peruvian quinoa. In case you're wondering, that is pronounced keen-wa. Or, if you are under 6 years old in my house: king-wah! with a karate imitation.

There are lots of delicious-looking recipes online, but I decided to just cook it as basic quinoa so we could really see what it tasted like. Couldn't be any easier:

1. Put 1 cup quinoa into a pan with 2 cups of water.
2. Bring to a boil and boil for 10 - 15 minutes.
3. Fluff with a fork, sprinkle on some sea salt and black pepper, and do your best karate imitation as you enjoy!

This post linked to:

Quick, Easy, Healthy: Desserts

Did you just do a double take? Can dessert be healthy? Yes. With a few disclaimers, of course. First of all, I don't believe that health is all about losing weight. I'd rather go for high nutrient than low fat, carb, etc. Just so you know where I'm coming from. Still, whether you are trying to lose weight or not, desserts should be treats not a regular part of every day. Or so I am learning...rather reluctantly.

My go-to dessert when I need something quick is Hot Fudge Pudding Cake. This is NOT low fat or even low sugar. It should not be eaten very often. I'm just saying....so you don't blame me for gaining 10 pounds on my recipe. ;-)

Hot Fudge Pudding Cake
1 1/4 c. sugar - divided
1 c. flour
7 T. cocoa, divided
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. milk
1/3 c. butter, melted
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
1 1/4 c. hot water (tap)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In bowl, sift together 3/4 c. sugar, flour, 3 T. cocoa, baking powder and salt. Stir in milk, butter and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Pour batter into ungreased 8 or 9 inch square baking pan. Stir together remaining 1/2 c. sugar, brown sugar and remaining 4 T. cocoa. Sprinkle mixture evenly over batter. Pour hot water over top. DO NOT STIR! Bake 35-40 minutes or until center is almost set. Let stand 15 minutes. Spoon into dishes, spooning sauce on bottom to top.

I mix this up before dinner and let it cook while we're eating dinner. It is best served with whipped cream or ice cream (homemade is best, but if you're going for quick, you might have to cheat on that).

O.K. that's quick and easy. How to make it a little healthier? Use a natural sugar (I like evaporated cane juice). It's still sugar which is not healthy, but it is at least not bleached and processed as much. Use whole grain flour in place of all-purpose. Make sure your vanilla and cocoa don't have sugar in them---this recipe has enough!

If chocolate isn't your thing, here's a way to make your apple crisp much healthier:
How to Healthify Apple Crisp

Quick, Easy, Healthy: Side Dishes

The best way to make sure a meal is quick, easy and healthy is to keep it simple. Many of you may think this is not a full meal, but our weekday meals are usually 1 protein (almost always meat), 1 starch, and 1 vegetable. I occasionally add bread or salad, depending on the meal. This makes things so easy because after I do the main dish, I usually just have to worry about a vegetable and one other side dish. Here are few quick favorites we enjoy:

Quick Carrots

 Roasted Asparagus

Cheddar Potato Strips

 Of course, there's the Oven Brown Rice I've already told you about. Baked Potatoes or Sweet Potatoes are good and quicker if you use the microwave. Sweet potatoes can even be substituted in the Cheddar Potato Strips recipe above, replacing the cheese and parsley with cinnamon.

What are your favorite quick side dishes?

Quick, Easy, Healthy: Kid Favorites Revisited

Is anyone else tired of restaurants assuming all children like is pizza, chicken nuggets, mac and cheese and cheeseburgers? O.K., maybe I'm alone on that one. (That's all right. I'm getting used to it.) I'm getting better at following recipes but still a novice at creating my own, so I'm going to point you to a few recipes that are healthier versions of the above "kid food". They also taste SO much better.

Instead of chicken nuggets, try this:
Garlic Lime Chicken (scroll down the page a little)
I promise, your kids will beg for this and they won't miss the breading at all! I use chicken strips to make it cook faster and sometimes just sprinkle the seasonings on instead of "dredging" and dirtying up additional dishes and counter space.

I told you about our main substitute for mac and cheese here, but if you want the real thing, this tastes awesome: (Hint: If your kids are used to the box with a K on it, add some orange food coloring. Unless of course, you like to see the real color of the food you eat.)
Creamy Mac and Cheese

There are many ways to do homemade pizza, but here is the fastest (and still pretty good!) I've come up with:
Homemade Pizza (in Less than 30 Minutes)
My adventurous little self actually made adaptations to this recipe. I poke the crust with a fork and pre-bake for 3 minutes before adding toppings, then I bake for 10 minutes at 500 degrees. For the sauce, I open an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce (1 per pizza), and stir into each can 1 tsp. each of garlic, oregano and basil as Anne recommends here. (I never seem to have the marjoram on hand, but I'm sure it's delicious, too!)

As for cheeseburgers, that's another one I usually hand to my husband because he makes delicious ones on the grill. We get grass-fed beef from a farmer each fall, so our beef is delicious (and cheaper, per pound, but this list isn't necessarily about frugal). Here are a few little tips to make our cheeseburgers restaurant-ish (but better!):

• Spread the inside of your hamburger buns with butter and grill before topping with burgers.
• Saute onions and mushrooms in butter until onions are transparent, spread bun with mayo and top with cheese and the onion mixture.
• Add a little Ranch dressing, cheddar cheese and bacon. (To keep this healthy, make your own dressing, get real cheddar cheese and nitrate-free bacon or turkey bacon if you like it.) 

Hint: If you have to unwrap your cheese from individual plastic, it's not really cheese.
Hint #2: If there is bacon in the house, I usually count it as the 20% unhealthy (see below) and let it go.

Yes, I am aware that I left hot dogs off of the list of generally-accepted-as-kid-foods in restaurants. I'm not sure that these qualify as food, but if you get unprocessed beef ones from a farmer, I guess they would qualify as healthy. I'm just a little wary of unknown animal parts in my food, but that's probably just me.

By now, you probably think I'm a total food snob. Not really. My kids go to restaurants and order off the kids' menu occasionally, and I don't say anything (except maybe gasping when I have to pay $5 for 1/4 of a box of mac and cheese). We eat at friends' and family's houses and campfires and picnics and I don't say anything. However, as a general rule, I try to keep our house 80% healthy, and hope that someday my kids are 100% thankful.

Quick, Easy, Healthy: Breads

When I was growing up, a meal was never complete without some kind of bread. I've since learned that we consume way too many carbs, but it is still nice to know how to make bread for my family at least as an occasional treat. Homemade bread does not seem to fit into quick, easy or healthy; but here are a few recipes to try if you've been intimidated by bread as I once was:

If you have 3 hours and a bread machine:
Amish White Bread
Quick because your hands-on time is less than 30 minutes. Easy because all you have to do is put ingredients in the bread pan. Healthy because you can use whole wheat flour and cut out that long list of unpronounceables on the label of store-bought bread.

If you have an hour (or less):
40 Minute Rolls

If you have 20 minutes:
Fluffy Biscuit Muffins
Sweet Cornbread Muffins

Note: I love sourdough bread and tried it once, but I found that feeding anything other than myself, a husband and four kids is a bit too much at this point in my life.

Quick, Easy, Healthy: Italian Chicken

One way to cut down on time in the kitchen for me is to have my husband cook dinner on the grill. It's O.K. -- he likes cooking on the grill, and I don't ask him to do it every night. For those nights, when fancy planning is out of the question, here's a go to grill recipe. Although all of them are easy, I'll put them in categories of good, better and best.

GOOD (Quickest and Somewhat Healthy):
Buy a bag of chicken tenderloins and a bottle of Italian salad dressing (please no HFCS or MSG!). Dump the dressing on the chicken the night before or for a few hours before grilling. Hand the bag to your husband and have him grill them.

BETTER (Quick and Healthier):
Buy some free-range chicken breasts (Preferably ones that were previously free-range. If they are still "ranging", this recipe probably won't qualify as quick.) and some healthy, bottled Italian dressing. Prepare the same way as the GOOD option above.

BEST (Still pretty Quick and Healthiest):
Use your free-range, antibiotic-free (etc.) chicken breasts and make this Italian dressing. Prepare the same way as the GOOD option above.

Disclaimer: This recipe was tested in my kitchen on our grill which wasn't quite presentable enough to include a photo of. The amount of servings depends on how hungry my kids are and the preparation time depends on the number of diaper blowouts, sibling spats and rescue-the-baby-from-consuming-refrigerator-magnets drills.

Quick, Easy, Healthy: Cheesy Rice

My kids love this recipe. It's our staple in place of macaroni and cheese. Unfortunately, unless it's in a box that has a K on it, my kids won't eat macaroni and cheese. I can't remember the last box I bought. If we have a craving for cheese and carbs at lunch time, this is what goes on the table.

Provided the rice is leftover rice from dinner or we have another box that comes from Uncle somebody, this qualifies as quick.

If you like "rice and beans" as made famous by a financial guru whose initials are D.R., then this will be just down your alley (you could even add frugal to that wonderful list of adjectives in the title!).

Anyway....

Cheesy Rice

What You Need:
Leftover brown rice (or quickly cook some of the pre-boiled stuff from a box, just make sure it's not white rice, please!)
Shredded cheese (any kind, any amount you like)
Salsa
Beans (optional)
Salt, pepper and spices to taste

What You Do:
Put rice into individual bowls. Let kids top it how they want. Microwave each bowl for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Stir together and enjoy!

Disclaimer: This recipe was tested in my kitchen which wasn't quite presentable enough to include a photo of. The amount of servings depends on how hungry my kids are and the preparation time depends on the number of diaper blowouts, sibling spats and rescue-the-baby-from-consuming-refrigerator-magnets drills.

Quick, Easy, Healthy: Lazy Mom's Frittata

Doesn't the name frittata sound like something to slave over for a good portion of a morning? Well, it did to me for many years. The first frittata recipe I tried was fairly easy, but way too time-consuming for my taste. Until I forgot to stir my scrambled eggs one morning....and I got an idea. Which stuck and is still a staple breakfast for us usually once a week.

Photo Credit

All you need:
6 eggs (adjust to how many you're serving--see disclaimer below)
shredded cheese
chopped onion (optional)
other chopped veggies (optional)
1-2 T. butter
salt and pepper, to taste 
cast iron skillet with lid (essential, for me....may be optional for you)



1. Melt butter in skillet.
2. Beat eggs, salt and pepper in a bowl as you would for scrambled eggs.
3. Pour beaten eggs into skillet when butter is completely melted.
4. Gently loosen edges from side of pan with a spatula as they set.
5. When top is almost set, sprinkle with veggies and cheese and remove from heat.
6. Top with a lid for a few moments to melt cheese.
7. Cut into wedges with a pizza cutter and serve them plain or with a spoonful of salsa.

Disclaimer: This recipe was tested in my kitchen which wasn't quite presentable enough to include a photo of. The amount of servings depends on how hungry my kids are and the preparation time depends on the number of diaper blowouts, sibling spats and rescue-the-baby-from-consuming-refrigerator-magnets drills.

Quick, Easy, and Healthy

As a busy mom that came late to the enjoyment of cooking and even later to my obsession with interest in whole foods, I've adopted three kitchen criteria that I use roughly 90% of the time: Quick, Easy, and Healthy. If a recipe doesn't fit these three categories, it rarely gets on the table at our house.

Generally, this means it has an active preparation time of a half hour or less (this usually stretches to more for me because of all the interruptions---which is all the more reason to make it a quick recipe), has fewer than 10 (and ideally closer to 5) ingredients and is mostly--if not all--real food ingredients. I gave you one of my recipes here so you can get an idea of what I mean.

This summer, I'll share a few of our family favorites and some ways I keep them within my three criteria while also maintaining a reasonable food budget and making food my family loves.

If you have any of your own meals to share, please e-mail them to me. I would love to see them and maybe I'll post a few here--with credit to you, of course.