I am all for multitasking in the kitchen, which means being smart with both my time and ingredients. I often bake muffins or snacks for lunch boxes, while making a double batch of a chili, soup or casserole. The second batch ends up in the freezer to make on a future busy or stressful day! These days, I love being in the kitchen as the cold weather bears on and I find myself … [Read more...]
Freezer Friendly Black Bean Tamale Pie
A Mexican New Year's food tradition is tamales. These are made of corn flour and are wrapped and steamed in a corn husk. They are very pretty and have a wide variety of flavors that can take you from breakfast to dinner. I enjoy tamales as long as someone else makes them. They take up a lot of space to store and cook, are challenging to reheat in large quantities, and … [Read more...]
Dilled Tomato Sauce over Rice & White Beans
How does your family feel about tomato sauce? I mean, we all know pasta is the greatest thing since sliced bread. But the love of the sauce is important here. Because this recipe is a Mediterranean twist on tomato sauce and is served over rice. A couple of tricks to make this recipe super easy for you: If your family isn't particularly fond of the tough skin on grape … [Read more...]
Slow Cooker Split Peas and Brown Rice
Could this possibly be easier or more yummy? Three ingredients in your slow cooker means a hearty, warm, freezer-friendly dinner can be ready with only 5 minutes of effort. My family boycotts the kitchen when we run out of a few items. Bananas are one. And split peas are another. I'm glad something so popular is easy to make and freezes well. Unlike other legumes and … [Read more...]
Rice Cooker Hearty Tomato Soup
What's this about a rice cooker? Turns out, it works a bit like a slow cooker. Only a little faster. It uses less energy than cooking on a stove. And, for me, seems to make less of a mess. Try it sometime. Like with this soup. Tomato soup and grilled cheese are about as American as apple pie, right? And tomato soup seems like one of the standard things to come in to from … [Read more...]
The $5 Dinner Mom’s Ultimate Freezer Cooking Guide
Freezer Cooking...it saves the day for me so often. More times than I can count in the recent past. It's a sanity saver, a life saver and a huge money saver! It really is amazing how you can invest a little time upfront and then reap the rewards for weeks to come! Over time, I've found myself answering the same questions about freezer cooking over and over...in a blog … [Read more...]
Freezer Friendly Slow Cooker Lentil Recipes
Here's how this time of year goes: You're so busy doing the fun stuff, you'd prefer dinner to cook itself. But then, you remember all the treats you have been snacking on at work or all the icing you and the kids ingested making cookies or the thousands of calories you inhaled at the Thanksgiving table, and your stomach doesn't feel like eating at all. Sound … [Read more...]
Pollo Asado with Rice & Beans
Can you forgive me? This happens to me every year and I adjusted my camera settings as best I could...but the silly time change doesn't only mess with your infant and toddler (who am I kidding, everyone's) sleep schedule. It messes with my work flow and having good light in the late afternoons. Now, there is no light in the late afternoons...so I ended up with this shot of … [Read more...]
King Ranch Chicken Enchiladas
So I've been wanting to make this for a very long time. But haven't had an occasion to because we don't consume much dairy because of allergies/intolerances among family members. When I learned that my friend needed a meal, this came up top of mind and boom, here it is. I have enjoyed many a King Ranch Chicken Spaghetti meal...but wanted to put 2 new spins on … [Read more...]
Moroccan Beef Stew
It's time to kick the flavor up a couple notches in your next stew. This is a really interesting stew with a whole lot going on in the flavor department. You have the beef with the chickpeas...that soak up the cumin and cinnamon flavors. Then there's the sweetness from the golden raisins and the salt-y zip from the kalamata olives. This stew is seriously a party on your … [Read more...]