Category Archives: Super Easy to Make

August 24, 2012 · 6:53 pm

Dinner in a Hurry, Part 1

School is right around the corner for us which means the pace of life is going to pick up. School all day, then violin or soccer or tae kwon do, birthday parties, homework and on and on and on. One thing that is super important to us is that we all sit down together to have dinner. It doesn’t happen every single day of the year, but most days we make it happen. Sometimes that means we don’t eat until late…like really late…but at least we’re eating together.

One of my time-saving tricks on these nights is to have the kids shower while I am making dinner and they just eat dinner in their pajamas…that way we’re getting two things done at once and they’re all dressed for bed before dinner even begins.

Another timesaver is making sure that everyone is helping out. Someone can get out the plates while someone else gets the silverware out. Someone can get the drinks ready while someone else gets out the napkins…divide and conquer.

I have gathered a lot of super quick recipes to share with you, but instead of giving them out all at once, I thought I would start us off with a sampling and give you some new ones as the year progresses. That way you’ll have some new ideas under your belt throughout the year without having to try and remember all of these recipes from all the way back in August when you’re trying to find a quick dinner in February.

First of all, we have a couple of “go to” quick dinners at our house. No recipe necessary, but I thought I would put them on this list anyways.

1. Breakfast for dinner: Eggs, bacon/sausage, some fruit and maybe some toast

2. Pasta: pasta with some salad on the side…super fast. We usually have some fruit with it too.

3. Hamburgers: we usually have hamburgers with chips (we LOVE Kettle chips) and some fresh fruit

The rest of the dinners on this post are Crock Pot/slow cooker dinners:
4. Tacos are a super duper fast dinner. We keep ours pretty simple with some taco meat, salsa, cheese and these refried beans.

5. Our kids love this CrockPot Lasagna. Serve it with some salad and some fruit and call it a meal.

6. CrockPot BBQ Brisket Sandwiches: serve these with some fruit and this make ahead cole slaw and dinner will be ready when you walk in the door.

7. CrockPot Ravioli Lasagna with some fruit and a salad and…voila…dinner.

8. Slow Roasted Crock Pot Chicken…this cooks the chicken and the veggies all at the same time. Serve with some bread and butter and dinner is done.

9. West Caribbean Crock Pot Chicken…this might be a little too adventurous for the eaters as your house. It’s really, really good though.

10. This recipe for CrockPot Hawaiian Pulled Pork is seriously one of my favorite recipes on this whole blog. Have it with some Kettle chips and some pineapple…so good! Seriously.

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Super Easy to Make

July 19, 2012 · 2:37 pm

Hummus, Avocado and Tomato Sandwich

Last summer, this heirloom tomato sandwich was my go to lunch. This week I discovered this sandwich. Since we don’t have any tomatoes from our garden yet, I had to buy one. (Which absolutely kills me, by the way. I have five tomato plants with green tomatoes on them. I need it to get warmer around here so the tomatoes will actually ripen!) Anyways, this is a tasty sandwich and great if it’s too hot to turn on the oven.

Ingredients:
2 slices of bread {toasted or not, whichever you’d like}
Hummus [store bought or homemade]
1 small avocado – halved, pitted, peeled and smashed
1 tomato, sliced
salt + pepper to taste

Instructions:
Spread hummus on a slice of bread. Add smashed avocado and sliced tomatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

What did the family think? I am the only one eating this yummy creation. It’s been my go to lunch this week.

Where did this recipe come from? Adapted from Eat, Live, Run

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Sandwich, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

July 3, 2012 · 3:38 pm

Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothies and Popsicles

I have been following Catherine Newman ever since I read her book Waiting for Birdy. (If you are a parent with little people at home you will LOVE this book. Trust me.) So even though we may not have super little people in our house anymore, I am still stalking following her because of her fantastic recipes. It’s been a while since I have made something from her blog, but this makes up for the wait. These are SOOOOO good! We made them into smoothies and popsicles and they were FANTASTIC both ways! I bet you could make them with blueberries, too.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sliced fresh or frozen strawberries
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt (or plain or strawberry yogurt…we used plain Greek)
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup milk
3 ice cubes
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 T Agave syrup or another sweetener, to taste (we made some with and some without…some of us liked it better with the agave syrup and some of us liked it better without)

Instructions:
Put everything in a blender and mix until well blended.

What did the family think? Love, love and more love!

Where did this recipe come from? Ben and Birdy

photo courtesy of the resident 3rd grader

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Filed under After School Snacks, Beverages, Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

June 28, 2012 · 9:53 am

Hard-Baked Eggs

You have certainly made hard-boiled eggs before, but have you ever made hard-baked eggs? Does it matter if they are baked or boiled? Some benefits of baking them are: you can bake them while you are cooking something else in the oven so it saves energy, they are easier to peel when they have been baked and the yolks don’t come out gray like they do when they are hard-boiled. This has been all over Pinterest, so I had to try it.

Ingredients:
Whole Eggs
Muffin Tin

Instructions:
If you are baking them by themselves: place eggs in muffin tin and bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes.

If you are baking them with something else: place eggs in muffin tin and bake on top rack at 350 degrees.

Let cool and peel.

photo from Alaska from Scratch

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Filed under After School Snacks, Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Lent, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

June 7, 2012 · 9:23 am

Snack Ideas: The Kids Are Home for the Summer and They’re Hungry

Snacks are an essential part of summer. The days can be long and the kids get hungry. They need a little extra fuel to get them through all of that swimming, baseball playing and sprinkler jumping. Hopefully this list of (mostly) easy and (mostly) healthy snacks will keep their bellies full until mealtime…or at least until they ask for another snack. 🙂

*Apple slices dipped in peanut butter
*Apple slices dipped in Nutella
*Fresh fruit (keep some already prepped and ready to go on the kitchen counter or in the frig)
*Carrots sticks, pepper strips, celery sticks for crunching, munching and dipping
*Edamame
*Hummus with pita chips (we love Trader Joe’s hummus)
*Dried fruit (raisins, dried cranberries, dried apricots, dried bananas, etc.)
*GORP
*Yogurt
*Frozen yogurt tubes
*Yogurt and granola parfait
*Peanut butter and cracker sandwiches
*Cheese cubes or string cheese
*Chips and salsa
*Chips and guacamole
*Crackers and cheese
*Hard-boiled egg
*No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Granola Balls
*Applesauce
*Smoothies
*Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
*Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies
*Mini Chocolate Chip or Blueberry Muffins
*Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Dip
*Graham Cracker sticks (dip in yogurt or softened cream cheese for extra yumminess)
*Zucchini Bread
*Fruity Peanut Butter Sushi
*Chocolate Chip Cookie Pretzel Bars
*Strawberry Nutella Muffins
*Popcorn
*Mini Waffle Ice Cream Sandwiches
*Sunshine Cupcakes
*Blueberry Lemon Cream Cheese Muffins (These are a little bit of work, but they are SO good!)
*Graham Cracker Sandwiches
*Banana Bread
*Peanut Butter Krispies
*Pretzel sticks to dip in peanut butter
*Vanilla yogurt and fresh fruit parfait (strawberries, blueberries and bananas work well)
*Fruit leathers

Please share your ideas with the rest of us…we’d love to hear them!

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Filed under After School Snacks, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

May 22, 2012 · 8:44 am

Goose Eggs for Breakfast

Several weeks ago on MommaCooks’ Facebook page I had mentioned some new foods I had tried lately and some that I wanted to try, like lychee fruit, which I still haven’t tried yet. Well, we have some neighbors down the street who raise chickens, geese and some dairy goats. When we walked down to their house last night to pick up some chicken eggs they had one goose egg for sale. The boys were so excited, so we picked up one goose egg to go along with our chicken eggs.

Trying a goose egg was not on my list of new foods to try, it wasn’t even on my radar, but that’s what we had for breakfast this morning…scrambled goose egg. Since we only had one goose egg, we mixed in a few chicken eggs as well. What was the verdict? We all decided the goose egg did taste a little different than chicken eggs and that the eggs turned out more yellow because the yolk is a lot bigger. Everyone gave it a thumbs up!

Goose egg on the left and chicken egg on the right.

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Filed under Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Everybody Ate It, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

May 14, 2012 · 10:38 am

Quick Summer Veggie Salad

I know this isn’t technically a recipe, but I thought I would pass along this idea. I also realize this dish isn’t revolutionary, but let me start from the beginning. I was at the grocery store and wanted a cool summery salad-type dish to go along with our hamburgers for dinner. I went to the deli and got some cold tortellini and veggie salad. The employee handed me the container and I looked at the label. Holy smokes! The ingredient list was a mile long. I handed it back to her and kindly told her I had changed my mind, but I still didn’t have a salad. I headed back to the produce aisle and had a lightbulb moment. I grabbed a package of pre-chopped cauliflower and broccoli and a bottle of gorgonzola and pear salad dressing.

Directions:
Rinse veggies and place in a mixing bowl. Add about 1 1/2 cups of the dressing of your choice to the veggies. Toss and serve or toss and let them marinate for a while before serving. Keep refrigerated until ready to be served.

See, I told you it wasn’t life changing, but it was quick and cool. It was just what we needed to go with our hamburgers and the ingredient list was pretty straight forward.

What did the family think? Hubby and I really liked it. I thought I might be able to get our oldest to eat it, but he looked at my while I was eating some cauliflower and said, “I don’t know how you eat that stuff.” Oh well. Heavy sigh. Someday maybe?

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Side Dish, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

May 11, 2012 · 4:52 pm

Baked Asparagus with Parmesan Cheese

My kids get so tired of eating salad, but quite frankly, that’s just about the only veggie that they can both agree on. I decided to take a walk on the wild side last night though and make this yummy asparagus dish.

Ingredients:
1 pound asparagus, trimmed
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1 ½ tablespoons bread crumbs

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450° F.

In a medium baking dish or on a cookie sheet, toss asparagus with the oil and arrange in an even layer.

Sprinkle with the Parmesan and bread crumbs.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until asparagus is tender.

What did the family think? 3 out of 4 isn’t bad, right?

Where did this recipe come from? I got it from Holiday Food Safety and they got it from the Produce for Better Health Foundation

photo from Confessions of a Chocoholic

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Side Dish, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

April 24, 2012 · 9:02 am

Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie

I love trying new smoothie recipes, so when I saw this one over at The Gracious Pantry, I knew I had to try it. I love it because it has a fruit, a veggie, protein and dairy.

Ingredients:
1 cup unsweetened almond milk (I used unsweetened soy milk)
1 cup spinach
1 banana
1 T peanut butter, no sugar added
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions:
Blend together and enjoy.

What did the family think? I am the only one who’s had this, but I will tell you it’s very yummy. If you’re afraid of it tasting too spinachy, don’t worry. All you taste is the peanut butter and banana.

Where did this recipe come from? The Gracious Pantry

photo from Urban Chickpea

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Filed under After School Snacks, Beverages, Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

April 20, 2012 · 9:10 am

CrockPot Thai Chicken Thighs

We love Thai food in our house. Hubby likes it for the heat and the boys like it because it often involves peanuts or peanut butter.

Ingredients:

4-6 chicken thighs bone in or out (take off skin)
1 16 oz jar salsa (no beans or corn in it, medium)
1/3 cup natural creamy peanut butter
1 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
2 T fresh lime juice
1 1/2 T soy sauce
Crushed peanuts, garnish

Instructions:
Mix all ingredients together and pour over chicken in CrockPot.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-6 hours.

Serve over rice and sprinkle with crushed peanuts.

What did the family think? Hubby and I liked it. I am not a huge fan of chicken from the CrockPot, but this was good. I would have liked it better if it had been a little spicier. Next time I might add some Rooster sauce or chili peppers to kick up the notch a little or maybe use spicier salsa.

Where did this recipe come from? I got it from Crockin’ Girls’ Facebook page.

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Filed under Chicken, Make Ahead of Time, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make