Posts Tagged ‘quick meals’

Busy Days Call for Quick Meals

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

My Busy Kitchen In my life, the busyness never seems to end. With seven children ranging in age from 20 to 2 and school grades from college to K, I need a really great resource for quick, delicious and healthy recipes. I’m not alone in the hectic day-to-day goings on of life. Whether you have a family or not, chances are you find yourself too tired at the end of the day to want to cook at all. Too often we head for pre-packaged or take-out meals and suffer the consequences of such a diet by being even more tired and a vicious cycle begins. Enter Half Hour Meals!

Each recipe posted here is designed to be quick to make and delicious to boot. Check out the recipe categories for everything from Gluten-Free, Healthy, Cooking with Kids and, my personal favorite, Meals on a Budget.

Of course, after 20 years of parenting and 4 years of blogging, I’ve got quite a few quick meal ideas that fall into the budget category and plan on sharing all I can. I look forward to exchanging recipes and getting to know all of you and I hope that Half Hour Meals with become your go-to resource for quick, delicious meals!

Food Snobs

Monday, July 28th, 2008

Don’t let the “food snobs” make you feel bad about taking an occasional shortcut in getting a meal on your family’s table. I have a very dear friend who is an excellent cook, in fact he is better than most and we consider ourselves evenly matched in the kitchen. However, I recently found out that he is a “food snob”. One day we were talking about food as we frequently do, and I happened to mention Bisquick. He was horrified that I would even have it in my house let alone consider actually cooking with it! I realize it may not be one of the best things for me or my family, but in a pinch, I would rather use Bisquick to put an ‘”Impossible Chicken Pie” on the table for dinner rather than grab a burger from the McDriveThru! 

     My friend is not the only food snob by a long shot. The internet is full of blogs and forums that say some pretty nasty stuff about people like Rachel Ray and Sandra Lee, but you know what? I think those ladies have a better idea of how busy people cook in the real world than most of the people who verbally slam them! There are lots of ways to get a meal on the table and I don’t believe there is any one right way. Do what works best for you and don’t let anyone make you feel badly about it! The next time a food snob tries to make you feel bad, just remember that while they are sweating in the kitchen over their homemade Bechamel sauce, you are relaxing because DINNER IS DONE!

Supermarket Shortcuts- From the Freezer Part 2

Sunday, July 27th, 2008

Here are some more of my favorite shortcuts from the freezer aisle of the supermarket:

Jimmy Dean Breakfast Scrambles- When you’re in the mood for “breakfast supper” these are a super fast and easy meal. All you have to do is add fresh egg and in 10 minutes you’re done! They come with the meat already in them, and I found there was plenty of it and it did not taste like rubber. We like the sausage best, but the bacon was also very good. I often make these for breakfast when we have had overnight company. With fresh fruit and toast, muffins or biscuits, they make an easy and satisfying breakfast.

Frozen Stir-Fry Veggies- Add your own beef or chicken and a bottle of teriyaki sauce or a package of stir-fry seasoning and you have dinner in about 15 minutes. Serve over Minute rice, or my new favorite, Ready Rice by Uncle Ben’s that you microwave for 90 seconds.

Frozen Cakes, Pies and Cream Puffs- These are great for emergency desserts when you get last-minute company and have no time to bake. I love the Pepperidge Farm cakes because they taste fresh and they are just the right size (no too big, not too small). I am not a huge fan of bake-and-serve pies because most of them aren’t as good as my homemade, but I do love the lemon meringue pies from Edwards (their pecan pies are also very good). Frozen cream puffs are also great because all you have to do is set them out to thaw on a serving plate an hour or so before dinner, drizzle some jarred fudge sauce over them and serve (for a really elegant look, scatter some fresh berries around them too). Yum!!