Easy Family Recipes

Everyday Food is the best - totally saved my life. I recommend a subscription. They list the nutrition and prep time for every meal. They also include shopping strategies to get a whole week, lunches and snacks included in one trip. It's a great way to eat well and be organized. They also have crock pot and freeze ahead recipes.

Link to the show:
http://www.pbs.org/everydayfood/

And the magazine:
http://www.marthastewart.com/everyday

I recomend looking at the cooking light websight: www.cookinglight.com They have a section where you can find good and healthy meals to make in about 20 min. This is where I get all of my ideas from and I have loved pretty much all of them. Plus I have piece of mind knowing that I am cooking my family healthy meals. They also have a magazine if you're a magazine reader. Hope that helps

We do a ton of grilling. I grill chicken, (chicken legs are great for young kids) just spice with a little salt and pepper. Do a double or triple amount and freeze the extra. One night serve the chicken with BBQ sauce, a veggie and a fresh fruit salad.
Another Night serve it with rice and a veggie.

When pork chops are on sale, purchase a large quantity. Grill them and freeze. Season it with a little garlic salt and pepper. This is good with spinach noodles and a little butter, a veggie or a salad. Also good served with baked potatoes. Let the kids top their own little baked potatoes. We like sesame seeds, lemon juice and sometimes avocado. Sometimes we do sweet potatoes instead of the russet.

Sausages grilled freeze great. They can just be microwaved and then serve with noodles and a veggie or Tortilla wraps with a big salad.

A 2 or 3lb roast in a slow cooker (purchase the slow cooker liners for easy clean up). Just follow the recipe on the box. So easy and smells great when you get home.
Remember to cut up the roast into small pieces and that you will need to brown it before you place it in the crock pot. I purchase a couple or roasts when they are on sale. I cut them up and lightly brown them, I then freeze them so that when I am going to do a crockpot roast, I can just thaw what I need the night before and on the morning I am going to cook it, I can just dump it into the pot.

Purchase large quantities of ground beef or turkey. Spice it like taco meat. Freeze the extra. You can use this for crispy tacos one night. You can make heavy nachos (purchase the freeze dried beans in the canned bean section). Add lettace, cheese, tomatoes, avocados, corn. You can use it as a base for chili.

To make shredded Cuban pork sandwiches...I also purchase large pork roasts when they are on sale. I cut them up and lightly brown them. In a crock pot, slice up a large onion, shred 3 large carrots, and crush 2 garlic pods. Place this in the bottom of the crock pot. Place 2 lbs of the lightly browned salt and peppered, pork roast in the pot, pour 1/2 cup water. cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Drain out the liquid and add BBQ sauce, shred the pork with 2 forks and let simmer 30 minutes. Serve on kaiser rolls or Hamburger buns serve with oven fries (you can mix sweet potatoes with the russet potatoes.

Picky eaters need to be taught to be "Brave Tasters". Encourage the young one to eat 3 bites of food and not spit it out. Also no ugly faces or ugly comments. For each successful brave taste he can be given a sticker. When he reaches an agreed amount, he can be allowed to suggest a meal for the family for another night.

Do not make special foods for him. In our family, if you do not want what is for dinner, you are allowed to make yourself a bowl of cereal (non sugar)and nobody makes a big deal or makes a comment.

I have a friend who was a professional chef and I helped him set up a blog http://clemcooks.blogspot.com/. He is the KING of crockpot recipes. I'm sure you can find some great recipes on his blog.

R.
www.computerwomen.com

I do lots of crock pot and easy recipes. A lot of times, I cook dishes overnight. This way if they need to cook longer I can leave it on while I go to work. The recipes I find which need to cook longer are red beans and pork stew. Also, I have a Kenmore 8 qt slow cooker. It has a timer so it will cut itself off after a certain time. Also, it has a keep warm setting. I find that it cooks slower than my Crock Pot 4 qt.

Chicken and cream of mushroom recipe
Put chicken (white or dark, boneless or bone)and 2 or 3 cans of cream of mushroom or cream of chicken in crock pot.
Cook on low for about 8 hours.
Serve over rice or vegetables or when you get home through in a bag of thawed veggies for extra vitamins. I say thawed b/c if they are frozen it makes it very watery.

Red Beans and Rice
http://myweb.cableone.net/howle/page/REDBEAN.HTM
Throw all ingredients in slow cooker. No saute.
Cook overnight on low. This might need to cook longer. It is hard to overcook this recipe.

Pork Stew
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1812,135189-244194,00.html
Only thing you really need to do is quickly brown the meat for about 5 to 10 min. Browning does not mean to cook all the way thru. Just get it brown on the outside. The slow cooker will do the rest.
Cook overnight on low. This might need to cook longer. It is hard to overcook this recipe. You will know when it is done when the meat and veggies break apart.

Any soups or chili recipes can be done in a slow cooker.

Also, I am on the Campbell Soup recipe email group. I get a recipe once a week. These are quick, usually one dish, and healthy and low fat. http://www.campbellkitchen.com/

A.-
I've found that I can easily do a lot of things with pre-boiled and shredded chicken breast. I suppose you could do the same things with the rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, but I use the chicken broth in recipes as well, so it makes sense for me to boil. I just boil the chicken breast in water with celery, carrots, and onion and a little salt and pepper. I have found that with an herb ball, I don't have to strain out the veggies. (Like a large tea ball, available at kitchen stores or HEB.) Anyway, use the cheap stuff, not the boneless/skinless chicken breast, and basically boil until it starts to fall off the bone. After it cools, shred the meat into a bowl, and freeze in 1 cup portions in baggies in the freezer. I freeze the broth in one cup portions in baggies, too - lay them flat while they freeze, and later you can just stack them out of the way. Here's what I do with this stuff:

Four cups of chicken broth, a little water, and 2 cups of shredded chicken, plus noodles, rice and some frozen or canned veggies if you want em makes a homemade soup - just dump it all in a pot and let it simmer.

One cup of chicken, a little chopped sausage (or a bag of frozen salad shrimp), and a boxed jambalaya mix makes a spicy addition to your repetoire.

Two cups of frozen chicken in a sauce pan + a half jar of barbecue sauce (and a little water), hamburger buns and shredded cheese = barbecue chicken sandwiches. I suppose you could also do this one with sloppy joe sauce, but I know for a fact that teryaki doesn't work - the shredded chicken soaks up too much salt from the teryaki. Cook time is about ten minutes - you're just waiting for the chicken to get warm. Or if you have more time, put the chicken and bbq sauce in the crock pot, it takes about 45 min this way. Bonus: you can do this in large portions for a superbowl party or whatever.

Two cups of frozen chicken, 3/4 cup of rice, 1 1/3 cup of water, 1/2 tsp of onion or garlic powder, a little black pepper, and one can of cream of something soup (chicken, mushroom, and celery are all good), all just tossed together in a casserole dish. (It looks messy, but it's pretty good when it all comes out.) Cover and bake 45 min at 375 degrees. Uncover, add shredded cheddar, bake until cheese melts (about 5 min). You can do this with whole raw chicken breast, too: boneless/skinless, and completely thawed. Same cook time. With the chicken breast, since it has to be thawed anyway, I've made it up hours ahead of time and just put the whole casserole dish in the fridge til I was ready to cook.

All of this stuff, you can just toss in the oven or a saucepan when you get home. Homemade meals that practically cook themselves with very little attention paid.

BTW, the frozen broth is also good to cook rice in instead of water for a little more flavor. I also use it in the place of added water when I make homemade spaghetti sauce, but that is very time intensive, so DH considers himself lucky when he gets it. It freezes well, though.

I totally understand where you are coming from! As an elementary teacher with a 8 and 11 I was there too until I learned about Homemade Gourmet. It is a company that specializes in fast meals that are basic, so kids like them. I am a consultant and you are welcome to visit my website at www.easytopreparemeals.com, or we can get together in person and I will be glad to help you with some ideas. I also do freezer parties at my home once a month to help with the dinner time issues. Let me know if I can help!

K. Sharp

I love my crockpot. There are a few crockpot recipe books. I bought one so far but haven't used it. I usually do roast or some sort of soup/stew in the crockpot. I bought the large one that will cook up to 10 hours because I also work full time then it homework and whatever else so dinner sometimes gets thrown together. For our family of 3 plus one on the way the large one is great because we usually have left overs for lunch the next day. It will probably be just enough for dinner for your family.
Oh and I recently found the greatest invention. Not exciting but makes for very little clean up. HEB now has slow cooker liners. I believe there are 4 in a box for $1.99. I've used 3 times now and does not change the flavor of the food and doesn't melt or anything like that.
Also Lasagna always freezes nicely. I have put a lasagna together on the weekend. Thawed the day before I want to cook then when I get home I'll toss in the oven and it takes about an hour to cook. Use the oven ready lasagna noodles for that. I have tons more if your interested but thought I would wait because you may get a lot. I like to experiment with food or dinner and usually come up with or come across great recipes that are fast and easy.

Hi A.
I raised my 4 girls and have worked a full day at the office for over 20 years now and, nothing beats coming home to a home cooked crock pot stew on a cold day. Some of the other ladies have already made some great suggestions. Here is what I do: Plan ahead. I plan my menus on Friday or Saturday and shop for the ingredients. This will save you money. Then I chop and bag vegetables like onion, carrot, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, pepper and store them in the cold bins. This is an easy way to store food and it saves space in the refrigerator. You can also use the green storage bags – which extend the life of the fresh veggies. I cook at least one extra meal on Sunday. Remember left over’s or reheated food is fast and easy on Monday or Tuesday. So make two meat loaves and freeze one or make extra spaghetti sauce and freeze half. I have a chicken one pot meal that reheats well. (it doesn’t work in the crock pot though) Boneless skinless Chicken breasts chopped, 1 onion chopped, olive oil, 2 zucchini chopped, 1 large can of diced tomatoes, 1 cup of rice, 2 small cans of chicken stock, water, salt, oregano and garlic. This is so easy and makes great leftovers: In a soup pot on the stove, sauté the chicken cubes in the olive oil until it is no longer pink (5 mins?) and onion and continue to cook until the onion is transparent (8 mins?). Add the Zucchini, the chicken stock, tomatoes and rice. Season with oregano and salt. Bring this up to a boil and simmer until the rice is done (30?). Do not overcook the zucchini it gets mushy. Great with garlic bread. Here is a beef stew that is very good in the crock pot. 1 1/2lbs stew meat, 1 celery stalk sliced, 1 onion chopped, some fresh parsley, sprinkle of Thyme and garlic powder, 5 potatoes quartered, 6 carrots thick sliced, 1 can beef broth salt and pepper to taste. I sear the meat with the onion and celery the night before and put it into a plastic container and then assemble it all in the morning. I usually have kitchen storage bags full of pealed cut carrots (and other veggies). You cannot prepare the potatoes too far in advance or they spoil – I usually peal and cube them as needed. BUT if you really want to improve your diet then add more RAW fruits and vegetables to your diet in the form of salads. You can pre cook chicken or beef and slice and bag and use them later in a salad. I buy a large quantity of mixed greens. Wash/dry the greens and put them in a container. Chop/slice and bag: carrots, radishes, celery, cucumbers, green or red peppers, onion, broccoli and cauliflower to add to the salad. Have the following on the pantry shelf: canned olives, kidney beans and garbanzo beans (extra protein and they add texture and color). You can assemble the type of salad your family likes. Let the kids help. Sliced steak, vegetables and greens with vinegar and oil one of my favorites. Sliced Chicken, carrots, onion, avocado, black olives and ranch dressing is a good one. You can totally change a salad by dropping the meat and add fruit, nuts or cheese. Add bread or muffins. Get creative - L.

I have become a fan of McCormick Grillmates. You usually just add water, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar, mix it up and add the meat. I do that in the morning and then broil it in the evening for 20-30 minutes. So simple and so easy. My family really likes the tomato basil one (can't recall the exact name), but they offer several flavor choices. At least once a month (sometimes twice) I also make a Stouffer's frozen lasagna (we like the chicken or veggie ones). It takes close to two hours, but you can start it as soon as you get home and then not have to do much else. I usually just serve that one with a salad.

Never let the sun set on an empty Crock Pot!

This is a family favorite we like to call stoup(like a mix between stew and soup) I start with browned ground turkey(you could also use beef if you wanted) then I throw that into the pot with two cans of minestrone soup, one can of black beans(my mom uses northern beans instead), one can of kidney beans, one can of tomato paste,and one can of stewed tomatoes. My mom also adds a can of corn and a can of mushrooms but my family tends to pick that stuff out so I don't include it. You could also get rotell tomatoes instead of the stewed ones if you wanted to make it spicier but I don't because of my picky eaters. Just let it sit in the pot on low all day and then when you serve it you can add shredded cheese or sour cream if you want but its good just on its own. You can really play with this one. I've never had a bad version yet!

I also make Corn beef and cabbage in the Crock Pot, Italian Soup, and beef stew. If you want to get any of the recipes for these you can send me a message, they are all real easy.
I'm also a big fan of the casseroles because they are just so darn easy!
I make a chicken and broccoli one with a cup of mayonnaise,a can of cream of chicken soup, shredded extra sharp cheese and buttered bread crumbs on top. So easy and so yummy.
Good luck and if any of this sound interesting just drop me a line!
K.

Hi there,

I signed up for some sweepstakes and ended up getting on a daily recipe email list from REAL SIMPLE Magazine. I haven't actually made any of the recipes, but they look fairly healthy, one of my priorities, and they don't seem to require a lot of prepared foods, like a can of cream of mushroom soup or soup mixes etc. You can sign up for the daily recipe here: http://ebm.cheetahmail.com/r/regf2?a=0&aid=1085805114.... They don't look terribly easy, but they look good and relatively healthy.

Here are some one-pot recipes from RS: http://www.realsimple.com/realsimple/content/0,21770,###-...

Otherwise, someone mentioned Everyday Food (Martha Stewart) Magazine. I also used to get this one and I really liked it. I went directly to all of the healthy ones - they're well organized like that. I got some really good recipes out of there. Here's are two very easy ones:

Orange Teriyaki Salmon (Actually this one is Rachel Rae)

3 Tbs OJ
2 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs rice vinegar
1 Tbs honey
1 Tbs garlic
2 tsp ginger
salmon

Combine the first 6 ingredients. Pour over fish in baking dish (I keep it covered). Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes (ususally takes longer) or until done.

Salmon w/ Orange Mustard Sauce

6 oz baby spinach
8 oz mushrooms thinly sliced
2 scallions thinly sliced
4 skinless salmon fillets
course salt and pepper
2 Tbs dijon mustard
2 Tbs OJ

Put Spinach (I use a lot more, like a 10 oz bag, b/c it goes away to nothing when it's cooked), mushrooms, and scallions in a baking dish. Place salmon on top. Season with salt and pepper. Mix mustard and OJ together and pour over salmon (I use a lot more than what the recipe calls for - you can use as much as you want as long as it's equal parts). Microwave for 8 - 20 minutes (I bake it in the oven. I have microwaved it b4 and it's okay, but I prefer it baked. I bake it at 400 degrees for about 15 - 20 (or longer) in a covered dish).

I hope those work for you!

stuffed chicken-- make a slit in chicken breast stuff it with chopped cheese and sausasge. I use pepperjack and Eckridge the long one. Just toss it in some flower, brown in a little oil, fast because you throw it in the oven and it cooks quickly. You can get a can of Alfredo or Red sauce and serve with spagh. Taste like a million bucks. Once you make it a few times it does not take long.

We grill at least once a week and eat the left overs for a couple of days: burgers-hamburgers and nachos, chicken-bbq and extra for chicken salad, porkchops-soaked in honey dijon salad dressing

We like fresh veggies but often eat the frozen microwave ones. Broc and cheese, Tuscan veg.

Crock pot:

1 pork roast
1 bottle bar-b-que sauce

Place both into your crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until the meat falls apart. You can then pull it apart and freeze for future consumption.

Chicken-cheese soup:

4 boneless, skinless breasts (can start from frozen)
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, sliced
3 ribs celery, sliced
3 potatoes, cubed
crushed garlic and salt and pepper to taste

Place all this stuff in a pot and add water to cover. Bring to a simmer and let cook for 90 minutes. Pull out the chicken and cut into bite sized pieces.

Drain off about half the water. Toss the chicken back in the pot. Add 1 1/2 cups milk and bring to a simmer again.

Slowly add 1/2 a large loaf of processed cheese food that's been cubed. You can add the whole loaf or 2 cups of shredded cheddar/swiss/whatever cheese you like. But, start with the processed cheese as it gives a very specific creamy texture to the soup.

Once the cheese has all melted you can add large can of corn that's been drained or chopped peppers or cooked broccoli or whatever you think will taste good.

This freezes well and tastes great when it's cold.

Cheesey-hamburger Hotdish:

2 lbs hamburger
1 lg can tomato soup
1 big onion chopped
4 cups shredded cheese
1 large package of macaroni (the big elbows) cooked and drained.

Brown the onion and the hamburger and drain the fat. Stir in the tomato soup. You may have to add a little milk to get a nice sauce, add more if you feel the need. Stir in the shredded cheese and cooked pasta.

Place in a casserole dish and bake for 30-45 minutes until it's heated through. You can bulk this up with more pasta and get even more servings out of it.

This also freezes well.

Put a good size roast into a crock pot with a package of dried good seasonings (by the salad dressings) and a 12 oz bottle of beer (the alcohol cooks off) Let cook in the crockpot on low. Shred and serve with hoagie (i like whole wheat) rolls and juice to dip. Toss a salad or have some carrot/celery sticks and add some fruit (or fruit salad) on the side and you've got a very simple quick dinner.

Your children are old enough to do minor jobs in the kitchen. Does your schedule allow for a Saturday or Sunday afternoon devoted to make-ahead casseroles, roasts, meat loaves, etc. and freeze for use the following week? When you bake potatoes, do some extras to keep in the fridg then 2 or 3 days later all you have to do is warm a little, scoop out the potato, mix with your favorite baked potato stuffings and have twice baked potatoes in a matter of minutes. Also with potatoes, mash more than you know you'll use, then you have left overs to make potato soup. If there's not quite enough potatoes for everyone, add a can of corn and serve with salad and bread/toast. When my children were young we very often had left-overs that were too much to throw away but not enough to serve at another meal, so I kept a large plastic container that I could see thru in the freezer and when I had a small amount of leftover vegetables or meat left over, into the container it went. I could keep an eye on how much white, green and red was in the container. When it was full, all I had to do was add some meat (stew meat if I had the time and ground meat if not enough time) and add anything else I thought I needed for a good soup. Dump it in a pan and you're good to go.You have a good pot of soup that didn't cost a lot and only takes about 30 minutes at the most to prepare.

I don't use the crockpot but what i do find easy to prepare is casseroles. one of my families favs:
brown 1-2 lb hamburger meat
in a separate bowl combine 1 can crm mushroom soup, 1 can crm ckn soup & picante sauce (more or less depending on how spicy you want it)

in a casserole dish one layer of corn tortillas, then place you hamburger meat followed by a layer of ranch style beans (usually 2 cans), top with slices of velveeta cheese, cover with another layer of tortillas and then pour soup mixture over it. Let bake in oven @ 350 for about 45 min or until it is bubbling. Serve with tortilla chips.

Another quick tip that I used was instead of making meatloaf in a loaf pan, I'd make individual loafs in a muffin pan. It only takes about 20 min for them to cook instead of an hour.

hi, I use this website a lot. They do a month of meals and I can pick and choose which ones I want to try or not. They have a great site for crafts too for rainy days! In the search box just type "month of meals." I hope it helps.

www.familyfun.com

I too am a big fan of the crockpot. What I do is plan the week on Saturday, hit the grocery store Saturday night or sunday and chop everything for the week Sunday. I assemble the entire crockpot meal and put it in a ziplock bag with the label of what it is and make three or four of these on sunday. That way in the morning all I do is dump it in the crock pot and turn it on. Makes for very easy evenings and no cleaning of pans. I have a few VERY easy recipes I can email you, but we eat low carb for medical reasons, so our recipes come from a low carb cook book. If you think you would be interested in low carb recipes, email me and I'll send them. I can't tell you how much less complicated my life is since we started organizing our food this way. We tried the freeze ahead meals, but never had enough room in our freezer for the casserole pans. The zip lock bags fit much easier in our side by side. Good luck!

A.,

I have a Crock Pot cookbook in word or excel (can't remember which) but I would be happy to share it with you just email me and in the subject put crock pot recipes, in the body remind me what you want and I will zip it off to you...has tons of great recipes and I am sure you will find something there for everyone.
T
Email is ____@____.com

Hi A.,
Late response and after reading the others I realize that there are big fans of crock pot cooking and wanted to weigh in on the freezer meal cooking. I absolutely LOVE freezer meal cooking. My best friend (and sometimes a few others) do this together so that we get some girl time as well! We'll prep meals so that we each have enough for 4 - 6 weeks worth of dinners. It is fabulous to know that I have homemade meals ready to go on any given day. There are many websites to help with this planning and prep work but I've found that many of my families favs can be done this way which made things easier. I've got a lot of hints and tips if you'd like to have them just email me...
C. Hill
____@____.com

One recipe my boys love (they are also very picky eaters) is a pork chop recipe I make in the crock pot. I actually buy pork ends and trimmings at HEB for a lot less money than pork chops, but really, any pork cut is good cooked this way.
Season your pork chops with salt, pepper and a little garlic powder. Put them in the crock pot. Add a sliced small onion, and a can of applesauce, or about a cup or two, depending on how many pork chops you use. Add about a cup of apple juice and some italian seasoning. I also add a little basalmic vinegar, but its not necessary. Set your crock pot for low and go! When you get in from work, check on it and if you think it needs more juice, add it. The flavor is very sweet from the applesauce and juice, and my kids love it! You can serve it with a pasta side, or mashed potatoes and a veggie, and you are set.