Good Cookbooks

When you have time on some weekends, you can prepare extras of whatever you're making and freeze for another day. Lasagna is a good one to do this with. Or you can get the bags of frozen chicken breasts or tenderloins and put them into individual servings with a marinade. When they thaw the flavor of the marinade soaks in. Also, if you use browned ground beef, when you come home from the grocery store with that big pack of ground beef; go ahead and brown it before putting it in the freezer. You can have it cooking while you're putting the groceries away and then take the browned meat and put it in the individual ziplocks so when you want to make spaghetti, hamburger helper, tacos, etc. all you have to do is take it out and it should defrost pretty quickly. Saves time. Good luck! You'll get back into the swing of things soon.

I'm with you! This is the biggest stress in my life too! I did the post about the crock pot because I am going to buy a digital programmable one for this very reason. The one I have now I can't really leave things on all day because it will over cook. I have found a lot here http://southernfood.about.com/library/crock/blcpidx.htm

One easy one is putting 4 (or however many you want) chicken breasts in with just 2 or 3 cans of cream of chicken soup. It really is yummy! I also do the same with 2 bottles of kraft BBQ sauce. But be careful, because chicken doesn't take that long to cook, so you might want a progammable crock pot as well. I have a chili recipe that does great in any crock pot and my 2 year old son loves it! If you think you are interested, let me know and I will send it along. It is really easy and healthy.
I also make stuffed peppers in the crock pot and I can pass that along as well. I make a big amount of the stuffing and freeze what I don't use. Then, the next time I make it I just have to thaw that out and stuff the peppers for a easy second meal. You can find TONS of stuff on the internet if you just search for "crock pot recipes".
I also make an italian meatloaf that is really easy. you could make it the night before and have your hubby put it in when he gets home.
1.5 pounds lean ground beef
breadcrumbs
1 egg slighty beaten
past sauce
italian seasoning
thawed frozen chopped spinach (they won't taste it, promise!)

I mix all this together until in get to a consistancy I like, so sorry, don't really have measured amounts. Shape into loaf and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Spread some more sauce on top and sprinkle with cheese and bake for 5-10 more minutes. I usually just steam some green beans or make some pasta to go with it.

Good luck!

When you get a chance check out foodtv.com, it is the websie for food network and they have alot of great rec. for the crock pot another place I have found some great one is the campbells website too. Hope this helps a little.

We have 3 cookbooks that are really great...

My husband uses "The America's Family Test Kitchen Cookbook"

I like "Once a Month Cooking" (these are great for make ahead and freezing OR right on the spot... lots of great recipes)

Also for the crockpot this one is great "Fix-It and Forget It Cookbook"

Hope that helps and happy eating!

I have an extensive cookbook collection from all around the world, but recently I have been relying on the internet. Just google whatever food for which you want to find a recipe. It is very convenient. I am also writing several cookbooks, but they are not done yet.

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My favorite cookbool is "Fix-it and Forget-it, Lightly". These are all crockpot recipes that are on the lighter side. Each recipe has all the nutritional info (calories, fat, etc) I swear by this book. My family would not eat with out it.