Everyday Food for Busy People
This soup has a lot of things going for it.
It can be made entirely in the slow cooker.
The chicken cooks in the soup, so no need for an extra step.
Just like taco soup, there are a million variations. Use what you’ve got available in your pantry.
Here’s what I used: [Read more...]
Stir fry is a cooking method that can’t really be replicated in a slow cooker.
But you can make a pretty good fake!
I’ve made this recipe twice now. It’s easy and quick to fix. The chicken gets cooked in stir fry sauce for several hours. The veggies are added later, so they don’t get mushy.
No ingredient photo this time. I was in a big hurry both times I’ve made it. [Read more...]
This is one of those dinners that tastes special, like you’ve gone to extra trouble.
Good news! This dish is quick to fix. I had it finished in about 30 minutes and that included time to line up ingredients, take photos and jot down my recipe. Not bad.
I did start with another recipe as inspiration. I wasn’t sure what should go into the Pineapple Salsa, so I searched Tasty Kitchen and came up with a recipe for Tropical Chicken and Coconut Rice Bowl. It’s from Katie at The College Culinarian.
I wanted fish instead of chicken, so I turned the marinade into a sauce for the tilapia. And I tweaked her salsa recipe a bit too. The result was delicious!
Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]
Let me say, that when I decided to make this I had no idea what really goes in Kung Pao Chicken. I just saw a bottle of the sauce in Walmart and bought it. The rest was decided by what I had on hand.
The result turned out delicious. The Kung Pao sauce had just enough spice to lend and interesting kick. I used chicken that I had already grilled, sliced and frozen, so it was quick to make.
Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]
The wonders never cease. My kids actually tried the pearl onions in this soup. And they liked them! Amazing.
This is one of those fantastic “assembly only” type recipes. Basically, you dump everything in the slow cooker and let it do its thing.
You don’t have to use pearl onions, if your kids are averse (but you might give it a go, because you never know…). The bag of frozen veggies I used included the onions. There are only 5 ingredients in this soup and they can be changed up as you wish.
Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]
I found this recipe in Whole Foods for the Whole Family cookbook. I’ve done a little altering to it though. First, it calls for brown rice, which I swear I bought, but is nowhere to be found in my pantry. So I subbed white rice.
The method for making this involves baking the raw meatballs on top of the rice. Because of this, you’re going to need to use very lean meat or else the dish will be too greasy. I’ve made it before with ground bison. This time I used some of the 88 meatballs I made and froze. I froze some of them raw, specifically to use in this dish. A quick thaw in the microwave was all they needed. It sped up the prep work a lot to start with the meatballs already made.
Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]
Remember all the 88 meatballs I made and froze? Some of them were destined for this dish.
This is based on a recipe in an old church cookbook. I made it according to the recipe the first time (unusual for me to follow a recipe exactly!), which means I used the Velveeta it called for. Much as we like Velveeta, it was too gooey and sticky for us.
A week later, I gave the recipe a make-over. I swapped out the Velveeta for Italian blend cheese and added garlic and Italian seasonings. It’s still a quick stove-top meal, but with much better flavor.
Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]
Is any ingredient more of a staple than rice? I know it’s a staple in my pantry. I’ve taken to buying 5 pound bags of Jasmine rice, we go through it so fast.
I don’t use barley nearly as much as rice. And we tried quinoa a few months ago, but didn’t care for it. I made it plain, so that could have been part of the problem. I’m looking forward to seeing your recipes for both barley and quinoa. Maybe I’ll learn to like quinoa if I try a good recipe for it.
I have a lot of rice recipes posted on this blog. So many, that I had trouble narrowing it down to a few to share. Here are a few of my favorite recipes that use rice: [Read more...]
My ears perked up when I heard someone mention a fried rice dish that involved ham and pineapple. Any recipe that involves cubed ham gets my attention right now, since I have so much in the freezer.
My family likes the ham/pineapple combo in recipes, but I admit that this sounded a little strange. But I was wrong. The fried rice was full of flavor and we licked the platter clean. No leftovers to fight over.
I based the recipe on Vietnam Fried Rice, but I used pineapple juice in addition to the soy sauce to season and flavor the dish. Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]
I’ve made this twice now. It is so easy and we all love it. The taste is similar to sweet and sour chicken, but it has a little bit of kick from red pepper flakes in the sauce.
It’s a complete cheater meal, making use of several convenience items. That means this meal can be fixed in just about 15 minutes. Faster than grabbing food at a restaurant.
Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]
