31 days of cooking cheats

Weekend Links

October 20, 2012 by Tiffany King 3 Comments

So many amazing recipes were shared on Ingredient Spotlight: Oats this week – 72 recipes, as of this writing.

Those Caramel Apple Nut Bars from Hoosier Homemade look fabulous. And the short cut they offer is that you only have to peel and chop one apple.

Homemade Cereal Bars from Once a Month Mom would be a hit around here.

Homemade Instant Oatmeal Packets from Frugal Family Times could speed up breakfast time.

No Bake Energy Bites from The Better Baker will be perfect for my kid who needs to drink more fluids (these will make him thirsty) and gain a bit of weight.

Nutella Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches from Flavors by Four – no other words needed.

Some days at home you just need a quick lunch. My favorite one to make is a BLT salad. And the secret is in the dressing. My grandma taught me to make this dressing. Not only is it easy but it’s also delicious. This salad is a weekly go-to because I typically have these leftovers in the fridge by the end of the week. It’s just enough for one. Or you could double or triple to make for more people.

Here’s what you need: [Read more…] about 5 Minute Lunch – BLT Salad

Quick and Easy – Tomato Basil Chicken Soup

October 16, 2012 by Tiffany King 7 Comments

This is the soup that made me wish I owned an immersion blender.

Alas, I don’t have one. But even without smoothing out the soup base, this dish is a winner. It’s creamy and full of the summery flavor of tomatoes and basil. The chicken adds heartiness and keeps the boys from whining for meat.

And if you’ve got cooked chicken in the freezer, this soup only takes a few minutes to make. I love a quick meal!

Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more…] about Quick and Easy – Tomato Basil Chicken Soup

DIY Programmable Slow Cooker

October 14, 2012 by Tiffany King 5 Comments

The other day, I posted a photo on Instagram of two crockpots set up. One with our dinner and a smaller one with dessert. Someone noticed that the small one was hooked up to a timer.

This is a cheater tip I shared about a year ago. I’d still love to have a fancy programmable slow cooker, but this $4 hack does the job.

Here’s the original post, but the basic idea is to plug the cooker into a timer, so you can delay the start of cooking and set it to turn off at a certain point too.

I’ve used it for overnight oatmeal and also dessert. It would work great for some side dishes too. I don’t think I’d use it for cooking with meat or other highly perishable foods though.

Ingredient Spotlight: Wrap Up and Weekend Links

October 13, 2012 by Tiffany King 1 Comment

So many great recipes have been shared on Ingredient Spotlight this week. There’s still time to add yours and I’d love to see it. You can never have too many recipes for using cake mix!

Here are a few links that meet “super cheater” (reference to the 31 Days of Cooking Short Cuts for Cheaters series) category:

Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Cake Bars from Flavors by Four has all the flavor of cinnamon rolls with none of the rolling.
Single Serving Thin Mint Diet Coke Cake from The Better Baker is a quick cheat with no tempting left overs.
Cake Batter Bark from Giving Up on Perfect is a fast and crowd-pleasing candy.
No cake mix link up is complete without including Hoosier Homemade. Liz has so many incredible things to do with cake mix, and more cupcake recipes that I would ever have thought possible. My daughter chose these ring cupcakes to celebrate her 10th birthday a few weeks ago. I let the kids do the decorating and they had a blast!

My friend, Amy has a new book coming out and I’m so excited for her! Amy blogs at Mom Advice and her new book, The Good Life for Less is available for pre-order. She’s a fantastic writer and I know her book is as fabulous as she is.

I wish you all a great weekend!

31 days of cooking cheats

The Amazon link is an affiliate link.