Six Ingredients or Less

Hello friends.  I've missed you.

And I have a treat to share with you.

A woman named Linda Hazen approached me via email, asking if I would have a look-see at her website Six Ingredients or Less.com.

Well I did, and I love it!

On this site you can find all of her cookbooks, as well as a wide range of nutrition (and dare I say weight loss) tips that focus on eating healthy, whole, unprocessed foods.  In less than five minutes I learned new information that seems very appropro to my own situation, and learned several tips, AND found a couple of recipes that I'd like to try.

Linda was kind enough to not only offer me a free download of her cookbook Six Ingredients or Less, but to offer a 50% discount to all my readers, as well!  Isn't she the bomb?

Here are Linda's instructions:

To redeem you free ebook simply go to sixingredientsorless.com and select the Six Ingredients or Less 4th edition e-cookbook and place it in your shopping cart. Continue through the cart process.  If you would like to offer your readers 50% off their entire purchase they may use coupon code: R-127.

This coupon offer expires 6/20/14, so go click on over now while you're thinking about it!

Mommy's Little Helpers

I'd been going through a dinner-cooking slump the past few months.

Partly due to everyone's schedules pulling us a million directions.
Partly due to the fact that I. Hate. Cooking.

Actually, mostly due to that.

So new year, new optimism, new resolutions and all that, I decided I was going to do something about it.

Did you decide to cook more, you ask....?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahaha

Hahahahahahahahahahaha

Hahahaha....

Sigh (wipes tear from cheek).

Yeah.... NO.


I decided I would have my KIDS cook more.

Yes. I am a genius. You can say it. Gen.Ius.

There now.



Anyway, here's what I did. I wrote a list of all the meals we typically eat, then passed it around a table of very morose looking teenagers. They were each to pick four meals: one that was "challenging", one no-brainer, and two middle of the road meals. They were not allowed to pick the same dishes. That gave us 24 meals with no repeats. Plus room in the month for Friday night pizza as well as a few leftover/scrounge nights. Shoot, maybe I would even cook a meal now and again.

So then I wrote it all out on chalkboard paint next to my fridge.



On Sunday I look at the calendar and see who will be out on which nights, and then I plan who will be cooking what on which nights. For those "challenging" meals that were selected, I make sure I will be home so that I can walk the child through it, though I keep hands off. That way when they try it again a month later, they should know how to make it all by themselves.  "Should" being the operative word.

Once they've made a meal, I place a little checkmark next to it so I can keep track of which meals we've had. Otherwise they might try to convince me that we haven't already eaten macaroni and cheese 17 times in one month and I might just believe them.

So far, so good. We've been doing this for a couple weeks now. We have had no repeat dinners. I have still been in the kitchen a good bit helping kids learn how to make quesadillas and chili dip and baked ham, but there have also been several nights that I could either be out and about playing chauffeur or home sitting on my haunches and eating the proverbial bon-bons. Plus, they will each know how to prepare four things well. Just think of the life skills lessons here! I am doing these children of mine a service, I tell you, a service. They will thank me.

And for those of you sane people out there with only two or three kids, this could work just as well for you. Two kids could still cook two dinners a week for you, which is two fewer than YOU have to cook. That is a good thing. A very good thing. Or if you're not afraid of being reported to the authorities for child abuse, you could even have them each cook TWO meals a week. GASP!

Anyway, hope this helps those of you that are wondering how you can be at home getting a hot meal on the table while you are across town sitting in an overheated gymnastics studio waiting area enduring the smell of sweaty feet and the sound of overbearing helicopter parents bragging on their daughter's perfect back handspring.

Now fist bump with me and say "Parent Powers ACTIVATE!"




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Thanks!

Potato Salad: The Secret Ingredient

We had a cookout last Monday for Memorial Day.

You know, burgers on the grill, corn on the cob, watermelon, potato salad, banana pudding pie....

And I would like to share with you how the potato salad came out.


Image source: www.myrecipes.com



First I had all the kids peel and cut up the potatoes and I put 'em on to boil (the potatoes, not the kids).

When they had cooked and drained, they were set aside to cool while I went to work on the rest of the ingredients.

I diced up a pepper and an onion and some celery. I chopped up a hard boiled egg.

I threw all of that into a bowl to mix together with the mayo, and a little brown mustard, and some seasonings like salt, pepper, garlic powder, celery salt....

Lastly, I went to the pantry and grabbed the vinegar from its spot on the shelf.

I took it back to the kitchen table, opened the lid, and poured some in.




That's funny, I thought.

What's that smell?


And then I knew what the smell was.

I turned the white plastic jug around, only to confirm it was not vinegar.

Guesses, anyone?

It was ammonia.

SOMEone (cough - youngest child - cough) used the ammonia in some sort of project or experiment of God only knows what, and put it back not with the cleaning supplies, but on the shelf right next to the other identical (except the label) white plastic jug.


All I can say is thank God I didn't have a stuffed up nose from a cold or allergies or something, as I might never have known the error of my ways till they all gagged and/or keeled over dead.

From here on in they have free rein to tease me for my cooking.

I shan't say a word in my defense.






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Thanks!


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Rudeness disclaimer:

I love all your comments,
I read every one!
But I can't hit 'reply',
I've no time for fun.
Please don't judge me,
Please don't hate.
If you have a question that just can't wait,
Send me an email at farmbeachgal@yahoo.com,
And I'll answer right back because I'm, you know, the Mom.

Chicken-Scratch-Saturday: Cooking Ahead

Just a quick little tip here for getting some pre-made dinners ready for the grabbing.

I've heard it suggested that you take a day on the weekend to cook up a week's worth of dinners to stick in the freezer.

But I don't know, giving up a whole day of the weekend to save cooking each night? That math doesn't add up for me.

So here are a couple things I do that make weeknight cooking easier, but don't require sacrificing any time.

1) Cook up a whole mess of ground beef at once. Like, cook 5lbs. Then drain it, cool it a bit, and put a pound each in five quart-sized freezer bags. Then when you have no time, you can pull out a pound of already cooked ground beef. Cook it up as sloppy Joe's, tacos, spaghetti, whatevs.

2)When you're making a casserole, double the ingredients and make two of them. Only don't put the second one in a pan. Put it in a gallon-sized freezer bag. You can fit so much more in the freezer this way. Then take a bag out a few weeks later, thaw it out, stick it in a pan, add cheese to the top if you need it, and you've got dinner.

3) Before you go to the grocery store, put the slow cooker on the counter.  When you get home, and you're putting away the groceries, wash up some chicken and throw it in the crock pot with some water.  When it's done cooking, shred the chicken (putting it in the mixer does this perfectly!).  Then, you guessed it, put it in freezer bags. Then later, when a recipe calles for cooked chicken ( a casserole, quesadillas, etc), just pull out a bag of pre-cooked, pre-shredded chickem and you're good to go. Also?  The broth left over in the crock pot?  Strain it, cool it, and stick it in the freezer.  Use it later for soup, or just for broth to use in cooking.

So.  Not really rocket science here.  Just a few tips on how to have a few dinners ready to go for you in the freezer, without spending any extra time in the kitchen.

Enjoy!    


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Don't forget, I will love you forever if you throw me a vote on Top Mommy Blogs. You know the drill by now, don't you? Just click the juggling chick and you've voted. You can vote every day till like, forever.



Thanks!



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In case you didn't know it, I'm like the queen of blog-hoppin' lately. It's kind of like square dancing but without the dated outfits, smelly gym, and elderly caller.

Come join the fun!

*************

Rudeness disclaimer:

I love all your comments,
I read every one!
But I can't hit 'reply',
I've no time for fun.
Please don't judge me,
Please don't hate.
If you have a question that just can't wait,
Send me an email at farmbeachgal@yahoo.com,
And I'll answer right back because I'm, you know, the Mom.