I love home made soup. The stuff from the can just does not compare. It is so easy to make, just requires a chunk of time that you are home watching the pot boil. If you don’t have time immediately following the eating of a roasted chicken or turkey, you can wrap it up and stick it into the freezer. (more…)

Over the past couple years I have discovered that roaster chickens and turkeys are easy, tasty, and economical meals. The trifecta of a good recipe, in my opinion. (more…)

Why is it that they always seem the most difficult to come up with? Maybe because we will happily eat the same baked chicken, grilled steak, pan seared pork chops over and over again and yet we long for some variety with our side dishes. Something that moves us beyond rice and steamed veggies. Something that livens up the meal.

I am on an eternal quest for new side dishes. This is a recent recipe I have experimented with subjected my family to added to the rotation.

Why yes, it does kind of look like a white brain. (more…)

But why does quiche have to be a breakfasty food? We are going to be eating ours tonight for dinner with a large green salad and a crusty baguette. I will also be at the baseball field (I KNOW, what a surprise! because I haven’t been there every other night this week!) until 7:00pm and this is perfect for staggered meal times. And will require nothing of me to get it on the table. Everything will be done in advance.

I used to love quiche. Back before I found out I was allergic to everything that is not cardboard. So technically I probably still do love quiche, I just love living more. (more…)

Right now we have entered baseball season at our house. To give you an idea of what this means, I had to get a dedicated baseball calendar because my regular calendar DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH ROOM.

Oh sorry, was I shouting?

On the practical side this means that night after night I have to come up with meals that are quick. I try to limit cold cuts to once a week.

Also, my children told me I should post this recipe because they love it. And I maintain that it has to be better for you than fast food. (more…)

I have discovered that with a little advanced preparation I can have food ready that is quick to eat and to clean-up. At 9:00 at night who feels like eating a 3 course meal and then cleaning up after it? Not me.

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My children love this. LOVE. There really isn’t much not to love about it as long as you like peanut butter. I have several different versions of this recipe, but this one is my children’s favorite and it is the simplest to prepare. A win-win situation of you ask me. (more…)

Aren’t these so yummy looking?

I call these cream cheese and jelly turnovers for the lazy among us who are feeling wracked with guilt and trying to buy their children’s love via their stomachs. But that seems a little long for the name of the recipe so I will just call them cream cheese and jelly turnovers for short.

This is actually the first time that I am away from my kids for something that is solely work related, with no fun factor built in. No catching up with friends. No drunk karaoke. No sightseeing. No subtext of I deserve a break from my children.

I was also just away last week and when I returned home Sunday evening my daughter gave me a drawing she made. It was of her crying because I was away. It would have been less painful had she reached into my chest and torn my heart out.

So when my kids requested this yesterday morning as I was tossing random crap into my suitcase packing, I couldn’t refuse.

This recipe is fun for kids to do themselves. It uses premade pie crust (I know. But let’s just all get over it.) You certainly can make your own pie crust if you are so inclined, but then it becomes a much more involved recipe that might not be accessible to the 6, 7, 8 year old set. It also would take much longer. The entire recipe from taking the ingredients out of the refrigerator to putting it on a plate to eat is under 30 minutes.

It is a nice addition to brunch or even just as an afternoon snack. (more…)

This recipe reminds me of my sister in law who died a few years ago. She loved vodka sauce. In fact when I was pregnant with my oldest child the restaurant where the shower was held served penne with vodka sauce as the first course and my sister-in-law loved it so much we had to return to that restaurant for every family occasion over the next couple of years until finally I asked, “Can’t we just make this at home and skip the two hour drive to the restaurant?”

Turns out we could and we did. It is an easy recipe that I love to pull out when I want to make something that seems a bit more fancy but have zero time or ambition. Also, I promise she did not die from my cooking.

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This isn’t a low fat meal, but really you aren’t going to be eating it every single day.

Loosen up your pants now. Grab your Lipitor. Maybe jog in place while you read this recipe to offset the caloric intake. (more…)