Domestically Challenged – Parenting Tips from Author Alana Morales

Archive for the ‘Menu Plan Monday’ Category

Happy Monday!

If you are like me, you still have turkey and other stuff(ing) leftover from Thanksgiving. The question is – what are you going to do with it?

My signature recipe is to make Turkey Chop Suey. You basically put turkey gravy, onions, celery and turkey in a pot and let it stew for hours. When It’s done, you put it over rice, use some soy sauce and voila! You have something different to eat!

If that doesn’t sound good, here are 10 more recipes for getting rid of the turkey.

1. Turkey Tetrazzini

2. Shredded Turkey & Pinto Bean Burritos

3. Healthy Turkey Pot Pie

4. Hearty Turkey Stew with Vegetables

5. Thanksgiving Won Tons

6. Turkey Rice Casserole with Mozzarella

7. Roast Turkey with Sweet Potato Hash

8. Mashed Potato Au Gratin

9. Turkey Chili

10. Next Day Turkey Primavera

What is your fave leftover? I left off the Turkey club sandwiches, as I assume it’s a given in every house. As always, leave it in the comments!

Happy Monday everyone!

Well, like many of you, I had the pleasure of experiencing Daylight Savings Time on Sunday. This was the first time I have had to turn the clocks back since I was in 6th grade, so it was interesting trying to explain the process to my kids. It was also unfortunate because my husband woke me up to see the sunrise (then fell back asleep) and my daughter kept me up, so I didn’t get to take advantage of the extra hour in the morning. Boo to that!

This week I have a topic that is very near and dear to me – quick cooking. I do NOT like cooking, therefore I want to spend the least amount of time in the kitchen as possible.

Here are some resources to help you achieve the same goal:

1. Food Network Quick and Easy

The Food Network (while usually over my head as far as the skill level is concerned) has quite a few quick and easy meals to choose from.I would especially recommend their Quick and Easy Thanksgiving ideas and their Recipe Finder.

2. Taste of Home Simple and Delicious

I used to subscribe to this magazine and I LOVED it. The only reason I don’t get it anymore is because of my food allergies. The recipes on the site and in the magazine are easy to follow and simple (and quick) to make. Highly recommended!

3. Cooks.com Quick Cooking

Not the prettiest site, but it has 75 different options for quick meals.

photo credit: Laurel Fan

4. Fine Cooking’s No Cook Pasta Sauces

I wouldn’t have expected such a hoity toity mag to have choices like this, but this is a GREAT article. Lots of info about cooking pasta too.

5. Cooking Light Quick and Healthy

FAB site with a ton of info. Check out their 5 ingredient cookbook section and their section on 20 minute meals.

There you have it peeps – 5 GREAT resources for when you need a good, quick meal. Bookmark the page so you can find it when you are having one of THOSE days. I am really working to find ways to eat healthier, so I will be sure to share the good recipes I find.

Have suggestions? As always, leave it in the comments!

This week is “In Case You Missed It” Week – a time to post something you may have missed. This week’s throwback is Cooking with Crock Pots. Enjoy!

Image via Wikipedia

Last week I talked about the reasons to menu plan each week. One way to make this easier is to use a crock pot. A great benefit to using a crock pot is that it is really, really hard to mess up. I mean, I’ve messed up recipes. A. Lot. But rarely in the crock pot. (And please note that I am taking liberties and calling it a crock pot, instead of a slow cooker, which would be more accurate. You’ll live, right?)

While you are looking for inspiration (or, in my case, something I can’t mess up too easily), here’s a few places I frequent. They were chosen for their ease of use and readability.

AllRecipes.com

This is my all time favorite recipe site. I have been a member here since 2002, which is forever in internet years. What I like about this site is that you can make a recipe box and then organize your recipes into folders. You can search by ingredient, cooking method and a bunch of other methods. You can access the site via mobile, print recipes in different formats and compile recipes into printable grocery lists. I recommend you read some of the reviews for the recipe before you try it for good modifications to try.  This is my #1 go to site!

One nice, new feature is their online video series. This is invaluable to someone like me who can’t visualize what the recipe says to do.

My fave recipe?  This beef stroganoff recipe – I altered it to make it dairy/gluten free!

A Year of Slow Cooking

The author of this blog make a New Year’s resolution to use her slow cooker every day in 2008. What resulted was a years worth of fantastic recipes for all types of food and a book. Not bad, eh?

Check out her Popular Posts for hints about using the crock pot and ways to save money.

About.com Busy Cooks

About.com is another site I use for just about anything. If you go to the Busy Cooks portion of the site, you will find a ton of information on using your slow cooker, including recipes, tips and shopping info.

These are my favorite go to websites for crock pot recipes. Here’s my question – do you use your crock pot often? What is your favorite recipe? Leave it in the comments! Like what you read – subscribe for free over on the right.

Happy Monday!

As I write this post, there are about 37 different smells in my kitchen and one of them isn’t the trash. My husband and I cooked EVERY meal for the week today and it wasn’t too bad. We had two crock pots going and two sauce pans and still managed to leave and do a little shopping. The idea that all of our weekly meals are already done is an AMAZING feeling, let me tell you.

This week, I have links to some excellent Halloween treats. Some are easy and some are more complicated. If you try one, come back and let me know!

From Family Fun:

Apple Bites – My daughter made these in her class last week and they are adorable!!

Mini Witches Brooms – a quick and easy treat to make for kids.

Some other yummy things to try this week:

Hershey’s Cookie on a Stick

No Back Spiderweb Cheesecake – Um, cheesecake? Sign me up! Nevermind the site it links to… LOL

Rice Crispies – This is my FAVORITE treat, so here are a few variations of the classic:

Fright Crispies Treats – Cute little ghost rice crispies

Colossal Candy Corn – I don’t like regular candy corn, but I would like these!

Scaredy Treats – Very cute and hard to mess up!

Do you make treats with your kids? If so, tell me about it in the comments! If you have a link, share it and I will update the post this week. Have a great week!

Happy Monday all!

Up here in Colorado, we are projected to get snow next week. I haven’t lived in snow since I was in 5th grade. Since I just celebrated my 29th bday again, this means it was a LONG time ago and my kids have never lived in snow. This means we will be cold often.

One thing that I plan to employ is my oven – it helps to warm the house and it makes a super simple meal. Just pop the baking dish in the oven and go about your business of cleaning or monitoring homework. I also love the leftovers. I remember when my mom used to make some weird tuna casserole (which probably stemmed from Tuna Helper or something) and even though it was weird, it really hit the spot on those cold winter days.

My main issue is making it at least partly healthy and making it gluten and dairy free. The recipes I have are not gluten/dairy free, but you can easily modify them.

Simple Chicken Casserole - Courtesy of AllRecipes.com

Taco Casserole - Courtesy of AllRecipes.com – read the reviews on this one. I would definitely add the crumbled tortilla chips on top – yum!

HUGE list of casserole recipes from About.com Southern Cooking

Another About.com list – this time it includes casseroles you can freeze before hand

About.com list – 5 ingredient casseroles

Do you make casseroles? If so, do you worry about the health factor? What is your fave? As always, leave it in the comments!

Happy Monday Peeps! You know what today is….and I don’t mean a way to be tortured weekly with the pain of a Monday.

I hope this is a great week for you!

This week’s MPM topic is theme nights. One way to make menu planning easier is to have theme nights. This helps to eliminate the guessing factor, which usually leads to take out. Wait, maybe that’s just me…

There are a few ways to handle theme nights:

1. Cuisine Night

This is the easiest. Basically, you pick a type of food and then that is assigned a night. Then all you have to do is pick a recipe within the theme. Here are some possibilities:

• Mexican food night
• Grilled food night
• American food

2. Cooking type night

This is another way to do theme night. You could have:

• Crock pot night
• Grill night
• Casserole night

3. Food type night

This one offers flexibility. You could pick a type of food to have

Possiblities include:

• Chicken Night
• Salad night
• Soup night

Looking into it a bit more, it seems silly to separate the days like this. Do what works best for you. For example, we used to have Mexican food on Tuesdays, Appetizer night on Saturdays and Pizza night on Fridays. I like this method because it eliminates a ton of thinking, which I need during the week.

Have you tried planning by themes? If so, what are some of the themes you follow? As always, leave it in the comments!

Happy Monday Peeps! Hope you had a great weekend!

This week’s Menu Plan Monday was spurned by a particularly fierce battle I witnessed this week. It involved a child who may have been my daughter, some broccoli and lots of tears.

She wanted to eat a different veggie, mom and dad didn’t want her to. It’s a classic battle of I-don’t-want-to-eat-this-can-you-make-me-something-different.

The answer, by the way, is no.

Now I say this a bit hypocritically, knowing that I have many times made different meals, but this is mostly due to our battles with food allergies over the years. My kids used to like to experiment. Now they like certain things (usually the opposite of the recipe I am trying) and that’s it.

So, what do I do when I’m in the mix, kids are grumbling and crying and there is a showdown at the table?

I stand. my. ground.

Sure, it would be way easier to give in. Less noise, less fighting, less mess. But it isn’t the right thing to do.

Alternatives:

1. Provide one fall back. It may be bread and butter, fruit, crackers. Whatever it is, it needs to be something that isn’t too appealing. We don’t want to encourage kids to eat something different, we’re just trying to be nice by offering something as an alternative. If I were to offer bread and butter, my daughter would take that any day. I have to work to pick things that are semi-nutritionally sound, without being too appealing to her.

2. Let them help prepare it. If they have some involvement in the prep of the meal, they will be more likely to eat it. This way, they have some investment in the meal too.

3. Let them eat it differently. Give them chopsticks. Make them eat with their fingers. Cut it into shapes. Do something to distract them from the fact that they don’t want to eat what is on their plate.

So, do you have this battle at your house? If so, how do you handle it? As always, leave it in the comments.

Happy Monday! Here’s to a good week!

This week I want to offer some tips for a topic that is very near and dear to me – how to spend less time in the kitchen. Now, don’t get me wrong. I had a bunch of cooking success in the last 2 weeks. Mostly because I wasn’t terrified to try something because my husband was out of town, but whatever, it worked!

Despite the success, it didn’t leave me wanting to run out and buy a new cookbook or anything. In fact, as work gets into full swing and I try to desperately find a way to squeeze in a workout, I need to spend the least amount of time in the kitchen as possible.

Here’s 5 ways to make this happen:

1. Plan, Plan, Plan.

If you are at least participating in Menu Plan Monday, you are already finding ways to streamline and spend less time in the kitchen. Planning, as I found when my husband was out of town, really makes a big difference when you get home, and everyone is tired and hungry.

There are bazillions of resources on menu planning, but here are a few:

Menu Plan Monday – Home of MPM

Organized Home – Menu Planning

Hillbilly Housewife – Meal Planning

Cooking Light – 6 Steps to Successful Meal Planning

2. Cook Extra

This is a GREAT tip, especially if you want to spend less on lunches. If you need chicken for a meal, cook enough for two meals. For example, tonight we had Chicken Enchiladas and then on Tuesday we can have Taco Salad. If this is too overwhelming, cook just a little extra and take the leftovers for lunch. This has been a lifesaver for me and my food allergies.

3. Get Help

When I was brainstorming for this blog post, this suggestion actually came from my husband. He knows as well as I do that many guys don’t like to cook. (You see, when he went hunting last week, he ended up being the camp cook, a task he quickly tired of. He didn’t really make the connection to me and the dishes though).

Find ways to get help in the kitchen.

Before you have a panic attack at the thought of your husband, or even <gasp> your kids, in the kitchen, relax. And I mean this overall – relax. Who cares if the kitchen gets a little messier? You will be teaching the skills necessary for survival later in life and if you are teaching your son’s to cook, he’ll be more of a catch later. Trust me, it makes a difference.

Give your kids/husband a task. Let them make a salad, set the table, mix something. Whatever task you give them, let them do it however they can. Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be done. Repeat as often as necessary, especially when you see your kiddo picking their nose while they set the table.

4. Clean As You Go

I hate that this step makes such a big difference, but it does. Wash things as you dirty them or if that doesn’t work, make a sink of hot soapy water and toss dishes in there as you use them.

This leads to the next step:

5. The Cooker Isn’t The Cleaner

Whoever cleans, doesn’t cook. If you have kids old enough ( and 7 or 8 is old enough), they can load a dishwasher. If you have kids older than that, guess what their new chore is? Dishes. Trust me, kids need to be taught responsibility and chores are one way to do it. It also makes parent’s lives easier and I am ALL. FOR. THAT.

OK, I’ve given you 5 easy ways to get your butt out of the kitchen quicker, but I know you have tricks you use too. As always, leave them in the comments!

Happy Monday!

Last week’s post about once a week/month cooking really got me thinking about how to streamline cooking. Here’s my thoughts. As a busy mom, the goal is to get food on the table that came from the fridge more often than it comes from the take out bag. What are the easiest ways to make this happen?

Here are 10 ways I make this happen:

1. I use frozen veggie steamer bags. This way, I don’t even have to dirty a pan to cook veggies. Just toss in the bag in the micro and go!

2. I use Rice A Roni (and other boxed sides). I know there are a lot of people who are trying to get away from processed foods and I appreciate it, but I just can’t do it. I’m not to the point yet.

3. I buy precut veggies to cook with. If I need chopped onions or celery, I buy it that way. Yes it costs more, but it saves me time and aggravation.

4. I use the microwave as much as possible. If you need to sauté something, toss it in the micro first.

5. Keep a list of go to meals. I know I’ve said it a lot, but it really does make a difference. In our house, it used to be chicken nuggets, but we’ve blissfully gotten away from them lately. Tacos, chicken taco salad (both of which can be enhanced with a rotisserie chicken, remember), turkey burgers and meatballs with noodles are all quick and easy.

6. Wash fruits and veggies as soon as you get them home. I wash all grapes and apples as they enter the home – this way I know that it’s done and I don’t have to worry about it.

7. I use a crock pot as often as possible. (Confession: I’m always secretly worried that I’m going to misspell crock and make a really BIG error!)

8. I keep easy to make meals on hand. For me, this includes a bag of Chicken Broccoli Alfredo from Schwan’s and always having noodles and jarred spaghetti and alfredo sauce on hand. If I have to, I can whip this up with a veggie and call it good.

9. Keep staples on hand. I know in my house, we go through a lot of ranch, ketchup and bbq sauce. I try to always keep one extra on hand. There is nothing worse than needing ranch for my daughter to dip into and not having it. That, my friends, is a blown dinner.

10. Cook extra. When I make the effort to cook, I want to reap the rewards. I try to cook extra so that at the least I can have a day or two of lunch. If I really plan it right, I can have a whole other meal from the leftovers. This is a huge bonus, as this means one less day for me to stress in the kitchen.

So, what are your thoughts? Do you have a time sharing kitchen tip you can share? Or are you against using pre-made and prepared foods? As always, leave it in the comments.