How to survive....without the freezer meals.

Motherhood can be a tough balance between finding the time to have a great meal and sacrificing yourself to quick things on the go.  You can survive without eating only frozen meals, fast food, and mini snacks. My first recommendation? GET A SLOW COOKER! This will be your best friend. Not only does it do 95% of the work for you, but it also cooks all those things at the store that are really cheap but you don't have the time for (rice, beans, roasts.....). A slow cooker can cook just about anything- Whole chickens, casseroles, soups, stews, even CAKE. Yes, I said it....CAKE!  The best part about a slow cooker is that it requires no special skill, just moisture and time. One easy example-you ball up some tin foil on the bottom of the slow cooker, place a whole roaster chicken on the foil (please remove all the insides!), rub it with butter and season with your favorite spices. Let roast on low for 8 hours. You will come back to fall off the bone tender chicken and you didn't even have to mess up your oven.  All that's next is adding side dishes, and if there's anything left over then tomorrow you have chicken salad sandwiches. The best part about slow cooking as well is that most of the time it uses staples that you already have in your pantry. Think creamed soups, broths, noodles...You can stock up with coupons and have all the ingredients ready to roll.


Next familiarize yourself with quick meals that are healthy. Pork chops, chicken breasts, and cube steaks are all cuts of meat that take very little time to cook. Pair that with some par boiled brown rice and a steamed vegetable and you can have dinner in 15-20 minutes. Here is another quick favorite meal of mine:
Pesto Chicken-
Ingredients-
3-4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (on the thin side! If not, pound them)
1 jar prepared pesto (you can use homemade or the refrigerated kind)
2 plum tomatoes
1 mozzarella ball
1 box of noodles (any shape you desire)

Preheat your oven to 400*. Line a 9 x 13 glass baking pan with foil. Next poor 1/4 cup of pesto into a bowl (more if you'd like) coat both sides of the chicken in the pesto. Place chicken on foil in baking pan. Cook for 20-25. Next slice the plum tomato and place 1-2 slices on each chicken breast. Cover with a slice of mozzarella. Bake for an additional 5 minutes until cheese is melted and chicken has reached the proper internal temperature. While the chicken is baking cook your box of noodles to your desired texture. Use the remaining pesto as a sauce for the noodles. Serve with chicken.

There are plenty of similar meals out there that take less than 30 minutes and use FRESH ingredients. This meal can be made for just a few $ per person per serving. I will be posting more cost effective recipes. If anyone has any special requests let me know.