Quick and Easy Meals

 As the kids get older, the homeschool lessons get more involved, and the husband's schedule gets all kinds of crazy, I find my typical meal planning and scheduling getting all kinds of messed up. I eventually find a new routine, but by golly does it takes awhile for a 'new normal' to get set in stone. 

Lately I've wanted to throw in the towel and resort to sandwiches and salads for every meal. 
Those are two of my favorite meals, so I'd be fine. My husband, however, would never be able to live off of light meals. He's a meat and potatoes kind of guy, so I must oblige his primal menu, right?

To get myself back into the swing of things, I've been tying to find quick meals or meals that allow me to set it and forget it for a bit.

After speaking with some of you guys, I figured that these recipes would be worth a share.

First off we have Pioneer Woman's Eggs in Hash brown Nests:

Link to original recipe here.

 I've linked the original recipe under the picture.

Here' are a few things that I did differently because:
A) I'm cheap and make food stretch.
B) I'm busy and like to find the lazy-man way of doing things.
C) I wasn't fond of the hash brown flavor in the original recipe.

• I baked the potatoes in the microwave.
• I used a potholder to hold the potato when I grated my hash browns because I couldn't wait ten minutes for them to cool.
• Next time I'll season the heck out of the hash browns using salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
• Instead of using an individual egg per nest, I made a batch of scrambled egg mix and poured on top.(Eggs can get expensive!)

Here's my basic scrambled egg recipe:
5 large eggs
salt and pepper to your liking 
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 tsp garlic powder (a total guesstimation)
1 tbsp chopped green onions
1-2 tbsp sour cream
*optional* dash of hot sauce

Beat the fire out of the eggs using a fork until ingredients are blended well. Pour mixture on top of nests.
Then simply follow the rest of the recipe.


Next we have mini pancakes:

Recipe link

My friend, Jerian, introduced me to the joys of mini pancakes. They cook more quickly and kids can dip them in syrup or jam instead of dealing with the mess of tons of syrupy pancakes that have to be cut.

Recipe: 
1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp white sugar
1 1/4 Cups milk (I used almond milk and used about 1/4 cup more than this to thin out that batter and it turned out just fine)
1 egg
3 tbsp butter, melted

Mix ingredients together and use a spoon to plop little circles of batter on the hot griddle. wait until you see bubbles in the batter on the top side of the pancake, then flip. Wait another minute or two and your pancakes should be done!

My kids eat theirs with a side of strawberry vanilla jam.


Finally, we have Santa Fe Chicken Salad Wraps:

Recipe link

• 10 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 lime juice, juiced
• 1 Tbsp taco seasoning
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• dash crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 (12 oz) cups cooked chicken 
• 1 (11 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1/2 green pepper, finely diced
• 1/2 cup finely diced celery
• 1/2 container grape tomatoes, halved
• 2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro (2 tsp dried)
• 1 can Black Beans

In medium bowl whisk together mayonnaise, lime juice, taco seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder and red pepper flakes.  Stir in remaining ingredients. Coat evenly.
Cover and refrigerate 25-30 minutes before serving.

We  served ours in with lettuce on a whole wheat tortilla wrap, but it's also yummy on a bed of lettuce for a salad or on sandwich bread.



I was going to post my quick stir-fry recipe, but it occurred to me that I've never measured out my recipe, so that post will come later.

I hope y'all have a happy Thursday, friends!

Happy eating!
-Heather