Lazy cooking

I am not the biggest fan of cooking. But I want to eat healthy food and I definitely want my kids to eat healthy food. So I have found ways to be "lazy" about my cooking so that we can eat healthy foods and I don't have to be standing over the stove every night.

Lazy cooking tip #1- Marry a man who likes to cook.
I am very lucky that my husband loves to cook. He likes to make all of the complicated stuff that I'm to lazy to make. However, because of his work schedule, he is only home for dinner on the weekends. He does most of the cooking then. He also will cook dinners on Monday nights and Friday nights when I have rehearsal and get home late. Nothing like walking in the door and all I have to do is take whatever is cooking out of the oven and put it on the table.

Lazy cooking tip #2- Pre-cook.
One of my favorite things to do is make a HUGE crockpot of salsa chicken. I give this recipe to everyone. It is one of the best things I got during my teaching experience in Hilliard, OH--an elementary classroom teacher gave it to me. I don't remember her name anymore, but I can clearly picture her red hair, adorable Southern accent, and her love of Elvis (her daughter's name was Presley).

Crockpot Salsa Chicken- 
4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts--put them in the crock pot
dump 1 jar of salsa over them
Cook for 8-10 hours.
Shred.

I serve these in burrito shells with LOADS of chopped veggies, guacamole, and a little bit of sour cream.
I also freeze 2/3 of the chicken for future meals (cook 1x, use 3 times--my kind of cooking!).

I also enjoy browning a big package of ground beef or turkey and then dividing it up and freezing batches to put into recipes later. (Tacos, soup, meat sauce).

Lazy cooking tip #3-Steamed frozen veggies are often our side dishes.
 In the wintertime when I don't have a selection of veggies from our garden, I swear by steamed frozen veggies. No sauces, nothing fancy. Water in the pan, steam in the steamer. Easy peasy.

Lazy cooking tip #4-Chop more than you need, use it next time.
Using peppers for today and tomorrow's dinner? Chop enough for both one day, then the next day your prep work is done!

Lazy cooking tip #5- Store bought rotisserie chicken is my friend.
I will buy these all the time, and whatever we don't eat, I shred up and freeze for future meals. Chicken pot pie, chicken salad, chicken soup--I am not cooking my own chicken to make this.

Lazy cooking tip #6- Store bought chicken broth is my other friend.
I LOVE soup. I'm not making homemade broth. Too much work for me. So after I saute my veggies that I'm using for my soup, I throw in chicken (or beef depending on the soup) broth. Depending on the kind of soup I'm making, it can be done in 15-30 minutes with little prep. Just be careful that you aren't buying broth with MSG in it. Not good for you at all.

Here is my current favorite soup. My 3 year old will DEVOUR it (and this child is picky, but he will eat this).
Spinach soup
I also make a butternut squash soup in a similar way, I just take out the milk and substitute butternut squash for the spinach.

Lazy cooking tip #7-Can we say LEFTOVERS?!
I really try hard to make a large enough amount of food so that I have leftovers to eat another day and can freeze some if it will freeze well. The microwave is a lazy girl's best friend!

What are your lazy cooking tips?

Healthy Eating

Here are my kids at a local fruit orchard, Lyman Orchards, in Middlefield, CT. This is one of many different orchards/farms we have been to in the local area to show kids where their food really comes from. My kids not only pick the fruit, but they eat as they go. On a blueberry picking excursion, I think all of my son's blueberries went in his belly instead of his bucket!

I know a lot of people buy organic, and while I would LOVE to, it just is not in our budget to do that. I'm pretty proud of the fact that we rarely have junk food in our house and are really careful about how often our kids have treats, and when they get  treat, how much they get. I've been known to say "you get 5 MnMs because you are 5."  I also once flipped out at my mom in front of my entire family because she was letting my daughter eat cookies one holiday but she hadn't eaten her real food! Anyway, we are big on lots of veggies and fruits and rarely do we have "prepared foods" for our meals. Frozen veggies and instant brown rice, yes, frozen meals, no.

In the interest of health and supporting local business, I have been wanting to join a CSA for awhile, and because of some other things that came up, was unable to do it... until now! I was really excited to find out that a farm stand (Fair Weather Acres)within 5 minutes from my house was offering shares and half-shares. What I'm most excited about (besides the fact that it is really close to my house) is that besides offering veggies from their farm, they are also including fruit from local orchards in their offerings each week.

I always wanted to be able to support local agriculture, but the cost always kept me from buying at farmer's markets. When I look at the cost of the CSA and all that I would get, even in a half-share, it seems way worth it. Between the CSA and our own garden, we are going to have some awesome summer and fall of healthy food at a great price!

Why didn't I think of that before???

I realized that I had volunteered to bake cookies for a school event. After Thanksgiving. When my concert is next week. And I have a student teacher. And am in the middle of working on my National Boards.

Apparently, I'm a glutton for punishment.

Anyway, I had baked a bunch of spritz cookies a few weeks ago and froze them for just this kind of baking emergency. But they needed to be frosted for sure.

And then, it came to me. Instead of frosting them, I used old restaurant style ketchup and mustard bottles to drizzle the icing on them. For 4 years, I have been having my kids "frost" cookies which means frosting is everywhere and their ooey, gooey fingers lick the frosting the inevitably gets on someone's cookies. (Sorry if you had L and H germs on your past holiday cookie treats). Can't WAIT to have them "frost" cookies with the squeeze bottles this year!!