Monthly Archives: August 2012

Pasta Sauce with Bacon

This is for all of you bacon lovers out there. We had this tonight and I have to say I liked it very much. The bacon gives it a smoky, kind of Tuscan farmhouse, type of taste. (No, I have never been in a Tuscan farmhouse nor have I ever been to Tuscany, but I imagine that when you go there you get to eat lots of yummy food and this just might be on the menu.)

Ingredients:
4 slices of thick bacon, chopped (you can add more less, it’s up to you)
1/4 medium onion, diced
26 oz. jar pasta sauce (I used the garlicky kind.)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 tspn cayenne pepper
Parmesan, to taste

Instructions:
In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté the bacon, onions and garlic.

Drain the fat from the skillet.

Keep the bacon/garlic/onion mixture in the skillet and add the pasta sauce and the cayenne.

Heat through.

Serve over pasta. Add Parmesan.

What did the family think? Hubby and I were the only ones who ate this. Hubby said it was fine, but he would have rather had meatballs. I thought it was super tasty.

Where did this recipe come from? Food.com

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Filed under Easy, Italian, Pork, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make

Dinner in a Hurry, Part 1

School is right around the corner for us which means the pace of life is going to pick up. School all day, then violin or soccer or tae kwon do, birthday parties, homework and on and on and on. One thing that is super important to us is that we all sit down together to have dinner. It doesn’t happen every single day of the year, but most days we make it happen. Sometimes that means we don’t eat until late…like really late…but at least we’re eating together.

One of my time-saving tricks on these nights is to have the kids shower while I am making dinner and they just eat dinner in their pajamas…that way we’re getting two things done at once and they’re all dressed for bed before dinner even begins.

Another timesaver is making sure that everyone is helping out. Someone can get out the plates while someone else gets the silverware out. Someone can get the drinks ready while someone else gets out the napkins…divide and conquer.

I have gathered a lot of super quick recipes to share with you, but instead of giving them out all at once, I thought I would start us off with a sampling and give you some new ones as the year progresses. That way you’ll have some new ideas under your belt throughout the year without having to try and remember all of these recipes from all the way back in August when you’re trying to find a quick dinner in February.

First of all, we have a couple of “go to” quick dinners at our house. No recipe necessary, but I thought I would put them on this list anyways.

1. Breakfast for dinner: Eggs, bacon/sausage, some fruit and maybe some toast

2. Pasta: pasta with some salad on the side…super fast. We usually have some fruit with it too.

3. Hamburgers: we usually have hamburgers with chips (we LOVE Kettle chips) and some fresh fruit

The rest of the dinners on this post are Crock Pot/slow cooker dinners:
4. Tacos are a super duper fast dinner. We keep ours pretty simple with some taco meat, salsa, cheese and these refried beans.

5. Our kids love this CrockPot Lasagna. Serve it with some salad and some fruit and call it a meal.

6. CrockPot BBQ Brisket Sandwiches: serve these with some fruit and this make ahead cole slaw and dinner will be ready when you walk in the door.

7. CrockPot Ravioli Lasagna with some fruit and a salad and…voila…dinner.

8. Slow Roasted Crock Pot Chicken…this cooks the chicken and the veggies all at the same time. Serve with some bread and butter and dinner is done.

9. West Caribbean Crock Pot Chicken…this might be a little too adventurous for the eaters as your house. It’s really, really good though.

10. This recipe for CrockPot Hawaiian Pulled Pork is seriously one of my favorite recipes on this whole blog. Have it with some Kettle chips and some pineapple…so good! Seriously.

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Super Easy to Make

Camping Menu

We have been camping a lot lately and when I say a lot I mean twice, which is a 200% increase in the amount of camping my husband and I had done in our previous 13 years of marriage.

One of the first things I had to figure out when we decided to take on this challenge of camping was to decide what we were going to eat. I now have a menu that works for us, it’s pretty low key, and it’s one that everyone will eat.

Day 1
Dinner-Hamburgers or hot dogs
Chips
Watermelon
Bread and butter pickles
Wine for the adults and water for the kids

Day 2
Breakfast-Cereal or pb&j sandwiches
Bananas
Milk or juice

Lunch-Turkey and cheese or pb&j sandwiches
Strawberries
Chips
Bread and butter pickles
Chocolate chip cookies

Snacks-Apples, popcorn, cheese slices, yogurt

Dinner-Grilled Italian Sausages on hot dog buns with marinara sauce
Chips
Watermelon
Bread and butter pickles
Wine for the adults and water for the kids
S’mores for dessert

Day 3
Breakfast-Cereal or pb&j sandwiches
Bananas
Milk or juice

Lunch-Turkey and cheese or pb&j sandwiches
Strawberries
Chips
Bread and butter pickles
Chocolate chip cookies

Snacks-Apples, popcorn, cheese slices, yogurt

Dinner-Kabobs (I bought these pre-made and pre-marinated at the grocery store.)
Chips
Watermelon
Bread and butter pickles
Wine for the adults and water for the kids
S’mores for dessert

Day 4
Breakfast-Cereal or pb&j sandwiches
Bananas
Milk or juice

You may have noticed there is a lot of repetition. Yes, there is. One of my goals when planning our camping menu was to keep it simple and to bring as little food as necessary and to have as few leftovers as possible so there wasn’t much to bring home with us.

I would love to know what your family likes to eat while camping. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 🙂

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Everybody Ate It

Lunch Box Supplies

I do dread packing lunches. It’s always fun the first few weeks and then the fun, well, let’s just say it tapers off a bit. We still have to take lunches though and we are committed to creating as little waste as possible and to make our lunch boxes fun. How do we do that?

Let’s start with our lunch sacks. I let the kids pick their own lunch box. My only requirement is that it be big enough to hold a decent-sized lunch. These kids aren’t getting any smaller which means their lunches aren’t getting any smaller either.

Next, sandwich bags…out with the plastic bags and in with the cloth ones. We have Keeper Sacks and ReUsies. We use these to take snacks to school sometimes too. What do I love about them the most? I don’t have to buy tons of plastic sandwich bags. Why do the kids love them? They come in all kinds of fun colors and patterns.

My ABSOLUTE favorite lunch accessory is our Foogoo thermoses. Why do I love them so very, very, very much? They are dishwasher safe!!! Also, my kids don’t eat a lot of cold sack lunches, so we use these a LOT.

Drinks? We really try to limit sugar intake around here, so my kids get water. I don’t send milk because my children have been known to leave lunch sacks at school over Thanksgiving Break. No one wants to clean out milk that’s been sitting there for five days. So, they get water and they drink it from Kleen Kanteens. We like the hook loop lids…they don’t leak. Also, these come in lots of different colors which may seem like a good idea, but we have found that the steel colored ones are best because there is no paint to chip off. When the paint starts to chip off they just aren’t quite as much fun.

The other super important component of our lunch packing are these containers from IKEA. They are BPA free and come in lots of shapes and sizes. They are great for crackers, fruit, hummus, salsa, veggie sticks and the list goes on and on.

We also use cloth napkins and real silverware. I don’t think my kids actually use the napkins for wiping their mouths or hands, but they are there just in case they are inspired to use their manners at the lunch table. If nothing else, I put their napkins at the bottom of their lunchboxes and if anything spills (which it does) those cloth napkins are great at soaking up the mess. Do I ever lose silverware in the lunchroom trashcan? Probably, but not much.

What are some of your lunchbox must haves? Please share your ideas.:)

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