Simplified Dinners

I will readily admit that I often find myself in a cooking rut.

I have a bunch of go-to meals that are pretty easy to make, but they get boring. It often feels like we’re eating the same thing over and over.

I am also guilty of not always planning my meals ahead of time (yes, I am sure this shocks you). Yes, I often make it to lunch time before I realize I forgot to take meat out of the freezer. Oops!

On Tuesdays I try to make use of my Crock-Pot since I participate in the Homeschool Blogging Twitter chat and don’t want to get caught meal-less at 5PM!

This week I got to try out a recipe from a new cookbook, Simplified Dinners by Mystie Winckler. I’ll admit, the title itself won me over easily. I want delicious and I also want simple. Life is often too chaotic in a full house for very fussy meals.

Mystie has really made meal planning easy in this PDF cookbook. One of the first things you’ll find in the book (I printed it out at home, it is 30 pages and I printed it double-sided for only 15 sheets), is a copy of her master pantry list.

Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed by figuring out what you really need in the house to make meal time easier?

I do!

This list has everything that you’ll need to make each recipe she features or get creative without filling your shopping cart full of expensive “quick” foods, or items you’ll end up having to toss before using. This could really help stretch the grocery budget without getting bland or boring.

The other thing I really appreciated is that Simplified Dinners isn’t your run-of-the-mill cookbook with recipes requiring 1/4 tsp of this 7/8 cups of that… she gives you instructions on techniques and methods to balance and compliment flavors as well as some straight forward “use-this-measurement” recipes. Kind of the way your Mom or Grandmom may have showed you how to cook as a child.

Each page gives you the technique on top and then the rest of the page is suggestions for playing with various flavors, so one technique has many ways of preparing for different tasty results.

Good-bye cooking rut!

Toward the end of the book she has included side-dish recommendations and a blank meal-plan. Not overwhelming at all.

So this week for my Crock-Pot meal I tried out her Margarita Chicken recipe, from the Slow-Cooker, No-Defrost Chicken Pieces page. I had a bag full of legs and thighs that I had stocked up on from the last sale, but of course I had forgotten to take them out of the freezer the night before. No problem! I mixed up the marinade, I had fresh limes on hand so I used those. Mashed up a few garlic cloves and tossed them in with the chicken piece. Poured over the marinade (I reserved about a little of it to the side to add back into the finished chicken) and turned it on. My pieces were frozen but were fully cooked on low after about 5 hours. As she recommended I shredded the chicken and mixed back in some of the cooking juices as well as the reserved marinade.

I also made the cilantro-lime rice from her side dish page. I used a bit more of the cooking juices as part of the liquid for my rice. A great way to tie in the flavor and not waste all those delicious extras.

I also served it with a Romaine salad and seasoned black beans. Vince and the children ate theirs as burritos with huge raves, I had mine over the rice. This will definitely be a repeat performer in our home!

Simplified Dinners is only $9.99 for the PDF download but Mystie has offered my readers $2 off if you use the code ‘may12‘ before this month ends! Next up on my list to try is her Coffee-Molasses marinade for pork. How good does that sound?