working moms - dinner

I love my crockpot and I'm a stay at home mom. It is so nice to know that come dinner time we will have hot dinner ready to go instead of me spending an hour in the kitchen making something. I would search crockpot recipes and start trying some of them. Good Luck!!!

I have done things like

Turkey burgers on whole wheat sandwich rounds
sweet potato fries (baked)
toss salad

baked talapia
brown rice
carrots or any type of green veggie
toss salad

Thursday evening I go through my 4,345,746,999 Pinterest food recipes. I pick out 5 meals based mostly on what I have on hand at home. I email them to myself so I can look at them on my phone. I make a grocery list of things I don't have that I'll handle sometime Thursday, or any day thereafter. On Sunday, I spend about 2-3 hours chopping, slicing, grating, mincing, measuring, thawing, marinating, meatball forming, putting into containers, making sauces and rice ahead of time, and sticking it back into the fridge to be made that week.

I make the recipe for the items that would taste better right away. So fresh seafood is Monday - Tuesday, and the marinated things are last because they're tastier. I have one really simple throw-together pasta type dish for whatever day I need to be even easier than usual.

Hi, I work evening shifts, but I find a slow cooker is damn handy for stews, etc. Sadly I dont know how chuffed your four year old will be as my six year old wont eat stew, but loves Spagetti Bol, zizzed in a zizzer, as she hates the texture of mince.

I like to do a big meal on sunday with plenty of leftovers like a pork roast in the oven with tons of veggies or throw some stuff together in the crockpot in the morning like ground turkey, veggies, and bean--and voila--chili!

I love making a couple of meals on Sunday! It gets us through Tuesday or maybe Wed. if I am lucky! It is so nice to not have to think about cooking every single night when I come home!

When I do cook my kids love Mommie's Special Spagett! All I do is take a half a bag of mixed veggies, steam them a little and then use a food processor and mush it down and throw it in any jar of spaghetti sauce! My kids will eat baked chicken so we will do that a lot and tonight is going to be burger night I think!

one word. Well.. maybe it's two words. Frankly I'm not really ever sure. Anyway: CROCKPOT

The crockpot was one of the best inventions for working moms. Here are a few of my recipes. I have never added up the calories but I think they are fairly healthy. Just don't add too many toppings!

Crockpot chicken tacos
3 frozen chicken breasts
1 can black beans drained and rinsed
1 can rotel
1 can corn drained
1 package of taco seasoning
Cook on low 8 to 10 hours (mine cooks on low for 8 and then the crockpot automatically goes to keep warm)
Shred with fork when you get home. Serve in taco shells with your fixings or make nachos out of it (i'm guessing the nachos are far worse though with the chips)

Crockpot BBQ Chicken Wraps
3 frozen chicken breasts
3/4 bottle bbq sauce (I just cover the chicken breasts fairly well)
Diced onion (omit if you dislike)
a little brown sugar
Cook on low 8 hours or so.
Shred with fork
Serve on tortillas with a slice of cheese

Crockpot chicken enchiladas
3 frozen chicken breasts
1 can enchilada sauce
Diced onion (omit if you want)
1 can cream of chicken soup (can be omitted so its a healthier meal)
Cook on low 8 hours or so
Shred with fork
Wrap in tortillas and place in greased baking dish
You can add jalapenos and olives inside tortillas if you like them.
Cover with the leftover sauce from crockpot or get another can of enchilada sauce
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes
Sprinkle with some cheese (omit for healthier option)

I have a ton more, but wanted to shout out a few. I plan to make lots of wraps for the summer. Will use pinterest for more crockpot recipes for those. I'm going to buy bags of fajita style chicken breast meat to make those. I need quick and easy meals for when soccer season begins!

My super quick crock pot is 2 chicken breasts and a can of cream of chicken soup. Throw the chicken breasts in, dump the soup over, I usually add garlic/pepper, etc, and then cover with water. The chicken is done when I get home, I make some 5 minute brown rice, open a can of black beans and some other veggie, nuke those, then throw them all together for rice bowls. then we are back out the door for Judo, baseball, whatever.

This feeds my hubby, my 9 year old son, and me with usually leftovers.

I just tried it this week with cheddar cheese soup and steamed broccoli. Yummy, super easy and fits easily into my calories.

My quick go to is Chicken Ranch tacos in the crock pot - chicken breast, chicken broth, 1 pkg. taco seasoning, 1 pkg. ranch dressing mix. Cook all day. I make a salad for myself and then tacos for the kiddo. Is high in sodium, but overall not too bad.