Heavenly Homemakers

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How to Use a Cast Iron Skillet like a Pro

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I’ve loved and recommended using a cast iron skillet for years. Today, Tasha will tell you how to use one like a pro!

How to use a cast iron skillet like a pro

by Tasha Hackett

I didn’t know how to properly cook with a cast iron skillet until very recently. 

Even though I have prepared food almost exclusively on my cast iron skillet, I continually burned food or the food stuck so badly I spent far too long scraping it off the bottom and reseasoning again. 

I burned the pancakes on my cast iron again and I was sad. As I served my family I said, “I know it’s burned. Sorry. It is what it is. This is the last of the flour, I’m not making anything else. Sorry. Just eat it. I know it’s burned. Sorry. Don’t ask me why it keeps burning.” 

I burned the zucchini patties and I was sad. “I don’t know why they’re burning! The bottom is burned before I can even flip them without it falling apart! I turned it down and they’re still burning.” 

The scrambled eggs stuck to the bottom of the pan so badly I felt like I sacrificed two whole eggs to the cast iron gods. 

Please tell me I’m not the only one who struggles with the cast iron skillet? 

Figuring out how to use a cast iron skillet shouldn’t have taken me this long.

 

With all my struggles, you may be asking, “Why do you even use it if it causes so much trouble?” A few reasons. 

Now that I know how to use a cast iron skillet, I love it even more.

Foremost, I like the simplicity of it. I use this one pan multiple times a day. I clean it after each meal and it lives on my stovetop. The nostalgia that this is the same type of pan the pioneers used hundreds of years ago speaks to my author soul. I don’t wear 1800’s dresses, or travel by horse or train or write letters with an inkwell, but by golly I can cook with the same pan! (In theory, except I was disproportionately burning everything.) Another main reason I like to use it is that I don’t trust modern technology when it comes to our health. Teflon is bad for you–correction, teflon is bad for you when heated. HA! 

I know there are other non-stick pans out there today that claim to be non-toxic, but I haven’t had the time to look into them yet. (I’ve been far too busy wondering why I keep burning the Simple Tuna Patties.)

cast iron eggs

Here are my how-to tips for using your cast iron skillet:

  1. Start with a well-seasoned cast iron skillet. Which I have. Many times. Keeping it well-seasoned was my problem. Seasoning a skillet is simple: Clean. Dry. Rub a teaspoon of vegetable oil or lard all over. Top, bottom, outside, underneath, and the handle. Bake upside down in a 350* oven for an hour. Let it cool in the oven before putting it away.
  2. Be patient. Let the pan preheat at a low temperature for up to five minutes before cooking on it. A drop of water should immediately sizzle and then you may add the oil. If the butter, oil, lard, etc., is smoking, that means your skillet is too hot. Heating a cast iron skillet/pot/pan on high heat right away, especially on an electric stove, causes the iron to expand and heat unevenly and can cause warping. This is one of the only things that will ruin your skillet.
  3. Preheat the oil. Do this after the pan is preheated. Again, if the oil smokes or burns, this is a bad sign. If the butter is burning, the pancakes will soon be burning. (You’d think I could have figured that out sooner.) On my gas stove, I do most of my cooking just above Low or directly between Low and Medium. On my stove, the butter burns at Medium. Once the pan is heated, if you turn the temperature down it will not immediately make a difference. One of the pan’s strengths is the ability to hold heat. Therefore, adjusting the temperature up and down while you’re cooking isn’t going to work well for your food or your taste buds. Or your family’s trust in your cooking abilities. Have patience while preheating, and you will quickly learn where to set the temperature and can leave it there.

  4. Do the sizzle dance.

  5. The food should sizzle as soon as it touches the pan. Food that doesn’t sizzle means your pan wasn’t preheated enough and now your food is going to stick and then probably burn. (Preheat the skillet even if you are baking cornbread in the oven. The sizzle as you pour in the cornbread batter will create a delicious crust and keep the wet cornbread from sticking to the pan.)
  6. A properly seasoned cast iron skillet is easily cleaned with a wipe-down of a paper towel or hot water and plastic scraper. Boiling water in the pan, using soap, or not properly drying will cause your pan to rust and this is bad. If the pan rusts, you get to scrub it off with a steel brush and do the reseasoning thing again.
  7. Whenever dry spots appear on the pan, it’s time to reseason. If you use enough oil while cooking on the pan, you shouldn’t have to do the reseasoning thing more than a few times a year. If that. But… if you were anything like me and frequently burned the food and then had to scour it off with hot water, reseason it as often as necessary until you’ve perfected the patience that is required for preheating your pan. 

And that’s how to use your cast iron!

cast iron onions

This pan was not preheated. There was no sizzle when the onions were added. The butter wasn’t melted and then it will later burn.

I’m curious, how many of you have skillets passed down from your grandma? Years of history and thousands of meals prepared in a pan that is still in great use today? Amazing!

I love to invest in things that will last. Cast iron is just one of those things. Now that I know how to really use mine, I foresee some delicious pancakes in my family’s future. 

Tasha HackettTasha Hackett, friend of Laura, is fueled by sunshine or chocolate, whichever is more readily available. Recently embarking on a paleo journey to combat some chronic inflammation, she is still finding ways to eat chocolate. Though she proudly sings every word of the Wee Sing Silly Songs albums and often pretends to be a ballerina while unloading the dishwasher, her favorite thing is writing with hope and humor to entertain and encourage women—specifically young moms. Most of her time is spent with four chatty children and an incredibly supportive husband. They give her the kind of love people write books about. Her debut novel, Bluebird on the Prairie, a heartwarming Historical Romance will release spring, 2021. You can connect with her at www.tashahackett.com or on Instagram @HackettAcademy. 

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More Healthy Food Convenience Foods

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A few years ago, I shared 10 of my favorite pre-packaged foods that are still a healthy option! I’ve since discovered even more! Here are several more healthy food convenience food options…

Healthy Food Convenience Foods

I’ll begin by reminding you of the 10 I shared in the former post. Then I’ll add the new ones I’ve discovered!

1. Mini Sweet Peppers

Oh my goodness, have you tried these? They are deliciously sweet, perfectly crunchy, and wonderful all by themselves or in a salad. We take these on the road trips, munch on them for snacks, add them to our lunch plates, and argue about which color tastes the sweetest. I can’t get enough of these.

packaged convenience 1

2. Fresh Berries

Without a doubt, you can not compete with fresh berries picked and eaten right out of the garden. But during the times those are not available, we look for the best deals on strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries at the store. Wash ’em and eat ’em. It doesn’t get any easier than pulling out berries for a snack or a side dish with a meal.

packaged convenience 2

3. Grape or Cherry Tomatoes

Again, these are best fresh out of the garden. But since ours won’t be ready for another month or two, buying these pre-packaged works great for us.

packaged convenience 3
 4. Baby Carrots

There is some controversy over buying packaged baby carrots because of the information many have heard about baby carrots being soaked in chlorine before being packaged. Read this info and do with it what you wish. As for me, sometimes buying a package of baby carrots is a huge help in my effort to provide my family with extra veggies during a meal.

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5. Mixed Greens

Think making salad is too time consuming? Oh for Pete’s sake. Just buy a container of mixed greens and throw it on the table. It’s pre-washed and ready to eat. We go through a couple packs of these each week.

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6. Pickles

Open a jar, put it on the table, your work here is done.

packaged convenience 6

 7. Cheese Sticks

These can be a little pricey compared to buying a hunk of cheese and slicing it yourself. But when we’re talking about pre-packaged convenience foods, this one is a winner. Cheese is great for an on-the-go protein snack. Yay cheese.

packaged convenience 5

8. Larabars

Yes, you can made these homemade. I’ve done it myself many times. But sometimes my family needs something to stuff in a pocket to eat in between soccer games. I watch for great sales and coupons through Amazon and buy these by the case. They contain fruit and nuts only – a great healthy snack.

packaged convenience 8

9. Fruit Leather

Again, I make this homemade sometimes too. But for a fun treat, I like getting pre-packaged fruit leather when I find it on sale.

packaged convenience 9

10. Raisins

Buy them by the bag or in individual serving sized boxes. This pre-packaged convenience food is awesome for snacking. And really, aren’t those tiny little boxes just the cutest?

packaged convenience 10

What else? Oh, I could list tons. Peanuts, cashews, almonds, bananas, apples, grapes, oranges – think of all the pre-packaged real foods there are to pick from! Never again can we ever claim that healthy eating is difficult. And never again should anyone carry my favorite pen out of my office, put it down, and forget about it.

Here are my favorite newly discovered convenient health foods!

11. Carrot Chips

They are more expensive than whole carrots. But oh my loveliness, they are cut for me. While I juggle and bounce baby/toddlers, opening a bag of these carrots and tossing them into my Stir Fry or Steamed Veggie mixture is such a time saver. Spending a little extra for this convenience is worth it for me right now.

12. Mr. Dells Hashbrowns

I’ve talked about these here and there any time I’ve shared a new recipe that includes hashbrowns. They include one ingredient: Potatoes. SIGN ME UP.

Scroll through these recipes to find all the ways I like to use these when cooking quick meals for my family!

13. Sliced olives

Instead of whole olives. I know. But it saves time when I’m making pizza and that makes me happy.

14. Sliced Mushrooms

Same story as above. Open the package, throw them on our pizza or into our stir fry.

I promise I’m not turning into a lazy cook. Or am I? I prefer to think that I’m still eating real food while spending less time in the kitchen and taking advantage of conveniences such as these as my life becomes more full! Perhaps you’d like to get in on this fun? Save time. Still eat well. Buy the sliced mushrooms. :)

What are your favorite healthy convenience foods?

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My Favorite Real Food Cheat Trick to Save Time Chopping Onions

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This Real Food Cheat Trick is going to sound fairly lame. I admit it. But this tip saves me oodles of time without costing much, if any, extra money! This is how I save time chopping onions!

minced onion trick

How’s this for a tip? Want to save time chopping onions? Don’t chop them. Hold your applause. Please stay tuned for more brilliant tips like this one.

Now that I’ve fully prepared you to be unimpressed, I will admit that it’s likely that many of you will thoroughly dislike my trick. Why? Because most certainly the smell of freshly chopped onions and minced garlic sauteing in a pan with olive oil or butter is incredible!

You are right and I agree. But I still like my trick and I love the time this saves.

My Favorite Real Food Cheat Trick to Save TimeHow I Save Time Chopping Onions

I always keep a huge supply of Dried Minced Onion on hand. I almost never go to the trouble of chopping an onion. I simply grab my jar of dried minced onion, dump in the desired amount, and stir it into the meat I’m cooking. It still smells amazing. It flavors the food marvelously. And I save myself the trouble of chopping an onion, crying a river, and cleaning up the mess afterward.

I suppose it goes without saying that this method also keeps me from having to work at getting the onion smell off my fingers. (Yes, I know. Rub your fingers on stainless steel. I do. It works. But still.)

Also, for people who don’t love chunks of onion in their food, but do love the flavor onions give, using Dried Minced Onion is a great solution!

Save Time Chopping Onions

I might as well make a garlic confession while I’m here.

I frequently cheat with that too. True story: I almost never buy fresh garlic, a fact of which has many of you throwing tomatoes.

Fresh garlic is tough to beat, no doubt. But time saved in the kitchen trumps all, in my book. So I either keep a jar of minced garlic in the fridge or I grab my jar of dried garlic powder from my spice cabinet. My food still tastes delicious, but I’ve saved myself some work by using these convenience items.

So there you have it. Now you know. I often cheat and use already-prepared onions and garlic. You can’t talk me out of it. (Though I suppose you can try.)

But doesn’t this cost more?

Minced Onion appears to be more expensive per pound compared to cost per pound of fresh onions. However, Dried Minced Onions have been dehydrated, shrinking them down and changing their weight. You’ll get a lot of dried minced onion per pound compared to fresh onions. One small fresh onion equals 1 Tablespoon Dried Minced Onion.

onion3

Where to purchase Dried Minced Onion

Most grocery stores carry these. They can be found in the aisle with the spices. However, I typically purchase it in bulk either from Azure Standard or Amazon.

Huge Bulk Amount of Dried Minced Onion

Dried Minced Onion options at Azure Standard

Now it’s your turn to tell me if you feel it is worth taking the extra time to chop onions and garlic. If you’re often feeling tight on time in the kitchen, I recommend giving this a try, especially on busy days!

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The Easiest Way to Make Lasagna

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Raise your hand if you never make lasagna because you think it’s too difficult. Come closer, my friends. Allow me to let you in on a few secrets so that you can learn the easiest way to make lasagna for your family and for guests!

lasagna23

Ten years ago when I first launched my website, this was a recipe I included in my first cute little eBook series. I’ve since taken these eBooks out of my shop and shared most of these recipes on my blog. But somehow, I failed to ever share this recipe for The Easiest Lasagna!!

In the Kitchen eBooks

Awww. Remember these? Precious memories.

Until now. In celebration of 10 years of blogging, it is a must that I finally tell you my secrets for making the easiest lasagna on the planet. Forgive me for waiting this long. Your life will be better now that you can make lasagna with so little effort. Your family will be so happy!

lasagna33Trick #1: Do not cook the lasagna noodles ahead of time. Simply lay the dry noodles in the pan and layer them with the sauce and cheese. Drizzle about 1/2 cup of water over the lasagna before baking and cover with foil. The water will cook the noodles while it bakes. Easy!

Trick #2: Stir the cottage cheese into the sauce instead of working in vain to spread it onto the noodles as you create layers in the pan. This makes no difference in the taste, but it sure does alleviate a challenging step in the lasagna-making process!

Trick #3: When making one lasagna, for the love of all things simple, make two or three. It takes no extra effort to do this! Then you can put the extra lasagnas into your freezer to effortlessly bake another day!

lasagna11

The Easiest Way to Make Lasagna

5.0 from 2 reviews
The Easiest Way to Make Lasagna
 
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Author:
Serves: 6-10
Ingredients
  • 1 lb ground hamburger meat
  • 4 Tablespoons minced onion or chopped fresh onion
  • 32 ounces spaghetti sauce
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 8-ounces cottage cheese
  • 16-ounce box lasagna noodles
  • 3 cups shredded cheese (our favorite is Colby jack but you can also use mozzarella)
  • ⅓ cup water
Instructions
  1. In a large pot, cook hamburger meat with onion. Drain grease if necessary.
  2. Stir in pasta sauce and salt.
  3. Remove from heat and stir in cottage cheese.
  4. Lay ⅓ of the lasagna noodles (uncooked) to cover the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
  5. Pour ⅓ of the sauce mixture over the noodles and spread to cover the noodles.
  6. Sprinkle ⅓ of the shredded cheese over the top.
  7. Repeat these layers twice more.
  8. Drizzle ⅓ cup water over the lasagna.
  9. Cover tightly with foil.
  10. Bake for one hour at 350 degrees.

The Easiest Way to make Lasagna

I can think of no better time to make this Easy Lasagna recipe! This is a fabulous meal to have in your freezer during these busy holiday weeks. In addition, Lasagna is a wonderful meal to feed guests! Get your ingredients rounded up, and crank out some Lasagnas!!

If you’d like to watch a video of me making three lasagnas, here you go! See how easy this is!

Now, can anyone tell me why Lasagna is spelled with a “g” in there? I may have figured out ways to make this dish simple, but I have  yet to learn why it is spelled so silly.

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Real Food Recipes That Are Easy AND Save You Money

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I used to make everything from scratch. Everything. Ketchup, graham crackers, and even mozzarella cheese. It’s great to have the skills and knowledge to do this. But at a certain point I had to ask:

Am I getting enough bang for my buck, here? As in, is the time I’m taking and the energy I’m extending to make all of this food really saving me money and therefore, is it worth it?

mozzcheese2sm

For the record, homemade mozzarella costs more than store-bought.

Now, sometimes it’s worth putting forth the effort or spending more to make food from scratch because of the health benefit and great flavor. I mean, I don’t even care how much it saves or doesn’t save to make Homemade Ranch Dressing because this recipe tastes thousands of times better than the bottled stuff and it only includes healthy ingredients. I don’t want high fructose corn syrup on my salad.

ranchdressin2sm

But as my schedule has gotten busier and as the quantity of food we plow through every day has increased, I’ve had to be more choosy about what I make, what I buy pre-made, and what I skip altogether.

For instance, I used to make all of our Whole Wheat Tortillas, without fail. These taste amazing and we miss them, but it takes triple the amount of tortillas to get us through a meal now, compared to the days my kids were little. It’s a rare occasion that I “go to the trouble” to make tortillas now, because it takes over an hour to get the job done. (Though when I do, there is much rejoicing.) We either skip tortillas now (often subbing corn chips), or I’ll buy a case from Azure Standard to keep in the freezer.

Having said all of that, today I thought I’d share some recipes I’ve stuck with for all these years, even with a busier schedule and a higher volume of food consumption. These recipes are worth my time, because the time investment is tiny. And they are cheaper than store-bought so they are a win-win! Also, homemade always tastes better, so score one more for that!

Real Food Recipes that are Easy and Save Money

Seasoning Mixes

I make all of our Ranch Dressing Mix, Italian Dressing Mix, Onion Soup Mix, and Taco Seasoning Mix. These cost pennies to make, saving a significant amount. And since I make big batches, the time saved on these is great!

condiments

Vanilla Extract

The price of beans has gone up, but it still saves money to make Homemade Vanilla Extract. It’s ridiculously easy to make, and well worth the effort because homemade vanilla is amazing!

vanilla_four

Stir-and-Pour Whole Wheat Bread

We don’t eat as much bread as we used to at our house. I think it’s wholesome and filling and my family loves it, but I prefer to fill everyone with more nutrient-packed sides like fruits and veggies. So bread has taken a back seat at our house.

I do sometimes buy a loaf of 100% whole wheat sandwich bread for sandwiches when we need to pack them for a road trip. But for bread at home, when as do eat it with a meal, I make this Stir-and-Pour Whole Wheat Bread. It takes hardly any time or effort, and it doesn’t cost very much. And it tastes awesome!

stir and pour bread loaf 5

Homemade Granola

I discovered this 5-Minute Granola Method and haven’t looked back. I add in whatever we have (dried fruit or chocolate chips) and we’ve got ourselves a great cereal for much less than store bought!

Stove-Top Granola

All of these Simple Meal Recipes

Check out this Spanish Rice Bowl and the long list of other Simple Real Food Recipes it includes. I keep coming up with more of these recipes and am amazed at how much time and money they are saving! I’ve cut down my kitchen time with these Simple Recipes so much that I feel like a cheater. Almost. ;)

spanish rice bowl11

Cool Pineapple Cream Dessert

This is ridiculously easy and so super yummy! Throw three ingredients in the blender and you’re set!

pineapple dessert 3

Special Coffee Drinks

It’s a rare thing for us to spend $$ at a coffee shop since we can make fun coffee drinks at home for much less! This Chocolate Frappe is awesome. Sometimes we put this Chocolate Whipped Cream in our coffee. We freeze coffee into ice cubes like this to make easy Iced Coffees. This Coffee Milkshake is awesome in the summertime. Sometimes I make a big batch of Chocolate Iced Coffee to offer several people at once. While all of these take a little time, it doesn’t feel like a lot of effort because it’s FUN to make drinks like this!

What are some of the foods you make from scratch that are easy and save money?

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Veggie-n-Egg Scramble ~ A Great Last Minute Meal Idea

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I think this Veggie-n-Egg Scramble might become one of my favorite and most relied upon go-to meals.

Veggie and Egg Scramble

Yum

I used to make something like this years ago, but kind of forgot about it. Weird how that happens.

A few weeks ago, I needed a quick meal before we headed out to a soccer game. I didn’t have time to cook meat, but I did have a fridge full of veggies and a few dozen eggs. I called the boys into the kitchen and started throwing vegetables and knives at them. Hold on. That didn’t come out right. I didn’t throw knives at them. (Peppers maybe, but not knives.) I’m just saying I started handing out jobs and we all worked together to make this quick and nourishing meal.

Everyone started chopping until my big electric skillet looked like this:

Veggies for veggie scramble
All the veggies are good in this Veggie-n-Egg Scramble, but I will suggest that onions are a key player. Onions give this dish such amazing flavor! Sweet peppers are a close second. Broccoli, asparagus, zucchini, and spinach come next. The beauty is that you can use whatever veggies you like and whatever you have on hand.

Saute the veggies in olive oil or butter until tender. Scramble in some eggs with salt. Toss in a little cheese for extra amazingness. So much deliciousness. Very little work. Extra wonderful nourishment.

Veggie-n-Egg Scramble ~ A Great Last Minute Meal Idea
 
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Author:
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
  • 4 cups chopped veggies (onions, sweet peppers, zucchini, asparagus, spinach, broccoli, or any others you like in any combination)
  • 3 Tablespoons butter or olive oil
  • 6 eggs
  • 2 Tablespoons milk
  • sea salt to taste
  • shredded cheese to taste
Instructions
  1. Saute vegetables in oil or butter until tender.
  2. Meanwhile, crack eggs into a bowl and whip with milk.
  3. Pour egg mixture over cooked veggies and salt as you like.
  4. Scramble the eggs with the veggies until they are cooked through.
  5. Sprinkle cheese on top to melt.
  6. Serve

I at least double this for my family of 6 big eaters. Plus we serve it with fresh fruit. Buttered toast also helps fill them up. Seriously. We really do eat and keep eating at our house.

TIP: If you happen to have leftover ham or bacon – even chicken or beef – hanging out in your fridge, those would be a wonderful addition to this dish.

This meal has become one of the easiest ways to get my family to eat a big variety of veggies in one meal. It ranks right up there with Easy Noodle Stir-Fry.

Easy Veggie and Egg ScrambleDo you ever make a meal like this at your house? What veggies would you or do you include? 

It’s meals like this that make “teaching our kids about nutrition” quite natural.

P.S. It is worth noting that this dish makes it possible to feed my family very well for about $1.00 per plate. (We won’t talk about how many plates we go through during a meal…)

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5 {Easy!} Real Food Breakfast Plates for About $1.00 Each

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Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to put together five different real food breakfast plans that are super simple and cost about $1.00 per plate. We’re going to save money, save time, and eat well…all at the same time.

Confession time – my family of teenage boys eats BIG. Three of my boys cannot eat these foods for $1.00 because they eat such a freakishly large amount of food in one sitting. I do all I can to keep our costs down, but their plate quantities are something else. So just know that when I say $1.00 per plate – we’re talking about normal people plates. Not active, growing, hungry all the time, teenager people plates. (Not that my boys aren’t normal. But just, you know.)

Other Disclaimers: Your costs and my costs are not going to match up exactly. Fruit prices fluctuate, so I recommend price-matching (if it is an option for you), ordering from Bountiful Baskets or Azure Standard (if it an option for you), and buying in season and on sale.

5 Real Food Breakfast Plates for About $1.00

1. Fried or Scrambled Eggs, Whole Grain Toast with Butter, Fruit

I love that this meal can be prepared and put on the table in such a short time – and that is so packed with nourishment from protein to vitamins to minerals.

fried egg breakfast

2. Oatmeal with Fruit and Nuts

Make this inexpensive meal easier than ever by making ahead Instant Oatmeal Packets or Frozen Oatmeal Cups. Add any fruit you have, whether fresh, frozen, or freeze-dried.

One Dollar Breakfast 2

3. Muffins, Eggs, Fruit Smoothies

Make muffin batter ahead as described here, then bake in the morning. So easy! Scramble or fry some eggs. Throw frozen fruits into the blender for a smoothie. Voila! Our favorite smoothie recipe is: Pineapple Mango Smoothie. It is so delicious! We also love Green Machine Milkshakes and Creamy Orange Coolers.

One Dollar Breakfast 3

Creamy Orange Cooler

4. Homemade Grape Nuts Cereal, Fruit

This is super easy to make ahead of time, and the cereal is very filling! Throw berries into your cereal bowl or eat fresh fruit on the side. Need some protein to finish this off? How about a hard boiled egg? Perfection.

One Dollar Breakfast 1

5. Ham and Egg Breakfast Bowls, Fruit

My family can’t get enough of these, and you can make them according to your veggie preferences. These can be made ahead and re-heated in the morning if you like. They are great for a grab and go breakfast!

ham and egg cups1

I’d love to hear what your inexpensive real food go-to breakfast plates look like! Because my wheels are turning now, I feel like I could put together another post with an additional 5 Breakfast Plates for About $1.00. I’ll see what I can come up with – and I’d love to include your ideas too!

Stay tuned for 5 {Easy!} Real Food Lunch Plates for Less Than $1.00 Each and 5 {Easy!} Real Food Dinner Plates for Less Than $1.00 Each coming up in the next couple of weeks. (If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to our free newsletter so you won’t miss out! This one is daily; this one is weekly. Join us!)

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How I Prepared 2 Healthy Meals in 20 Minutes

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eathealthy

I dropped Malachi off at piano lessons at 10:00 this morning, arriving home at 10:05. I needed to leave again to pick him up at 10:25. That leaves 20 minutes. (That was your math lesson for the day. If only all story problems made that much sense. Who invented those anyway?)

Knowing my day was super full:  school and website work throughout the day; piano lessons for Malachi at 10; soccer for Matt, Asa, Justus, and Malachi at 2; grocery shopping for Elias and me at 2; someone coming by to pick up a co-op order at 3:30; friend coming over to study with Asa at 4; Bible study at 6:30 – and did I mention there’s a “ready to be assembled” shower in my living room  and plaster dust all over my house right now?? Well, I knew I needed to stay on top of meals if we were going to actually eat today.

I decided to see how much meal prep I could get done in my 20 minutes of time before picking Malachi up from lessons. See, I can’t just say, “Here’s how to put a nutritious meal together when you’re low on time.” No. I have to go into all the details about my schedule and give my opinions on math problems and tell you about the new toilet that promises to flush efficiently that’s still in the box but will soon be in my new bathroom but not until we get all the tile issues figured out. (That is a story problem in and of itself.)

So busy day, blah, blah, blah. Here’s how to put a nutritious meal together when you’re low on time:

2 Healthy Meals in 20 Minutes

Today I decided to make Easy Noodle Stir Fry for lunch and Taco Salad for dinner.

At 10:06 I started browning meat for the Taco Salad. While it was cooking I washed and cut carrots and broccoli, throwing it all into a pot with spinach for Stir Fry. (The asparagus I had planned to use up was slimy so I had to throw it out. I was very disappointed and apparently need to re-read this post somebody wrote recently about not wasting food.)

I gave the meat a stir from time to time. I answered a question about an English assignment, drank a few swigs of water, and threw some blueberries into my mouth for a snack. I put water in a pot to boil noodles at noon. I got out the noodles. I dumped mixed greens into a big bowl, poured in cheese I had shredded Monday, and tossed it all around with the freshly cooked taco meat. I mixed up French Dressing for the Taco Salad.

At 10:26 I ran out the door to pick up Malachi.

With all the major prep work done for our day’s meals, at lunch time all I had to do was turn on the stove to cook the prepared veggies and boil noodles. At dinner time all I had to do was get the prepared salad out of the fridge, dice some tomatoes (which I picked up at the store this afternoon on my grocery run), and get out the tortilla chip crumbs I’ve been saving for such a meal as this. I also cut up a pineapple to complete our evening meal. That took two minutes.

Now you tell me. Is it really so terribly time consuming to prepare healthy food? I think not.

What are some of your quick-to-prepare meals that pack a punch with nutrition? Have any great “prep-ahead” methods to share with us?

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It Takes 47 Seconds To Prepare Broccoli For the Steamer…

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It’s true. It takes 47 seconds to prepare broccoli for the steamer.

I know this because I timed myself preparing broccoli to be steamed. Why are you looking at me like that? You would do something this geeky too if you heard people say, “making healthy food takes too long to make” as much as I do. I figure, I can keep saying, “does not, huh-uh, does not” or I can actually time myself making healthy food and prove people wrong with a stop watch.

Preparing Broccoli Only Takes 47 Seconds

Yeah, I’m a weirdo.

The good news? Timing myself preparing broccoli didn’t take long because preparing broccoli doesn’t take long. Okay then. Plus my 12 year old thought it was fun to use his stop watch to time me prepping broccoli. He only asked twice, “Wait, why are we doing this?”

I felt this information was worth documenting as sometimes even I don’t feel like I have the time to make healthy food. Sometimes I feel that it would take less effort and time to slap down something less than stellar from the freezer section of the store. Sometimes I don’t want to go to the trouble to put something nourishing on the table. Me. The one who knows the truth that healthy eating doesn’t take extra energy or time. Me, the one who has already proved this truth many times over. Me, the one who loves to cook.

Now that you and I have learned the 47 second truth, neither of us can fall back on “I just don’t have the energy to make anything healthy tonight.” Even if we are compromising by putting something on the table that is less than stellar (hey, I do it sometimes too when I’m in a pinch or when we just want a fun treat). That’s fine. Throw down a take-and-bake pizza or whatever. Just take the additional 47 seconds to steam broccoli or make a salad to go with the meal.

If you really want to save time and energy, prep your broccoli ahead of time, put it in a baggie, then dump it in your steamer at dinner time. Like this:

Get Your Broccoli Ready to Steam Quickly

Once you’ve done that, you can pull it out of the fridge and take the remaining 8 seconds of the 47 seconds total broccoli prep time to pour it into your steamer and turn on the burner. Seriously people. It takes more energy to do all the math on this than it does to actually just go prepare the broccoli.

If you’re wondering the specifics of my 47 second broccoli preparation process, it is as follows:

  1. Get out pot, run water into the pot, place it on the stove.
  2. Set the metal steamer into the pot of water.
  3. Get the broccoli out of the fridge.
  4. Wash the broccoli under running water.
  5. Cut the broccoli off the stem directly into the steamer on the stove.
  6. Put the lid on the pot , turn on the burner, and walk away.

Boom. 47 seconds.

Not that you haven’t already thought of this, but using frozen broccoli is just as good for you and takes even less time. (Skip steps 4 and 5 above. Pour frozen broccoli directly into steamer. You’re welcome.)

I believe we can all agree that preparing broccoli (or other veggies) is incredibly fast and easy and none of us has any excuse to not make them, serve them, and eat them. Now how many of you are going to get out the stop watch tonight as you make your vegetables?

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Prepare Your Veggies For Quick Cooking (and a day in the life, sort of)

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You might read this little time saving tip and say, “Hey, it takes the same amount of time to prep veggies no matter when you do it. This isn’t a time saving tip at all.” And yet, in an effort to save us all from walking wearily into our kitchens at 5:10, with no motivation to peel a carrot, much less prepare an entire healthy meal – I felt this was worth mentioning. While you still have to get this work done sometime during the day, at least this does save a few minutes of effort at meal time.

Following this simple method is always so helpful to me. My day is a big mixture of schooling, working at the computer, doing household chores, cooking in the kitchen, and keeping up with the kids’ activities. I often hop around from math, to mixing up a recipe, to history lessons, to answering emails, to phonics practice, to putting lunch into the oven, to helping with an algebra question, to answering the door, to responding to potential website advertisers. You can see why I always give people a deer in the headlights look when they say, “So what does your schedule look like?” Schedule? I don’t have one. I just work and parent and parent and work all day. I love it. Every day is different, yet it is very much the same. The kids know what they need to get done. Matt and I know what we need to get done. Our routine is un-scheduled.

Yet one thing is pretty constant about our days:  From about 3:00 to about 5:00 in the afternoons, the kids take turns having their “play Minecraft on the computer time” while Mom tries to write something that includes helpful information and complete sentences. Therefore, section 4 line 8 of the Coppinger Household Rules Handbook states:  “Do not interrupt Mom while she is in writing mode unless one of your brothers just blew up.” Since “Do not blow up your brother” is printed in large, bold letters at the beginning of section 2, I think we can all agree that there should be no reason to interrupt Mom while she is in writing mode. Okay then.

I tell you all of this life in the Coppinger house information for one reason:  As I pull out of writing mode and back into the hungry people will need to eat soon mode, I find that I am slightly weary and brain dead from thinking, making decisions, and working all day. I do not feel like cutting broccoli into cute little trees. I am not excited about preparing cauliflower for roasting. I do not want to do anything in the kitchen but the bare minimum. This is where all my Getting Ahead in the Kitchen practices are invaluable. The kids get to come in and help get dinner on the table (their reward for not blowing themselves up during my writing time). And since I’ve already prepped the veggies earlier in the day, all we have to do is roast them, stir fry them, or steam them. Hallelujah!

Prep Your Veggies for Easy Cooking

So the Eat Healthy, Save Time tip of the day is this:  Sometime while you have ten minutes during the day, prepare vegetables for steaming, roasting, stir frying, eating raw – or however you’re going to serve them at dinnertime. Cover and put them into the fridge for later. (Hooray for Pyrex bowls with lids!)  Pull them out and cook them quickly for dinner. Not home much during the day? I’d suggest doing some prep in the evening before bed. The next day, after you get home from a day at work, school, or running errands – pull out your prepared veggies to cook with your meal.

Prepping veggies doesn’t take long, and it isn’t difficult. But it is something that we have to be intentional about – otherwise we’ll likely skip the veggies…again. Don’t do it. Focus on the veggies (section 13 line 4).  Prepare them when you have a few spare minutes for effortless, brainless dinner prep later. Then, not only have the kids avoided blowing themselves up, our bogged down brains have not exploded either. It’s a win-win.

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