life is double fun: Easy Meals

As I have mentioned in my previous post, I am not much into freezer meals. But since then that has changed. I still love crispy vegetables over those soggy ones however, I have decided it is better to slow cook meats then add the fresh crispy veggies when it is time to serve dinner. I have been doing this for a while now though so this isn't a new idea (i.e. packaged mac n cheese with corn and diced up carrots and ham pieces).

The Classic and Simple Lasagna was good and I still have some left in the freezer, the who-cares-about-following-a-recipe beef pasta sauce has saved me a lot of dinners, the homemade spinach-basil pesto has helped me mellow down the smell of canned tuna, and my I-don't-follow-a-recipe cheesy beef bean dip has made a lot of snacks a meal and a lot of tortilla chips, 5-yr old boy and a daddy happy.

At the moment, I don't really plan a day to do freezer cooking. But when I do cook I cook for multiple meals. So since then, I have also tried some really easy meals from Pinterest.

Pillsbury rolls, flattened. Ham, Italian cheeses, then another flattened roll.

Bake according to package directions. Dip in homemade pasta sauce.

Another short cut meal: Baked Zucchini stuffed with leftover tuna salad, whole wheat bread crumbs and homemade pesto with pasta sauce.

Thanks to one of our meal volunteers at the homeless shelter. He prepared this for the residents' meal and the kids loved it. So I went to allrecipes.com for a recipe and it gave me an idea on how to prepare it. Since my homemade meat sauce has been a big hit with my kids, I decided to use that and sauteed it with the zucchini pulp, added some homemade whole wheat bread crumbs, leftover tuna salad and some homemade pesto. While it was cooking, the kids thought I was baking pizza. So they called it pizza boats. They loved it.

Another fast meal is my homemade version of Taco Bell's Cruch Wrap Supreme. I used my homemade cheesy beef bean dip, chips (optional) and tortilla flour. That's it!

On the 4th of July, I went to pick up groceries from our local store. I have always wanted to make Pepperoncini Beef ever since I have heard it from Melissa. Before she posted the recipe for it, I decided to search for it. And then again, I found an easy one from allrecipes.com. A week later, Melissa posted her version of the recipe. So here I am armed with 2 easy versions of the recipe and a 5-lb chuck roast on Manager's Sale and a bottle of pepperoncini. It was slow cooking for more than 8 hours. It got a little dry on the top but it tasted heavenly. We have tried it on regular loaf bread with cheese or horseradish sauce. Yummers! Another keeper.

Since hubby is gone all week this week, I decided to try this 30-minute roll recipe I found on Pinterest. As I was kneading the dough, I decided, I will make one with ham and cheese for the kids (mini-stromboli) and I will make mine with Pepperoncini Beef and cheese. This roll recipe is a keeper too. Believe me, I have never made anything that involves kneading until a month ago. This is easy and fast.