Sometimes it seems like my whole life revolves around food. Between the shopping, planning, cooking, and cleaning up, I’m in the kitchen non-stop. Don’t get me wrong, I love to cook and try new recipes and I don’t mind making an effort, but it can be a grind, day after day.
If I want to have time for other activities—and I do!—I can’t spend 4 hours on an elaborate feast. Dinner needs to be quick (no more than an hour), healthy, and homemade if possible. By keeping the kitchen well stocked, being organized, and focusing on simple meals, I can accomplish my goal.
Simple to me is a meal that consists of 3 things or less. I don’t include dessert in there, because I’m limiting sweets and serving dessert only on the weekend, if at all. Some examples of how I use the “3 things” rule:
- Meat, starch, and vegetables
- Main dish, vegetable, and fruit
- Soup, bread, and salad
- Sandwich, veggies, and fruit
My go-to meat dishes are baked chicken or fish, steak/meatballs/burgers, or a whole roast made in the crock-pot. Whole roasted chickens are also easy.
For a starch, I like to serve rice, potatoes, or pasta. On my most frazzled nights, I will simply serve slices of bread with butter and call it good-enough!
Veggies can be fresh or frozen, depending on the sales and what’s in my kitchen. If I’m turning on the oven, I try to roast a veggie. Fruit is the same, whatever’s on sale or cheapies like apples, oranges, bananas. Salad is usually counted as the veggie instead of a separate course.
Getting beyond the basics may not be possible for most busy moms, but a “3 thing” dinner can be do-able (for most of us anyway).
What are your favorite simple dinners?
I love a roast chicken and then I put carrots, sweet potatoes and apples in with the chicken and cook for one hour. It is a fast one dish meal.
I’ve tried the potatoes and carrots, but never apples. That sounds really good and something new. Do you use a tart apple like a Granny Smith?
What a great way to simplify dinner! One of our favorite meals is ham, mashed potatoes and corn/green beans.
I’m with you with more simplified meals. I limit my meals to 3 things like baked or fried chicken, rice and a vegetable. I also do sloppy joes or turkey burgers as a quick fix.No dessert. We may have fruit later only.