Putting a New Twist on Old Favorites
I tend to buy the same types of things at the grocery store each week, but I’m always looking for new ways to present my family’s favorite foods. Southern Living’s Quick Start Homemade does a great job of giving busy moms unique yet budget-friendly meal ideas.
The book is organized according to which “quick start” ingredient the recipe used
- Pasta
- Pizza or pastry dough
- Eggs
- Salad greens
- Rotisserie chicken
- Chicken breasts
- Pork loin and chops
- Ground meat
There are full color photos of each recipe, but no nutritional information is given. However, they do provide suggestions for side dishes and tips for making many of the items ahead of time. I thought the side dish suggestions were especially helpful because I’m terrible at figuring out what food goes together when I’m planning a large meal.
Some of the recipes in this book I suspect I wouldn’t be able to convince my son to eat, but there are a fair amount of recipes that will appeal to even the pickiest of eaters. I think most kids would enjoy the scrambled egg muffin sliders and the super simple sloppy joes.
The pork fried rice and Hawaiian pizza were two other recipes that fit my family’s tastes really well, although I know many moms who say their kids fuss over the veggies in fried rice. I think the spinach bacon mac and cheese looks delicious, if you can get your kids to look past the spinach.
Most of the recipes in the book have a hands-on time of 20 to 30 minutes. However, many recipes require quite a bit of cooking time. So, despite the Quick Start Homemade name, this isn’t the book to rely on when you need a meal for your family immediately. Pick it up when you have a little time to brainstorm, then plan ahead to make a tasty meal for your family.
Disclaimer: A review copy was provided by the publisher.
Photo credit: Amazon
