Eggs - Easy Breakfast, Lunch or even Dinner

Simple - just fry up your eggs however you like them, add a slice of ham, 2% grated cheddar cheese and sprinkle with crushed red pepper flakes.

No Time to Cook - Snazzing up a Precooked Meal - Ribs, Fries, & Green Beans

Simple pork ribs already prepared from Aldis (BTW - Aldis doesn't pay me, I just find them really cheap and they have some great buys) just stick in the oven.

Again - frozen seasoned fries just stick in the oven on the crisper tray, the ribs were done first so I took them out, turned the broiler on and crisped up the fries.

I had frozen green beans. So while the ribs and fries cooked I sauted onions and garlic in Smart Balance then added the beans and some squash flowers (from the farmers market) and squeezed some lemon juice over it. Very good, would have been better with fresh green beans but sometimes a mom just doesn't have time.

Not a home made, gourmet meal and not the healthiest but it was quick and easy and tasted good. My boys loved the ribs though my five year old daughter found them hard to chew (she likes meats really soft) but liked to lick the bar-b-que sauce off them.

Followed up with some Farmer's Market water-melon:)

My Lovely Farmer's Market Fruit

Don't forget to support your local farmers!

Buffalo Chicken Wrap - Quick Lunch or dinner

Quick and easy.

Heat up precooked Buffalo Chicken strips, Tyson has good ones you buy frozen and these are from Aldis that I find to be just as good.

I use whole wheat wraps, but whatever you have will do.

-Drizzle a bit of Lite Ranch dressing on the wrap.

-Cut the chicken strips and put on top of the ranch.

-Layer lettuce (use whatever you have, I use anything but iceburg, which really has no nutritional values)

-put on shredded mozzarella cheese (or whatever you like, mine was 2%)

-add whatever you like, I'll usually add olives and roasted red peppers

So good, but so easy!

Bratwurst and What's in the Fridge

Tonight's dinner was a kind of, I know I have bratwurst and rolls, I need to use up what's in the fridge and I wanted to try a red pepper from my garden to see how hot it was (turned out - not too hot, now I can use more :).

Decided to cook the brats with peppers and onions, a bit of chopped garlic and beer, then decided towards the end to add a bit of sea salt and Cajun seasoning.

Browned the brats first.

Love all those beautiful colors (and vitamins)!

Added the beer and brats and then spiced it up.

For a side used up my farmer's market zucchini.

Added some garlic and diced tomatoes.

There you go.

I will admit - the kids ate hot dogs but they did eat the zucchini.

Grocery Shopping Tip

Take stock before you shop.

When making your shopping list make sure you check what you already have. You may have something you can build a meal around or enough items for a few different meals if you're creative.

I'm infamous for buying things I had at home because I wrote the ingredients down from a recipe and forgot to check if I had it before going to the store.

When I take stock first I spend a lot less.

Flowers? For Dinner?

This past Saturday a couple of friends, my mother and I took a trip to the Farmer's Market (followed by a trip tot the thrift store:).

Several of the venders were selling squash flowers. My mother and I bought some and decided to cook them up for our family dinner. We asked one of the women selling them how to cook them and she said you could batter them and deep fry them or saute them with butter.

We decided to go with the batter for the first time, especially since I wanted the kids to try. They were delicious and the kids actually like them, well most of them did at least.

Can't wait to experiment more with them.

Anyone else tried them?

How did you cook them and what did you think?