I tend to get a lot of questions about how I am cooking from scratch for my family, especially over on Instagram, where I post weekly meal plans, meal prep, favorite cookbooks, etc., as well as pictures of lots of food! Today, I’m answering a handful of those questions and my hope is that this is a help to y’all as you brave the cooking from scratch terrain in your own kitchens. [Read more…]
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Being a Work at Home Mom {Q&A}
A while back, I asked you guys to submit questions you’d like me to answer about being a work-at-home mom, and you had LOTS of them. It has been fun to sort through them all and see how to encourage you through what I’ve learned over the past several years. I have been a work-at-home mom since Annie was 9 months old, when I started teaching local workshops in the evenings and on weekends. I taught about frugal living, living on a budget, and how to use coupons – which I don’t do anymore. This blog actually grew out of that. And it grew and grew and grew – which was a surprise to us! We have used that platform to start multiple businesses from home, in addition to Barry’s day job and our four kids. #busypeople
I really enjoy being able to be a work-at-home mom.
Marriage Q & A
I know this post isn’t my usual style, but after over 15 years of marriage, I feel like I’ve learned a few things that would be worth sharing. Don’t get me wrong – there are plenty of couples who are way ahead of us in their marriages, but Barry and I are no longer “newlyweds”. We have been around the block a few times…15 times actually! So 15 blocks and 4 kids later, we feel comfortable answering some of your marriage questions. Readers submitted these and we decided to dive right in and do a Marriage Q & A: [Read more…]
Favorite Main Dish Recipes {Part 2}
Today, I’m sharing Part 2 of my very favorite main dish recipes! Y’all know I love cook (and eat!), so one post didn’t quite cover all my favorites! Let’s dig right in:
Beef:
Crock-pot Cheeseburger Meatloaf – This is quite possibly my favorite meatloaf recipe of all time. And that’s saying a lot! If you don’t want to make this in your crockpot, you can bake in your over for an hour and it’s just as good.
Texas Hash – It may not look appetizing, but it is soon good. It’s a recipe that my kids AND I both love. I always love a hash because it’s easy to throw together for a quick dinner.
MaMa’s Crock Pot Cube Steak – This recipe came from my friend Tia and while it is a little time-intensive, it is worth every single second! If you have not made this before…you need to put it on your meal plan for sure! I do use homemade cream of mushroom soup in this recipe. It cooks all day long and turns into a pot of glorious happiness.
Pressure Cooker Pot Roast – Obviously, I am not paleo…Hello bread. But I do love a good pot roast! This recipe was really easy and the meat turned out super tender.
Easy Ground Beef Stroganoff – My family and I love easy main dish recipes. This is definitely one of those! Mel’s Kitchen Cafe is a great blog and this recipe is by far the best I’ve ever found.
Pressure Cooker Mongolian Beef – Y’all know I love my pressure cooker! This is one of my favorite pressure cooker recipes. It’s got this rich, flavorful sauce that just soaks in to some fluffy rice perfectly. Barry is a big fan of this recipe.
Mom’s Salisbury Steaks – This is (surprise, surprise) my mom’s recipe. She (oddly enough) uses cornflakes in this recipe. This is the only reason I ever buy cornflakes. LOL. But these are always delicious!
Fish:
Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia – This is one of the few fish recipes I make. My kids always say, “Yum! This is good chicken, mom!” 😉
Salmon Burgers – While I may not be very fond of fish, I don’t mind canned salmon or tuna. These burgers a fun alternative to my usual tuna melt.
Pasta:
Super Easy Skinny Veggie Crock Pot Lasagna – this recipe is almost exactly like my Crock Pot lasagna, except it uses vegetables instead of meat. It’s delicious. We love having this meatless meal in our rotation!
Pasta with White Bean Alfredo Sauce. This is from Kitchen Stewardships’ Everything Bean cookbook. We love this pasta! I always puree the beans and my kids don’t even know they are in there! It’s a great meatless meal option.
Italian Chicken Casserole – This is a really old recipe from Tasty Kitchen, The Pioneer Woman’s contribution site. We love it, and it travels well, if you have to take a dish to an event.
Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole – I feel like I have shared this recipe with y’all 700 times. But I can’t help it. We just love it! It’s perfect to take to church potlucks or to bring to new moms. We also love that it is a meatless meal!
Spaghetti Comodoro with Homemade 15 Minute Meatballs – This recipe had me at 15 minute meatballs. Seriously awesome!
Light Fettuccini Alfredo – Don’t get me wrong, I love a good Fettuccine Alfredo. But this recipe is so creamy and delicious, but not as heavy as some the recipes out there. I love that we never feel “heavy” after eating this.
One Pot Spaghetti – This is one of the most popular main dish recipes on my blog – I mean, HANDS down. It’s easy, delicious and super affordable to make.
The Pioneer Woman’s Cajun Chicken Pasta – It’s no secret that I absolutely love The Pioneer Woman. Every recipe of hers that I have ever tried has been delicious! And this one is my favorite recipes of hers of ALL Time. It’s incredibly good!
Sandwiches:
Pepperoni Pizza Puffs – This recipe was adapted from Everyday with Rachel Ray. My kids absolutely love these. They are basically pizza muffins – how can you go wrong? These make a fun dinner for family movie night.
Bacon Cheeseburger Quesadillas – These are so simple and delicious. You can go wrong with bacon. And cheeseburgers. AND quesadillas!
Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps – Another family favorite that is perfect for summer time. These are very flavorful – just so, so good!
BLT Quesadilla Wrap – This one is a fun twist on a traditional Mexican quesadilla and it’s a great meal in the summertime!
Mini Corndog Muffins – This is a special treat meal that I make for my kids sometimes. I know hot dogs are still processed meat, but I buy uncured nitrate/nitrite free beef hot dogs at Walmart and feel better about feeding those to my family.
Mexican:
Gringa Mexican Rice – This is one of my newer main dish recipes that I’ve recently started making and I must say…everyone loves it! Rice, meat, and corn – it’s simple and really yummy.
7-Layer Dip Burritos – Y’all – this recipe will blow your mind. Seriously. These are delicious.
Best Chicken Enchilada Recipe Ever – I know it’s hard to believe that these are actually the best enchiladas ever…but I have made A LOT of them and these are just so, so good
Soups, Salad, and More:
Crock-Pot Cincinnati Chili – I’ve gotten a lot of emails from people from Cincinnati who tell my chili is not ACTUALLY true Cincinnati chili because it has no cocoa powder in it. But just keeping it real y’all, I prefer mine without it. And also, because I get asked this a lot, Cincinnati chili is TOTALLY different from regular chili – and you eat it over noodles instead of cornbread.
Cornbread Salad – This recipe is almost too easy to be considered a recipe! It’s just crumbled cornbread with ranch and whatever veggies you’ve got on hand. We love it and make it a lot in the summer time.
Egg Salad – Nothing fancy about my recipe, but it’s one of my go-to main dish recipes for the summer time when I don’t want to crank up the oven.
Crock-pot Beanie Weenies – For some reason this super simple dish is a kid favorite in my house. And I love that it doesn’t take much effort and just cooks in the Crock Pot all day.
Broccoli Cheddar Baked Potatoes – I realize this doesn’t sound like it should be one of my main dish recipes, but it’s a great affordable and delicious meatless meal option. It’s very filling! I cut the milk in half whenever I make this recipe because I like my cheese sauce to stand up and walk. If you prefer a runnier cheese sauce, then go ahead and make it as the recipe is written.
Phew! And now I’m hungry for dinner 😉
Comment below with your favorite main dish recipes and let me know if you think there is something I should add to my collection.
Favorite Main Dish Recipes {Part 1}
I have several requests to talk about my favorite recipes by category so today we’ll get into my favorite main dish recipes! I will have to split this category up into two posts (click here for part 2)…because it would be WAY too long to do in just one.
One of my tricks for meal planning is having easy access to ALL my favorite and most-used recipes.
To make things convenient, I print them out and store the recipes in page protectors in a 3-inch binders. I divide them up by category (breakfast, dinner, etc.) When I make my meal plan, I chose one or two new recipes and then the rest are old standbys from the binder. I clean it out a few times a year to make room for new recipes we try and love. Here are my Favorite Main Dish Recipes! [Read more…]
Rolling with the Punches: Change is a Good Thing
Today’s post might be considered a tough love conversation. Not everyone thinks change is good thing! I’m sure this is one of those topics not everyone will like. That’s how it is on Sunday sometimes. When are sweating in the pew and can’t wait to get out there…it’s just a sign it was probably a good sermon you needed to hear!
I think there is this overwhelming sense that we as women have that there is a certain, right way things should be. And we are often hard on people who do things differently – when we shouldn’t be. The reason I started thinking about this was because lately I feel like a lot of women feel like they need to apologize when things in their life change.
But y’all, change is a good thing!
Whole Grains and the Bread Machine: How I Keep My Kids Full
No matter how much I talk about whole grains, bread, my bread machine and bread-making, y’all always seem to be interested in learning more! And I also make a lot of jokes about my kids’ stomachs being like bottomless pits.
My kids are for real hungry ALL the time.
As soon as they are done with their breakfast they are asking what’s for snack. Not even that they are hungry right that minute, but they just want the blessed assurance that snack time is coming.
I’ve been really, really busy the past year or so – especially in the last 3 months.
And as a result, I had gotten kind of lax with making everything from scratch. I was buying lots of snacks from the store for the kids instead of making my usual triple batches of muffins, granola bars, and more. A couple of times, I bought some really tasty and expensive “healthy” waffles, they were good, but here’s the thing… [Read more…]
How do I buy enough food, but not too much?
Over the years, I have gotten TONS of reader questions about food consumption and grocery shopping. Here are just a few: “Stacy, how do you keep enough food in the house?” “Help Stacy! I can’t figure out how much to buy!” “Stacy my family eats so much food that I am constantly running out!” Dear Stacy, I don’t want to over-buy and waste food, but I don’t want to run out either. “How do I buy enough food, but not too much?”
The struggle is real, y’all.
Our Family’s Debt-Free Story
I have told our family’s debt free story before, but it’s been requested a lot lately. And I have to admit, in recent years, I’ve almost been resistant to share. I guess it’s because I’m worried that people will think I am bragging or I am trying to point fingers at other people for the choices they make. I promise I am not trying to do either of those!
I’m just telling where we’ve come from, where we are now, and how we got there.
We’ll call this the new and improved version – but it’s really the same old story a lot of you have probably already heard. And this may come as a shock, but we weren’t born into wealthy families and we didn’t get here by chance or luck. No, our family is debt-free thanks to hard work and dedication. [Read more…]
Foreclosures and Mortgage Debt: Don’t Live There
This is the official time of year for what I’ll call the “financial freak out.” Christmas is in the rear view mirror and the bills are showing up. That Christmas bonus at work (if you got one) is spent, and it will likely be March before you could hold out hope for a tax refund. Reality has set in. It’s time to face the music. The financial grim reaper is at the door. It’s time to pay the piper. With all that potential scariness in mind, I’ve decided that several posts I write are going to help you deal with the stress that comes with handling finances. Today, specifically, we’re going to talk about mortgage debt.
Last week I shared a HUGE list of tips for living debt free. In the coming weeks I’ve planned posts on scheduling your time more effectively, handling money with your spouse, plus an FAQ. I want your year to be the best one possible! Today we’re going to talk about the SERIOUS issue of overwhelming mortgage debt.
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