Quick and Simple Meals

 

Are you busier than ever now that school has started back up?  This seems to be the case for just about everyone.  Even if you don't work or have kids in school, you are still probably affected because of the extra traffic on the roads or the extra projects in your life as the lazy days of summer come to an end. 

 

We live in a world of information and activity overload.  It is hard to escape this so you must plan your meals with your busy schedule in mind.

 

My favorite recipes are the ones that are simple and quick.  My dinner, shown in the photo, took about 30 minutes of my time to fix.  (I do not include the slow cook time for the roast in this number - but the roast time is so flexible you can work that around your schedule.)  

 

The roast takes some advanced planning and 5 minutes of your 30 minute prep time in the morning.  I used a 100 % grass-fed roast - a large one so that I would have extra meat for another meal of BBQ brisket and beef drippings/juice for beef barley soup.  So my 30 minute prep time for this dinner helps to make two more meals later in the week. 

 

25 minutes before dinner -

   I took the roast out of oven and let it sit covered while I made the rest of dinner

   I then started the quinoa on the stove top (watching it as I cut veggies)

   I next prepared the ingredients for the squash dish

   Then I placed lettuce for salads on our plates

   Finally I stir-fried the squash with sage and pulled the roast meat apart.

 

In less than 30 minutes, a delicious meal was on the table. 

 

Simple Roast:  5 minutes to prepare in morning (multi-hour to cook - very flexible to accommodate your schedule).

 

Place lid tightly on top and put in oven at a low temperature (use 225 to 275 °F) and bake for 5 to 10 hours depending upon roast size and temperature chosen.  You can also use a crock pot.  When done (this cooking method is very forgiving - I cook it until I'm ready the make the rest of dinner), remove from oven and allow about 30 minutes to rest.  The meat was so tender it pulled apart without needing a knife to cut it.  Less than a minute needed to pull the meat apart and place it on a dish for dinner. 

 

Quinoa:  5 minutes to prepare

 

I made a simple, quick version for this meal (I did not add the celery and almonds, just some sea salt and turmeric to the water).  Start this first and then let sit at least 15 minutes while preparing the squash.  Fluff with fork with ready to dish.

 

Summer Squash and Sage:  15 minutes to prepare

 

This take the longest time to prepare but as you fix more dishes with fresh vegetables, you will get faster chopping up the vegetables.  If I were a professional chef, I could probably have done this in 5 minutes!  But it is worth the extra bit of time for this step, because even if you are slow it still doesn't take that much time.

 

Salad:

 

Your salad doesn't have to be complicated.  Short on time - just make a salad of organic spring greens.  For this salad, I used some Annie's Organic Salad Dressing (I like the Caesar variety because it does not contain soy oil or sugar) on my lettuce.

 

Nutritious, delicious meals made from scratch do not have to take all day to fix.  Many of my recipes take very little time to fix.  If you are short on time, find quick, easy items to make as I did for this dinner.  You will be rewarded for your efforts when you feel better and have improved health.  Don't forget to buy the best quality ingredients you can find.