from my kitchen to yours

i've been wanting to write this post for two years now. no joke. since before i potty trained my big girl, who will be five in december. hard to believe...but my brain has been completely depleted of any and all brain cells enabling me to formulate a rational thought since i had my third baby children. now that things have settled somewhat #3 has discovered that there is life outside of mommy's arms/separate from the milk supply, i have a few minutes now and then to breathe and do something that doesn't involve feeding, wiping, or cleaning up after another human being. don't get too excited, it's literally only a few minutes :) life is still crazy busy, but now i am able to step outside the chaos and invite you inside. an inside look at my life would reveal a good deal of meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking (and eating, of course. i like to eat. hur, hur, hur). cooking is a large part of my daily routine, whether or not i feel like it (which i usually don't), but i usually must do in order to prevent more chaos. the large majority of our of meals are real food, which, of course, means no processed or pre-packaged foods. the processed foods that we do eat consist mainly of cereal, white rice, pasta, sandwich bread, crackers and chips on occasion, and sugar as a sweetener...not terrible, in my opinion. we've also cut back a lot on meat.
*click here for more information on real foods.

for the most part, i actually do enjoy cooking. i just get tired of having to do it several times a day every day of my life. so, when i do cook, i like my ingredient list to be fairly short, with minimal prep, and pretty quick and simple (and cheap). these types of meals are few and far between when trying to eat healthy AND satisfy picky preschooler and toddler taste buds. i realize that not all of these are exactly healthy or follow the "real food" guidelines (and my list of desserts is quite extensive), but here are a few of my favorite go-to recipes:

cranberry pecan muffins
scalloped potatoes and ham
curried couscous with broccoli and feta
curry chicken
hobo dinner
broccoli bacon quiche
easy chicken enchiladas
pesto chicken pasta
applesauce bbq chicken
tilapia parmesan
pineapple chicken kebab packets
easy skillet chicken cordon bleu
pasta with sausage, tomatoes, and cream
prizewinning meatloaf
creamy chicken noodle soup
ghost chili
tomato basil soup
strawberry cream pie

Bon appétit!