When I wrote my first e-cookbook back in 2010, I had absolutely no idea how much fun  and easy it would be to share some of my family’s comforting foods that are our family’s favorites.  I feel it’s very important for us to record and pass on a little family history when it comes to cooking and recipes are a perfect way to do that.

A Busy Mom’s Guide To Family Meal Planning is a collection of quick and easy recipes your whole family is guaranteed to love! In this cookbook, you’ll find appetizer recipes for your next family party and easy dinner recipes for those busy weeknights. There is nothing more rewarding than spending time in the kitchen cooking  wonderful meals for your family to enjoy! Cooking was meant to be fun!

I created this e-cookbook for:

• Everyone.  I have families use this, couples with no kids, single people who share meal preparation duties with their roommates.  You name it, everyone can do this.
  
• Families who are busy.  If you don’t have time to cook for an hour each night, this is for you!
• Families who enjoy simple recipes. My family recipes I share are very simple and basic.  I do recommend that you should always play around with the spices to match your family’s tastes.
• Families who can spare up to 3 hours on a weekend. Cooking isn’t just for moms, dads and grandmas, get those kids in the kitchen!  This way of cooking and meal preparation does take some up front time.  However, my family has found it to be the best thing for us.
• Families who need to save money.  Because each of my recipes helps show you are using all of the product that you buy for each recipe and not wasting anything.  Plus, when you buy bigger quantities of something, the cost is typically lower.  Not to mention, fewer stops at fast food joints on the way home from work.

And because–Eating Out Is Expensive…Eating With Family…Priceless!

So what are you waiting for? Go get your copy of A Busy Mom’s Guide To Family Meal Planning HERE!

Bring Family Mealtimes Back To The Table 

Are you interested in bringing your family mealtimes back to the dinner table and creating some wonderful childhood memories for your children? Well then, you’ve come to the right place.

This is a fun, free newsletter for anyone interested in learning about, or continuing with, family meals that are comforting, quick, easy and delicious for the whole family. I’ve been inspired since I was a little girl helping my grandmother in the kitchen to preserve the tradition of those family mealtimes. Gathering around the table with the family and sharing a great meal brings back some wonderful childhood memories for me.

I’m passing on those same family mealtime traditions to my children and I hope to inform, inspire and teach you just how much fun it can be to create easy weekly meal plans to help you get in the kitchen and start cooking some wonderful meals with your kids!

Just what’s in The Busy Mom’s Kitchen Newsletter!

You too can stay inspired with my free newsletter! — offering a wealth of traditional weekly meal plans, easy family recipes, frugal tips and ideas to get you and your family cooking.

Recipe Ideas:

Of course you’ll need some recipes to get you started with feeding your family comforting and nutritious meals! The focus of my recipe suggestions are based on everyday meal planning strategies to create quick, easy and delicious meals for your family that are frugal and allow you to stock your freezer with extra meals. All the recipes I share, are tested in my kitchen by myself and my children. If the recipe passes through my picky eaters, as a “hit”, then we’ll share it  here with you!

I also include fun little tidbits such as recipes and ideas for holidays, birthdays and parties. I have taken many of those “go-to” unhealthy fast foods and meals and learned to make them with tasty, healthy, beautiful ingredients to create same style meals and snacks that your kids and family will ask you to make over and over again.

Help for Busy Parents:

You’ll find helpful tips and suggestions for making it all work, from planning meals, to grocery shopping, to cooking, and more!

I occasionally also send out special deals, kitchen gadget ideas, recipes, or content to my readers. As a special thank you for subscribing, in your first weeks of subscription, you’ll receive a FREE e-Course on Cooking with Kids where I share with you how to combine those cooking skills and share them with your kids. Kids of all ages can learn how to help in the kitchen.

My newsletters are sent out bi-monthly in text or html format. Please be assured that your email address will not be given or sold to any outside entity or intruders. By signing up to the Busy Mom’s Kitchen newsletter, you will receive the Busy Mom’s Kitchen newsletter only. I will never spam you or send any other unsolicited content. If you wish to unsubscribe to the newsletter at any time, the link is always provided at the bottom of each newsletter content page.

Warmest regards,

Noel

Sign up today and receive my Cooking With Kids Tips Hints and Recipes E-Course FREE

You know the pleasure you get from preparing and serving something that your family loves?  Children can experience the same satisfaction when they help prepare food for themselves, their friends, or the whole family.  It builds their confidence and self esteem and you can get dinner done while spending quality time with them.  Just make it fun.  Kids will eat what THEY make!

Cooking With Kids Tips, Hints and Recipes E-Course shares fundamentals on how to cook with kids, even the busiest parents can carve out a couple of hours each week and develop a ritual of cooking together as a family. Although it can sound like a chaotic project to many parents, the rewards are many – especially when they become old enough to cook you dinner….

Once you sign-up, you will receive an email asking you to confirm your subscription. Check your junk mail if you don’t receive it within 10 minutes! If you do not receive the test message, please let me know!

If there is anything in particular that you would like to learn about, please feel free to let me know by sending me an email, or by participating on the Family Meals Matter Cooking Club page on Facebook.

Thank you for choosing Noel’s Kitchen Tips Busy Mom’s Kitchen newsletter as an informative resource. I look forward to receiving your comments and feedback.

Happy Monday Everyone! We’re heading into that final stretch before the Thanksgiving holiday. I’m looking forward to having  the whole week off next week to enjoy time with family. I’m so thankful, I set aside some time this past weekend and planned my meals out for the week. My goal for shopping was to stick to a grocery budget of around $150. I went over $7.61. Not too bad but not exactly what I wanted either. But, we’ll eat well without a lot of hassle. The only thing I foresee buying in the upcoming week is milk. 

Yeah for meal planning! I’ve already got meals for the week in the freezer and tonight’s ready-to-bake in the fridge. 

My weekly meal plan and shopping list is completed and posted on our fridge:

Breakfast options: 

(served with fruit)

French toast casserole
Pancakes
Waffles
Biscuits and Sausage Gravy
Cereal
Scrambled, Fried, or Hard-Boiled Eggs
Breakfast Burritos
Quiche
English Muffins
Homemade Bread
Biscuits
Muffins
Breakfast Cookies
Mini Apple Pies or Turnovers

Lunch options:

Sandwiches or Wraps (Tuna salad, egg salad, chicken salad, turkey salad, leftover meats, grilled cheese, blt, pb&j)
Quesadillas
Smoothies
Leftovers from dinner
Salad
Baked Potato
Homemade Pizza Pockets

Suppers Your Family Will Love

Need ideas for your weekly meal plan? It’s time for another weekly menu.  I enjoy menu planning because of  the simplicity it provides for my life. It enables me to decrease my grocery shopping excursions to twice a month and it allows me to  have more free time to focus on my family and home. For ideas in the weekly meal plan, we’ll be focusing on a variety of family meals. You’ll find the recipes on the weekly meal plan also available on my Recipe Index page with a grocery list included.

Dinner (recipes will post throughout the week, given time to cook and photograph  )

Note: an asterisk* means it’s from the freezer

Sunday:  Sunday Supper~Meatballs*, Mashed Potatoes* and Gravy*, served with corn

Monday: Chicken Enchilada Bake, rice, beans

Tuesday:  Bratwurst with Sauteed Peppers and Onions served on homemade hot dog buns

Wednesday: Homemade Pasty (filled with meat, potatoes and carrots)

Thursday: Bean and Cheese Nacho Bake*, Mexican Rice, salad

Friday: Family Favorites Night ~Pizza Night

Saturday: Rice Bowls with Chicken, Potstickers* and seasonal vegetables

For more great family recipes, be sure to visit my new recipe box page.

What’s cooking at your house this week?

Happy Monday! I’m happy to be back on track this week with our Weekly Menu Plan after a bit of craziness of house cleaning and yard work preparing for the house painters. The outside of the house is getting painted this week and the painters were here yesterday prepping the house. I can’t begin to tell you how much you can accumulate in a 3-bedroom, garage, shop/office over 7 years. When we moved up here from the bay area, a huge moving truck came with us hauling just about everything and you’d be amazed that there is still stuff we haven’t gone through. 

We took a bit of a break on Saturday and went thrifting at the thrift shops and stopped to check out a few garage/yard sales. I’m always on the lookout for vintage kitchen items or any Pampered Chef kitchen items I don’t have from being a consultant a couple years ago. I found the perfect size Tupperware container to store 5lbs. of flour, a Pampered Chef herb keeper, a Glasbake baking dish and I picked up a few small ice cube trays so I can make Homemade Fruit Snacks for the kids. (recipe to post later.) You can read all about our treasures finds on Thrift Store Hoppin’ Monday over at Grumpy Treasures, our local/online thrift and consignment store.

Besides the house getting painted this week, we should have a somewhat easy and relaxing week.  Relaxed and easy can be a good thing though, especially with the holidays and a few birthdays fast approaching. Things will definitely become hectic and crazy then! I started testing out my Thanksgiving menu yesterday with Fluffy Bread Machine Holiday Bread Rolls. I tweaked the recipe and changed the name a  bit because I like both versions of the recipe and this will help me differentiate the two.  I’ll share the revised recipe with you this week.

Now on with this weeks menu.

My weekly meal plan and shopping list is completed and posted on our fridge:

Breakfast options: 

(served with fruit)

French toast casserole
Pancakes
Waffles
Biscuits and Sausage Gravy
Cereal
Scrambled, Fried, or Hard-Boiled Eggs
Breakfast Burritos
Quiche
English Muffins
Homemade Bread
Biscuits
Muffins
Breakfast Cookies
Mini Apple Pies

Lunch options:

Sandwiches or Wraps (Tuna salad, egg salad, chicken salad, turkey salad, leftover meats, grilled cheese, blt, pb&j)
Quesadillas
Smoothies
Leftovers from dinner
Salad
Baked Potato
Homemade Pizza Pockets

Suppers Your Family Will Love

Need ideas for your weekly meal plan? It’s time for another weekly menu.  I enjoy menu planning because of  the simplicity it provides for my life. It enables me to decrease my grocery shopping excursions to twice a month and it allows me to  have more free time to focus on my family and home. For ideas in the weekly meal plan, we’ll be focusing on a variety of family meals. You’ll find the recipes on the weekly meal plan also available on my Recipe Index page with a grocery list included.

Dinner (recipes will post throughout the week, given time to cook and photograph  )

Note: an asterisk* means it’s from the freezer

Sunday:  Sunday Supper~Zesty Baked Ranch (using homemade Ranch dressing) Chicken, Homemade Stuffing, Fluffy Bread Machine Holiday Bread Rolls

Monday: Breakfast for Dinner~Breakfast Bowls and Fruit Smoothies

Tuesday:  Spaghetti and Crock Pot Meatballs, Garlic Jalapeno Bread, Green Garden Salad with Homemade Ranch Dressing~Don’t forget to vote!

Wednesday: Baked Potato Bar

Thursday: Beans and Rice with Toppings

Friday: Family Favorites Night ~Rice Bowls with Chicken, Pot Stickers* and Stir-Fry Veggies

Saturday: Soft Tacos*, leftover beans and rice

For more great family recipes, be sure to visit my new recipe box page.

What’s cooking at your house this week?

Happy Halloween Week! It’s really starting to cool down in the evenings and after a weekend of house cleaning and organizing the home office, I’m looking forward to lots of cozy weeknight family meals.

Here’s what we started our week off with on Sunday:

Ghostly Shepherd’s Pie 

Makes: 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 pound lean ground turkey
• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
• 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 beef bouillon cubes
• 1 3/4 cups water
• 1 Tablespoon corn starch
• 2 Tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 1/4 cups mashed potatoes (equals 4 to 6 small to medium potatoes
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• salt and pepper to taste

My weekly meal plan and shopping list is completed and posted on our fridge:

Breakfast options: 

(served with fruit)

French toast casserole
Pancakes
Waffles
Biscuits and Sausage Gravy
Cereal
Scrambled, Fried, or Hard-Boiled Eggs
Breakfast Burritos
Quiche
English Muffins
Homemade Bread
Biscuits
Muffins
Breakfast Cookies
Mini Apple Pies

Lunch options:

Sandwiches or Wraps (Tuna salad, egg salad, chicken salad, turkey salad, leftover meats, grilled cheese, blt, pb&j)
Quesadillas
Smoothies
Leftovers from dinner
Salad
Baked Potato
Homemade Pizza Pockets

Suppers Your Family Will Love

Need ideas for your weekly meal plan? It’s time for another weekly menu.  I enjoy menu planning because of  the simplicity it provides for my life. It enables me to decrease my grocery shopping excursions to twice a month and it allows me to  have more free time to focus on my family and home. For ideas in the weekly meal plan, we’ll be focusing on a variety of family meals. You’ll find the recipes on the weekly meal plan also available on my Recipe Index page with a grocery list included.

Dinner (recipes will post throughout the week, given time to cook and photograph  )

Sunday:  Sunday Supper~Ghostly Shepherd’s Pie (recipe above)

Monday: Chicken Tamale Casserole~ Using shredded chicken, served with cornbread and a green salad.

Tuesday:  Baked Potato Skins with all the fixins

Wednesday: Cashew Chicken~Just a few hours in the crock post and you’re good to go!

Thursday: Smothered Chili Burritos~You won’t believe how easy this recipe is - perfect for a busy weeknight!

Friday: Family Favorites Night ~Crock Pot Pizza Spaghetti~ This is delish and I love how kid-friendly it is!

Saturday: Cheesebuger Quesadillas~Love this fun spin on a regular  cheeseburger!

For more great family recipes, be sure to visit my new recipe box page.

What’s cooking at your house this week?