Amy & Aron's

Do you ever sit and think of how much time you spend preparing meals for your family? When the kids were little, I loved spending more time in the kitchen because it was a great way to get the kids to spend more time with me. They had so much fun doing simple things like peeling the vegetables, stirring the pans, or anything else they could get their little hands on.

Now that they are bigger and busier, it's more like preparing meals for them instead of with them. They are big enough now that some nights, they cook instead of me. It's nice but sad to me, I miss the time we spent together sitting across the mixing bowl.

Now that they are all bigger, we try to get through the meals faster and rarely even eat together. I look forward to their 20's when school is over things calm down and my kitchen becomes a fun place again.

Prep time doesn't have to be a four-hour job. You can quickly make awesome tasting foods that are quick to make and taste like you spent all day. Really, the food is only enjoyed for 15 minutes tops anyway, why be a slave to it, right?

My signature dish that the whole family loves.



Meatloaf- 5-minute meat prep, 30 minute bake time make sides while the meat is cooking.

Pre-heat oven at 375. By the time the oven is preheated, the meat mixture will be ready.

I usually make 3lbs or more depending on who is going to stop by for dinner. Meatloaf sandwiches the next few days are a much-appreciated requirement for my crew.

Put your meat and seasonings in a bowl, add 1 raw egg per 1lb of meat. Chop a large onion for 3lbs of meat. Mix all that together so the egg is completely mixed in. I never measure mine but from eye-balling it, pour about 1/2 cup of bread crumbs and mix together at a time until the texture you want is reached. Just keep in mind that the dryer your mixture is, the denser the meatloaf will be. Too much bread crumbs and not enough egg will make the meatloaf fall apart. If you notice that the meat mixture is too dry, add another raw egg.

Put into a baking dish and shape into an equal thickness all around. Making shapes is really easy with meatloaf. If you have one person that doesn't like certain things like eggs or sauce but everyone else does. Using a bread loaf pan for single meatloaf, it's so easy. Just watch the cook time on a smaller loaf.

Topping

Everyone has a different idea of what goes on top of a meatloaf. The secret is in the sauce though. My sauce recipe is a family secret. Until my last child is married and starts making dinner for her family, I can't pass that along to you guys but, I will make dinner if you're in the neighborhood.

Sides

Mashed potatoes- I cheat when it comes to mashed spuds. I have never gotten the hang of fresh mashed potatoes, they always turn out like paste. So I go for the "add water and butter recipe". My mom, who only believes in real mashed taters, likes mine. I'm good at it what can I say?

I usually make brown gravy and corn to go with it.



Taco Tuesday- 20 minutes

One of our favorites, something we have every single week is Taco Tuesday- 20 minutes.

Brown your meat (ground turkey or beef) This is the most time-consuming part. When the meat is cooked fully drain the fat, add seasoning. I used the prepackaged seasoning because it's easiest. Add water and simmer until the water evaporates.

I can have everything prepared in that short amount of time. I have a really cool ice bar that keeps everything cool while I'm waiting on the rest of the family to get ready. Chopping onions, tomatoes, avocado, and getting the other toppings ready like cheese, sour cream, and salsa doesn't take much time at all.



Burgers and Fries

Burgers and fries are a pretty popular thing for our family. Sometimes it's burgers meaning ground beef other times its chicken breast or breaded patties. Any variation, it's still burger and fries to us, a chicken burger is my youngest daughters fav.

Plug in your oven, fryer, deep fryer or air fryer, either one will work.

Start cooking meat. For our group, it usually takes a few pan loads to get enough cooked. Put the meat in the pan, season, and come back to it.

Start with cutting the potatoes, Homemade french fries are awesome in my opinion and takes little time to get ready. I leave the skin on mine.

Because it takes several baskets of fries for us, and a few pans of meat, I don't wander away from this meal. It is still 30 minutes or under meal depending on the number of people you are feeding and the number of frying pans you use.

I cut up my tomatoes and onions while the meat and potatoes are cooking. Its a really simple meal.


What are your favorite fast meals to feed your family? Do you ever need help trying to teach yourself new things, new techniques to get it done in a better time frame? What about understanding what the recipe is actually calling for. Do you know the difference between a rough chop and a fine chop?



You don't have to be a professional chef to know the difference between a finely chopped onion and onion pieces that are so inconsistent, they distract from the dish they're in. Read more here: https://kioroknives.com/blogs/news/how-to-create-perfect-cubes-fries-slices-and-mince