Simplified Dinners eBook {Review & Giveaway}

If you have been following my blog, then you may know that I have had menu planning as a Mission of the Month for quite awhile! I seem to have the same daily struggle right around 5pm. The kids start asking what’s for dinner and I get frustrated because I have no clue what we are going to eat! Well, I don’t know if Mystie (fellow homeschool mother of five) knew about my frustration, but her eBook, Simplified Dinners, has been a real help to my once daily (now rarely) dilemma!

What is Simplified Dinners? Simplified Dinners is a cookbook, but a cookbook with a greater purpose than JUST recipes! Simplified Dinners does exactly what it says, it helps to simplify dinner! You begin with a basic master pantry list. Keeping your pantry stocked with these basic (nothing fancy) grocery items from the master pantry list ensures that you can make the recipes included in the book!

[Simplified Dinners] is all about encouraging homestyle cooking with basic ingredients. It is possible to cook good, healthy food without a pantry full of specialized ingredients, and it is possible to make easy dinners without shortcut, preprepared products. Simplified Dinners (and the gluten- and dairy-free edition!), enables anyone to transition toward home-prepared, real, whole foods cooking—even those less confident in the kitchen. Simplified Dinners helps keep dinner streamlined while allowing flexibility. ~Simplified Dinners website

 

How I’m Using Simplified Dinners: Simplified Dinners is an eBook. However, I am a hard copy type of girl. So, I printed out the 30 page file and bound it together using my new binding machine. The book now sits on my desk in the kitchen ready for me to pull out at that once dreadful hour of 5pm! {grins}

Once I got the eBook printed out, I began filling up my pantry using the master pantry list supplied in the book. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t need to stock up on a bunch of random grocery items. Everything is very basic and easily accessible! While I still have yet to completely stock my pantry with ALL of the items, I have still been able to avoid that 5pm dilemma A LOT more than I had in the past! 

I am quickly able to skim through the recipe combinations in the book and select a meal. When I am really on my game, I take a look at the book in the morning before breakfast so that I can thaw meat or fill my crockpot if needed. Honestly, it feels great to plan ahead and sit down to a great, nutritious, stress-free meal with my family! Yes, 5pm used to be a very stressful time of the day for me! {grins}

 

The Recipes: I really like how Mystie set up and organized the eBook. There a lot of meals included in the eBook:

Slow Cooker Roasts	Slow-Cooker (No Frost Chicken)
Chicken-in-a-Pot	Skillet Cutlets w/Pan Sauces
Marinades for Grilling or Broiling	Foil-Packet Fish
Stovetop Pasta	Bean Pots
Fajitas	Quesadillas
Taco Bar	Burritos or Enchiladas
Taquitos	Frittata
Oven Omelette	Pizza
Simple Stir-fry	Potato Hash
Baked Potato Bar	Bean Soups
Stews	Blended Vegetable Soups
Quick Soups	Main Dish Salads
Side Dishes	Salads

But, don’t be fooled, within the meal list shown above, there are multiple recipe variations for each meal! There are well over 100 recipes based on the meal list above, using the items from the master pantry list!

For example, take a look below. This is the page for Slow-Cooker, No Defrost Chicken. There are six variations of slow-cooker chicken recipes all using the same general process! Simple and easy…just how I like it!

 

 

Our Simplified Dinners: The very first recipe that I tried were the Creamy Chicken Taquitos. Oh.my.goodness! They were so delicious! I normally get the prepackaged taquitos from Costco and they are no comparison to these! My kids now request the “homemade” taquitos rather than the packaged ones!

Creamy Chicken Taquitos served with black beans and fresh salsa

After our experience with the taquitos, I was eager to try more recipes! Here are some of the recipes that I remembered to snap a photo of:

Taco Chicken served on a warm tortilla

 

Broccoli Cheese Soup

 

Black Bean Chili with ground turkey

 

Simple Sweet & Sour Stir-Fry served on a bed of brown rice

 

According to the Kids: Confession time…one morning I was cooking ground beef to use for dinner and my kids were shocked! Needless to say, I was excited when they asked me what’s for dinner that day…I actually knew what to tell them…and it was 8 o’clock in the morning! My 9 year daughter continued to say, and I quote, “This new meal planner stuff is really helping mom out! It’s only breakfast and she’s making dinner!”

I have gotten “thumbs up” from at least 4 of my 5 kids for every single meal that I have made using Simplified Dinners! Now, THAT is a sign that Simplified Dinners is a keeper!!! Thank you Mystie and my kids thank you too! {grins}

 

Buy It!

You can purchase Simplified Dinners for $12.99. Save even more by using the coupon code below!

Use coupon code holidays through December 2012 to get $3.00 OFF Simplified Dinners!

But, I’m on a gluten-free, dairy-free diet! Well, Mystie’s got you covered too! She has an GFDF edition of Simplified Dinners dedicated to easy, flexible, frugal, allergy-free cooking! Check it out!

  

Win It!

Would you like to win a copy of Simplified Dinners (your choice of the regular or allergy-free version)? You can enter to win using the Rafflecopter below. Giveaway ends at midnight on Thursday 12/20/12. The winner will be emailed and announced on the giveaway widget below. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to the email or a new winner will be selected. All entries must be documented within the Rafflecopter widget below.

**If you are reading this post via email or via a reader and the giveaway widget does not appear below, visit the actual blog post or click the link below to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This product was given to me free of charge for review/giveaway purposes. I do not have to return the product to the vendor. All opinions expressed in this post are my own and I was not required to post a positive review of the product.

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