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Healthy Recipes - Dinner Recipes
Dinner Ideas for Family Dinners or Your
Home Based Party Business

Time Saving Healthy Dinner Ideas and Recipes
for Work at Home Moms

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When we were raising our children, life could be hectic -- just like yours is, I'm sure -- so I had to think up some quick and healthy dinner ideas and recipes to save time, feed them fast and still protect their health. Here are some of my old standbys, as well as some new dinner recipes for you to enjoy. Go ahead and use the appropriate ones for your party business or add your own creative touches and create a totally new recipe. They are delicious and easy to prepare and they'll save you time.

Many of these dinner recipes, such as casseroles, were made ahead on the weekends and then cooked off when I needed them. The ones that required longer cooking, were fully cooked on weekends, portioned for at least two meals and frozen. Others are so easy, I did them to serve immediately. Casseroles are equally suitable for outdoor parties and family meals alike. Make ahead, reheat in the oven, and keep warm over sterno at the party venue. Many of them taste better the day after they are baked. So that's a plus which makes them eminently suitable as a menu item for your home based party business.

My appliances of choice -- which were invaluable -- were my slow cooker, my steamer and my pressure cooker. Some people may have reservations about using a pressure cooker, but they are much safer to use today, although it seems they are not as popular as they were in previous years. They are especially useful for cooking Caribbean/Jamaican specialties such as oxtail, beef stew and curry goat. If you cater Jamaican or Caribbean parties, these recipes will become highly valued in your arsenal of healthy dinner ideas and recipes for your home based party business. I've included a few items in these menus for family dinners that can be made in each of these appliances. Be sure to read the manufacturer's instructions for use very carefully before you attempt to use any of these machines. They're wonderful time savers, but care must be taken to use them correctly and observe all the safety precautions. Have Fun!

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One Pot Meal Ideas for Busy Moms

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One Pot Meals

Hearty Soups

Soups say love... and, yes! they're good food. They're made from fresh, wonderful ingredients and healthy recipes for a complete and nourishing meal. They warm you all over, especially on a cold or rainy evening. They're filling, delicious, and you can hide all sorts of vegetables in them. The kids will never know.

They are also a wonderful way to start a festive meal.

These soups make a classy menu item on your home based party business menus. Serve them in unusual containers - pretty glasses or bowls - something attractive and unexpected. Guests will love them.

Jamaican Red Pea Soup
Jamaican Pepper Pot Soup
Broccoli, Cauliflower and Cabbage Cream Soup
Pumpkin, Chicken and Tomato Soup

Recipe Index
The Ultimate Salad Dressing/Condiment.
Leonardi Saba Dressing.
Made from grapes, this is a gourmet treat not to be missed. It inspires extraordinary recipe ideas. Cook with it. Add it to desserts. Dress a salad. Be creative. You'll never be without it once you try it. That's for sure!

Leonardi Saba Dressing (16.9 fl. oz.) From CyberCucina.com

Beef Stew with Vegetables Stews

Stews are delightful. Warm, satisfying, and delicious. They are the perfect healthy one-pot family dinner. The recipe ideas you'll find here focus on both health and taste. They are supremely healthy. Utterly delicious. Full of lean meat and fresh vegetables. Simmered slowly to preserve the nutrients.

Try making these healthy stew recipes for family dinners in your slow cooker. They will save you a great deal of time and money, and taste great.

Prepare lots of vegetables, blanch and freeze half for next time or just refrigerate in a plastic bag to use during the same week. You can cut up and season the meat beforehand as well, but refrigerate, don't refreeze and use within two days. Great time saver... and the flavor will be enhanced.

Cook a big pot on the weekend and freeze in smaller quantities to be used later. Served over hot fluffy rice, stews are the perfect nutritious, healthy, filling and satisfying meal.

Beef Stew with Vegetables and Tiny Dumplings
Chicken Stew with Carrots, Parsnips and Peppers

Recipe Index

Pot Roasts are one of my Favourite
Dinner Ideas for Parties and Family Dinners Because They Don't Require Watching

I loved making pot roasts for my family. So easy, healthful, and delicious. A wonderful weekend meal. You don't have to hover over the pot. If you tie the meat with kitchen twine so it stays together, it will slice up beautifully and make a lovely presentation for your home based party business.

You can go do something fun with the kids while it cooks. Just place in your Dutch Oven with fresh herbs and vegetables, and let it cook slowly. This method also keeps the nutrients in. A definite plus! And the house is filled with the wonderful aromas of your childhood...

Beef Pot Roast with Potatoes
Chicken and Root Vegetables

Recipe Index

Casserole with Beef Mushrooms Carrots Tomatoes and Potatoes Casseroles
Casserole Cookbooks

Coming from Jamaica and not being very Americanized with our eating habits,casseroles were not done often in our home. But when I did make them, they were heartily enjoyed.

Also, I discovered that vegetables tasted wonderful in a casserole with cheese. That puts them firmly in the category of healthy recipes for family dinners, as well as fabulous time saving items in your collection of healthy recipe ideas for your home based party business.

Here are a few I think you will enjoy.

Casseroles are wonderful time savers. You can prepare them ahead, wrap, refrigerate or freeze then bake off for a family dinner or as a catered item in your party business. Remember to add extra baking time to allow for thawing. Approx 15 to 20 mins. should be enough, depending on the size of the casserole. I usually did these on the weekends and refrigerated for use during the week. Make a lot. The leftovers taste better the next day! Both your family and your party business clients will appreciate this.

Mac and Cheese My Way
Creamy Tuna Casserole
Lasagne - (Meat optional). This lasagne only tastes expensive. You can use ground beef and cheese only, beef with vegetables, or just vegetables. Try it with Tomatoes, Zucchini, Summer Squash, and 3 Cheeses - Ricotta, Cheddar, Mozzarella
Potatoes, Ham and Cheese

Recipe Index

Succulent Slow Cooker Meals
Slow Cookers

To preserve as many nutrients as possible, this is the way to go. Slow Cooker recipes are healthy and delicious. Thaw meat in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning add seasonings and some of those precut veggies. Into the crock pot and off you go. When you get home, dinner's ready. Fabulous!

Beef Braised in Red Wine
Curried Chicken in Coconut Sauce
We Jamaicans love our rice with curry dishes, but you can add potatoes to the crock pot along with other hardy vegetables and you won't have to cook another thing.

Chicken with White Wine and Tomatoes -- your choice, red or white.

Recipe Index

Delicious Steamer Meals

The ultimate in quick-cooking, time saving, super nutritious dinners. Steaming is another method that lends itself to healthy recipes. It preserves all the nutrients because the food doesn't come into contact with water which can dissolve them away.

Choose foods like fish and shrimp that cook quickly, and of course, lots of lovely, colorful vegetables. The plus here is that you don't have to "watch the pot". You set the timer and go help with the homework.
Steamers from Amazon.com

Steamed Red Snapper, Cho-cho (Caribbean summer squash or Chayote - it looks like a slightly flattened pale green pear), Carrots, Turnips, Red Peppers, Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

Steamed Salmon, Potatoes, Cabbage, Zucchini and Carrot Strips

Recipe Index

My Family's Special Favorite

I'm not sure how to categorize this next meal but it was an all time favorite with my family and visitors alike. It's inexpensive, quick, delicious, nutritious, pretty and versatile. It can be a Manwich one night, a casserole another, a hot salad with potatoes, a hot, room temperature or cold salad with macaroni, or flavored with Hoisin and Soy Sauce and served over hot rice for an Oriental-type dish. My kids loved it... and so did my budget. They still ask me to fix it for them when they come home for a visit from wherever in the world they happen to be. (They travel a lot.)

Try it. I think you'll like it.

Ground Beef and Baked Beans... in all its incarnations

Cheesy Ground Beef and Beans Casserole
Ground Beef and Beans Manwich
Ground Beef and Beans with Bacon and Potatoes
Ground Beef and Beans and Macaroni
"Oriental" Ground Beef and Beans over White Rice
Ground Beef and Beans Pot Pie

You'll find lots more Free Recipes here

A Typical Jamaican Meal Oxtail Beans White Rice and Vegetables

Jamaican Comfort Food

We served these in both our restaurants - one in Jamaica, one in Miami. They are also very popular dishes at Caribbean/Jamaican parties. Expect them to be requested often by Caribbean customers of your home based party business. My husband and I both tweaked our familys' recipes to suit our own tastes. Below are the results.

These take more time and attention, but they keep very well. And, trust me... the flavors... well, you'll see! One little tip - anything with beans tastes better the next day. Cook, refrigerate overnight... then serve. Awesome!

Stew Peas and Rice -- Red Kidney beans with beef, pork, vegetables and dumplings, served over fluffy white rice.
Oxtail and Beans
Roast Beef Caribbean with Red Wine Gravy
Liver with Onions and Bacon
Escoveitched Fish -- Fried Fish and Vegetables Marinated in a Pickling Sauce
Curried Chicken with Pineapple-Coconut Rice
Rice and Peas

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