Category Archives: Food

From favorite recipes and appliance reviews to restaurants and entertaining tips, you’ll find it all here at the Families.com Food Blog!

The Power of Comfort Food

On Friday, when my children arrived home, safely, it was all that I could do to not to gather them all up and never let them go. After recent events, I know I am not the only parent out there that felt that way. We’ve all been shaken up. Anyone who has ever loved a child, a sister or a friend has had to face this harsh new reality. There was no way, that night, that I was going to deny my children most anything. It is a good thing that no one asked for a pony. Instead, they asked … Continue reading →

Easy Weeknight Turkey Burgers

Make some yummy, juicy turkey burgers with very little effort for a great weekday meal on even the busiest days. While they are wonderful as is, to make them truly special, make your own burger buns using the very easy and very good Bread Machine Rolls recipe. You can follow the recipe exactly, which calls for a combination of bread flour and wheat flour, or just use all bread flour. This recipe makes 6 medium burgers. Ingredients: 1 1.3 pound package of ground turkey, preferably 85 percent lean 2 tablespoons of dry stuffing mix (another great recipe that uses ground turkey … Continue reading →

Quick and Fancy Crockpot Chicken

Have a couple of hours with no idea what to cook for dinner? Try the following recipe. It is easy, inexpensive and taste a bit fancy. Try serving it up over egg noodles, another inexpensive food. You might also try it with regular pasta or rice. To make this dish even less expensive, try purchasing boneless, skinless chicken breasts in an inexpensive family pack. One of these packs usually contain six good-sized chicken breasts. The following recipe calls for four of those breasts. Retain the remaining two chicken breasts for another meal. My suggestion is to take them and place … Continue reading →

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Want to see four dozen cookies disappear almost instantly? Craft this recipe, sit back and enjoy the rave reviews. Oh, and as a bonus, this recipe is particularly frugal. Buy your oatmeal in bulk, and each four dozen batch will cost less than one small package of cookies at the store. Everyone loves oatmeal raisin cookies, and the bulk baking makes it perfect for your next cookie swap. For a festive variation, make larger cookies, and when they cool, scoop softened ice cream between two cookies to make an ice cream sandwich. Roll the ends in cinnamon sugar if you … Continue reading →

Value Meals: Buttery Cheddar Chicken

Here is another budget recipe that we incorporated this week into our family meals. Unlike the ham, I went big with this one, cooking three servings, so I could freeze the extra two meals for use during the busy holiday season that is just around the corner. I also like to keep a few good meal choices in the freezer just in case someone else in our community has an emergency need that can be quickly filled from my freezer. I purchased the large family pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, a good value, especially when you can get these … Continue reading →

Yummy Ham Glaze for a Small Ham

The good quality ham was on sale this week at our local grocery store, so I picked up a small one for one of our meals this week. I wanted to give it some flavor with a ham glaze. Most recipes, unfortunately result in enough glaze for a large ham, one that can feed the entire family for three nights. Instead, I wanted to still be able to enjoy the flavor of a glaze, without having a gallon of glaze left over, using partial ingredients, such as a quarter of a can of pineapple juice, or being forced to purchase … Continue reading →

The Multitasking Apple

This fall, stock up on inexpensive apples and make them work hard for you while they save you money. The key is get the apples as cheaply as possible and use them for more than one purpose or use as much of the apple as possible. One of my favorite ways to do this is to get five or six large apples, and peel them, trying to make sure that I get a few good long peels in the process. I cut the apples and then place them in the crockpot with 1/4 cup of water, 1/4 cup of sugar … Continue reading →

Hurricane Food

Well, we made it though Hurricane Sandy, and while our area is still seeing some of the after effects of this historic storm, we are in good shape. and well fed. When you are in the middle of a hurricane or in its aftermath, the food you eat should be easy to prepare, comforting, and in some cases, assembled without the use of the stovetop or oven. Stock up on the following items and use these tips to make sure that you can feed your family when you shelter in place. Canned Soup and Stew Easy to heat and easy … Continue reading →

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Oooh, does my house smell good today. I just finished baking two loaves of double chocolate zucchini bread. The aroma reminds me that the holidays are coming soon. Now the only question is do I freeze one or leave them both out for the family to gobble all up? Zucchini bread is a lot easier to make than you might think. The most tedious part is grating the zucchini, but I have a short cut for you. I use the grating attachment on my food processor, which makes the grating a very quick step. Most food processors come standard with … Continue reading →

Instant Oatmeal Mix Ins

Although I prefer making oatmeal from scratch, usually in the crockpot, I have to admit that I do keep a supply of instant oatmeal packets on hand for busy mornings or when a child wants a hot snack. The packets tend to have a lot of sugar and food coloring in them, so I often go for the ones that are plain. The problem is that my kids don’t like them so much when they are plain. Nothing surprising there of course. To solve the problem, I usually add my own mix ins to the instant oatmeal, such as cinnamon … Continue reading →