Quick and Easy Meals

When you are short on time, here are two meal suggestions that cost little money and take no time to complete. Kraft Dinner and Hamburger Helper are quick and easy but lack nutritional content if you purchase them from the grocery store. I like to make my own versions of these meals. First make sure that you have the ingredients at home or add them to your next grocery list. Here’s the list of ingredients for my homemade Kraft Dinner: macaroni noodles, butter, flour, milk, old cheddar cheese. Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Drain and set aside. Melt two tablespoons of butter in the microwave, add two tablespoons of flour and mix to a paste. Add one cup of milk and place back in the microwave for three minutes, stirring half-way. Add ½ cup of the cheese and heat for 30 seconds more until the cheese has melted. Add the sauce to the macaroni and, voilà Kraft Dinner! If you have more time and you want a more nutritional meal, you can add meats such as tuna, bacon or hamburger. Or you can add vegetables.

Another meal I have recreated is Hamburger Helper. You will need hamburger, cheddar cheese, tomatoes, spices, and pasta noodles. First cook the one pound of hamburger until it is thoroughly cooked and no pink is showing. Add any type of pasta noodle (approximately two cups) to a pot of boiling water and cook according to the package directions. Place the cooked noodles and hamburger into a casserole dish. Dice two large tomatoes and add to the casserole. Add one tsp of each: garlic, paprika, onion powder, salt and sugar. Sprinkle ½ cup of cheddar cheese over the top of the casserole and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

To make these meals even better, why not add a dessert! One of my favourites is fresh fruit with shavings of Godiva chocolate. Yummy!