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My first post, yay! I’m super excited about this site. I’m always talking about Simplicity Gourmet to my friends and family, now I can blog about them too!! I love cooking such healthy and colorful meals so quickly! Simplcity Brides has really changed my life. A few days ago my fiance invited his friend, brother and his brother’s girlfriend over to the house for dinner without giving me even 5 minutes notice, lol. I had planned on fixing something simple and fast for dinner, like maybe a grilled cheese sandwich or something like that, but I really like entertaining, so that just wasn’t going to work with all these people. Now before I got my cooking system from Simplicity Gourmet, I probably would have been pretty frustrated that he invited people over without letting me know, mostly because I’d have to spend hours in the kitchen trying to make something nice for 5 adults instead of having fun with them! But here’s what I made:

Fried Chicken breast
fresh corn and green beans
mashed potatoes from scratch (not that box junk!)
a cole-slaw salad cut from scratch (cabbage, squash, carrots and radishes)
a German Chocolate cake for dessert

Here’s the kicker: the whole meal took 35 minutes, I made it ALL on the stovetop (even the cake!) and I didn’t use a DROP of oil (not even for the fried chicken) How healthy is that?!

So instead of being frustrated and spending hours in a hot kitchen I made a delicious healthy meal that everyone raved about, AND I was able to spend most of my time having fun with our friends playing wii in the living room. Awesome

– Lacy

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Here is a creamy gourmet Southwest tortilla soup with the heat turned up! I got this one from my friend Callie who loves to invent new soups to soothe the soul. Be warned though… this one is spicy.

Here are your ingredients:

3-4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts,

cooked w/Darn Good seasoning (or all purpose seasoning) and shredded

2 Bags of Lipton Taco Rice

2 Cans of Tomato Soup

1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup

3 Cans Chicken Stock

3 Cans of Cream (may sub milk)

1 Cup of Salsa, any kind

1/2 Pkg McCormick Chili Seasoning

4-5 Green Onions, chopped

1/2 Cup Butter or Margarine

1 Cup Pepper Jack Cheese, shredded

1 Cup Sour Cream

TO START: Season the chicken liberally with Darn Good Seasoning. Heat the large skillet on medium heat, place the chicken in the pan and cover, whistle open, When the whistle sounds, flip the chicken and replace the lid. Close the whistle and turn the burner to low. Allow to cook 10 more minutes. Shred using a fork and set aside.

SOUPS: Combine the soups, cream, water, salsa, green onions, chicken and chili seasoning in the plan and heat on medium low heat until simmering. Add the rice and cover, whistle open. When the whistle sounds, reduce the temperature to low and continue to cook for 10-12 minutes.

TO FINISH: Uncover and add the cheese and sour cream, stir until the cheese melts. Sprinkle with green scallions.

This is great served with quesadillas. I love the simplicity of this recipe. For some Darn Good seasoning that will put some Cajun in ya visit http://www.darngoodseasoning.com

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My kids which are 5 and 3 and they are soooo worried about hurrying up and eating so they can go play or they have no desire to eat what I fixed b/c it’s those YUCKY things (as my 5 yr. old calls them) called vegetables. So I was reading in this book and heard that if you make the dining experience enjoyable then they will be more engaged in eating than running off.  I thought to my self this is a scam, it couldn’t be real that it was just that simple.  So I went to the store and bought 6 little candles (a little bigger than tealights) and 1 big candle and I lined them down my dining room table.  At dinner I lit the candles and called them up for dinner.  THEY LOVED THE CANDLES, they thought it was so cool.  So I told them if you eat  half of your food you get to blow out 3 candles each, BUT if you eat all your food you get to blow out ALL the Candles including the Big one.  Now, I would have to light the candles again for my 2 yr old. when she was done but it works.  Not to mention it was a relaxing atmosphere.   Try it, what do you have to lose?  Remember a Family that eats together stays together!

So here’s to setting the mood!

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