My Favorite Recipes

And now we go to the kitchen to hear about what's cooking!

I contribute to several parenting blogs that frequently ask their writers for recipes. I am great with opinions and humiliating stories, but I'm horrendous at creatively cooking. If you can add water and pop it in the oven, I'm all for it. If I can take some raw ingredients and put them in a bowl, consider it done. So here are my favorite recipes that are fast, easy, and painless.

• Breakfast for Dinner
• Scramble some eggs, toast some toast, and defrost those frozen sausage patties you bought on sale a few months ago but never knew what to do with.
• Pasta Salad
• Boil pasta. Add italian dressing. Add other things like pepperoni or mozzarella cheese. 
• Put in the refrigerator to chill. Or eat immediately. I won't judge.
• Taco Night
• Get taco shells and ground beef. Cook beef. Chop some lettuce and tomatoes and other toppings. Add hot sauce.
• Promise yourself to make it again soon because you don't need utensils to eat it.
• Crock Pot Anything
• Throw random ingredients into a crock pot for 4-5 hours and pray it fills the house with a delicious smell.
• Chicken and Rice
• Add chicken to instant rice.
• Chicken and Beans
• Add chicken to a can of beans that you nuke in the microwave.
• Chicken and Rice and Beans
• Add more chicken to the leftover rice and beans from your previous chicken meals.
• Frozen pizza
• Add extra veggies on top so you feel better about yourself.
• Hamburger Helper
• Just add meat and water! 
• Burritos
• Take leftover ingredients from the week's meals and roll it into a flour tortilla.

"But what about your favorite baking recipes, Laura?" asked no one ever.

If I just add water, I'll make it. If it comes refrigerated and all I do is put it on a sheet and into the oven, I'll do it. If I can chop up fruit and put it in a big bowl, I'm game. If it involves more than 3 ingredients, I have to be very inspired before I attempt it.

I'm very thankful for my creative husband - he's the real cook in the family! He is innovative and adventurous when it comes to food. I sometimes help him in the kitchen, but I usually keep my distance so I don't muck it up!