Simpler Living Blog

COOKING, RECIPES

6 Tasty, Time-Saving Recipes for Easy Family Meals

When a recipe states that it's quick, easy, and delicious, my first response is typically skepticism. Quick and delicious? Sounds too good to be true.

I've certainly made some things that have fallen short, but with the right ingredients and recipe, there really are painless and delicious meals out there. Here are just a few that I've tried that have been approved by the whole family--including myself, as the cook!

What's the secret? Canned meat.

If you haven't cooked with canned meat before, you may be apprehensive, but I assure you, with these recipes, you won't be able to taste any difference and you'll love the time you save.

Lehman's has several options for canned meat: beef, pork, turkey, and chicken. Regardless of the type, the key when using the meat is to drain and rinse it before cooking to rid it of any excess fat. To do so, I use a mesh strainer from Lehman's.

Here are some of the recipes that I enjoyed:

Easy Peasy Chicken Salad

Enjoy on croissants like I did or on your bread of choice. You can even serve on just lettuce for a bread-less option

Author: Lindsay Lehman Peters
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

1 – 28 oz can Lehman’s Chicken
1/2 cup onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 T lemon juice
2 T sugar
1 t curry powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 cup chopped apple
1/2 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup walnuts
or
1 1/2 cup grapes, halved
3/4 cup pecans
or
2 – 11 oz cans mandarin orange segments, drained
1/2 cup almonds, toasted and sliced

Directions

Drain and rinse the chicken. In a large mixing bowl, combine chicken, onion and celery. In a smaller bowl, stir together mayonnaise, sugar, curry, salt and pepper. Pour over chicken and blend. Add fruit and nut combination and gently stir together. Chill for 1 hour. Serve on bread, as a wrap, or on top of lettuce. Serves 4-6

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