Well, it’s Sandra Lee time again.  And, the title says it all.  I had big plans for this post.  I also had some pre-conceived notions about this meal.  My big plans were that I was going to let the little darlings help me cook.  They beg all the time to help me in the kitchen and I am just too darn Lazy to let them.  When they help in the kitchen, it makes a bigger mess for me to clean up.  ...]]>

Reprinted with permission by Hoffman Media, LLC. www.semihomemademag.com

Well, it’s Sandra Lee time again.  And, the title says it all.  I had big plans for this post.  I also had some pre-conceived notions about this meal.  My big plans were that I was going to let the little darlings help me cook.  They beg all the time to help me in the kitchen and I am just too darn Lazy to let them.  When they help in the kitchen, it makes a bigger mess for me to clean up.  I know you are all probably shaking your heads at me right now, but I’m just keeping it real.  I would rather “get in, get out and get on with my life”!

So, I invite the little darlings to help out in the kitchen and I get not one, not two, but three “nos”. (no’s?  nose?  knows?)  I couldn’t believe it.  This was going to be the bulk of my post.  I was to post cute pictures of them cooking and I would look like the perfect Mom as we prepared a delectable dinner. 

But, it didn’t happen!

In fact, two of them ditched me for dinner!

But, I picked up a neighbor friend!  Hooray!

I’m getting ahead of myself.  This month’s Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade meal is Sloppy Joes and Fast Spicy Fries. 

Reprinted with permission by Hoffman Media, LLC. www.semihomemademag.com

Sloppy Joes

Makes 4 servings

1 pound ground beef

1 cup water

4 tablespoons tomato paste

3 tablespoons barbecue sauce,

Bull’s Eye®

2 tablespoons onion soup mix, Lipton®

4 sesame seed hamburger buns

2 cups prepared coleslaw

1. In a large skillet, cook ground beef over medium-high heat for 4 to 6 minutes, or until browned and crumbly; drain. Stir in 1 cup water, tomato paste, barbecue sauce, and soup mix until combined. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes, or until thickened.

2. To serve, spoon ground beef mixture evenly over bottom halves of buns. Top each with 1?2 cup coleslaw. Cover with top halves of buns. Serve immediately.

Here is the meat simmering while I wait on the fries to be finished:

While the meat was simmering the fries were cooking.  Here is the recipe for the fries:

Fast Spicy Fries

Makes 4 servings

5 cups frozen thin-cut french fries, Ore-Ida®

1 tablespoon Montreal steak seasoning, McCormick®

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1. Preheat oven to 450?.

2. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Spray with nonstick cooking spray. Spread fries in a single layer on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 7 minutes; stir. Spray fries with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with steak seasoning and salt. Bake 7 minutes longer. Serve immediately.

Ok, girls.  This is the best tip ever!  In fact, it’s the tip of the day!  Line your baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean-up.  Brilliant!  After 7 minutes of cooking, take the fries out of the oven, spray with cooking spray and spread steak seasoning and salt evenly.  I used a brush to spread it on the fries.

Back into the oven they go for about another 7 minutes.  And, then this is what you get:

Can you say, “yum”?

So, here is my creation.  How does it look compared to Sandra’s?  That’s always the million dollar question around here!

I think it looks pretty darn good!  And, you know what else?  It tasted great!  So, I guess I can ‘fess up about my pre-conceived notions.  I just didn’t think this was going to go over well in my house!  Now, granted, I was missing two of my kids, but the neighbor’s kid ate over here.  Big D and Hannah even had seconds.  Simply delicious!!! I’m not pulling your leg!  You must try.  And then let me know what you think!  Enjoy!!!

In honor of the fact that the Lazy Moms have been trying to save a little cash, we are giving away an autographed copy of Sandra Lee’s Money Saving Meals.  All you have to do to win is leave a comment telling us what you are making for dinner tonight.  It’s that easy!  Good luck!

My Mom’s recipe was actually hamburger stroganoff and it called for lots of things I’m too lazy to go get out of my pantry…it’s such a long 3 steps from my crockpot to the pantry.  ...]]> Beef Stroganoff was something that my Mom made  quite often when we were growing up.  I have only made it a few times and I’ve been trying to figure out why.  I’m torn between I forget about it and all that sour cream is not good for a girl’s figure, but, nonetheless I made it today.

My Mom’s recipe was actually hamburger stroganoff and it called for lots of things I’m too lazy to go get out of my pantry…it’s such a long 3 steps from my crockpot to the pantry.  I used beef tips, the kind you use in stew and I omitted things like onions (’cause my kids don’t like them) and paprika (’cause I wasn’t sure it was worth the 3 steps).  So, my recipe is truly a Lazy Mom’s recipe and my measurements aren’t precise.  You can’t go wrong here.

First, I browned 2 pounds of beef tips and put them in the crockpot.

Second, I sauteed 1 package of fresh sliced mushrooms.  My kids won’t be happy about this.  They will take a great big bite thinking that it is beef and then tell me the meat tastes funny.  You might want to leave these out, but I think it helps tremendously with the flavor.  Tell your kids to pick around them.  It’s good for their character! Go ahead, dump them in the crockpot.

Next I dumped about 12 oz. or so of sour cream on top along with 2 cans cream of chicken soup.  You could use cream of mushroom if you omit the fresh mushrooms.

Cook on low for 4 hours or so.

Serve over egg noodles. 

Throw some canned peaches next to them and you’ve got yourself a meal!!!

Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

I bought pre-packaged seasoned fajita meat from my local Kroger store.  I also purchased the pre-made guacamole, fresh salsa and cheese dip.  My kids love any food they can dip!  The best part about this meal is that Big D is in charge of the grill so he does most of work.  All I had ...]]> This is what my kids named last night.  It was indeed Lazy!  We are blessed to have a swimming pool in our backyard.  We all put on our suits and yes Mom got her hair wet. 

I bought pre-packaged seasoned fajita meat from my local Kroger store.  I also purchased the pre-made guacamole, fresh salsa and cheese dip.  My kids love any food they can dip!  The best part about this meal is that Big D is in charge of the grill so he does most of work.  All I had to do was open a bunch of packages.

The Lazy Mom sets up her food buffet style so the kids can fix their own plates.

Oh, I almost forgot.  Big D made us margaritas.  That make for the best Lazy night of all!

We finished the night off by going out for ice-cream.  The kids absolutely had a ball.  Family nights don’t have to be expensive.  The kids just want undivided attention.  And, cooking for the family doesn’t have to be hard! 

What do you like to do for family nights at your house?

We are excited to be partnering with Semi Homemade with Sandra Lee! We will be cooking one of Sandra’s recipes each month. Sandra Lee will provide us with a recipe and instructions. The Lazy Moms will lead you step by step through the recipe, feed our families, and report back to you, our readers.Sandra Lee has a passion for simple solutions that create dramatic results in all areas of home life. She is editor-in-chief of Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade magazine, a popular television host and ...]]>

reprinted with permission from Hoffman Media

We are excited to be partnering with Semi Homemade with Sandra Lee! We will be cooking one of Sandra’s recipes each month. Sandra Lee will provide us with a recipe and instructions. The Lazy Moms will lead you step by step through the recipe, feed our families, and report back to you, our readers.Sandra Lee has a passion for simple solutions that create dramatic results in all areas of home life. She is editor-in-chief of Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade magazine, a popular television host and internationally-acclaimed home and food expert who has revolutionized the way people think about homemade. With her trademark 70/30 Semi-Homemade® philosophy, which combines 70% ready-made products with 30% fresh and creative touches, Sandra is recognized as the foremost advocate to over-extended people. She created the platform to continually supply savory tactics that allows anyone to take 100% of the credit for something that looks, feels and tastes as if it were completely made from scratch.

Be sure to visit our Lazy Mom Amazon Store! We have Sandra’s cookbooks available as well as a subscription to her new magazine. Additionally, you can check out her website here.

It’s our favorite time of the month again! Sandra Lee day! When we started our partnership with Sandra Lee Semi Homemade we knew, as Lazy Moms, that we would love it. We enjoy her show, we like her recipes, what’s not to love? What we didn’t anticipate is how much our kids would love it! LMA and I alternate cooking the recipes. We usually end up cooking them together, but we do alternate houses. That means that our families alternate who gets to eat the recipe. Each month my kids ask, “Is it our month for Sandra Lee?” There were cheers all around when I answered, “YES!”

This month I made Chicken Kabobs over Rice. The recipe is available at the bottom of this post as well as in our recipe section. I was very excited when I read the recipe. Why? Because it is cooked on the grill and that is Lazy Dad Philip’s territory. So that means that after doing the prep work I got to sit inside in the air conditioning while my dinner was being cooked. That’s this Lazy Mom’s idea of a good time! On to the prep work!

First I cubed the chicken into kabob size pieces. Does raw meat (especially chicken) gross anyone else out? As a child I would see my mom cooking dinner and the thought of the slimy meat would make me a little nauseous. I guess I haven’t grown out of that because it grosses me out every time. One of the joys of being the grown up in the house is that I have to deal with the raw chicken. I put my big girl panties on and dealt with it!

I then cut my apples and drained the pineapple. The recipe calls for wooden skewers however we have metal ones so I got to skip the step of soaking my wooden skewers. If you have wooden skewers, be sure to soak them in water or they will catch on fire on the grill! LDP then helped me thread the skewers.

I brushed the kabobs with vegetable oil and sent them outside with LDP along with a bowl of ranch dressing for flavoring.

While he was grilling the kabobs I worked on the rice inside. I added the pineapple juice that I had drained from the can to my water for the rice. That Sandra, always with the good ideas! By the time the rice was done, so were the kabobs and it was time to eat!

The end result was great! The kids really liked it. They don’t remember having grilled pineapple before and they loved how it tasted with the chicken. LDP and I agreed that it was a perfect summer dinner! Easy and light. You can print out the recipe below. It is also available in our recipe tab at the top of this page, along with all the other wonderful Sandra Lee recipes we have made! We hope you like it!

Sandra Lee Chicken Kabobs

Don’t forget to submit your cooking tips and/or favorite recipes! We are giving away and Oster Fusion blender this week! It sells for $99 so you won’t want to miss your chance to win one for free!

Buy one whole chicken.  Wash it.  Clean its guts out, etc.  Place in crock-pot.

Sprinkle with Lowery’s Seasoning Salt.  (or lemon herb seasoning, or whatever sounds good)

Pour baby carrots and frozen green beans on top.

Cook ...]]> If you are like me, you are always searching for creative ways to serve chicken for dinner.  I have served rotisserie chicken from Wal-Mart so much that I have been asked not to serve it again.  (same holds true for Stouffer’s Lasagna!)  My good friend, Amy, gave me the easiest dinner idea and my family loves it. 

Buy one whole chicken.  Wash it.  Clean its guts out, etc.  Place in crock-pot.

Sprinkle with Lowery’s Seasoning Salt.  (or lemon herb seasoning, or whatever sounds good)

Pour baby carrots and frozen green beans on top.

Cook all day on low.

Eat yummy, tender, falling apart chicken with soft carrots and greasy green beans!  The best.  My kids call this “greasy chicken”!  I served it with boxed mashed potatoes and brown gravy from a jar.  Does it get any lazier than this? 

I really do like to cook.  Why don’t I do it more often?  I have a love/hate relationship with cooking.  My Mom was a wonderful cook.  I use the past tense although she is still alive.  She used to cook the most wonderful ...]]> It’s cooking week this week at Lazy Moms.  I would love to show you a fabulous meal I prepared this weekend, but there are none.  I can show you this pizza that I ordered.  That’s my Lazy Mom tip for the day!  But, this blog got me thinking…

I really do like to cook.  Why don’t I do it more often?  I have a love/hate relationship with cooking.  My Mom was a wonderful cook.  I use the past tense although she is still alive.  She used to cook the most wonderful homemade meals when we were growing up: fried chicken, mashed potatoes, homemade gravy and biscuits, etc.  She doesn’t cook too often these days.  She is an empty nester and a busy lady.  She’s got more sets of dishes than anyone needs, but they hardly get used.  In fact, she had to turn her coat closet into a dish closet. 

But, I digress.  I am thinking the reason I don’t cook like my Mom did is because I am a Mom on the go.  Moms today are busier carting kids around to activities and volunteering and doing things for themselves.  Yes, we had activities back then, but not nearly as much.  I remember my Mom being a stay at home Mom who was actually at home.  She cooked and cleaned and ironed.  What the heck is ironing? I am a stay at home Mom who is never at home!

What do you think?  Do you think this explains why I don’t cook?  Do you cook?  We’d love for you to submit your recipes.  LML and I love to try new recipes and blog about them!  Make sure you submit your cooking tips.  We have a fabulous prize this week.  You will hear more about it, but it’s a fantastic new blender.  Don’t miss out!

1.  I hate beans

2.  Because I hate beans I don’t want to touch them, look at them, or smell them.

Alas, I am growing up.  I will be 35 years old this summer and decided it was time to conquer my fears.  That, and the fact that I am having my Aunt and cousins over for dinner tonight.  We are having burgers ...]]> Today I am cooking my first ever batch of baked beans.  I know most of you find this simply amazing, but let me tell you why:

1.  I hate beans

2.  Because I hate beans I don’t want to touch them, look at them, or smell them.

Alas, I am growing up.  I will be 35 years old this summer and decided it was time to conquer my fears.  That, and the fact that I am having my Aunt and cousins over for dinner tonight.  We are having burgers and since I have moved away from my Mommy she can’t make them for me.  Look, here they are.  Lazy Dad Daniel tasted them and said, “mmmmmmm!”  I am taking that as a good sign.

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only Virgin Baked Beaner out there, so here’s the recipe for those interested:

Fry 6-8 strips of bacon until crisp. Drain and crumble. Add one finely chopped onion to bacon drippings and sauté until transparent. Open 2 extra large cans pork and beans and empty into baking dish. Do not drain beans. Add onions, drippings, and crumbled bacon. Add about 1 tablespoon mustard, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, and about ½ cup brown sugar. Then you need to taste and see if you need more brown sugar (sweeter) or more mustard (hotter). Bake at about 300 for about an hour or so.

I mentioned we are having burgers for dinner.  I put Lazy Dad Daniel to work making the patties.  This job normally falls to me, but since we are working on his laziness…

I also went ahead and made the relish tray.

Oh, and we should check in on my roast:

It’s been cooking now for 2 hours.  3 more hours to go.

Whew, with all this hard work, I am going for a swim.  Oh, wait, I still have 5 kids here to watch.  Ok, I will watch them swim!

Baked Beans

Crock pot – pot roast (tastes like prime rib) 1 roast (rump, shoulder, etc… I find that it doesn’t matter) 1 package of dry italian dressing 1 cup of au jous 5 beef bullion cubes 2 + cups of water (fill crock pot 1/2 way up with water) Cook in crock pot on low heat for at least 8 hrs. This is great to start ...]]> This morning I am cooking a recipe submitted by Melissa H.  In fact, it even made it into our poll.  Here is her recipe:

Crock pot – pot roast (tastes like prime rib) 1 roast (rump, shoulder, etc… I find that it doesn’t matter) 1 package of dry italian dressing 1 cup of au jous 5 beef bullion cubes 2 + cups of water (fill crock pot 1/2 way up with water) Cook in crock pot on low heat for at least 8 hrs. This is great to start in the morning and have for dinner. The roast should fall apart when you take it out!

I am giving this a whirl, but I am cooking on high so it will be ready after church.  (Insert Lazy Mom Confession here:  I am not going to church.  Just Lazy Dad Daniel.  Which I guess means he is not so lazy today!  I am waching my sister’s kids while she is in BERMUDA — did you catch my jealous obnoxious tone?.  Anyway, that means I have 5 kids ages 2, 4, 6, 7 and 10 in my care.  Church just isn’t going to happen!)

Here’s how it looks at 7 a.m.

I will come back to this post after lunch to post my after pictures so be sure to come check out how it turned out and what the family had to say about it!

It’s 9:00 now…here’s what we’ve got:

In the words of Arnold, “I’ll be back!”

It’s high noon now.  Daniel will be back in about 30 minutes. The roast is falling apart good.  Thanks for submitting it, Melissa!

The green beans are on the stove.  Just need that yummy butter to melt. 

The only thing left to do is fix my Lazy Mom boxed mashed potatoes!!!