Stress-Free Cooking

If you are anything like I am, you want to make a healthy dinner for your family but time is at a premium. This can be stressful. So, let me give you a few tips that will help you provide a nutritious dinner, spending only about 30 minutes in cooking time. With these quick, delicious, healthy meal suggestions, you, too, will enjoy stress-free cooking.

• As soon as you come home from shopping, prepare and store your vegetables. I put clean paper towels in the bottom of a gallon sealed bag, drain the water from cleaning the veggies, and seal each type of veggie in its own bag. (This works for most vegetables; tomatoes would be an exception.) Then, when I want to pull together a quick salad, stir fry, or roast veggies, they are ready to go. I literally can have vegetables prepared in 20 minutes or less.
• If you like stews, soups, and braises, cook these on the weekend in a slow cooker or instapot, when you have time to work with more complex recipes. You can freeze these meals and reheat them when you need them. I especially love our sous vide cooker for this purpose. We just pop the bag in at the appropriate temperature, and a hot meal is ready in about a half hour.
• Otherwise, choose proteins that cook quickly. Proteins that you can broil, grill, saute, steam, and stir fry are worth the investment, because you save cooking time.
• If your family finds repetition of eating these quicker cooking meats boring, then use pre-made sauces and frozen compound butters to enhance and transform the flavor.

My Favorite Quick Prep Trick:
Compound Butter

Compound butter is a mixture of butter and flavorings – spices, herbs, honey, citrus peel, and other flavorings. The softened butter and other ingredients are blended in a blender, formed into logs, and can be frozen. When you want to transform a protein or change its flavor profile, all you have to do is cut a slice of the compound butter and lay it over the protein.

I was watching Bobby Flay the other day, and he made chicken and waffles with a Pink Peppercorn and Honey compound butter placed on top of the chicken and waffles. Here is a link to my riff on this recipe.

Use Bee Wild Infused Honeys
in Your Compound Butters

Using Bee Wild Infused Honeys can make creating your own compound butters even easier. Here are some suggestions for changes or additions to the Honey and Pink Peppercorn Compound Butter recipe (You can freeze several of these butters to enhance your food.):

• Instead of using Pink Peppercorns, zest a half of lemon, lime, or Meyer Lemon and substitute unflavored honey with our Meyer Lemon Honey in the Compound Butter recipe.
• If you like garlic, you can add very finely chopped garlic (to taste) to the zest, Meyer Lemon Honey, and butter.
• Spice up the Honey and Pink Peppercorn compound butter by using Devil’s Advocate to create a spicy compound butter with a slight burn on the back of your throat.
• Or, be wild and use 2-3 tbsps of Devil’s Advocate in your compound for an even spicier flavor.
• Replace the Pink Peppercorns with orange zest and the lightly-flavored honey with our Lavender Infused Honey. Serve as butter on muffins, pancakes, or waffles. You can add real maple syrup or brown sugar to the compound, if the butter isn’t sweet enough for you.

With a bit of ingenuity, you can freeze several of these butters and have a delicious condiment ready for your quick-to-cook meals.