Who: Erin Chase, the $5 Dollar Dinner Mom
What: She’s got a new cookbook out! $5 Dinner Mom Breakfast and Lunch Cookbook. It’s a follow-up to her $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook (which Grubgirl reviewed, too)
Why:
- A great set of tips and recipes for making healthy breakfasts and lunches that are both cost- and time-efficient.
- Know which recipes can be made in bulk and/or in advance, so you can fit these meals into your already-hectic morning.
- Read tips on ingredients to add to some traditional breakfast and lunch items, to give them some more life, and to get yourself out of the meal ruts you’ve gotten yourself into.
- If you’re really clueless in the kitchen, these recipes are also helpful because they’re easy, too.
Recipes I Tried:
- Slow-cooker Raisin Oatmeal: I never make the time to cook steel cut oats on an as-needed basis on weekdays. Mornings are just too hectic already. But I love the taste and the nutritional content of steel cut oats. This recipe was helpful in giving some additional, natural-tasting sweetness to a dish that I could portion out over the week (or even freeze).
- Blueberry Smoothies: Good combo of flavors with the right proportions helped me produce a much more consistent smoothie. I also appreciated the use of ground flaxseed for additional nutrients.
- Ham & Swiss Frittata: I chose this recipe as a portable breakfast to deliver to a friend who was a new mom. Again, the dish is a traditional-sounding type of frittata, and the ingredients and preparation are very straightforward since the author knows you’re strapped for time.
If you’re already a gifted cook who can concoct culinary masterpieces from anyone’s cupboard ingredients, then you probably don’t need a cookbook at all.
But if you’re like me and:
- stressed for time,
- like the taste of home-made food,
- want more control over your ingredient quality and the amount of oil/butter used to cook it,
- need some guidance on getting the right proportions to build an arsenal of basic breakfast, lunch, and snack recipes,
- oh, need to, or like to, get great value from your meals,
then check out this book. You can order The $5 Dinner Mom Breakfast and Lunch Cookbook on Amazon.com.
