Real Food…Real Quick: A Food Blog Invitational

Thanks for all of you that took the poll. The results were about what I expected.

The first question was how much time do you spend cooking per week and the answers were pretty close between

• 6 hours or more
• 3-6 hours

To me this says a lot. You are willing to put a little time into the kitchen. Like me, I imagine your time is limited, and as much as you might want to create menus that take an afternoon – well that just isn’t gonna happen most days.

The next question was whether you were concerned about things like additives and HFCS. Over all the vast majority said you were, with a few people saying that, while additives concerned them convenience foods helped manage time and budget.

I guess what we are looking for then are menus with recipes that are quick, easy, budget friendly and healthy…locally sourced if at all possible.

Is that even feasible?

Sure it is. The problem is that for most of us we are creatures of habit…. and habits are hard to break. We see Cream of Whatever soup as being a quick ingredient in tuna casserole. Truly it would take us less than five minutes to make a homemade mushroom sauce that would serve the same purpose but our perception is that the can is quicker, easier, and more affordable.

We might not think that way if we had to factor in our health care costs to our grocery budget!

When I was writing on Baking Delights I tended to concentrate on desserts and baked goods. They are my first love, for sure. Then I was not a single mom…and my time was not so stretched.

Today I woke up late because I was up half the night writing. Quality time with Princess Kyrie was her snuggling with me in my bed as I wrote. I am all ready behind schedule but 3 hours as I write this. What does that tell you about suppertime?

Exactly.

I would like to extend an invitation to all food bloggers to join me in coming up with Real Food….. Real Quick. Once a week, on Wednesdays I want to publish a round up. This will allow us to help each other as well as our readers to realize that we can eat real food without spending hours that we don’t have in the kitchen.

Here are the rules:

1. Recipes must be real foods…if convenience foods are used they must be organic or not contain GMOs, HFCS, etc…
2. Fresh ingredients should be used as much as possible
3. Recipe should not take more than 45 minutes from start to table. If it is a slow cooker type meal then prep time should be very minimal, 15 minutes or less.
4. Post your recipe any day but send me the link and image (450px wide) no later than Tuesday night at midnight. If it comes in later I will just save it for the next week. Send it to maudet8816(AT)aol(DOT)com  just do the @ and .
5. In your recipe link to this post and explain what we are trying to accomplish.
6. If possible list your whole menu for that meal.

That’s it. On Wednesdays I will post the links that were sent  to me. If no one participates I will just post my own Real Food…Real Quick recipe.

If you could spread the word about this roundup I would appreciate it!

Image: Marye Audet

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