3 homemade meals in 20 minutes? What?!

I kid you not. 10 years ago I wouldn’t have believed this myself.

This is how I cook most of the time. And my food is good, trust me 🙂 I enjoy cooking leisurely, but having to cook everyday, and think up 3 meals a day? Um…of course I’d rather make it faster! Without compromising on taste and quality of course.

Here’s how to prepare 3 homemade meals in 20 minutes

1. Pick simple

Never, ever pick a recipe that looks complicated or has a long list of ingredients. See that all of them are easy to source too.

2. Cook when it’s quiet

Do yourself and your kids a favour and start cooking when they’re in bed. It might be tough the first time you do it, because you’re probably cooking twice in one day, but after that you won’t look back!

3. Choose convenience

Frozen, chopped garlic over fresh, cubed meats over chunks, chopped toasted hazelnuts over whole. Get it? 😉

4. Blitz it mama

ALWAYS use your time-saving tools! My trusty food processor makes cooking so much speedier, and of course, I cannot not credit my dishwasher for faster clean up and undoubtedly….

5. ….my slow cooker!

Crock-pot, what would I do without you? I’m not being overly dramatic, I honestly don’t know where I’d be. I batch cook the simplest yet most mouth-watering recipes in minutes in my slow cooker. It’s been my best friend in the kitchen for a longgg time!
If you haven’t quite mastered batch cooking in your slow cooker, I have this for you >>

I’m going to let you in on more.

Here are 3 solid examples of how I prepare 3 homemade meals in 20 minutes flat

Example 1: Cilantro lime chicken tacos

This is a genuinely delicious ‘dump and go’ slow cooker recipe. I prepare it in 10 minutes, and spend another 10 minutes preparing a salad and homemade tacos for that day’s dinner. Easy peasy. Here’s the recipe.

Example 2: Whole slow-cooked chicken

Mix equal parts of paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme and rosemary. Add some salt & pepper. Rub into the chicken. Pop into the slow cooker and cook for 8-10 hours on low. If your slow cooker is the larger variety, you can even pop in two chickens. I’ve done it before!
Use leftovers for a variety of simple recipes: chicken enchiladas, chicken pie, chicken wraps, chicken patties, chicken salad…
Use all of the tips provided not to exceed the 20 minute mark.
Ta-da! Done deal. Thank me later.
PS: here is another, simpler variation of this chicken.

Example 3: Bolognese whatever 🙂

You’ve gotta love cooking up super, super quick bolognese in your slow cooker! I’m hoping that yours has the sauté function. This is non-negotiable IMO. (If you need help choosing a slow cooker here’s where I can help!)
Bolognese sauce is super versatile and can be used in a multitude of dishes. A few are shepard’s or cottage pie, beef pie, beef tacos, cannelloni, rice dishes…the sky’s the limit!

There you go! There are LOADS of ways to cook really great food very quickly. This is just a teeny, tiny sample of what you can do.

I really hope this helps you LOTS mama ❤️

Love,

Nakita xxx