No Cook Dinner - Cheese, Cracker and Veggie Tray

It's a Monday and maybe you have a fridge full of groceries ready to go for the week, or maybe, you didn't have time for that this weekend and you're just not feeling like cooking tonight.  Enter the No Cook Dinner idea!  This was my actual dinner the other night because I was just feeling a little lazy and didn't want to mess with any pots or pans.  As much as I love being in the kitchen and cooking, sometimes there are days or nights when I just want to get something on a plate and kick back with the DVR.

I had all these ingredients in my fridge and put them together on a plate and called it a night! Obviously there is no real recipe here...you can pick and choose whatever you like. You can also do a smaller version for a snack during the day, or use this for an easy lunch at the office.

My plate was a mix of vegetables, healthy fats, carbs and proteins.  The dip in the middle is my favorite store bought find for a "ranch" style dip.  It's a brand called Bolthouse Farms and this is their Classic Ranch Yogurt Dressing.  It's the best version I've found that is not loaded with a bunch of added sugar or artificial ingredients and still tastes delicious!  If you want to try it out, you can find it in the refrigerated section of the produce department at your grocery store.

Make your own plate and feel free to add what YOU like...maybe carrots instead of cucumber, rice crackers instead of Triscuits, mozzarella cheese instead of cheddar, add some pepperoni to the plate...go crazy and enjoy putting together dinner in just a couple minutes!

How to Freeze Leftover Fresh Herbs

I spent some time a couple weekends ago doing some major freezer meal prep in order to have some healthy home cooked meals on hand for after our baby is born (2 weeks or less!) I know I may not have the time and energy to cook something from scratch in the midst of learning how to handle a newborn, so I wanted to stock the freezer with some meals we can just reheat and enjoy.  In the process, I wound up with a bunch of fresh herbs and there are always leftovers.  I hate just throwing them away but I never use them all in a single recipe so I came up with this way of saving them for future use.

Simple as a couple of ice cube trays, some melted butter and/or EVOO and chopped herbs! I had thyme, sage and parsley leftover.  I just chopped the herbs up, put them into the ice cube trays and covered them with a mix of melted butter and extra virgin olive oil. Into the freezer they go and now they're ready to use for any future cooking where I need to add some herbs.  This can be something like a chicken noodle soup or even sauteeing some veggies in a pan.  Just pop out the amount of herb cubes I need and toss into a hot pan or pot.  Added flavor and I'm not throwing away the money I spent on the fresh herbs!

My goal is to start growing my own little herb garden so I can just use what I need for a particular recipe, but until that happens, I'll buy them at the store and save the leftovers this way.

PRO TIP: If you don't think you'll recognize what herb you froze in the trays themselves, you can freeze them in batches and then transfer them into a Ziploc freezer bag and label what the herb was (parsley, sage, thyme, etc.)