We spend most of our weekday time on the road these days. We go from ballet to soccer to church to the library to doctor and dentist appointments. We love being on the go and have purposely stacked our schedule so that we stay busy. However, that doesn’t leave much time for cooking elaborate dinners. Our favorite meals are ones that are easy, healthy, and everyone enjoys eating. Now that the weather has turned a little cooler (thank you, Lord!!) we will be eating lots and lots of soup. Chicken noodle is a particular favorite because we almost always have the ingredients on hand and everyone in the family will happily eat it!

This week, I had three leftover grilled chicken breasts in the fridge, so I cut them up and added about three cans of chicken broth, some leftover whole kernel corn, a handful of leftover fresh mushrooms, some chopped baby carrots, and a package of egg noodles. I would have preferred to add about a cup of chopped celery, but I didn’t have any on hand. I boiled it all together until the noodles were done.

Not a gourmet recipe, but one that we enjoy nonetheless. It’s even better that it is full of veggies, it’s cheap, and that my children say, “Oh goody! I love chicken noodle soup.”

Do you have a favorite soup that is quick and delicious?

I love it when I can make two meals out of one. Remember the other night when I made a traditional Irish meal of corned beef and cabbage? Today I used the leftover corned beef to make reuben sandwiches for lunch. Since I’m not really one to run to the grocery just to make lunch on a Saturday, I used what I had on hand. My reubens didn’t have all the traditional reuben ingredients, but they were definitely delicious.

In a traditional reuben you would use rye bread. I happened to have white sandwich bread on hand, so that’s what I used. I sliced the corned beef as thinly as I could and piled it on. Top it with a slice of swiss cheese. I used some baby swiss that I bought to make Cuban sandwiches, and I actually think I liked it better. Comparatively, the baby swiss has a milder flavor and makes the regular swiss seem too sharp. Next came sauerkraut. I tried to drain away as much of the juice as possible so that it wouldn’t make the bread soggy. Soggy bread is bad, bad, bad. I always thought that a traditional reuben used thousand island salad dressing, but as I searched the internet I found many different sauce options. Some used spicy mustard, some used a mayo/chili sauce mixture. Some used plain mayo. I opted for something I had in my fridge (SURPRISE!) – brown sugar and pecan spicy mustard. Butter both sides of the bread and cook it in a skillet just like a grilled cheese. I probably could have used my George Foreman grill as well. I cook mine on medium low so the bread doesn’t burn before the corned beef can get warm. It gives the bread a nice golden color. Presto! Not a bad lunch for a Saturday afternoon!

Having a HUGE Saturday morning breakfast is a tradition in our family. It is usually the only day of the week that we don’t have to rush out the door, and so we spend it cooking a big breakfast and being lazy before getting our day going. One of our favorite meals is these filling omelets, which we customize for everybody. I’ll give you the step-by-step instructions, and you can choose your own veggies and meats.

You’re gonna need some eggs. We do either one or two eggs for each omelets. We got glutinous once and thought we could eat a three-egg omelets. Wrong. We always add onions, green bell peppers, mushrooms, cheese, and chopped Conecuh sausage. You can also use crumbled sausage or bacon. Cook your meat beforehand. Do not add it raw!!!We sometimes add green chilies as well to give it a little kick. Whatever you like.

I find that it is easiest to cook omelets in an electric skillet. My mom had one of these when we were growing up, and I love the one I “inherited” from Jonathan’s grandmother. I use it for lots of other things as well, but it works out perfectly for the omelets. I spray it with cooking spray and then throw in my veggies. I let them saute for a couple of minutes.

After the veggies have been in the pan for a few minutes, add the meat. We love to use Conecuh smoked sausage for omelets, but we have also used regular sausage. We, and by “we” I mean Jonathan, dices it very finely and cooks it in an iron skillet on the stove. Once, it’s done cooking it is ready to be added to the veggies in the electric skillet. Allow it to cook for just long enough to flavor the veggies with the grease from the sausage a little.

Find a little braided-hair, pajama-clad, smiley eight year old to give it a stir.

This step is very important. You have to gather the veggie/meat mixture to the center of the pan. Make it a single layer – not too thick. You want the eggs to pour over it and fill in the cracks and crevices. If everything is too spread out, you will have bits and pieces that won’t be in the omelets. Those bits and pieces have been looking forward to being in this omelets, so don’t leave them out. They’ll be like the Israelites who walked and walked, but never got to enter the Promised Land. You don’t want that. Let them go to Canaan!!!

Now you’re ready for the eggs. Scramble your eggs very well in a measuring cup. This makes them easier to control when pouring them over the mixture. You don’t want out of control egg pourage. Pour the eggs over the mixture in a thin layer, covering all of the mixture with eggs. If necessary, pick up the skillet and tilt it to get the eggs to run in the right direction.

Next we’ll throw a little cheese on top and put the lid on to let it cook. Cooking them covered allows the eggs to cook more evenly instead of being too runny on the top. It also allows the cheese to melt evenly, making the omelets ooey gooey in all the right ways.

When the cheese is melted and the eggs are completely cooked, you are ready to flip it in half. You have to get the flip just right. This is a very important step. If the flip is off center, even just a little bit, the whole omelets experience is off.

Serve it up while it’s still piping hot with a side of cheese grits and a fluffy biscuit.

And of course, breakfast isn’t complete without and icy, cold one of these…

Have you seen Leigh Ann’s post today about Ree’s Simple Perfect Enchiladas? Yeah, we’ll be having those sometime this weekend. I wish I had some of them right now!

Happy weekend, y’all!