Easy Dinners for Busy Moms by Andrea Green: A Book Review

Getting meals on the table every night when you’re busy with your own work and your kids’ homework and extracurricular activities is a continual struggle. Andrea Green, the author of naturalgreenmom.com and the ebook, Easy Dinners for Busy Moms: Slow Cook Once, Eat Twice, seeks to help you get healthy, minimally processed meals on the table every night as quickly as possible using your slow cooker.

About Easy Dinners for Busy Moms

The ebook contains seven parts:

• Introduction
• Healthy Eating for Busy Moms 101
• Slow Cooker 101
• Pantry Staples
• Freezer Staples
• Homemade Staples
• Recipes

While the ebook is only 43 pages, there is a lot of valuable information here! When I first read the title, I thought by cook once, eat twice she was referring to eating the leftovers the second night, but she wasn’t. There are 22 main recipes in the book which constitute the “cook once” portion, and then she creates a new recipe for the “eat twice” portion.

For instance, one day, you make Tex Mex Baked Potatoes and have that for dinner, reserving three potatoes. The next night, using those three reserved potatoes, you make Potato Leek Soup.

Or, one night you make Herb and Dijon Pork Roast, reserving some of the pork, and the next night you make Pork Bahn Mi Sandwiches. Brilliant!

There are a total of 44 recipes in this cookbook.

About the Ingredients and Recipes

While Green promotes a clean eating lifestyle and prefers organic ingredients, you can, of course, buy non-organic.

Green includes recipes for certain ingredients so you don’t need to buy the processed version. For instance, she includes a recipe for beef broth so you don’t have to buy it at the store in a box. This is not only healthier, but it will also save you money.

In fact, most of these recipes should save you money because in addition to substituting processed ingredients for ones you make on your own, Green also chooses cheaper cuts of meat such as chuck roast and pork roast.

If you’re more interested in convenience than saving money, she has you covered. She suggests ways you can buy your ingredients already chopped and prepared, making it even quicker in the morning to get your meal going in the slow cooker.

One caveat—if you’re a vegetarian or vegan, this probably isn’t the cookbook for you as every recipe contains meat.

Final Thoughts

At only $4.99, this ebook is a bargain. You get 44 recipes, all of which are cooked the first time in the slow cooker. (Some of the second day recipes are cooked in the oven.) Not only that, but these recipes are not soups, as many people typically use their slow cookers to prepare. These are delicious meals from a wide variety of cultures including Mexican, Mediterranean, Chinese and Vietnamese.

Likely you and your family will enjoy the yummy meals you make using this ebook.