“This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser, Colgate-Palmolive. All opinions are mine alone. #FusionClean #CollectiveBias”
You know I love to cook! You also know how busy I am! For us, it’s not an option. We have decided that eating healthy and home cooked meals made with fresh ingredients is a must at our home!
Following my mom’s footsteps, I grew up in a home with no microwave, no frozen food, that’s where all the amazing dishes and fun were created! I remember the aroma of her cooking and sometimes 4 dishes would be shared in order to cater to our individual preferences!
Just keep in mind, there was no dish washer in Brazil, where I grew up, so after the cooking feast, there was a huge mess! But my mom always approached it as a small price to pay for an amazing meal and never, ever complained about it!
So, I have adopted her attitude, since cooking is a passion for me and have rallied friends around me, my Instagram community and blog readers to cook up a storm; to say no to the microwave and easy fix!
Today I will be sharing my five tips to let you cook up a storm, having a plan and not feeling overwhelmed!
- Plan ahead: I plan my meals and go shopping at Walmart, every weekend, to ensure that we have fresh vegetables and the meats I need for the week.
- Plan your day: I take the meat out of the freezer early in the morning and If I have to go to work late afternoon, I do prep work in the morning as well, leaving just the finishing touches for the night time. Easy enough, right?
- When you have a crazy day, plan an almost no cooking meal, which is what I will be sharing with you today. Only one cooking step and the rest is all fresh uncooked items! Healthier and easier to prepare!
- Make meals ahead, I know I told you we don’t eat frozen food, but if I make a huge batch of mac-n-cheese, a soufflé or a lasagna, I often make two, and freeze one for a later day. Just remember, when you freeze your meals, you just have to warm them up and there are no preservatives added to it! Easy and healthy!
- Enlist your family when it’s clean up time. We all bring our dishes to the sink every night, my son helps bring the larger plates as well and my husband does the dishes. We all pitch in to have that amazing meal without stressing anybody out!
I use Palmolive® Fusion Clean™ because it inspires busy moms like me to “out-cook” the microwave and share my cooking adventures. Using Palmolive® Fusion Clean™ dish liquid, which combines Baking Soda and the fresh scent of Lime or Grapefruit, I have “A Modern Twist on Cleaning™”!
Thought you would like to know that Palmolive® Fusion Clean™ Dish Liquid helps you clean up the mess, harnessing the cleaning power of fusion with Palmolive® Fusion Clean™. Its specially formulated for tough cleaning challenges; so
tackling stuck-on food just became easier: *Cleans 2.5x more dishes vs. Palmolive® Non-Concentrated dish liquid! I love that!
So when it’s time for me to cook, I’m not dreading it, nor regretting my decision! I actually look forward to it! So, are you ready for my recipe?
Easy Taco Buffet
Ingredients
1 pound of ground beef
1 Tbsp of cumin
1Tbsp of Coriander seeds
1 Tsp of salt
2 cloves of garlic
1 diced onion
1 Tbsp of oil
10 lettuce leaves chopped
1 large diced tomato
3 peppers, different colors diced ( I used just half of each)
4 Tbsp of low fat sour cream
4 Tbsp of low fat mozzarella cheese
Guacamole:
1 avocado ( I used the low fat avocado version)
1/2 diced onion
1 clove of garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 tsp of lemon juice
pic of ingredients
Preparation:
Chop all the diced items above ahead of time, I usually do that in the morning and place them in containers in the fridge. Cuts my prep time at night in half!
When it’s time to assemble the buffet, I heat the oil and add onion and garlic and brown the ground beef until all the water is gone!
I immediately make the guacamole! I remove the fruit with a knife and mash all the ingredients together as below:
Bring all the pre cut items to the table and the meat and guacamole and listo! You have a fun, easy, weekly night meal with almost no cooking and very little pots and pans for you to worry about!
Tip: I often use the Palmolive® Fusion Clean™ dish liquid on my skillet and leave it soaking until we finish our meal and it’s time to do the dishes. I also soak my mocajete after we finish our meal to remove all from it, since it’s a porous surface!
As Latinos we love food and a clean kitchen, right? So I want to inspire you to create your own easy and delicious masterpieces and not use the microwave in the process! I want to challenge you to cook at home and prepare un plato rico and easy without the fear of the mess now thanks to Palmolive® Fusion Clean™ dish liquid. Because you and I want to spend more time with our family and less time doing the cleanup, right?
I want to share that there will be a digital coupon available on coupons.com from 4/10 until 4/23 for $0.25 off any Palmolive product.
Share your thoughts, what are your tips to a homemade easy meal? As usual, give us a Trendy Shout!
I love a good taco – and your buffet sounds delicious! I’ll have to try this.
Great tips but I don’t think I can really ditch my microwave. It is easy to heat food in microwave.
That guacamole looks delicious. I don’t own a microwave! I just use the oven to reheat things.
I would really like to smell those Palmolive soaps, I don’t think I’ve smelled those before. I would love to host a taco buffet in my home, I think the guacamole would be a big hit!
I am totally guilty of cooking too much in the microwave! Love that it makes cleaning so easy!
Love Taco and I definitely agree to washing certain dishes by hand as thats how they come sparkly clean.
Such a great tips, I love it and I can’t wait to try this. Glad you share this with us
But we love our microwaves … we grew up with it and its the fastest way to heat food. I do get your point though and I’d try my best to apply these things.
These are some wonderful tips to have a better plan over cooking rather than rushing up like anything at the last minute. I always plan ahead & make our meals ahead to make sure to avoid any mess & I love that easy taco buffet so much!
I have the same mortal and pestle which my grand mother gave to me. I find it very useful in every cooking needs, I love cooking it… my kitchen is my place where I can be creative and enjoy the different flavors. My children loves tacos and burritos too .. so kid friendly dish for them.
I love to plan my meals! If save me so much time!
I am BEYOND into the sounds of this recipe! I love trying new things and this meal definitely fits the bill! In my opinion there is something incredibly satisfying in hand washing a big old mess of dishes.
Awesome tips for keeping the household cleaning under control when you are busy. That food also looks really amazing!
I always plan ahead, it indeed saves a lot of time, and let me say that guacamole looks so delicious, its been a while since i ate mexican food, i think ill give it a shot =).
Me too when I cook meals I often do them batches due to the large portion of work I get!
I grew up with Palmolive and still use it everyday. I love the scents and how well the soap works.
And we don’t have a microwave. We did a few years ago but then moved, put it into storage, and didn’t even think about it too much after that.
I love these wonderful tips. I agree with you, fresh ingredients are very important for our family
One thing that helped me save from grocery shopping and getting my boys eat healthier meals is meal planning. It certainly makes a difference, big. And I’ve learned a few more tips today, thanks for sharing!
Tacos are always on our weekly meal plan! My girls absolutely love it, especially when they get to pick their own toppings!
A taco buffet is always good. I do that sometimes when family is coming to visit. 🙂
Thanks for this! My husband just ask me about this. I need to tel this to him.
I love the idea of making dinner everyday without frozen food or the use of a microwave. Just imagine how healthier the meals will be! That’s really awesome. I also love the tips, they’re perfect for switching to a healthier lifestyle and for catering to your families preferences!
These are some wonderful tips. I try to avoid using the microwave whenever possible. I think home cooked meals are so much better for you then using the microwave.
Palmolive is my favorite dish soap. I love to cook with fresh ingredients. I do not like frozen meat. This looks like a delicious recipe. I will have to try it on the weekend.
I make something like this but always make extra for the next day, just add a squirt of B-B-Q sauce and you have filling for spicy sloppy Joes the next day!
I love pulling out precooked beans from the freezer and cook rice in the rice cook. Then I add all the toppings for mexican bean and rice bowls.
Recently our microwave stopped working. We threw it out, and haven’t used one since! We love it! We are learning to use our oven and toaster oven more.
I haven’t used a microwave for about 20 years now, I do plan my meals and make big pots of beans, rice to use in various dishes. Tacos are one of our favorite. I need to switch to Palmolive dishwashing liquid sounds great.
These are some really great tips! Our family loves taco night and these tips would make it easy to get dinner on the table!
When I plan to cook a big meal, I try to do as much of my prep ahead as I can. Chopping onions on Wednesday and know I need Chooped onions again on Friday? Chop it all Wednesday and save some prep time on Friday!
We generally use the microwave just to reheat something. I love that you are thinking outside the box. Yummy!
Oh this recipe is just for me. We haven’t washed dishes by hand in quite some time, but with the way our water bill is lately, maybe it’s time we do. I’ve always love palmolive and used to buy it often.
My mom cooked for the most part. We I was about 7 or 8, she had a nice garden. Fresh veggies, yes please!
After we moved, the garden was a thing of the past for her. She used some box/frozen stuff but not everything.
For me buying fresh produce (walmart in particular), goes bad fairly quickly. I am trying to cook more again. I have been teaching my 15 year old son too so that he can cook his meals when he moves out.
This is such a great recipe! I’d love to try this. We also wash dishes by hand.
Great ideas! I don’t use the microwave much as it is but i’m always looking to cut back as much as possible.
I totally agree with you! Dishes are a small price to pay for an amazing meal. I love, love, love cooking up a big meal for my family. There is so much reward in everyone eating and smiling and enjoying themselves over a good meal.
Great tips! I am maniacal about planning meals ahead of time. It’s amazing how much time, and money!, that tip can save you.
Great tips!! I think we rely to much on the easy of a microwave! There are definite ways around it like you said!!
Great recipe! I can’t wait to try!
Thanks for sharing your wonderful tips we might stop by for a taco or two =) #client
I too am a busy mom that loves to cook and your tips are fantastic and some that I use. We have Taco Tuesdays in our house and we all love it!
These are great tips for busy households when it comes to dinner. And we love taco Tuesdays so I will definitely use this recipe!
Thanks for all the great tips. I’ve been meal planning for awhile and I think that helps a ton and less stressful. Also, my husband and I have an agreement that if I cook he does the dishes! 🙂
That looks like a really good and easy homemade meal. I love homemade meals as well and very seldom use my microwave. In fact, I can change that to almost never. I love Palmolive.
We have gone back to washing dishes by hand as they seem to get cleaner. I do like a good dish detergent and a good recipe.
These are all great tips. I’ve found that the only way I can make meals that don’t involve a crock pot or the microwave involves getting the entire family involved.