Homeschool Review: The Simplified Pantry

Simplify my life? I could go for that. Simplify my cooking? I could REALLY go for that. I am not the world’s greatest cook. In fact, I’m glad I don’t have a Pinterest Account because I know I’d be feeling defeated every day because of all the wonderful yummy recipes out there.

I was offered some ebooks from Simplified Pantry to review. I thought, “Simplicity is good! Let’s see how it goes!”

This lot included three ebooks:
Simplified Dinners ($12.99)
Simplified Dinners Gluten Free/Dairy Free ($12.99)
Paperless Home Organization ($3.99)

First Impressions:
I received all three ebooks. They downloaded without incident. I began to look through them. The cookbooks are written simply and recipes are spaced nicely on the pages. I started looking through the Home Organization book. Wow. She is serious about helping those who want to go paperless. I’m just not there yet. I don’t even own some of the devises that she mentions. I mean, I just got myself a Kindle a few months ago…and it’s not a fire. So I have saved that book and I can look at it later.

Quite a few of my friends have started their families on gluten-free diets. This lifestyle is something I have been curious about, but not brave enough to try anything. Having the gluten free/dairy free cookbook solved my anxiety issues. This is a book filled with simple, basic recipes that even I could follow.

Using the Materials:
The cookbooks were ebooks. And like I said before…I’m not paperless. So I printed out the cookbook so I could have it near me in the kitchen. I started going through it and marked quite a few recipes that I thought might be good for my family. Then I found the grocery list that was in the front. I printed an extra copy of that and took it to the grocery store to buy those things that I did not have in my pantry. I’m not the greatest cook, so even my supplies needed help.

Here is the list of recipes that I tried on my family:
Orange Honey Chicken
Lemon Packet Fish
Honey Lentils
Baked Potato Dinner
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Sweet Potato Biscuits
Easy-Peasy Homemade Chicken Broth

I had so many more recipes I wanted to try, but life has been a little bit hectic. I’m finding that I R.E.A.L.L.Y rely on my crock pot. So anything that needs to be browned, I don’t even attempt.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Lemon Packet Fish

Honey Lentils and Sweet Potato Biscuits

Easy-Peasy Chicken Broth

Ending Thoughts:
I have a hard time cooking. I just don’t like it. But I like the format of these two cookbooks. Each type of food has a basic recipe and then there are 6-8 variations that can be used depending upon what is on sale that week at the grocery store or what you have left in the pantry and fridge. Other than a few of the recipes not having specific measurements for spices, I found them very easy to follow.

I did find out that my family is not ready for any type of gluten-free lifestyle. While I enjoyed the taste of the final products, except for my son and the sweet potato biscuits, the rest of the family did not care for the taste of the food. The baked potato bar was the best option, but I had to use cheese for the kids. I’m proud that they ate the food anyway! Perhaps I haven’t found the right recipe quite yet. I was so hoping to add 2-3 new gluten-free meals to my rotation, but I guess I have to keep trying. There are a few more options I want to try from this cookbook, so we shall see how that goes. I think I will go back to the other “normal” Simplified Pantry cookbook and try out some of those recipes!

Recommendations:
If you decide to get the gluten-free Simplified Pantry, you HAVE to make the sweet potato biscuits! They are wonderful!!!

PLUS, the author is offering a 30% off discount when you enter TOS2013 at checkout. That discount will work on any or all of her eBooks, from May 23 through June 3rd.

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