short of ideas what to cook!!

Well there are various cookbooks, and I'm sure they've got 15 and 30 minute version cookbooks that can fit a busy life. You can also check allrecipes.com for plenty of recipes and meal suggestions. Its a great resource Foodnetwork.com can work for you too, as most recipes from the shows are posted there. Another thing I would suggest, don't just limit to American menus. There is a lot of good, healthy and even efficient meals in that too (and you'll find plenty in both of the sites I mentioned Bebs).

I have seriously gotten back to using a crock pot! I do so many wonderful things in the crock pot. They are so good that the cooking school my daughter goes to wanted some of my recipes after tasting them! Here are a few: Put a chicken or any roast or steak with fat trimmed in the pot, add chopped celery, onions, carrots, thyme, 1 can of broth, large can of tomatoes, pepper, salt. Simmer all day. Serve the meat with rice, noodles, potatoes, polenta, etc. Put the sauce over the starch and slice the meat. Amazing the next day with the meat cut very small tossed with pasta! Guaranteed to please anyone! With this just thrown together, people will think you slaved all day. It takes me about 6 minutes to put this together then at dinner make a veg and starch. Dinner is served!

Try this one. boneless chicken pieces I jar of russian or french or catalina dressing 1 jar apricot/pineapple preserves 1 pkg dry onion soup mix. Mix together dry and wet ingredients pour over chicken. cook for aprox 1 hour at 350 enjoy

Hello! Your local library is a wealth of information on several subjects, including cooking. I love checking out recipe books from there and using the ones that work for our family. The other places I find great cookbooks are thrift stores and garage sales. You'd be surprised at what you might find. Happy cooking! :) Susan